Social problems -- United States; United States -- Politics and government; United States -- Social conditions
Let me, in closing, put my position in a nutshell. When I say that I am
for the square deal, I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under
the present rules of the game, but that I stand for having these rules
changed so as to work for a more substantial equality of opportunity and
of reward for equally good service. So far as possible, the reward
should be based upon service; and this necessarily implies that where a
man renders us service in return for the fortune he receives, he has the
right to receive it only on terms just to the whole people. For this
reason there should be a heavily progressive National inheritance tax on
big fortunes. The really big fortune, by the mere fact of its size,
acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree
from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. A heavily
progressive inheritance tax on all such fortunes (heaviest on absentees)
has the good qualities of an income tax, without its drawbacks; it is
far more beneficial to the community at large, and far less burdensome
to private individuals, as well as far more easily collected. A
moderate, but progressive, income tax, carefully devised to fall
genuinely on those who ought to pay, would, I believe, be a good thing;
but a heavy and heavily progressive inheritance tax on great fortunes
would be a far better thing.
I have tried to set before you my creed. I believe in property rights,
but I believe in them as adjuncts to, and not as substitutes for, human
rights. I believe that normally the rights of property coincide with the
rights of man; but where they do not, then the rights of man must be put
above the rights of property. I believe in shaping the ends of
government to protect property; but wherever the alternative must be
faced, I am for man and not for property. I am far from underestimating
the importance of dividends, but I rank dividends below human character.
I know well that if there is not sufficient prosperity the people will
in the end rebel against any system, no matter how exalted morally; and
reformers must not bring upon the people permanent economic ruin, or the
reforms themselves will go down in the ruin. But we must be ready to
face any temporary disaster—whether or not brought on by those who will
war against us to the knife—if only through such disaster can we attain
our goal. And those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that
ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our National life brings us
nothing whatever but a swollen and badly distributed material
prosperity. In other words, I feel that material interests are chiefly
good, not in themselves, but as an indispensable foundation upon which
we should build a higher superstructure, a superstructure without which
the foundation becomes worthless. Therefore I believe that the destinies
of this country should be shaped primarily by moral forces, and by
material forces only as they are subordinated to these moral forces. I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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