6
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT
JUNE 18, 1903,
The Philosophy of Freedom
An Open Forum for Single Taxers
True government secures to each
man his earnings, so' no government
is true that permits Iand monopoly.
MANSKLIGHETEN.
Rev. August Dellgrcn, one of tho
contributors to the Henry George Edi
tion, writes that he Is the publisher of
a Swedish single tax paper, "Mans
kligheten" (Humanity), established in
1S89, and published -monthly at 620
Seventh Bt. south, Minneapolis, Minn.
The independent is glad to exchange
with Manskligheten, and advises any
of its readers who understand the
Swedish language to send 40 cents to
Mr. Dellgren for a year's subscription.
selling their birthright for a mess of
f pottage; the English and Scottish tory
landlords hope to postpone the ev'l
day, perhaps long enough to enable
them to unload at least a part of their
holdings perhaps partly to American
syndicates. The recent startling lib
eral victories in the by-election and
the still more recent test vote on the
taxation of land values, whereby the
normal ministerial majority of 140
was reduced to 13, was the liberal an
swer to the tory Irish land bill.
A. FItEELAND.
Mt Pleasant, Tenn.
I would not only see homes free
from attachment for debt, but free
from taxation also. Robert G. Inger-solL
THE IRISH LAND BILL.
The full significance of Mr. Wynd
ham's Irish land bill is not generally
understood on this side of the Atlantic.
The following may throw a little
sidelight upon this latest effort to
conciliate the Irish people. The Brit
ish Isles are a landlord-ridden coun
try. Less than 500 men own over
one-half of England and Walei.
Twenty-four men own one-fourth of
Scotland. A few hundred men own
the greater part of Ireland. Two
thirds of Great Britain and Ireland is
owned by 12,489 persons. Forty mil
lion Britishers who proudly sing
"Britons Never Shall Be Slaves" pay
tribute to these 12,489 owners of thei
country for the privilege of drawing
their breath on the soil of their native
land. .
In 1880 a California friend of Henry
George, after trying vainly to find a
publisher for "Progress and Poverty
in England, left several copies of the
American edition of that book with
London bookseller, whose patrono
numbered most of the "cranks" and
investigators of the metropolis. Soon
a popular six-penny edition was pub
lished, and the demand for the book
" ran 60,000 copies a year. In everv
i. i i i m i a
lugnway ana Dy way in iiingiana re
newed hope sprang up in the breasts
of Anglo-Saxons to recover their lost
heritage from the descendants of the
courtiers of the Norman bastard de-
spoiler. , r
In 1889 Henry George visited the
country and created a profound im
pression. In 1895 the liberal party de
manded in its Newcastle program, the
taxation of land values. Over 300
taxing bodies, including the cities ot
London, Glasgow and Liverpool, peti
tioned parliament for power to tax
land values for local purposes. Fifty
out of seventy-five members elected
to the Glasgow city council were re
turned pledged to this reform. The
Scottish liberals made it their first
demand. The radical federation of
London, 100,000 strong, also demanded
it In 1898 the liberals ,by nominat
ing Henry George men, made almost a
clean sweep of the by-elections. Whe i
parliament opened four .years ago an
amendment to the speech from the
throne demanding taxation of lan-1
values reduced the normal tory ma
jority of 140 to 34.
The ministry was thunderstruck at
the phenomenal growth of such a
revolutionary idea. Something had to
be done, and at once, to lvert the
public mind. A quarrel was picked
with Oom Paul Kruger, The Boer war
followed. Its cost had not been
counted. The additional burden of a
billion dollars staggered the British
taxpayer and the war will prove a
boomerang to the tory landlords.
Last October delegates representing
124 municipalities and boroughs met
in convention" in Glasgow and unani
mously demanded the taxation of land
values, and with only two or threo
dissenting votes demanded' Immediate
political action. A month later 500
delegates representing the principal
advanced . reform bodies of the king
dom met at Newcastle-on-Tyne and
adopted the same demands. A little
diversion was created in Venezuelan
waters. The public having in mind
the recent South Afriean war failed to
respond. Then Mr. Wyndham brought
ii: his Irish land purchase act. The
object is to seduce the Irish party
fro mthe liberal alliance; then appeal
to the country and get another seven
years' lease of power.
Michael Davltt, Henry George's
foremost Irish lieutenant, declares
that the Irish landlords are to receive
50 per cent more for their land than
i would bring in the open matket
"With the Irish landlords well cared
for? exchanging their rrecarious lan J
titles for consols, with a 50 per cent
bounty added, with the Irish people
The single tax means the right to
produce for yourself, and the right to
enjoy the whole product
REPLIES TO FERGUSON.
Editor Independent: E. W. Fergu
son, Jr., has wrought havoc (?) in
the single tax ranks by his pungent
(?) criticisms of their philosophy, as
printed in the last issue of The In
dependent. With seven-tenths of the most pro
ductive land held out of use by spec
ulators, or in the support of monop
oly, is it any wonder that "the least
productive land in use will barely sus
tain the animal -wants?" Now, then,
do we but make this seven-tenths ac
cessible, by taxing away its specula
tive value, the "rent line" "will come
away up and sit down, in the lap of
luxury." This would indeed "reduce
the farmer" to the condition of
' metayers or cottiers." To go farther
and remove the taxes that now ham
per trade and industry, taking values
that the people collectively create to
pay the bills that the people collec
tively contract, we will, according to
Mr. Ferguson, "accomplish what gen
erations of misrule has not quite ac
complished." "The backbone of the
nation will be broken" (when it
straighens up). Again, "by reducing
the governmental expense" and "by
confiscating rent for governmental
purposes" thus creating a "wonderful
revenue," enabling nation, state and
municipality to get out of, and keep
out of, debt; we will thereby breed an
"officeholding aristocracy," and "make
a long strike, toward absolutism."
It is impossible to cope with such
logic. Furthermore, Mr. Ferguson
points out that "unimproved values"
are like Macbeth's dagger. "There's
no such thing." Evidently .all our ef
forts to direct attention to that qual
ity as the proper object of taxation
are vain and childish. Finally, hs
says, "the people will continue the
vicious in power" and such an "arbi
trary institution as a government that
insures "equal rights to all and spe
cial privileges to none," with an equit
able and natural system of taxation, is
not what Mr. Ferguson wants, he has
"a model government" scheme of his
own.
With compliments to Hartington,
Neb. E.O. BAILEY.
Central City, Colo.
Draining a frog-pond near a town
will improve sanitary conditions, but
will it in the town raise waees or
rent?
SUGGESTIONS FROM A SUBUR
BANITE. "I have a complaint to make." sail
I to my friend, a city official. "In
rainy weather our sidewalk is so deep
under water that there is no using it. '
"It is impossible." he replied, "to
keep the suburbs in proper condition,
scattered as they are over such a large
territory. If it were not for land
speculation, the suburban homes of a
city would be clustered- close about
and repairs could be made much more
economically than at present"
Would not houses be cheaper for
the same reason? Good roads and
short distances make home-building
easier.
My neighbor's house Is almost en
tirely surrounded by vacant land,
which, though an attractive and con
venient site for residences, Is planted
every year to potatoes and corn. To
reach his home from the city, he
rasses a number of similar holdings,
but he little thinks that, for the
profit of this "vacant lot industry,"
hir daily ride is prolonged and the ex
pense of his house and lot increased.
"I have read Progress and Pover
ty," he said, one day, "but I see no
evidences of land monopoly."
The vexations of the suburbanite are
a never-failing source of amusement,
but even the man who wheels a baby
carriage is less pitiable than he who
does not recognize the active signs
of that greatest curse to civilization
land monopoly. .
The advertisement of a real estate
company has lately appeared on the
cover of a well-known weekly. -Its
most prominent feature is a picture o
Russell Sage an Ideal head of sue
cess, as it were with his prophecy o
the rapid growth of New York city
and the advice to young men to in
vest In land in the outlying boroughs,
His words, "Your real estate wil
make your old age comfortable," may
be translated, "The presence of an in
creasing population will enhance the
value of your land to such a degree
that in time you can reap a fortune
without having earned it"
This is what land monopoly means
the taking by individuals, through
land ownership, of wealth created by
others. And how simple the remedy!
to tax this unearned value into the
common treasury.
"It is a shame." said the Philos
opher to the Legislator, "that all this
land should be lying unused, while not
far away there are thousands of fam
ilies crowded together in a way that
forbids -healthful living."
"I will pass a law compelling the
owners of vacant land to improve it,"
said the Legislator.
Time passed. The land was still
vacant, but there was a board fence
around it, plastered with bills.
"That is not the improvement I
meant," said the Legislator, sadly. "I
will pass a law that tenements shah
be supplied with the most improved
plumbing."
It was done; but the landlords raised
the rent and their tenants were ob
liged to take boarders in order to
pay it: so they were no better off
than before.
The Legislator was in despair.
"This reminds me of the Fable in
which the wind and the sun try to
make a man take off his coat," said
the Philosopher. "You have tried and
failed, now I will put into practice
the simple law that land values belong
to all, and are the natural revenue for
the expenses of the community."
So he removed all. taxes from im
provements and taxed all land accord
ing to its value, whether it was in
use or not As a result, much land
was put upon the market .that had
been held at exorbitant prices be
fore. Everywhere new houses were
built and no one feared to build hand
somely, for industry would not be
fined. Those who did not want to
move to the suburbs with their neigh
bors had plenty of room in the city.
Their landlords soon found that the
demand for . poor tenements- at high
rents was gone and they were obliged
to make many more Improvements and
reduce the rent In consequence, they
did not make so much money; but the
sum total of happiness was even
greater than the Philosopher had
hoped. ALICE CARPENTER,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
The earth belongs in usufruct to the
living; the dead have . no right or
power over it Thomas Jefferson.
THE SINGLE TAX A BLESSING.
By the single tax, we mean the
abolition of taxes upon everything,
save and except a tax upon the value
of land, irrespective of the improve
ments thereon. This would abolish
the personal tax, the occupation tax,
the tax upon houses or any product
of labor, hence, there would be no
more tariff taxes to increase the cost
of products which we all consume.
Not having any more tariff taxes, food
and other products of labor would be
cheaper to the extent of the tariff tax,
which is always added to the cost of
the article imported and paid by the
consumer. Even the home manufac
turer always sets the price of his
product as high as the imported ar
ticle sells for. This causes us to pay
the tariff, whether we buy imported
products or not The application of
the single tax would make land
cheaper, enabling poor people to buy
a building lot with less money, there
fore, getting a home without having
to work a life time for it The reason
for this is, that if the value of land
alone is taxed, the rate of taxation or
the per cent on the dollar of valuation
will be greater, so as to produce the
same amount of money that would be
raised by the present unequal system
of taxation; therefore, the owner of
a vacant lot would have to pay a
larger tax. This tax would finally be
nearly, if not fully, equal to the rental
value of the lot. The owner would
cot let it remain idle long If the in
crease in value were taken by the gov
ernment every year by the single tax
The same fate would overtake many
thousand of owners of vacant lots.
Those who had the money would
build houses and thus receive a rev
enue. Those who had not the money
would offer their lots for sale, ThlV
would produce competition among va
cant lot owners to secure purchasers.
There would soon be more vacant lots
offered for sale, than there were peo
ple with money to buy. Inasmuch as
competition in business "reduces ths
prices of products, so the competition,
of vacant lot owners to sell their lots
would reduce the price of vacant lots.
The price would fall until . it would
reach the point where people could
buy; that's how you would get cheap
er land.
The building upon vacant lots would
increase . the demand for workmen.
Now, there are more workmen than
jobs, and wages are low; in the other
case, the increased activity in build
ing would make more jobs than work
men, causing the land owners to bid a
higher price for mechanics. Result
wages would rise. This condition
would give us two great benefits,
cheap lands and higher wages. No
one will deny that this condition i3
beneficial ; to the majority of people.
It would place the workmen in a po
sition, not only to get a home earlier
in life, but steady employment at bet
ter wages, would enable him to edu
cate, his children, instead of sending
them to the factory before they were
fully developed.
Under present conditions about 10
per cent of the population own all the
land under the single tax about 90
per cent would be land owners. Con
sider both conditions, and you must
admit that the single tax would be a
blessing. J. J. PASTORIZA.
Houston, Tex.
Taxing things that can be hidden
makes sneaks and liars. The sing!
tax has no place for spies and in
formers.
COMPARATIVE LAND VALUES.
An able statistician, one in posi
tion to know facts from most recent
and reliable sources, latejy wrote in a
metropolitan paper: ,
"The wealth of the United St tea is
now worth about one hundred and
ten billions, of whi:h ten billions cer
tainly and probably twenty billions
represent only spurious values, or wa
tered stock, paving dividends. Of this
vast sum the share owned by farm
ers, including their land, improve
ments, and all forms of personal nroo-
erty. is rather under than over thr
billions. . From thi must be deducted
mortgages and other indebtedness and
much valuable suburban, mineral.
forest, and other lands listed as farm
land, but too valuable to use as such
and not owned by farmers, as well as
many millions of acres owned by
nome and foreign millionaires, spec
ulators, railways, banks, loan com-
panies, etc." v - ,
It will be remembered that the
president of the steel trust, in hte
testimony before the, senate industrial
inquiry committee, when, asked why
his corporation was capitalized at a
billion four hundred million when
they had bought all their property for
$304,000,000, said the di.ference lay in
the enhanced value of their lands and
terminal facilities, that the trust
owned 60,000 acres Connellsville coal
lands worth $60,000 per acre. Exam
ination of the county records showed
this coal land to be assessed as farm
land as an average of less -than $2:1
per acre. He also said that ore lands
were equally valuable, but these show
even a much lower value for assess
ment, averaging about $10 per acre.
He was right about the lands' reqi
value now, though it originally cost
out a trine.
The anthracite coal lands of Penn
sylvania are worth ten to fifty thou
sand dollars per acre and are assessed
at from ten to thirty dollars.
banners seldom realize the enorm
ous city land values, as compared to
farm land value. There are less than
a dozen of the forty-five states which
nave not a single city in which the
land values "(bare land, rememw d.i
not exceed the entire farm values of
that state, and there is no state in
which its two largest cities have not
a greater land value than all its
farms. New York city land values aro
seven times the state's farm values;
Chicago more than five times that of
Illinois; Cincinnati and Cleveland
seven times of Ohio, etc. "
Farmers must realize how slteht '
their own share of the nation's land
values before they can understand the
effect of the single tax in shifting tax
ation from the cheap lands of the
country to the dear ones of the cities
and to mining and forest lands, ter
minal rights of way and other mo
nopolistic values, and from "labor"
to monopoly.-
Mound City, Kas.
W. H. T. WAKEFIELD.
The pirate tries to eet a rron with
out raising a crop: the speculator doea
the same; Where's the difference?
The democratic state central com
mittee Is called to meet at the Lin
coln hotel, Lincoln, Neb., June 2.1,
903, at 2 o clock p. m. to fix timo
and place for holding a state conven
tion.