The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-01-02
Have You Made Your VIII?

Mt people are accustomed to con-
slider county courts prosaic. Dealing
with the affairs of dead men is not
what might be called "highly excit-
ing,' but they are highly necessary
and the county courts are most i'm
portant. Over in the Municipal Court
ana up in the Circuit Court one ex-
poets to find the usual amount of
tragedy-the usual amount Of blood
stained evidence Of crime, but people
do not usually look for it among the
papers of the Probate Court.
1t is there just the same. Tragedy
stalks weekly and daily in the musty
records of the County Court. Women
are sentenced to lives of misery and
hard work and the chances which are
due to children are often taken away
from them. The County Court is look
ed upon by a lot of people as neces-
sary evil. Something that is neces-
sary to guarantee the proper descent
of real estate from father to son and
on down the line with view Of keep
inc the real estate books of the county
free of error. The idea of human in
terest rarely enters into its proceed
ings. 1T is only the judge Of the court
and few attorneys who know the
story of the tragedies which are en-
acted in the court.
Most men don't like to think about
dying. They are too busy thinking
about living an they regard as a
"crepe hanger any man who insists
that Ymen are born to die. Of
course they know all about the natur u
ending of every life, but the average
man does not sit down and look at
that normal end of life carefully and
thoughtfully. He figures out that the
state has made laws which will take
care of his estate and he need not
Very about it.
Tt is just this reason tha tragedies
are enacted in the County Court.
Every man should make will, every
woman should make a will, every young
man and woman should make will y
Judge Taylor said the other day The
man who dies without making a will
does not do the fair thing by the wife
who has stood by him or the children
to whom he owes as much after death
as he does in life. True enough, the
laws of the state will divide his prop
erty for him, but the laws Of the state
are often unfair. They often place
hardships on patient women and inno-
cent children which prove a handicap
to the enjoyment of life.
Making q will is not an expensive
matter, it is not a matter that viii
take a great deal of time. The aver
age will can be made in an hour at an
expense of less than five dollar bill.
1T may follow exactly the lines which
the state would follow in dividing the
estate still make it easier for the
court and for the people who are to
benefit by the division Of the estate.
The pa4t of the widow under the law
is often decidedly embarrassing. Men
bring comfort to their wives during
life; they make possible the education
of their children and then die without
q will and leave their property tied up
so that it is impossible for their
widow to live decently or their child
rem to have the educational advantages
that they are entitled to- Most guar
dians of children take little interest in
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reports at stated or unstated Intervals
but the real human interest whirn
should 90 into the development of the
child iS lost in dollars and cents con-
sideration of the disposal of the prop
erty The man who can entrust O
woman to raise his children should be
willing to trust her with the disposal
of their property until they become Of
age. The man who carefully sits down
and makes will gives this widow
some power to live decently and to
properly care for his children. 1t is
not wholly to the interest Of the
women and the children. 1t is mat
ter of interest to society that these
matters be carried out with view of
giving the child chance. Putting
property in trust and putting all sorts
of safeguards about it, is not barred
when a man makes viii. Rather
that privilege is extended. Less than
forty per cent of the men who die in
Kenosha county provide for the proper
disposition of their estate. If you are
one of that big majority who have
never given this matter any thought
Go see your attorney and tell him TO
make a viii for you. Start the new
year by being as fair and thoughtful
of those dependent on you after you are
gone as when you are with them.
Arp1inc a,d Naxy;ac