River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1919-02-06
Have You Made
Your Will :?
Items of Interest Concerning
Disposition of Property

usually tnOugnC. In an interview
with County Judge w. P. Knowles.
he emphasized the interest which
every man should have making his
Will, or at any rate considering well
the disposition of his property so
that it may work no great hardship.
Said the Judge: Dealing with the
affairs of dead men is not what might
be called highly exciting but it is
necessary that they be dealt with"
People do not look for tragedy in the
County Court, but it is there lust
the same, it stalks weekly and daily
in the musty records of the Court.
Women are sentenced to lives of
misery and hard work and chances
which are due to children are often
taken away from them. 1t is onlv
the Judge of the Court and a few
attorneys who know of the tragedies
which are enacted.
Most men do not like to think
about dying, they are too busy think
ing about living, and they regard as
a crepe hanger" any man who in
slsts that man was born to die"
OF course everyone knows all about
the natural ending of every life, but
the average man does not sit down
and look at the normal end of life
carefully and thoughtfully; he fig
ures out that the State has made
laws that will take care of his estate
and he need not worry about it.
Every person should consider we'll
the making of will; he should study
the laws of descent and be absolute
y sure that these laws are not going
to bring tragedy to those he loves.
The average man who dies with
out making a will does not do
the fair thing by his wife, who has
stood by him, and in many cases de-
prives the children to whom he owes
much. True enough, the laws of
the State will divide the property
for him, but the laws of the State
do not always apply fairly to every
condition of affairs; they often place
hardship on patient women and in
nocent children which proves a ham
dicap to the enjoyment of life.
The making of will is not an ex-
pensive matter, nor one that will
take great deal of time; it may fol-
low exactly the lines which the State
would follow in dividing the estate
and still make it easier for the Court
and for the people who are to
benefit by the division Of the estate.
The part of the widow in the law is
often decidedly important. Men
bring comfort to their wives during
life; they make possible the educa-
ton of their children, and then die
without will and leave their prop
erty tied up so that it is impossible
for the widow to live /decently or
their children to have the educa-
tional advantages to which they are
, entitled.
LAS a general proposition / should
think that a man who can entrust
woman to raise his children should
be willing to trust her with the dis
posal of their property at least until
! they become Of age. The man who
sits down and carefully makes will
which gives his widow some power
to live decently and to properly care
!. for his chilnren, not only does the
fair thing by his family, but benefits
society. It surely is not wholly to
the interest Of the women and child
rem, but it is a matter of interest to
society that these matters be carried
out with view of giving the child
chance. Putting property in trust
and putting all kinds of safeguards
around it is not barred when a man
makes a will. Rather that privilege
is extended. l dare say that less
than forty per cent of the men who
die in Pierce county provide for the
proper disposition of their estate,
and the best advice can give to- any
one of the big majority who have
never given this matter thought is
to see someone. competent to make a
will, advise with him and in the ma
iority of cases Will will be drawn.
To me it is simply a business propo-
sition. A man should be as fair and
thoughtful of the welfare of those
dependent upon him after he is gone
as he is while with them and in the
average case he cannot be that by
relying upon the laws of descent to
dispose Of his property.