The Green Forest tribune., 1906-12-08

results in a single individual or corpOr- ation rising at the expense of all others until his or its rise effectually checks all competition and reduces former competi- tors to a position of utter inferiority and
 'In enactng and enforcing such legis- lation as this congress already has to It's credit, We are working on on ,,d. e coherent nn the needed reform by the joint action of the moderate men, the plain men who do not wish. anything hysterical or in resolute comTponsense fashion with the real and great evils of the present system. The reactlonaries and the .vto- ing hands agninst us: Both assert, for instance, that if logical, we should go to government ownership of railroads on on such an issue they think the people would stand with them, while the ex- tremists care rather to preach disoontent and agitation than to achieve solid re- suits. As a matter of fact, our position is as remote from that of the bourbon reactionary as from that of the. imrrac- that the government should not conduct the business of the nation, but that 1t should exercise such supervision as will insure its being cor aucted in the inter est of the nation. Our aim is, so far as may be, to secure, for all decent, hard working men, equality of opportunity and equality of burden.
 Combinations Are Necessary.
 'The actual working of our laws has shown that the effort to prohibit all com bination, good or bad, is noXious where it is not ineffective. Combination of capital like combination of labor is a trial system It is not possible completely to prevent it; and if it were possible such complete prevention would do dam age to the body polite. What we need but to secure such rigorous and adequate control and supervision of the combna- tions as to to, prevent ,, @ their lnJurlns the itably to threaten intury-for the mere fact that a combination has secured practically a eompete o1er SoItTol of stances show that such combination was to be presumed to be adverse to the pub lie interest. It is unfortunate that our present laws should forbid all combina- tions, instead of sharply discriminating between those combinations which do evil. Rebates. for instance, are as often due to the pressure of big shippers ias was shown in the investigation of the shown since by the investigation of the tobacco and sugar trusts) as to the inu- ative of big railroads. Often railroads would like to combine for the purpose or ing improper advantages at the expense of small shippers and of the general pub lie Such combination, instead hs fado or being other words, it should be permitted to railroads to make agreements, provided these agreements were sanctioned by the interstate commerce commission and were published. With these two condi- tions compiled with 1t is impossible to see what harm such combination could do to the public at large. It is public evil to have on the statute books law incapable of full enforcement because both judges and 1uries realize that it's full enforcement would destroy the busi ness of the country; for the result is to make decent railroad men violators of the law against their will. and to put q premium on the behavior of the wsifal wrongdoers. Such a result in turn tends to throw the decent man and the wiifil wrongdoer into close association, and in the end to drag down the former to the latter's level: for the man who becomes a lawbreaker in one way unhappily tends to lose all respect for law and to be willing to break it in many ways, No more scathing condemnation could be visited upon a law than is contained in the words of the interstate commerce the fact that the numerous joint traffic associations do technically violate the law, they say: ''The decision of the United States supreme court in the Transmississippi case and the Joint Traffic association case has produced no practical effect upon the railway opera ip fact exist now as they did before these decisions, and with the same gen eral effect. In Justice to all parties we to see how our interstate railways could be operated with due regard to the inter est of the shipper and the railway without concerted action of the kind af- forded thru these associations"
 This means that the law as construed by the supreme court is such that the business of the country cannot be con ducted without breaking it. I recommend that you give careful and curly consider atiion to this subject, and if you find the mission justified, that you amend the law SO as to o5viate the evil disclosed.
 inheritance and Income Tax.
 It was expected that the president would refer in some way to his belief in the necessity for the curbng of enor- nous fortunes, and he has done so by recommending legislation for both in come and an inheritance tax. He be- lieves the government should impose a graduated inheritance tax and If possl- bic, a graduated income tax. He says:
 II am well aware that such subject as this needs long and careful study in order that the people may become famll- may clearly see the necessity Of proceed, ing with wisdom and self-restraint, and may make up their minds just how Tar they are willing to go in the matter; while only trained legislators can work out the project in necessary detail. But I feel that in the near future our nation al legislators should enact a law proVld- ing for a graduated inheritance tax by which a steadily increasing rate of duty should be sput upon all moneys or other valuablcs coming by gift, -bequest, or devise to any individual or corporation It may be well to make the tax heavy in proportion as the individual benefited is remote of kin. In any event, Tn my judgment the pro rata of the tax should increase very heavily with the increase of the amount left to any one fndlvldual after q certain point has been reaeheu It is most desirable to encourage thrift d thrift aD'io and ambtion an is the desire on the part of the breadwinner to leave his chll- dren we'll off. This object can be attained by making the tax very small on modcr- ate amounts of property left; because the prime object should be to put con stantly increasing burden on the inner itance of those swollen fortunes which it is certainly of no benefit to this coun- try to perpetuate.
 There can be no question Of the eth ical propricty of the government thus de- termining the conditions upon which any gift or inheritance should be received. Exactly how far the inheritance tax limiting the transmission by devise or gift of the enormous fortunes in question 1t is not necessary at present to discuss. It is wise that progress in this direction should be gradual At first a permanent national inheritance tax, while 1t might be more substantial than any such tax has hitherto been, need not approxlmate, either in amount or in the extent of the increase by graduation, to what such tax should ultimately be.
 Inheritance Tax Constitutional.
 'erhis species of tax has again and agEin been imposed, altho only temporarily, Sby the national government. It was first imposed by the act of July s, 1797, when