When leading Democratic party newspapers, like the New York _World_, openly proclaim the necessity of such laws, it is useless to hesitate in meeting frankly the causes that led to the demand of the people for such legislation as a “Graded Income Tax.” Since part of this volume was put in type, an American citizen has died, leaving an estate of $70,000,000, which tremendous amount consisted almost entirely of personal property, upon which practically no taxes were paid. This almost countless mass of the wealth of the nation is held entirely by the descendants of Jay Gould. Not one dollar was bequeathed to one single object of charity. Not one poor man calls to mind the name of Jay Gould with gratitude. The common, plain people of America have no desire to rob the children of Jay Gould of that $70,000,000. “Enjoy that great fortune in peace and safety,” the people say to the Goulds; but the people also add this: “We have now an opportunity to judge of the supreme selfishness and absence of charity in the hearts of the millionaires. As an object lesson, Jay Gould’s will is valuable. In future give us a Graded Income Tax, and prevent the vast accumulation of wealth in the hands of the selfish and uncharitable.” +-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber’s note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+