al by
exhibiting it to the gaze of the multitude in such monstrous and
grotesque proportions. In any case, says "X," "it is to the true
interest of the multimillionaires themselves to join those who are free
from envy in trying to remove the rapidly growing dissatisfaction with
their continued possession of these vast sums of money."

Now, though "X" hints that some of the fortunes in question may be open
to further reprehension, on the ground that they have been acquired
dishonestly, he by no means maintains that this opprobrium attaches
itself to the great majority of them. On the contrary, he admits that
the typical huge fortunes of America are based on the productive
activities of the remarkable men who have amassed them. The talents of
such men, he says, are essential to the prosperity of the country, and
it is necessary to stimulate such men to develop their talents to the
utmost by allowing them to derive for themselves some special reward for
their use of them; but he contends that the rewards which they are at
present permitted to appropriate are needlessly and dangerously
excessive, and ought therefore to be limited. But limited by what means?
It is his answer to this question that here alone concerns us.

The means, he says, by which these rewards may be limited are ready to
hand, and can be applied with the utmost ease. They are provided by the
democratic Constitution of the United States of America. "No one can
doubt, for example," he goes on to observe, "that, if the majority of
the voters of the State of New York chose to elect a governor of their
own way of thinking, they could readily enact a progressive taxation of
incomes which would limit every citizen of New York State to such income
as the majority of voters considers sufficient for him. And it would be
particularly easy," adds the writer, "to alienate the property of every
man at death, for it is only necessary to repeal the statutes now
authorising the descent of such property to the heirs and legatees of
the decedent." Here, then, according to "X," is an obvious way out of
the difficulty, the feasibility of which no one can doubt. A certain
minority of the citizens render services essential to the majority; but
these advantages are accompanied by a corresponding drawback. The
majority, by the simple use of their sovereign power as legislators, can
retain the former and get rid of the latter. The remedy is in their own
hands.

It would be diff