this motive, and other motives often are more effective.  Many a man after gaining a competence continues to work for love of wealth and power in his own lifetime, as the miser continues to toil for love of gold.  When men without families die wealthy, when men not having the slightest interest in their nearest relatives labor till their dying days to amass wealth, it is evident that the right to bequeath property has little to do with their efforts.  Love of accumulation and love of power in these cases supply the motives.  A more limited liberty to dispose of property at death might still suffice, therefore, to call out the greater part of the efforts now made to accumulate property.

Sec. 4. #Effects of the right to inherit property#.  That the effects upon the receiver of the property are good is somewhat more doubtful.  It is true that children reared in families of large incomes would be great sufferers if plunged into poverty at the death of their parents.  There is much social justification for permitting families to maintain an accustomed standard of comfort.  Few would deny that provision by parents to provide education and opportunity for their children is commendable and desirable.  But the evil effects of waiting for dead men’s shoes are proverbial.  Many a boy’s greatest curse has been his father’s fortune.  Many a man of native ability waits idly for fortune to come and lets opportunities for self-help slip by unheeded.  The world often exclaims over the failure of the sons of noted men to achieve great things, for, despite confusing evidence, men still have faith in biologic heredity.  A too easy fortune saps ambition and relaxes energy; and thus rich men’s sons, if not most carefully and wisely trained, are often made paupers in spirit, while the self-made fathers think their boys have better opportunities than they themselves enjoyed.  The greater social loss is not the dissipated fortunes, but the ruined characters.  Andrew Carnegie said that it would be a good thing if every boy had to start in poverty and make his own way.  Cecil Rhodes recorded in his will his contempt for the idle, expectant heir.

Sec. 5. #Broader social effects of inheritance#.  Inheritance has good effects for the community insofar as it helps to secure efficient management of wealth.  If the son or relative has been in business with the deceased, there is a reason that he should inherit the property, and his succession to it makes the least disturbance to existing business conditions.  This consideration, however, has less weight as the corporate form of organization becomes well nigh universal in “big business.”  Every profligate son, every incompetent heir, is an argument against the inheritance of property.  It is to society’s interest that no able-bodied member should stand idle.  Every child should have presented to him the motive to use his powers in useful ways.  Moreover, many feel that the great fortunes now accumulating through