Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-02-15
nv wllL OR BY ,NHERIrAi cs TAX?

BY WILL OR BY iNHERITAF CS TAX?
The will of Mrs. E. S. Cochran of
Workers. n. Y, provides for the pay
ment by her executors of $1,000 be-
quest to each of the employees in a car
net mill whence much of her fortune
had been drawn. As there are about
800 to be thus benefited the entire be-
quest amounts to about 100000. When
Mrs. Coehran's brother Warren b.
Smith, died few years ago he left
handsome legacies to the elder en-
ployes of this factory. which was re-
sopsibie for his wealth also, so that
the eldest among the men have twice
been given substantial recognition OF
their service in the employ and inter-
ests of the Smith family
Every 'one will recognize the generos-
ity of these requests. Most people VIII
conclude that when men have spent
twenty years orr more in continuous
service and have assisted to make
half dozen millionaires out of the pro-
fits earned that the legacies were part
of an unequal distribution of the pro-
ceeds of production and that the men
had just moral claim on part OF the
accommodations. This in nowise detracts
from the generosity of the legators
Indeed it increases respect for their
characters as adding to generosity a
sense of justice and appreciation of the
rights of others rather uncommon in
this greedy age.
II we are to agree that some just
claim might have been urged by the
men whose accumulated years Of labor
wisely directed had built up the large
fortunes, what of the public from whom
the patronage comes and upon whom
the burden of protection falls while
large fortunes are being made, the
public that furnishes all the opportun-
tiles for all Accommodations of this kind.
The workers had been paid the wages
for which their contracts called. The
taxes had been paid The legacy came
to the workers after those who de-
vised had gone beyond the personal
ownership of money and factories and
lands and came justly because Of their
part in the creation of the property.
It was given away from heirs who had
never done anything and whose only
claim on the fortune was of consag-
Unity. The Smiths taxed the heirs for
the benefit of those more intimately
concerned in the building up of the es-
state. Why should not the laws take
from the accommodations of dead men a
certain share for public use away
from heirs who have had no part
in It's earning? Why shouldn't an es-
tate pay an inheritance tax to the state
which has pampered and protected its
prosperity and provided the opportun-
ity to create 1t?
In many Observation-Disclosures only
knows how many-the state is taking
only a part of which it has been de-
frauded. At any rate it is taking from
none the fruits of his own toll and Is
taking nothing to which it is not en-
titled.
Here was an estate taxed approx
emately 33 1-3 per cent by the will of it's
owner in order to satisfy the moral
claim legatees held against the decd
ents. The state is considing the claim
of the public at from per cent up to
according to the prosperity which its
people and its laws have afforded. If
there is anything wrong with the pro-
posed law in Iowa it is that the per-
.centage proposed to be reclaimed is too
low. The Inheritance tax is just and
will receive more and more particular
attention as the generations pass and
the percentage will be raised in time
to the limitation of greed and as a PEN
atty to be imposed on men who spend
their lives in the pursuit of immense
fortunes without thought of the public
except to withhold from it it's just dues.