The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-10


public; in securing the use OF the wa
ter, the forage, the coal, and the tim
Der for the public. In all four move
ments my chief adviser, and the man
first to suggest to me the courses which
have actually proved SO beneficial. was
Mr.. Clifford Pinchot, the chief of the
national forest service. Mr.. Pinchot
also suggested to me a movement sup
Elementary to all of these movements:
one which will itself lead the way in
the general movement which he repre-
sents and with which he is actively
identified, for the conservation of all
our natural resources. This was the
appointment of the inland waterways
commission.
The inability of the railroads of the
United States to meet the demands
upon them has drawn public attention
forcibIy to the use of our waterways
for transportation. But it is obvious
that this is only one of their many uses,
ana that planned and orderly deVel-
opment is impossible except by taking
into account all the services they are
capable of rendering. 1t was upon this
ground that the inland waterways COM
mission was recently appointed Their
duty is to propose comprehensive
plan for the improvement and utiIiza-
ton OF those great waterways which
are the great potential highways of
the country. Their duty Is also to
bring together the points of view of all
users of streams, and to submit a gem
eral plan for the development and con-
of the waterways of the United States.
Clearly it is impossible for the water
ways commission to accomplish it's
great task without considering the re-
lation of streams to. the conservation
and use of all other natural resources,
and L have asked that it do so. Here
then, for the first time, the orderly de-
velcpment and planned conservative
use of all our natural resources is pre-
sented as a single problem. One by one
the individual tasks in this great pro-
blem have already been undertaken.
One by one in practical fashion the
methods of dealing with them were
worked out. National irrigation has
proved itself a success by its actual
working. Again, actual experience has
shown that the national forests will
fulfill the larger purpose for which they
were created. All who have thought
fully studied the subject have come to
see that the solution of the public
lands question lies with the home
maker, with the settler who lives on
his land, and that government control
of the mineral fuels and the public
grazing lands is necessary and inevi-
table. Each of these conclusions rep
resented a movement of vast import
ance which would confer large benefits
upon the nation. but which stood by
into one great fundamental problem
that of the conservation of all our nat
ural resources. Upon the wise solution
of this, much of our future obviously
regulation of railway rates and the
control Of corporations are in reality
subsidiary to the primal problem of the
preservation in the interest of the
whole people of the resources that ma
ture has given us. If we fail to solve
this problem, no skill in solving the
others will in the end avail US very
greatly.
Taxation Problem.
Now as to the matter of taxation.
Most great civilized countries have an
income tax and an inheritance tax. In
my judgment both should be part OF
our system of federal taxation.
speak diffidently about the income tax
because one scheme for an income tax
was declared unconstitutional by the
supreme court by a five to four vote;
and in addition it is difficult tax to
administer in it's practical workings,
and great care would have to be ex-
ercised to see that 1T was not evaded
by the very man whom it is most de-
sirable to have taxed, for If so evaded
it 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 honest as compared with the
dishonest man. Nevertheless. a grad
uated income tax of the proper type
would be a desirable permanent feat
ure of federal taxation, and 1 still hope
that one may be devised which the
supreme court will declare constitu-
tional.
In my judgment, however, the in
heritance tax is both a far better
method of taxation, and far more i'm
portant for the purpose have in view
the purpose of having the swollen
fortunes of the country bear in pro-
portion to their size a constantly in
creasing burden of taxation. These
fortunes exist solely because of the
protection given the owners by the
public. They are a constant source
of care and anxiety to the public and
it is eminently just that they should
be forced to pay heavily for the pro-
lection given them. 1t is, of course
elementary that the nation has the
absolute right to decide as to the terms
upon which any man shall receive a
bequest or devise from another. We
have repeatedly placed such laws on
our own statute books, and they have
repeatedly been declared constitution
al by the courts. I believe that the
tax should contain the progressive
principle Whatever any individual
receives whether by gift bequest or
devise, in life or in death, should. af-
ter a certain amount is reached, be
increasingly burdened; and the rate
of taxation should be increased in pro-
portion to the remoteness of blood of
the man receiving from the man Civ
ing or devising. The principle of this
progressive taxation of inheritances
has not only been uthoritatiVely rec
cognized by the legislation of congress,
but it is now unequivocally adopted in
the leading civilized nations of the
world-in, for instance. Great Britain
France and Germany Switzerland
led off with the imposition of high pro-
gressive rates Great Britain was the
first of the great nations to follow suit
and within the last few years both
France and Germany have adoDted
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 millions
Of 711l sy7 IT1n