The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-01-25
IDLE i: RI. RICH \. . !
:. !. ARE WELL F:LAYE |:
By Professor Edward A. Ross Of
the University of Wis
consin. - .- e
Denounces Conditions. Permitting
the Accumulation of Big
."% Fortunes.

Cu1Cd8O, jan. .GG.---AdT&G- .>1OTLuue5
were denounced and means Of pre-
| venting their accumulation and of
! bringing about their disintegration
advocated by Prof Edward A. Ross of
the University of Wisconsin in an ad-
dress to the City club Of Chicago at
luncheon yesterday afternoon.
A graduated inheritance tax was
! proposed to accomplish the latter
, desideratum, and legislation of sew
eral kinds-state, local and federal
suggested as calculated to attain the
conditions necessary to the former.
Among these were mentioned laws
| tC:
Protect small investors from plum
dering insiders.
Regulate stock and bond issues by
the states.
Withdraw from general sale the
government coal and oil lands and
thus prevent the mQnopolization of
these products.
Establish government. savings
banks
Abolish the customary brutal trust
methods
Prof Ross discussed at length and
In detail the debauching and corrupt
ing effect of large fortunes upon their
possessors, upon the public. and upon
the state, and defended the right Of
the public as represented by the gov
eminent to control that to which 1t
had given rise.
Demands Uniform Moral Code.
In proportion as riches and rich
men are honored in the state, virtues
ard the virtuous are looked down
upon.' said the professor. Especially
is this the case when it is even as
sumed that man. who is successful
in amassing great wealth is governed
by a different moral code from the
rest of humanity. A public man
spoke not long ago of that higher law
which great interests have the right
to command Is this democracy? A
certain lawyer recently said Of Mr..
Hartman: He moves in higher
realm into which we may not enter
Is this the spirit of America?
Mr.. Rockefeller, Jr., has defended
his fathers tactics by implication by
telling us that the most beautiful and
most perfect American beauty rose
can be produced by pinching back
relentlessly the smaller; buds, by
which he would have us understand
that the American millionaire in al
his beauty and fragrance can be pro
duced only by: pinching back relent
lessly the smaller dealers and bust
ness men. These views: are danger
Gus to. the republic: .. s~sssssr ~: 'a:54.
:~.asays Idle Rich Are DangerousI:: y
IAN idle, parasitic class In Fan,
community, is .detriment to-. 1T
whether it is composed of million
aires or of hobos The greater dan
ger lies in the former class, however
because, while people look" down OF
the hobo, they are inclined to look vi
to the wealthy parasites. In emula
ton of them honest methods of get
ting a living are deprecated and idle
ness is exalted. ... -.
. BESIDE this, the method of life o
the enormously rich tend to corrup
! ! their blood and produce degenerates
And these men, even though they ar
what they are and are. obviously sc
are able to find women to mate wit
them and thus raise up more dege1
crates. The old saying Of three ger
erations from shirtsleeves to shir
| sleeves is no longer true, It was tru
back in the 4Oc, before our million
aires learned to take care of thei
fortunes and to perpetuate their fan
lilies, but it is not true now in thi
country any more than it has bee
true in Europe.
1T is foolish to say that the -go7
eminent should be an idle onlooke
at the struggle for wealth. The go
eminent takes, and always has take
! a part in the struggle, and without til
, government these great: fortune
would be an impossibility. Fortune
owe their existence to the protectio
: of the physical might 'of organize
society"