The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-11

KrGat taSk W1tnOuL tAC relation of streams to the conservation and use of all other natural resources, and have asked that it do so. Here then, for the first time, the orderly use of all our natural resources is presented as a single problem. One by one the individual tasks in this One nSye Sy ons fashion the methods of dealing with them were worke' out; National irrioation has proved itself a success experience has shown that the national forests will fulfill the larger purpose for which they were created. All who have thoughtfully studied tho subject have come to see that the solution of the public lands ques ton lies with the home maker, with the settler who lives on his land, and that Government con
 grazing lands is necessary and in- evitable. Each of these conclusiono represented a movemen. of vast. i'm
 portance which would confer large
 stood bv itself. They are connected
 together into one great fundamental problem-that Of the conseryatoh or all our natural resources. Upon the wise solution of this, much of our future obviously depends. Even such questions as the re@ulation of railway are in reality subsidiary to the primal problem of the preservation in the interests of the whole people of the re- sources that nature has given us. If
 we fail to solve this problem no skill in solving the others will in the end avail us very greatly
 Matter of Taxation.
 no Nw 9 svsed hs mstsf H sase an income tax and an inheritance tax In my judgment both should be part et our system of Federal taxation. ] speak d.ffidentiy about the income tax because one scheme for an income tax was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court by q five to four. vote
 administer in its practical workings, and great care would have to be exer- cised to see that 1t was not evaded by the very man whom 1t is most desirable to have taxed. for if so eyaded 1t would of course be worse than no tax at all
 as the least desirable of all taxes is the tax which bears heavily upon the homes as compared with the dishonest man. Nevertheless, a graduated in come. tax of the proper type. would be
 desirable permanent feature of Federal taxation. and ] hope that one Court will declare constitutional.
 In my judgment however, the i'm
 heritance tax is both far peter method of taxation, and far more important purpose of having the swollen fortunes of the country bear in proportion to their size a constantly increasing bur
 
 solely because of the protection given the owners by the public. They are a constant source of care and anxiety to the public and 1t is emlnently just that
 they should be forced to pay heavily for the protection given them. It Is, of course, elementary that the nation has the absolute right to decide as to
 receive a bequest or devise from an- other. We have repeatedly placed such laws on our own statute, books. and taey have repeatedly been declared lieve that the tax should contain the progressive principle. Whatever any individual receives, whether by gift, should. after certain amount is reach ed, be increasingly burdened; and the rate of taxation should be increased in proportion to the remoteness of blood of the man receiving from the man giv-
 ing or devising. The principle of this
 progressive taxation of inneritances
 has not only ibeen authoritatively
 gross, but 1t is. now unequivocally adopted in the leading civilized nations
 of the world--fn, for instance, Great erlaad led off with the imp positlon Of high progressive rates. Great Britain
 was the first of the great nations to
 follow suit. and within the last few years both France and Germany have
 adopted the principle. In Great Britain all estates worth five thousand dollars or less are practically exempt from death duties, while the increase is such | that when an estate exceeds five mil- 41ions of dollars in value and passes to l a distant kinsman or stranger in blood l the Government receives nearly
 eighteen percent. In France, under the progressive sytem, so much Of aTi inheritance as exceeds ten millions ol dollars pays over twenty per cent to
 hs ssas sS if it tH passes fsa direct heir. In Germany very small inheritances are exempt, but the tax is so sharply progressive that an in- heritance not in agricultural or forest lands which exceeds two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. if it goes to dis tant relatives, is taxed at the rate of
 n man law i is of special interest, because be 1t makes the Inheritance tax an im- l perial measure, while --llotting to the Individual States of the Empire a DOT them to impose taxes in addition to those imposed by the Imperial Govern sment In the United States the National Government has more than
 once imposed inheritance taxes in ad- l dition to those imposed by the States, and in the last instance about one-half l of the States levied such taxes con- ment, making a combined maximum rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent; and, as a matter of fact, several States adopted inheritance tax laws l for the first time while the national | law was still in force and unrepealed. The French law has one feature which it to be heartily commended. The progressive principle is so applied that l each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above the amount subject to l the next lower rate. This plan Is l peculiarly adapted to the working out | of the theory of using the inheritance e | tax for the purpose of limiting the size Of inheritable fortunes, since the | progressive increase in the rates, &C., cording to this mode, may be carried 1 to its logical conclusion in a maximum l rate of nearly one hundred per cent for 1 the amount in excess Yf specified sum, without being confiscatory as to | the rest of the inheritance; for each l increase in rate would apply only to I do not believe that any advantage | comes either to the country as a whole | or to the individuals inheritinR he money by permitting the transmission in their entirety of such enormous fortunes as have been accumulated in I America. The tax could be made to | bear more heavily, upon persons re- | siding out of the country than upon | those residing within 1t. Such a | heavy progressive tax Is of course in | no shape or way tax on thrift or in- | dustry, for thrift and industry have 1 ceased to possess any measurable im- l portance in the acquisition of the swol- | len fortunes of which l speak long be- l Iv affect them. Such a tax would be | one of the methods by which we should | try to preserve measurable equality l of opportunity for the people of the | Lincoln pointed out, there are some | respects in which men are obviously i not equal; but there Is no reason why 1 there should not be an equality of self respect and of mutual respect, an | equality of rights before the law, and 1 at least an approximate equality in the