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Vol. XIV.
LINCOLN, NEB , APRIL 9t 1903.
No. 46.
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I"
KENRY GEORGE EDITION .
JTssaeof Hay 14 to be Wholly Daroted to
j the Sinfle Tax Phllosophy-A :
Symposium
The Independent is not inclined to
adopt the modern fad of issuing a
multitude of "special1 editions,". bu
after serious consideration the follow
ing, program has been decided upon:
In view of the large percentage of
single taxers and socialists ("scien
tific," state, Fabian, sentimental,
Christian and other brands, includ
ing : "kangaroos") .who read The In
dependent, the editor announces that
the issue of May 14, 1903, to be known
as the "Henry George Edition,", will
be devoted exclusively to a presenta
: tion of the single tax philosophy a
symposium of articles by eminent sin
gle taxers and those more humble.
Limited only by the amount of space,
the j columns will , be 1 open to every
man who believes that the present
unjust and inequitable distribution of '
- wealth is caused by private owner
ship of land and that it can be recti?
ified by taking ground rent or eco
nomic rent in lieu o all other forms
cf taxation. V ,
Four weeks later, a part or all of
the edition of June 11, 1903, will be de
voted to those who care to reply to or
criticise the claims made in the Henry
George Edition. And at a still later
date (probably in July) the "Karl
Mark Edition" will give the "scien
tific" socialists an opportunity to pre
sent their side of the question to read
ers of The Independent, followed, as
in case of the single taxers, with a re
view and criticism.
The ' number of pages in the Henry
George Edition will depend upon the
single taxers themselves.' Sample co
pies of the edition will be mailed
either in bundles or in single wrap
pers to lists of individuals, at $1.00
per hundred. If a total of ten thou
sand copies be ordered all told, the
paper will be increased to 24 pages;
otherwise, the regular 16 pages., wul
be given. . ' '- . '
It is desired that a cut of the great
Bingle taxer be given on the first
page, together with a brief sketch of
bis life. Following . this a concise
statement of the single tax philosophy.
The following are mere suggestions
of sub-topics to which different -single
taxers might devote a little space:
Wealth and Capital.v
What Is "Land"? .
Is Land Wealth or Capital?
Economic Rent.
Did God Ordain the Single Tax?
The Physiocrats.
Mistakes of Adam Smith.
Mistakes of Ricardo. .
Mistakes of Bohm Bawerk.
Mistakes of Marx.
Mistakes of Malthus.
The Wage Fund. -
Benefit to the Propertyless Man. .
How It Will Affect
(a) The Farmer.
(b) The Miner.
""(c) The Manufacturer.
(d) The Transporter.
(e) The Banker. .
(i1) The Professional,
(g) The Wage Laborer.
(k) The Bondholder and Idler.
Will It Produce Enough Revenues? ,
Won't It Produce Too Much Revenues?
Kow Should It Be Divided National,
State, County, etc.?
Single Tax and Socialism Where Do
They Diffci?
Is Land -a Natural Monopoly?
Railroads Under the Single Tax How
Operated? '
Where Draw the Line Between Pri
vate and Public Ownership?
Ethics of the Single Tax. '
Exchangeability and Value Which
Cause and Which Effect?
The Central Law of Political Econ
omy. The Philosophy of Selfishness Did
George Err?
Egoism and Altruism.
Circulating Medium Who Would
Furnish It?
The Condition 1 recedent.
Difficulties and Injustices.
Is It the "Natural' Tax Or Simply
the Most Equitable?
Bibliography.
Sing'e Tax Organizations.
These are merely suggestive, writ
ten at random without attempt at ra
tional classification. The editor will
be thankful for suggestions as to sub
topics and names of persons peculiar
ly fitted for writing upon them. To
their credit be it &aid. almost every
single taxer writes and talks well and
all the editor wishes to avoid is hav
ing too many write upon practically
the same point.
The editor needs a week's rest How
many single taxers can he count en to
"spell" him? .
THE COAL TRUST
1U Position Mad Much ftrangar by tho
Decision of Roosevelt's Arbitration
. , Commission
The fact is just beginning .to dawn
upon a few editors that the coal trust
is now in a stronger position than
ever before and can continue to tax
the people millions of dollars each
year with perfect impunity. The com
mission refused to tako intoconsid
eration the question that the trust
was an illegal organization and ex
isted in direct violation of the laws
and constitution of the state of Penn
sylvania and the laws of congress, and
by that course gave the trust semi
official authority which it never had
before. - :
Persons who suppose that the an
thracite coal trust will bear the brunt
of the 10 per cent advance in the
wages of workmen recommended by
the Roosevelt commission might as
well revise their conclusion. The re
duction of 50 cents a ton in anthracite
coal prices beginning with April will
still leave the price 50 cents a ton
above the schedule one year ago.
When the strike began in May, 1902,
the average cost of labor to produce a
ton of coal was $1.38. The 10 percent
increase in wages awarded by the
strike commission will amount to a
little less than 14 cents a ton. As
against this increase of 14 cents in
the cost of the production of coal the
anthracite roads are receiving 50 cents
a ton extra for all the coal sold. This
gnes the roads a profit of 36 cents af
tei allowing for tha increased wages.
It-is believedH&ftt 4ha.i output Tf an
thracite coal this year will amount to
60,000,000 tons. The increased profit
of 36 cents a ton will, therefore, mean
an increased revenue of $21,600;000.
The anthracite coal roads., are clearly
in the strongest financial position they
have occupied for years.
The absurdity of the republican
claim that the authorities in that, par
ty intend to in any way interfere with
the trusts, is made - manifest by the
way Baer and the coal trust has been
strengthened, and it is' the most
wicked and inhuman of all the trusts.
As we look back upon the havoc, mis
ery and death that it has caused dur
ing the last winter and then reflect
that it is not only not to be inter
fered with, but fostered and built up,
we may well forecast the treatment
that the other trusts will get at the
hands of the same party. The politi
cal play in congress at "trust busting"
will deceive no man who has common
sense.
VIRILE VAN VORHIS
Mr. Hartley Expresses His Appreciation
of Tbe Independent and Its
Contributors
Editor Independent: As your col
umns were recently, burdened with a
rather hastily penned criticism from
me, let me encumber them now with
p. well-considered compliment.
I want to express just one reader's
sincere appreciation of the excellence
of the communications you publish oc
casionally from Flavius Van Vorhis
of Indianapolis, In J. That writer is
among the clearest and strongest I
ever read, and handles his subjects
with a thoroughness that is very sat
isfying, and yet with a brevity most
remarkable when the scope and pur
pose of each article is considered.
The best evidence of this superior
ity is, that after reading any one of
the Van Vorhia communications the
average reader, is immediately and
clearly conscious of a fuller under
standing of the subject handled than
he had before. , .
So keen, careful, 'competent and
conscientious a writer on financial
subjects ought to be on the editorial
staff of some such great metropolitan
daily as the New York Journal. Just
suh a man is needed there to offset
tilwork always dcing by the finan
cial writers on the other great dall
ies. Most of them apparently draw
their inspiration and their Informa
tion from that city's banking and
bond speculating centers, and they
write like oracles.
You can't blame them much, either,
1 .."t l Imnft.iiAAt V A
lUt BSBU1U1115 OU UlUVU.llUpVlUIUVI,, VVl
cause, every time these mouth-pieces
of the country's "great financiers"!
take snuff all the wise guys of the
country press immediately prepare , to
sneeze in unison, , ' , ! : .Ui
But if, whenever they ; had built,
up some tremendous financial fiction,'
with which to mystify the little bus
iness man, some trenchant writer: like
Van Vorhis could plunk down the
plain, naked facts directly, opposite
the effect would be, at least, extremely;
interesting. . , ?
Here is a specimen of the kind of
work I refer! to, which I think it well
worth your time and space to repro
duce:' ' ' 1 '- ; t ' . " ;
"We have had one deception after'
another concerning the purposes of
proposed legislation ever since, the
enactment of the bank law in the
60's. Now we are told that one of the
purposes of the Fowler bill Is to put
a certain 'burden of redemption' upon
the national banks. It is a most
absurd and ridiculous proposition. The
whole national combination could not
stand alone , ten days, if the assist
ance' of government money and the
national credit was taken away from
it. To put any kind of government
duty upon these banks can only re-,
suit in more exertion of government'
powers to hold them up. It has been
quite a favorite assertion from those
who repeat, without understanding,
what bankers say, that the govern
ment should keep out of the banking
business. . : : .-. ,
"Nevertheless, the eastern banking
interests have, for forty years or more :
been scheming to place upon . the
shoulders of the government, the re
sponsibility and burden of holding up
these banks, and thus holding; off a
financial catastrophe, , i 1 ; I ! 1 i
"The interests that control. the na
tional bank combine demand that the
deposit loans from the government
shall not be decreased,, and they have
manipulated the situation until . Mr.
Shaw dare not decrease them. To do
so would precipitate a financial panc.
"While the bank situation is such
that it is essential to the safety of
many of them that these deposit loans
shall be continually increased, this
can only Tie done by continuing to
take out of the pockets of the people,
by- duties on Imports, . an amount
largely in excess of what is required by
the legitimate expenses of the govern
ment Without such continuation of
import duties, Mr. Shaw would be
compelled to cease to Increase such
loans. . He might be required to de
crease those already made. The gov
ernment's responsibility for the na
tional banks continually increases. In
stead of getting 'out of the banking
business' we are becoming each year
more and more involved in It We
are furnishing a large part of the cap
ital and all the credit. The entire
profits go to the banking corporations,
while the nation receives not one dol
lar in either profit or interest"
I thank The Independent for the
pleasure of reading it. "
JAMES BARTLEY. :
Amsterdam, N. Y.
There seems to have been a new
deal down in New Jersey. Mr. A. J.
Casatt, president of the Pennsylvania
railroad, and several other prominent
men, have been indicted for man
slaughter for the killing of half a
dozen high school girls in a railroad
and street - car accident Heretofore
the policy has been to indict some
poor motorman, engineer or conductor
who was acting under orders and" let
the men who were really responsible
go.
The crown prince of Siam seems to
be a full-fledged Darwinian. He rays
that all kinds of religion will be wel
come 10 Siam because the fittest will
survive. Siam will give a fair field
and no favors and raise the motto:
"Let the best religion win."
Silver got up to 49 5-8 the other
day. That is near enough the 50-cent
mark' to make The Independent's pre
diction a pretty fair one.
THE VALUE OF MONEY
"... 4 - - ' ;
; i a - neMawa-' rr..--- --?' .-'.:',..
rourtb Article on tba Subject by Mr. Vfs
. : , BartFree Coinss;e Wron
I CHAPTER IV. L
Editor Independent: Evil Is the
day1 for a nation ; when its mints are
opened to ,''t reel : coinage. I cannot,
however, say that' it was evil for Eng
land In 1666, because, at that time,
there was a very foolish king on the
throne;; and, ; to coin the money of
the realm, ' was one of his preroga
tives. His ancestors had done it from
time Jmmemorlal, -l and Charles II.
could have continued It without op-
position; There was no outcry against'
him on this account He therefore
gave up this .high prerogative, simply
because he was requested so to do by
a few money lenders who wanted to
get control of the volume of money,
and, thereby, be able to control prices.
It was a great i- privilege; and it is
probable that they paid Charles well
for . it. He was not fool enough to
give anything away for nothing. But '
he was fool - enough to squander an
enormuua amuuui ul uiuuc; uu uumci
ous mistresses 'and his illegitimate
children.1 It 1$ said; for instance, that
the ! yearly income of ' the , Duchess .of
Portsmouth, at his cost, was $200,
000, and that in one year she re
ceived no less than $680,000; that a
caricature, published in Holland, apt
ly represented him as standing be
tween two women, with empty pockets
hanging out (See Student's History
of England, by Gardiner; p. 603.)
But this was not all.
Ori or about the 2nd day! of Jan
nary, 1672, he had in his exchequer
$7,000,000 lent' to him by the gold
smiths, who, iq those days, acted as
bankers. He refitsed to pay the prin
cipal and arbitrarily diminished the
interest frpm 12 to 6, per cent, which
was a very low "rate of interest in
those times. Whether it was low or
high, Charles had no right to dimin
ish the : interest. ' It was his busi-riess--aa44uAyuta,.j)ay.-what
he owed,
or else' pay!the Interest agreed upon.
If tie money lenders were cornering
the money market, which no historian
has charged, it was his own fault, be
cause he had, only six years before,
given the bullion dealers and. bank
ers control over the volume of money
by opening the mint to free coinage
of gold and silver. These men had
all the gold and silver in the king
dom, and to give them the power to
coin these metals and convert then
into money, was equal to giving them
power to make all the money.
But whatever the disadvantages
were of free coinage to the people
it was not .an evil thing for England
could not possibly do as much harm
as Charles II. could. He was alto
gether too foolish a man to be trusted
with any power, as the robbery of the
goldsmiths, in 1672, proved. He bank
rupted all the bankers, which was as
great a calamity to a nation then as it
is now when all the banks are obliged J
to close their doore to their custom
ers. It means no money, no currency, ,
no circulating medium, distress gen
erally. It is almost a wonder that .
Charles did not lose his head on the
same block his father had lost his,
eleven years before. Charles II. came
to the throne in 1C60, and in six years ,
from that time threw away, the most,
valuable franchise or monopoly a
king, ever enjoy ediind, in six years .
more, ho robbed those of whom he had '
borrowed seven millions of dollars
a sum that represented vastly more .
wealth; then than now and spent it
on a lot of worthless women.
In 1666, when free coinage first
went into operation in England, the ,
coins of the realm were crowns, half
crowns and shillings, besides some
copper pence and a gold coin called
a guinea. . The . crowns, half-crowns
and shillings were silver pieces, and
constituted the money of the country ,
almost entirely. There was very lit
tle gold coin at this time, although
the law of "free" coinage conferred
upon those who had gold the right to
take it to the mint to be coined into
guineas. A crown was a quarter of' a
pound sterling or five shillings. It
was so-called, because the image of a
crown was stamped upon it, and the
image was stamped to show that it
was the money of a sovereign king
of a sovereign nation; money always
having represented the sovereignty of
