Now, how would you get at such
fortunes as that to which I have al
luded unless we favor a tax upon in
comes and inheritances? Through
out Europe, these sources of revenue
are tapped. The death-duties in
England run up to enormous
amounts; those in the State of New
York reach hundreds of thousands of
dollars per year. Why should the
Federal government be so tenderly
considerate of those who grow rich
under Federal protection and favor,
as not to compel them to even pay a
small percentage of their net profits
for the support of the government
from whose legislation they have
reaped such bountiful harvests?
It is impossible for me to compre
hend that kind of mental apparatus
which throws itself into an attitude
of antagonism when the proposition
is made to tax the net income of
these Northern and Eastern million
aires. I simply cannot comprehend
the kind of mind possessed by the
Southern man who rushes to the de
fence of Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mor
gan, and other plutocrats of that ilk,
when nothing more is proposed than
to take a small share of their net
profits as contributions toward the
support of the government which
they own, control and use as an asset
in their business.
The farmer bas to pay his taxes,
county, State and Federal, whether
there has been a profit in his year’s
business or not: the merchant has
to do the same thing. The mechanic,
the professional man, —every other
citizen has to pay his taxes, direct
and indirect, without the slightest re
gard to whether he is profitably em
ployed or not.
