Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-12
Los ANGELES nERALD SUNDAY MORNING. JANUARY T. 1908
SWOLLEN" FORTUNES

says Mr.. Bryan, receives a salary of
$4,000 per year. If a president were
elected at 35-the constitutional limit
and served until he was 75-fortv wears
he would earn only $1,000, 900; and yet
many times this amount has been made
in a day by corner in stocks or farm
produce.
If a railroad or insurance president
receives 100000 a year we call it a big
salary, and yet If such an official were
elected at 21 and served for fifty years
he would only receive $4,000, ,OOo-less
than a railroad president can make in
day by simply issuing a new block of
watered stock to himself or by selling
a branch line to his road.
If Adam had lived until now, and
saved $40 every day, his total savings
(without interesD would be less than
$25,OO0,O0O and yet one man has. by
controlling the price of oil, amassed a
fortune estimated at twenty times that
amount. Rockefellers annual income
is probably equal to the average annual
salary paid to 100000 school teachers.
Does he give to society a service equal
to the service rendered by the teach
ers? If not, either he is overpaid, or
the teachers are underpaid."
Mr.. Bryan offers several suggestions
as to the manner in which the nation
should deal with these Swollen" for
tunes. He recommends, among other
things, a heavy and increasing inher-
itance tax, which, though justified by
present conditions, in his opinion can
hardly be defended as a permanent
policy. He also renews his suggestion
as to an income tax. But in the final
analysis, seeking the prevention rather
than the cure, he says that return TO
the Jeftersonian doctrine, Equal rights
to all and special privileges to none"
offers the practicable solution of the
problem Where unearned fortunes are
found, in nearly every case they rest
upon favors granted by the govern
ment, land in too many instances the
injustice has been aggravated by in
equalities in the tax law, so that the
very ones who owe their great wealth
to the generosity of the government
shirk their taxes and shift to the shoul-
dres of others the burdens which they
themselves should bear"
In the same periodical Senator Bever-
idge dismisses the income tax as beyond
consideration, it having been declared
unconstitutional by the supreme court
of the United States He argues in
favor of the employment of the inher-
itance tax as the remedy for fortunes
that are abnormally large, taking the
ground that inasmuch as the right of
inheritance is created exclusively by
law, the right of distribution is sim
ilarly created. A man holds a great
fortune simply because the law which
his fellow men have made is generous
enough to let him have it. In advo-
eating an inheritance tax law as the
true solution of the question he argues:
"The absurd argument that if con-
gress can take part of an Inheritance
it can take all has been answered by
the supreme court many times. There
are, perhaps. a hundred decisions which
hold that the possible abuse of a power
is no argument against it's existence;
and this is merely the plainest common
sense. Whoever is against the inher-
itance tax upon this ground must, by
the same reasoning and on the same
principle, be against representative
government altogether. The supreme
court has recently said that such an
argument involves in its ultimate
aspect the mere assertion that free and
representative government is a fail
ure.'"
Senator Beveridge believes that the
inheritance tax should be very low on
fortunes Immediately over Sc, 1000, 900, and
then progressively higher as they mount
upward, though never to the point of
annihilation. Taxation on the English,
German, French or Swiss plan would
yield, in America. he declares, enough
revenue to support our navy and build
a new battleship every year; or to
maintain our forest service; make and
keep our water highways navigable;
build all our public buildings; or to
prosecute the great policy of conserV-
ing our natural resources. And it would
keep swollen fortunes within the dan
ger line"
Unless the country adopts some meas
ure to prevent the accumulation of for
tunes unnecessarily large, Senator Bev
eridge warns us that Socialism is bound
to gain strength. He points out that
the average man of means probably las
no idea of how vigorous the Socialistic
propaganda is all over the world. He
finds advocates of extreme Socialism In
the most unexpected quarters-and they
are not the thoughtless. ignorant, saw
age persons they are generally repre-
sented as being. And in every instance
these Socialists, high or low, good or
bad, point to these mammoth modern
fortunes.
When an American congress shall
recognize the menace which Senator
Beveridge has seen, possibly we shall
have an inheritance tax law that is
equitable.