been deemed fitting that the owner should have the liberty--with
certain restrictions--of dictating the disposal of his property after his
death, and also that, unless alienated by his will (and in some countries
his will notwithstanding), his property should pass to his family or his
nearest kindred. It is believed that it would discourage industry and
enfeeble enterprise were their earnings to be treated as public property
on the death of the owner; and that, on the other hand, men are most
surely trained to and preserved in habits of diligence and thrift, either
by the power of directing the disposal of their property after death, or
by the certainty that they can thereby benefit those whom they hold in the
dearest regard. Laws with reference to wills and to the succession of
estates are not, then, limitations of the rights of private property, but
a directory as to what is deemed the best mode of disposing of such
property as from time to time accrues to the public.

*The law limits the right of property* by appropriating to public uses
such portions of it as are needed for the maintenance, convenience, and
well-being of the body politic. This is done, in the first place, by
taxation, which--in order to be just--must be equitable in its mode of
assessment, and not excessive in amount. As to the modes of assessment, it
is obvious that a system which lightens the burden upon the rich, and thus
presses the more heavily on the poor (as would be the case were a revenue
raised on the necessaries of life, while luxuries were left free), cannot
be justified. On the other hand, it may be maintained that the rate of
taxation might fairly increase with the amount of property; for a very
large proportion of the machinery of government is designed for the
protection of property, and the more property an individual has, the less
capable is he of protecting his various interests by his own personal
care, and the more is he in need of well-devised and faithfully executed
laws. Taxation excessive in amount is simply legalized theft. Sinecures,
supernumerary offices, needless and costly formalities in the transaction
of public business, journeys and festivities at the public charge,
buildings designed for ostentation rather than for use, have been so long
tolerated in the municipal, state, and national administrations, that they
may seem inseparable from our system of government; but they imply gross
dishonesty on the part of large num