Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 January 1906 — Field’s Will a Great Disappointment. [ARTICLE]

Field’s Will a Great Disappointment.

The will of the late Marshall Field has just been made public. He has been much advertised as a public spirited, large minded matr r but his will shows him to havebeen a sordid worshiper of wealth, and not deserving of the unexampled honors that were paid to his memory. Out of his vast estate* of $100,000,000 to #150,000,000, only a little more than a paltry #8,000,000 is given to any distinctly public and benevolent -purpose. This sum is given to the Field Museum, and very likely that gift would not have been made had not the purpose been behind it of honoring and perpetuating his own name. He does give a few asylums and hospitals #25,000 each, but he set aside #50,000 for a cemetery lot for himself and #25,00 to maintain it. He does deserve some credit, however, for bequests to numerous old employes and distant But on the whole, the will strongly/ exemplifies the need of such ar graduated income tax as would hold in cheek the accumulation of such immense fortunes, and of such inheritance and gift taxes as would prevent them being disposed of ia such a selfish and narrow minded manner.