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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 6, 1904)
PAGE 6. THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT OCTOBER 6 1904 The Philosophy of Freedom An Open Forum for Sing! Taxers SINGLE TAX AND WAGES. Editor Independent: One of the strongest arguments in favor of the single-tax is that it will enable every man to employ himself at that occupa tion for which he is best adapted. Every man will not become his own employer, but the single tax will give him the opportunity to do so. Will give it to him by making free to the public the unused gifts of nature the unused land from which all wealth is drawn. Right here is where tx many people make a mistake. They can not understand what making the land free means to humanity. Slate the proposition to them and they at-xmce answer "All men can't be farmers." forgetting, that in every industry of life, in every recreation men must have land. ...-, It is not true, however, that all men can not be farmers. On the contrary, it is the one occupation which ah men can follow. But it is true that all men can not be equally good farmers, neither is It desirable that they should all follow this calling. Agricultuie is the occupation upon which the -acrid depends for its food supply. It should be,, and under uaturaLconditions would be the m??A remunerative of all the great ind oles. Today 'HirofiuT least rem. irative, because, under the guise of ' taxation,-its followers, are. compelled p pay tribute to ail forms of monoj it. Now tKbrBingle tax will practically abolish; aJf monopoly with the possible exception of, that created by the patent laws, B'ft s the monopoly caused by patents ' only temporary and does not cove; ihose things necessary to ex istence if can not vitally affect the welfare MTf the people though it may be detrijf?tal to their interest. In: all fcj je" different industri,a there are .-'flier with a natural aptitudb for agrtcultjf . and a desire to farm but who ardrrevented from following this occupat.fc.' by the inability to secure sultibleftnd and the pressure of pres ent ne' iities. The single tax will no on H , destroy land monopoly and ) tbifi access to the land but by rcrzovijall taxes from the preuuets of libc-f rill enable them to use ior thtir 4t a j purposes every dollar of wcilthfcHcji they produce. '.. . But Lis is not s ail, sin the world there o thousands and thousands of acres k;1 unused coal, iron aad ether minenj ands held out of use for the purpose pt preventing production, but to.-;,whf the single tax will give the labore access. To both the ma.erar and tlse Agricultural lands the laborer will ffi lwhen the opportunity is of fered. vory man who ceases to be an employ fe"aiuti: iownjEmpl oy er lo that extent" relieves thenSu7t5 on the labor market. Today in every occupation of life there are more men seeking work than there, is work to be performed. The result of this competition among men for an opportunity to earn a liv ing is that wages the reward of la bor is constantly tending downward to the lowest point consistent wirn ex istence. 'Under the single 'tax there will be a sufficient number of men, now working for others, who wh! seek the land, becoming their own empioy crs (possibly employing others) to re verse this order, and prevent '.his com petition for a chance to pay the "Di vine penalty for sin." We wil. then see the employer hunting the employe with the result that wages vlli tend upwards until the workman obtains the full reward of his labor, because no maa will work for another for loss than he can make working fur him self. When this day arrives the labor problem will have been solved, and labor unions will no longer exist, as one of the disturbing factors n the industrial world. God speed the iy. j. c. pouteuhlld. Houston, Tex. THE MAXIMS OF TAXATION. The hingle tax mcst closely conforms to the essential principles of Adam Smith's four classical maxims, which arobe;-t stated by Henry (1 orp. in book VIII, chapter 3, Tro;;, and l'owrty," hu follows: The be-t tax by which publk rev enues inn to mined I evidently that whhli will louit conform lo ilut fol lowing conditions; "I. That It lnr io lightly n.i pm tdble lijimj production -io an least to li'k tli luina"'? of that fund Irom whlih u II t.ixi4 must be uiUl un I the community tnatntaltn A. "2. That it b vastly and hcapty collnnd, and full a. 1 1 w 1 1 ru it, ay be upon the ultimate payers so as to take from the people as little as pos sible in addition to what it yields gov ernment , ... "3. That it be certain so as to give the least opportunity for tyranny or corruption on the part of the officials, and the least temptation to law break ing and evasion on the part oi tax payers. "i. That it bear equally so as to give no citizen an advantage oi put any at a disadvantage as comiared with others." Interference with Production. Indi rect taxes tend to check production and cause scarcity by obstruccing the processes of production. The) fall upon men as they work, as ihe do business, as they inyest capital pro ductively. But the single tax, hich must be paid and be the tame In amount regardless of whether the pay er works or plays, or whether In in vests his capital productively or wastes it, or whether he uses his land icr the most productive purposes or not at all, removes all fiscal penalties from in dustry; and thrift, and tends to leave production free. It, therefore conforms more closely than indirect taxation to the first maxim quoted above. ffteapK--cjQpUectlon.--lnairect taxes are passed aiong irom yr-vr-r ers to final consumers through Euany exchanges, accumulating cocipcund profits- as they go, until; th -y take enormous sums from the people in ad dition to what the government re ceives. But the single tax takes noth ing from the people in excess of the tax. It therefore conforms more eiose ly than, indirect taxation to the second maxim. " Certainty No other tax, direct or indirect, ' conforms so closely to the third maxim. "Land lies out ot doors." It can not be. hidden; it can not be accidentally" overlooked. Nor can its value be seriously misstated. Neith er under appraisement nor over ap praisement Xo any important degree is possible without the connivance of the whole community. The land values of a neighborhood are matters of com mon' knowledge. Any intelligent resident- can justly appraise them, and every other intelligent resident can fairly test the appraisement,' therefore the tyranny, corruption, fraud, favor itism and evasions that are so' common In connection with the "taxation ot im ports, manufactures, incomes, personal property, buildings, etc., the value of which; even whe,n the object itself can not be hidden, are so distinctly mat ters of. minute special knowledge that only! experts can fairly appraise them would be out, of the question if the single; lax were substituted ' f'r exist ufc TR.l-9thla , '' " Equality. In respect rtf7tffoT5ftft?rt maxim-, the single tax beais more equally that is to say, more juntiy than any other tax. It is the only tax that falls upon the taxpayer in pro portion to the pecuniary benefits he receives from the public; and its ten dency, accelerating with the increase of the- tax, is to leave to every one the full fruit of his own productive enter prise and effort. From "Out'ines of Louis F. Post's Lectures." THE SINGLE TAX NOT A TAX. Editor Independent: In the ordinary sense a tax is an assessment whereby a man pays an nually a certain percentage of the value of his land, buildings or other property for public expenses. Tho sin gle tax is not a tax in that sense at all. It is rather a simple matter of bargain and sale. A certain article has a tor lain market value; the. man buys that article and pays that price. Ths article sold in this rase is a land privilege, a monopoly of the use of a certain por tion of the earth, a legal title whereby he Is protected in the exclusive pos sesion and use of such portion ol the earth. Tho earth, like the sun, moon and tdars, H imt private property. It bo lonsd to all. It U .strictly the property of the whole popl the public, and It can not eea.su to be such. Hut ;iin tiic.U have the exclusive t. o" certain portions of the earth to cany on Itl itcsHi and heetire tho juixlu t (.f their own labor. Surh eAtiu,lve use iu v.wrt ease- bat a vnhio &u In tow. arul ctnM 'dully in eltles it olh tt hfri a very Rrvut value, ruder the mule t.ix m;n buy !! jrlvl!u an i p,iy the public for tlseni lu the !An:e man ner an tto-v buy of rn h otlier n hoti.e, a hor te, a pleie of tna I.liu ry or it nr mnt. The publle rerelvrn ti)- e p.tv iiKtt! and uft the fnnM an oltalu.! to meet public expenses. The indi vidual purchases what the public has to sell. All men must have land. They can no more live without it than they can without air. In many cases iand is free, like air, but in most cases it has a value and where it has a value it must be bought. At present it is bought of a t private individual and is called private property, and is gen erally paid for in a lump sum Under the single tax the land is not bought, but the exclusive use of it is Dought and. this exclusive use is paid for year by year. Under the single, tax, as every one must have land, every one wou'd have to pay the tax. He would either pay the government directly, or if he used land that was paid for by another he would have to pay him. Land includes all things not pro duced by labor. All things produced by labor are private property. .Land is a natural "product. The public has its own property. It has no right to private property except as it buys and pays for it. The public has no right to give away land or any portion of it' to a private individual for that would be an injustice to the rest. Nor has It any right to take away the pri vate property of an individual or any portion of it without payment, simply because it is not its own. The taxa tion of personal property, or o the products of labor in any form, is un justifiable for this -reason, and'.'-it 'is uuuecjssaryhecause the public has jforr&aaiwjObfi .land."- -?.. 'w- luxation unuer ine singietaai i-u tax .only in the sense that payment for any article of use or pleasure is a tax and it is called a tax only because it is payment made to. the public or gov ernment instead of a private , indi vidual. - C. HARDON. Contoocoolr, N. H. Endorsement Editor Independent: As a single taxer I endorse every sentence in the editorial wrUteu by your associate editor, Mr. Qutnby No single taxer can give a good rea son for voting for Parker, and the reasons Mr. Henry ' George, Jr., gives are lame ; and ridiculous : to say the least - . - - While as single taxers wo must let it be known that we take exceptions to the foolish income tax oronosal. we can in good faith and with en'.liiisi asm support Populism and its .ctam pions, Watson and Tibbies. But. to sup port Parker, well, we might aa veil proclaim loudly , to the world that we had abandoned our faith and gone over J bag and baggage to the camp infested by political tricksters and - land mo nopolists ' ;.- H. W. NOREN. K Allegheny, Pa. .. (While it is true that "as single taxers,' we must let it be-known that we take exceptions to the. foolish in come tax proposal," we may even 'sup- porn the income tax as, an object lca- spiij just as' we may as single, taxers uunues as an oDject lesson,:. How much better off are the people of England where .the income tax is ap plied than here? How much better off are the people of Glasgow, where municipal Ownership . of public utili ties has been carried to its utmost ex tent than are the people of this coun try? Ther are many who believe that the income tax would solve the econ omic problem, just as there aie many who believe that public ownersnip would' also bring about the difed economic state, and just as the co cialist foolishly thinks that the public ownership of everything would make the ideal state. Single taxers ma con sistently support all of these li.ings except socialism, not alone because mere are so many people educated to the Idea that they are "tho wnolo thing," but actually -fo afford to the world an object lesson in this: Tlmt so long as private monopoly controls lami vaiue, the people will sulY-r just the same, no matter what other super ficial referin i accomplished. It will become more and more ap parent, every day to any one v ho will seriously think nhout It that reforms that do not touch the source of all economic injustice tho private monop oly of land values will nevtr be r.r "any permanent value to the .oi!. Suppose the Income tax were adopted. Land - uiotti'puly would b" reliivrd of at h a.st that tumh burden i,f taxation, find would become more potent j ist to that extent. The In-line tut 'ivouni not free the land- the rcat ; torehnu.ie of nature that labor tnmt rc.uh in ord r to iTihi e wealth Ti e ,:Mle owtnrship of public utllitl. t would be the wni, Vbaf,'ir lol.-nntA -e there would " lu that r fnrtu wo-ill l.' te- ll'vtcd hi the V,',( t.f hind, Ij,,. t viii'M of that lAttd Would j,,. I so ftt. They Hou'.J ( t the l itw f.t in higher rents and if they sold it then in higher prices. Whatever benefit there may In honest administration of , public affairs, the landlord would se cure, because it makes the spot of earth in the vicinity, of that honest government more desirable to live and work upon, thereby increasing the 'de- Lmand for it. Whatever economic ben efit the world may get from the pres ence even of a genius or intellectual giant will result in the same thing , the increase in the value of iand. Whatever advantage the people may gain even in a more sensible a;id just currency system would redound above all to the land holder. ' " ' Primarily the strength and source of every monopoly is its grip upon the source of all supplies the earth. And until the people discover th:s great fundamental truth, .there will not re sult to them any permanent benefit from any reform. Notwithstanding all this, the course of every single ' taxer seems clear. Though the people's party has not caught up to him, by a very large per cent, it; is nevertheless going in his direction. That cannot be said of either the two wings of plutocra-; ; of either Roosevelt or Parker. So long as you are traveling any road and see ' others coming in your, direction you may feel certain that they hate the same destination in view. But if they, turn off into another path, as the dem ocratic party this year has done, or if they go into a contrary direction, as the republican party has done, there ' can be no consistency or wisdom ex pressed in the proposal. bp follow them. "Ncfsihf tiSfe?1 why he is a single taxer can, follow eTOIef or these''" two paths, but 5e can consistently and should pursue the people's party path because it is on the road to the same heights toward which his gaze ia fixed. L. J. Q.) . .. : PERSONAL LADIES Are you aware ' that in France women use a monthly regu lator more than the women of all other nations combined? Dr. La Rue's French regulator is used every . where; thoroughly reliable; absolute ly safe; better than Pennyroyal or Tansy. Price $1; three for $2.50. RiggsV Pharmacy Co., American Agents, Lincoln, Neb. IF YOU CAN'T SLEEP, take Trilby Sleeping Powders; absolutely harm less, easy to take, no bad results; four sleeps for 25c.- Riggs, the Drug Cutter. PERS-PIRO POWDER Guaranteed to destroy, odors of perspiration; dust the powder where the odor arises; on arm pits, etc.; by mail 25c. Riggsr the Drug Cutter. , , . HAY FEVER AND ASTHMA CURED We have cured hundreds. We can cure you. Guaranteed cure .$1.50. Money back if it fans. Riggs, the Drug Cutter. NER-VO-INE Those suffering ; from ' ii . t . .1 l. A gr' ' J mm will work wonders.' Has more re juvenating and vitalizing power than any medicine in the world. S'ent by mail, large box $1; 3 for $2.50. Riggs Pharmacy, American Agents, Lin coln, Neb. TRILBY had no corns. She removed them with a Trilby' Leaflet; absolute cure; 10c by mail. Riggs, the Drug Cutter. , RIGGC GUARANTEED PILE CURE, the remedy that cured Mr. Hemroid; 50c; salve or suppository. Riggs, tho Plug Cutter. . WILL tnt lat lady who passtd our i-tore jesterday buy Dr. Pasteur Obe sity treatment? One month $1. Treatment reduces 3 to 5 pounds per wctlv. Riggs, the Drug Cutter. RIGGS ECZEMA CURE, 50c; guaran teed to do tho work; will tell you many it has cured. Riggs, the DTvs Cutter. GLAU FOOT 1'OWDEH-CurcH Itch ing, lun.hig, sweaty feet; remove! oflensivt odors; cools the skin, "5a by tuuil. RigAs, the Drug Cutter. Printer Wanted Pleady 4oslMon for lady eompo.si- 9 tor who ha.i bad two or three j ears expoi U ni e. Address THE INDEl'KNf nNT, Lincoln, Neb. Kim to READ en SOCIALISM A k i ( thirty i tiiJ t r, tl n. iK i, ti, li tftnt m k i k'IiiIUiii ih t b jr llil (lit On 1. ri n t'ti.f j j (ml l Im . Irnriixl Ir"n h A tl.Of.lM'l! r f t Y I liOt K hrrf lH M (! IhtHf 4 it fl(lilM," Iv h ' t'm I r -t too i.iiii' ,f In . i v r. Il )4iiity 1 . 1.. i,. I fn rtu i t. ik Mir l.ft k,iuiI ut Mirl, I . lliiih'l.l, fmlt rl I. l'iiittttr, WkiW , li't-it-iit. t.nn hI other hiik, !Ui,4 sr. t'l xr a r t i It a h.it.tr-t. UttOi H klKii 4 IU., r.M II link .. tUiUlt.