Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-08
Whv MilEonaires Should Welcome the Income

made in every part of the world. Let the cost
of living be reduced. And let the Government
derive It's revenue from those who can best af-
ford and who ought to be made to pay the cost
Of government.
And, If after that the Government has more
than It can use, let 1t become extravagant Ex-
travagant in serving the common good.
Extravaganza, indeedi
1t seems to me that It I'll becomes the holders
of present day swollen fortunes to talk of ex-
travagance. Their extravaganza is the shame
of modern civilization.
The extravaganza of the rich wantonly de-
stroys our forests, erodes our land, exhausts our
mines, adulterates our food stuffs, overworRs,
starves and destroys our workers, corrupts our
institutions and pliers the body polite.
We have in this country, as in other coun-
tries, the crying problem of unemployment.
Thousands are fighting for a chance to labor
that they may live without beggary and pauper-
ism. Let the nation levy an income and In
hertance tax, land then, if its treasury over
flows, let 1t solve the problem Of unemployment.
There is work to be done The forests must be
restored, the land must be saved from erosion,
the farmers from exploitation.
There are highways to be built Let the Gov
eminent, in it's extravaganza build network
of the finest highways in the world highways
that could be built according to some cohesive
and organic plan, a plan that would not only
make for utility, but beauty; highways that
would lead from somewhere to somewhere; in
tercounty roads that should merge into State
roads; State roads that should merge into
great national highway, stretched across the
continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. That
kind Of extravaganza would reclaim social dere-
licts, would end poverty and would diffuse pros
perity.
Let the Government become more extrava-
giant In Analysing and inspecting our foodstuffs
public with pure food. Let the Government
carry its extravaganza into all the ramifications
of every department of every industry, there to
guard and protect the limbs and the lives of the
workers. Let 1t completely suppress child labor
and become a spendthrift in facilitating the de-
velopment of the children Of the nation into
robust, useful and joyful men and women. Let
1t squander its money on system of national
parks that shall beautify and purify the entire
country If the legitimate function of govern
ment Is to keep the peace and protect life as
well property, then let the Government do
that which will make the people prosperous, for
the only way to keep the peace is to end over
work and starvation, and the only way to keep
the people prosperous is to give all the people
work to do all the time. Private enterprise has
failed In this ANONYMOUSLY. The time has come
for the Government to take hand and if this
be unconstitutional then let the people bring
pressure to bear upon the courts that shall make
it constitutional Whatsoever is to the public
welfare ought always to be constitutional
And now, in conclusion, let me say to you
who are so generous in endowing institutions OF
mercy, education and science, that you ought to
be the very first to advocate graduated income
and inheritance tax, and thereby endow the ma
ton In the interests of the entire population