THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT.
MAY 7, 19 05.
BOSS
Stiffened GOLD Y
VJatch Cases
are guaranteed for 23 years.' Few
solid gold cases will last that
lone without wearing too tbin.
to safely protect" tbe work. If
you want a watch cnse for pro
tection, durability' and beauty.
nCt. tu nvm iui tut) Key
stone trade-mark tamred
inside. Bend for booklet.
stone trade-mark stamped ' I
a r Inside. Send for booklet. B
J " THE KEYSTONE "
V V WATCH CASE CO.
Philadelphia. S
felt in the next election for city and
legislature. I will do the work if you
will help me. , Please let me hear
from you by post card."
Elbert Hubbard will have much to
answer for in the great hereafter for
starting that Philistine magazine fad
though it may be that he will be
permitted to twang an untaxed, man
made golden harp on the golden
streets of the single-tax New Jerusa
lem. Who knows? John B. Howarth,
styling himself "Registrar," hailing
from Hubbardtown, alias East Aurora,
perpetrates "What's The Use?" a
periodical published at East Aurora,
New York, the first' of every month,
for the Society for the Propagation of
Decency. Annual dues to all who do
not wish tov become life members is
50 cents." Howarth Is a disciple of
Henry George, r. and his "Barking tip
the Wrong Tree," in the April num
ber, is a gem on the trust question.
"What's The Use?" is printed on the
kind of paper the agents of the beef
trust use in wrapping up porter
house speaks 30 pages and cover
bearing the motto: "-There is plenty
of room at the top; what we want
is more room at the bottom."
Better send for 25, 50, or 100 copies
of the Henry George Edition. Re
member we go to press next Thursday
(May 14). So send your list as early
as. possible. , ',, :- r;-
A BOON TO FARMERS.?
Editor Independent: I-am. .much
pleased to learn that you are to open
your columns to the discussion of the
tax question, more especially the sin
gle tax proposition. '
If farmers would discuss the ques
tion of taxation, without regard to it3
bearing upon party prospects, they
would soon see that a proper settle
ment of the taxation problem would
do more to make farming profitable
than all other reforms besides.
When it is known by the majority
of the farmers that they own les3
than 10 per cent of the wealth of the
country and pay 50 per cent of the
taxes, they will look about to find
remedy. Under the single tax, their
land being the least valuable, would
be taxed accordingly, thus lifting the
burdens from their shoulders and put
ting them on the shoulders of those
the best able to bear them, and who
monopolize the most valuable land
This would be just and the farmers
should do it without delay.
EDWARD QUINCY NORTON,
Editor "The Standard."
Daphne, Ala.
THE NATURAL SYSTEM.
Editor Independent: Herewith hand
you an article heretofore published in
our local paper. I do so at the In
stance of the writer of the enclosed
(Mr. Freeland) letter. I also do so
because I think and truly believe, af
ter much study, that the "George sys
tem of taxation" is the only natural
system, and 'f once adopted will revo
lutionize the world, socially, political
ly, morally and industrially.
To your noble statesman, tender my
respects. Mail a copy of your paper
, for one year. JOS. HALL.
Capitan, N. M.
. . v " in
NEBRASKA FARMER ANSWERED
Mr. Clark Answers The Nebraska Farmer's
Questions Auent the Single Tax
Editor Independent: Under cap
tion, "Willing to Be Convinced," a Mr.
-, a farmer who lives at
in the state of
has the hardi
hood to present some conundrums up
on which he, like the Springfield Re
publican, in last issue of The Inde
pendent, is "willing to be convinced,"
(against his, and its will) and the edi
tor of The Independent asks "Will
some single taxer please enlighten him
on these points. ; ; ...
Why, yes, as a single taxer I shall
be pleased to answer any Mr. Brown
Smith, Jones or other real person who
lives somewhere and has the courage
to ask his Question over his own prop
er signature and locates himself some
where lor identification, although tho
pretended dilemma of our Nebraska
"Farmer" has been fully explained and
his questions answered by no less a
personage than Henry George himself
in "Progress and Poverty," that can
be had of any general book store for
5uc in paper cover, or The Director of
the Independent School of Political
Economy by merely paying subsequent
postage to the ' next "farmer" that
is "willing to be convinced." In such
case he will get the "real thing," i. e.,
the doctrine, logic, argument, or what
else you may term it, but the "con
vincing" process, that is different. The
"farmer" has the knot end of the rope
in his own hands and stultification
over a non de plume or by Mr. Blank,
who lives nowhere, is so easy that,
like the Springfield Republican, whose
ipse dixit, "anent the address of Mr.
Fillebrown to the "landlords of Bos
ton," et al., has not only been an
swered time and time again, ad in
finitum, but fairly annihilated. Still,;
ever and anon he or "It,"-that soul
less thing, the -newspaper '"corpora
tion," comes back to the Teading pub
lic.. whenever it sees, the; present vie-;
ious, immoral, rotten system: of taxa-1
tion-get a hard rap such as men like
Mr. Fillebrown, et al., ari give it;
with their don Ms about' the "moral
feasibility " or '.'practicability" of the
project unless present holders are ful-?
ly "compensated.". Shades of immoral
inconsistency; "stultification stultified
and self-confessed at that Reading
the "farmer's" dilemma and questions
and the addenda of the article reciting
the lecture of Fillebrown under cap
tion, "Single Tax in Boston," issue of
Independent, April 30, suggests the
propriety of classifying such willing
converts together and killing two
birds with one stone, the only diffi
culty about it being that neither of
them, after being several times killed,
too dead to si.in "good, sneak up out of
the grave of stultification without, arm
or leg to stand on and swear they
never were bit at all and are more
"willing to be convinced" than ever.
The editor of the Springfield Repub
lican remarks with an air of sarcastir
nonchalance, "We are not told thati
the landlords present were so far Im
pressed as to be willing to accede to
this proposal." Oh, well, Mr. Editor,
there are other pebbles on the beach
and if you count noses you will find
that on the United States beach near
ly 70 per ceit of the people are not
landlords in any sense and under the
present system of land tenure and tax
ation neither they nor their children
or children's children may hope even
to have a little home they may call
their own and that this class is year
ly on the increase, alarmingly so. If
the truth was known this is really
the fact that sticks in the Incorporated
editor's craw. He knows they , are
mostly "electors" and only need to
fully understand where they are at
and what the single tax will do for
them that they will so vote on this
question when it comes up, nationally,
(and come it will) in the near future
that the "consent'.' of these dogs in
the manger and those yet waiting and
"willing to be convinced" won't cut
much ice.
Truth is that I feel like ignoring
such lobsters as the Springfield Re
publican that never get -red by being
cooked, while the "Nebraska Farmer"
is, perhaps, worth a few shot But
there are so many answers to his
dilemmic questions and inferences ly
ing between the lines of his awful
condition that we hesitate on the mat
ter of The Independent's space. First
of all, he should remember that there
are millions and millions of "other
pebbles on the beach," who have toiled
just as unceasingly (and under much
worse conditions) as he. has, lived on
poor, more scanty food, so scanty that
many, can only enter their complaint
from the "potters' field" who have
worn poorer, scantier clothes than he
or his have worn, none of whom can
refer to this or that little 165x30 foot
lot and shanty as their home. One
hundred and sixty acres of land,
house, barns, cattle, . etc., forsooth
Why, such a home would give all of
these millions of homeless brothers
and sisters of yours the nightmare!
They would think that a Carnegie, or
Rockefeller, or, Schwab, or, perhaps,
God had consented to let "Mr. Baer
live there until he had , kindly ad
justed, the "property interests and
other rights" of the legion work peo
pie. - .
t Oh7 yes, .we grant all you say about
the hard work and privations of your
self and family all those .. years and
you have our sympathy, provided, we
can now enlist your own. But, did it
ever occur to you that had the single
tax -been in vogue when you began
life, making land free and building
material, plenty and cheap, clothing,
etc., and all comforts of life of easy
procurement, all the hardships , of
which you complain would have been
avoided? Since you have manifested
so much solicitude as to askwhat dire
sequence may be visited upon your un
protected offspring and wife in the
event of the adoption of an honest,
sensible system of taxation, let me
take courage to ask you if you wish
to hand down as a legacy to your
children the same vicious system of
land tenure and taxation that made
you a veritable slave, but, in their
case, because of increasing evil conse
quences of land tenure, as of today,
will be so intensified and more pre
judicial to them that it will be doubt
ful if they or either of them will ever
be sheltered by a roof of their own.
Yes, suppose you should die, of
course that would be bad for you. The
single tax or any other system of tax
ation would not be responsible for anv
freak your son may take in consider
ing the vocations of life. The pro
fessions, because of land monopoly,
are as overcrowded as other lines and
the single tax could not be held re
sponsible move than other systems if
your sons should abandon their
mother in her decline of life, turn his
or their backs upon the old home.
part his hair in the middle and apply-for
a school or clerkship and fail
ing, these, take a place in . some
"union," or get a place as a "scab."
After your daughters come from high
school or Rockefeller college to which
(so exceptionally) you are now, after
so many years of privation and toil,
able to send them, and failing as so
many thousands do ot marrying fav
orably, they must join the ever-in
creasing throng of service hunters. If
under the present regime you should
sell your farm and put it in a home
in Lincoln, you have no assurance that
the grass would be green upon your
grave before some business , scheme
would induce a mortgage upon the
city home and the disingeniousness of
business management, mishap or
trickery of some shrewd schemer re
sult soon in the recently bereaved
family hunting a' house to rent and
your children hunting employment
that so many are now unable to find.
The daughters might have the same
experience of the three young ladies
who sought employment as clerk
typewriter and bookkeeper In a near
by city in Nebraska recently, as told
me by a travelling salesman who re
sides at Lincoln and whose wife was
the witness of the "crying spell"
these girls had when they told of their
experience in applying for these vari
ous positions.
The places were "open," but th?
wages only $3.50 to $4.50 per week.
These young ladies protested that they
could not maintain themselves at that,
whereupon the proprietor or "man
ager" suggested that it they would ac
cept the situations they would be able
to soon find some "gentleman friend?"
who would be glad to assist them.
These things are only probable when
the legacy of free land or the natural
birthright of mankind is denied and
our "farmer" need do but little honest
reasoning to observe the truth of it.
As to the change in rate of tax, if he
is an average farmer the assessment
would be reduced fully one-half at
the start and ultimately from about
86 per cent that he is paying on the
average now to about 31-4 to 7 p:r
cent, according to value of the hold
ing under the single tax. Single tax
ers do not pretend to haye a string
of control over the consciences of their
questioners or in fact know whether
they are amenable to conscience, but
we do know that the single tax will
make all land, agricultural, mining,
etc, and town and city residence lots.
practically free of access and self-
employment within hand reach of our
"farmer's" sons and daughters even
after he is dead, thus 'avoiding his
solicitude for their welfare.-
E. C. CLARK.
Syracuse, Neb. .
Feels Puzzled
Editor Independent: I am at a loss
to guess what kind of a man Mr.
Francis Keyes of Longmeadow, Mass.,
may be but in charity I suppose he
is like many others, who are 7 well-""
meaning men, doing the best' they
know; but it appears to the wiiter
that a man who was "very, much
amused at reading 'God-Ordained Rev
enues' " could also find ample amuse-"
ment in reading the Decalogue, ' the
Golden : Rule, and -- Sermon on the
Mount But. to a man who sees the;
humorous side of everything, the ob
ject lesson of a great city a Chica
go Or San Francisco built on land
which seventy-five years ago Was not
worth a cent . an acre and today is
worth a thousand, a mfflion, and
much of it several million dollars an
acre, may amuse himself by asking for
an "affidavy," this would make a
splendid hit in farce or comedy, but"
not in economic discussion.
. F. M. MARQUIS.
Milwaukee, Wis.
TWO POUNDS OF GOLD
Think of the thousands of men,- the
enormous smelting furnaces, the tons -of
coal, the vast amount of machinery
that is occupied or consumed . in the
production of gold every day in tha
year in these United States. . And yet
all these agencies combined succeed'
In getting less than two pounds of
gold a day out of the earth. When
these two pounds of gold have been
collected by the toil of these thou
sands of men, the wearing of the ma-,
chinery and the consumption of coal .
and chemicals, of what real "use" s
t to mankind. They caDnot eat . it, .
drink it, wear it, shelter themselves'
with it, clothe . themselves with it.
make tools of it, or, in fact, apply it
to but few "uses." The 'utility" of
gold is small. When by the "flat" j?
aw it becomes money is made, a le
gal tender for debt and taxes all men
want it But a simple piece of paper , .
performs .those functions every, day ,..
in the. year in every civilized govern
ment just as well as gold. ..Gold would.,. -not
be more highly valued by mankind ".
man pewter, wnicn, except, In- color, .
t greatly resembles, if , by the .-"fiat" -
of nations it was not made a legal
tender for debts and taxes. This sim- .
pie truth it seems is more difficult to
comprehend than the most abstrusa .,
problems in mathematics by mosc "
men. It is very strange indeed.
The extravagance in government
printing can ne imagined wnen it is
known that it has Drinted 22.000 vol
umes concerning sheep. How many
copies or eacn volume were printed la
not told.
Dr. ShoopV
Rheumatic Cure
Costs Nothing If It Fails.
After 2.000 exnerlments. I hare
earned how to cure Rheumatism. Not
to turn bony joints into flesh acain:
that is impossible. But I can cure tho
disease always, at any stage, and for
ever, j
I ask for no monev. SimDlv wr.ie
me a postal and I will send you an or
der on your nearest arugglst for six
Dottles Dr. Shoop s Kheumatic Cure,
for every druggist keeps it Use it
for a month and, if it . succeeds, the
cost is only $5.50. If it fails, I will
pay the druggist myself.
I have no sam. es, because any med-.
icine that can affec Rheumatism
quickly must be drugged to the verge
of danger. I use 'no such drugs, and
it is folly to take them. You must
get the disease out of the blood.
My remedy does that, even in the
most difficult obstinate cases. No
matter how Impossible this seems to
you, I know it and. take the risk. 1
have cured tens of thousands of cases
in this way, and my records show that
39 out of 40 who get six bottles pay
gladly. I have learned that people in
general are honest with a physician
who cures them. That is all I ask.
If I fail I don't expact a penny from
you. ;
Simply write me a postal card or a
letter. I will send you my book, about
Rheumatism, and an order for the
medicine. Take it for a month as it
won't barm you anyway. If it falls,
it is free, and I leave to decision
with you. Address Dr. Shoop, Box 940
Racine, Wis. ; '
Mild cases, not chronic, are often
cured by one or two bottles. At all
druggists.