Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/50

 36 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

tried to explain to some of them that such measures in America were regarded as socialistic or communistic in their tendency they have thrown their heads back and indulged in a loud horselaugh. The idea that the bankers and merchants and manufacturers of Switzerland should be accused of communism seemed to them supremely ridiculous. As the wealthy Swiss look upon the men of their own class they are convinced that they are better able to pay taxes than are the men of less ample fortunes. It seems to them perfectly natural and right that their superior ability should be duly recognized in the system of direct taxation. It would be difficult to make Americans believe this ; but it would be more difficult to cause the Swiss to understand our American plutocracy. The wealthy Swiss, who thirty years ago determined to establish a system of taxa- tion such as I have described, had had actual experience of two radically different kinds of government. Until 1848 they and their class had ruled Switzerland for three hundred years. Then there was a decade or two during which this class fared badly at the elections. The cynic, of course, is sure to say that they took the Democratic name and bound heavy burdens upon themselves for mere prudential reasons to avoid a worse fate, and the cynic may be correct as to the matter of ancient his- tory ; but thirty years of this sort of acting has important con- sequences. At any rate there can be no doubt that now the wealthy classes in Switzerland accept as just and right the pay- ing of a higher rate of taxation than the less wealthy.

I met a lawyer in Geneva who had lived in New York City, who has a brother now practicing law in New York. A large part of the business of this lawyer is for Ameri- cans. He has for twenty years been the attorney for the American Consul at Geneva, and has been the attorney for Americans having business interests in Geneva. His position has been such as to enable him to make comparisons between the two countries. He expressed the utmost astonishment at the dominance of the money power in America. He said it was incomprehensible to him how a country founded by such men