ITEMS OF INTEREST April 26, 1913 Issue

ITEMS OF INTEREST

The Greenland bill, providing for pensions for indigent mothers, an administration measure, was passed in the Ohio House, and has the approval of Governor Cox. The vote in the House was: Yeas, 92 ; nays, 4. The hill makes provision for an annual tax levy of one tenth of a mill, which is expected to create a fund each year of not less than seven hundred thousand dollars for the carrying out of the mothers' pension plan. Destitute widows, women whose husbands are completely disabled, or have deserted them, or are serving prison sentences, are to be cared for under the provisions of the measure. Juvenile courts are to be authorized to pay such women fifteen dollars a month for a child under fourteen years of age, and seven dollars a month for each additional child under that age. The bill makes drastic changes in the juvenile code. Under the latter as amended, boys under fourteen are prohibited from selling chewing-gum or newspapers on the streets.

An inheritance tax bill introduced in the United States Senate proposes on estates of less than $5000, 1 per cent; from $5000 to $50,000, 2 per cent ; from $50,000 to $250,000, 5 per cent; from $250,000 to $750,000, 10 per cent; from $750,000 to $1,500,000, 15 per cent; from $1,500,000 to $3,000,000, 20 per cent; from $3,000,000 to $7,000,000, 25 per cent; from $7,000,000 to $15,000,000, 40 per cent; more than $15,000,000, 50 per cent. Such a law as this would make possible the gradual absorption by the federal government of all large fortunes in the United States, while the proposed income tax would tend to prevent the accumulation of such fortunes. The idea behind these proposals is that the accumulation of large estates shall be made, first, difficult, and then impossible.

Thomas R. Marshall, Vice-President of the United States, said at a recent dinner, that unless the tendency of certain men to accumulate vast fortunes was stopped, America might face socialism or paternalism. The temper of the American people regarding individuals who had amassed great wealth through special privilege under the high protective tariff had reached a point where it would no longer brook opposition, and he advised these individuals to go slow or the state might see fit to revoke the statute which made it possible for their fortunes to be handed down to their children. The Vice-President said that the "right to inherit and the right to devise" were not constitutional, but were mere privileges given by the state to its citizens.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

ITEMS OF INTEREST

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access