, thirty-five states had
similar legislation.

=Taxation and Great Fortunes.=--As a part of the campaign waged against
poverty by reformers there came a demand for heavy taxes upon great
fortunes, particularly taxes upon inheritances or estates passing to
heirs on the decease of the owners. Roosevelt was an ardent champion of
this type of taxation and dwelt upon it at length in his message to
Congress in 1907. "Such a tax," he said, "would help to preserve a
measurable equality of opportunity for the people of the generations
growing to manhood.... Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out:
the fact that there are some respects in which men are obviously not
equal; but also to insist that there should be equality of self-respect
and of mutual respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at
least an approximate equality in the conditions under which each man
obtains the chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared with
his fellows."

The spirit of the new age was, therefore, one of reform, not of
revolution. It called for no evolutionary or utopian experiments, but
for the steady and progressive enactment of measures aimed at admitted
abuses and designed to accomplish tangible results in the name of public
welfare.

=General References=

J. Bryce, _The American Commonwealth_.

R.C. Brooks, _Corruption in American Life_.

E.A. Ross, _Changing America_.

P.L. Haworth, _America in Ferment_.

E.R.A. Seligman, _The Income Tax_.

W.Z. Ripley, _Railroads: Rates and Regulation_.

E.S. Bradford, _Commission Government in American Cities_.

H.R. Seager, _A Program of Social Reform_.

C. Zueblin, _American Municipal Progress_.

W.E. Walling, _Progressivism and After_.

_The American Year Book_ (an annual publication which contains reviews
of reform legislation).

=Research Topics=

="The Muckrakers."=--Paxson, _The New Nation_ (Riverside Series), pp.
309-323.

=Civil Service Reform.=--Beard, _American Government and Politics_ (3d
ed.), pp. 222-230; Ogg, _National Progress_ (American Nation Series),
pp. 135-142.

=Direct Government.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp. 461-473; Ogg,
pp. 160-166.

=Popular Election of Senators.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp.
241-244; Ogg, pp. 149-150.

=Party Methods.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp. 656-672.

=Ballot Reform.=--Beard, _American Government_, pp. 672-705.

=Social and Economic Legislation.=--Beard, _American Government_, p