n n
LINCOLN, NEB., JANUARY 12, 1905.
No. 34
POLHTHGS IN NEW ZEALAND . .
(A REVIEW OF DR.. TAYLOR'S LATEST BOOK)
1 '
'4r t
f
id'
f'-..'. m
; v
S
c - -
.7
fl
No man in the United StatesSasf
done more than Dr. Charles F. TaW
lor of Philadelphia in the way cf edu
cating the people to a better under
standing of their rights and the possi
bilities of progressive government.
. Other men have made more noise than
he have been advertised more have
claimed more; but none has done more
unselfish, quiet, effective work.
Dr. Taylor is editor and publisher
of the Medical World, a monthly jour
nal of great value to the medicalfra
ternity and . enjoying a wide circula
tion. For years the editor has had a
department entitled "Our Monthly
Talk," in which he has. something to
say each month on-matters ol legisla-
iion and administration which will
nake for progress for a more equit-
N distribution of wealth. When one
.jK-Jii? gives him, better than y other,
a cnance or. knowing how the people
live-and that this, nine times out of
ten, tends to make him a radical or
progressive the value of Dr. Taylor's
"Monthly Talk" is at once apparent.
But that i3 "only a part of Dr. Tay
lor's work. In September, 1898, he be-
i " gan the "Equity Series," a; quarterly
publication "devoted to advanced and
progressive presentation of public ques
tions," the first number being entitled
"Rational Money." Other X valuable
numbers followed, for ' a time - the
crowning feature being Prof." Frank
Parsons' "City for the People.' But
Dr. Taylor was not content. He must
give the people concrete examples of
applied populism for, although the
doctor is not a partisan in any sense,
yet he has been a member of the na
tional executive committee of the peo
pie's party, and an active worker for
the party. Nowhere on earth has pop
. , ulism. been applied more thoroughly
than in New Zealand and the upshot
or it an was that Dr. Taylor secured
the services of Prof. Parsons to1 write
the facts aoout that progressive coun
try. "The Story of New Zealand" a
beautifully ,lustrated volume vot 860
pages, the ; crowning glory of the
"Equity Series," was given to the pub
lic last year the combined work of
Prof. Parsons as author and Dr. Tay
lor as editor and publisher. Hereto
fore The Independent has given some
, space in calling its readers' attention
to this monumental work.' It must be
Been and read to be properly appre
ciated. , NO review can do it justice.
Dr. Taylor, realizing that "The
Story of New Zealand," a large and
heavy book, selling at $3, would never
reach the masses of Sir people, later
determined to make selections from it,
covering ihe ; political facts and omit
. ting the descriptive and historical data,
and issue it in form for extensive pop
ular distribution. "Politics in New
- Zealand," is the outcome of this deter-
mination, a paper covered book of 108
pages, selling for 25 cents. Address
"Equity Series," 1520 Chestnut street,
Philadelphia, Pa.
New Zealand! What quips and turns
the punster and the . puzzler could
make with the name. "New Zealand"
gives new zeal and new courage to
reformers. A land where' the people
have gone t'.rough the alphabet of re
form until it is now Z land.
A four year-old lad of Lincoln not
long since wa3 left at home with his
grandmother w'lile his mother went
shopping. He committed some childish
misdemeanor. "What would mamma
say, if she knew that?" queried his
grandmother. "I'd say I didn't do it,"
was the prompt response. "But that
would ..o a lie," persisted his grand
mother. "I know it." was the retort.
."But don't you know it's wicked to
tell a lie?" asked grandmother. "Oh,"
with a childish shrug, "I've had enough
of the Bible."
j? ;He had been taken regularly to Sun
day school for some months, possibly
some reformers may shrug their shoul
ders and exclaim, "I've had enough of
New Zealand." But just the same, Dr.
Taylor's big volume and the smaller
one are the Bible and prayer book of
real democracy because they give an
accurate history of. how real reform
was accomplished in a new country
cursed with monopoly, and how genu
ine democracy was enthroned.
The hree islands (North, Middle and
South) constituting New Zealand are
a little larger than England, Scptl and
and Wales' tiirly twice as large as
our New Englani.&tes. North island
is a little Ur-er .tnAphio, and Middle
Island a little largefithan Illinois.
They were discovered by (Sptain Cook
in 1769; missionaries
issionairies arriveuajn ;114;
settlement, heeran in 1825. but
1 stinf
get under headway till 1840. Gold'
coveries caused an influx of population
in 1861. . . :
The Torrens system of land title
registration was enacted in 1860. Na
tional public ownership of telegraphs
began in 1865 and was broadened to
include telephones in 1884. The New
Zealand postoffice savings bank act
was passed in 1865. The. province of
Canterbury built the first railway and
opened it for traffic December 1, 1863
but, previous to 1870 there Iwere few
telegraphs and scarcely any railroads.
In 1870 New Zealand had quarter of
a million inhabitants. That year Sir
Julius Vogel. treasurer of the colony,
proposed to devote nearly $50,000,000
during the next ten years to railways,
roads, telegraphs, water works (to
supply the gold fields), land purchase,
and the encouragement of immigration
and settlement on the public lands.
Vogel asked for power to levy a spe
cial tax on persons specially benefitted
by the construction of railways, but
this and the land reservation plan met
with so much opposition that they were
abandoned in order to save the meas
ure. However, the principle of na
tional construction of rail ways, tele
graphs, etc., was heartily endorsed on
all sides and tfie bill passed. - From
1870 .to April, 1902, loans, aggregrating
$163,000,000 have been spent in carry
ing out the public works policy, , be
sides land grants and expenditures
from the' public revenue running up
the grand total to more than two hun
dred millions. -------
Failure to enact part of Vogel's
measure left the colony subject to land
monopolization, which evil grew with
astonishing rapidity until the political
revolution of 1890. since which time it
has been corrected by radical taxation.
The Australian ballot and govern
ment life insurance were adopted in
1870..,.. The pronounced success of the
latter is best told by this" fact: The
Equitable Life and the New York Life,
have been in the colony fifteen and
thirteen years,- respectively, and have
now 717 and 139 policies a3 against 42,
570 government policies. The govern
ment loans money on its policies at
6 per cent below $500 and 5 per cent
beyond tnat sum.
The public trust office was estab
lished in 1872 another of Vogel's in
stitutions. Th"j has no counterpart in
America, the nearest approach to it
being in Colora.,0. The public trustee
serves at cost as executor, administra
tor, trustee, agent or attorney in the
settlement and management of estates
of decedents or others, who, for any
reason are unable or unwilling to care
for it themselves. '
The provinces were abolished by act
of 1875, taking effect on 1876. A na
tional system of education a free,
secular,- compulsory system was es
tablished in 1877. And in 1879 man
hood suffrage was granted "one-man-one-vote."
Village settlements were
tried in 1885 and 1886. to ameliorate
the conditions caused by the rapidly
growing land monopoly, and in 1885
the forect act provided for the reserva
tion of state forests and their control
and management by the government.
In 1886 New Zealand adopted the
principle of conditional probation for
first offenders, instead of the irrational
iron-clad system of sending all con
victed offenders to prison. -
The elections act of September, 1890,
provides for direct nominations, and
voting by mail (for benefit of seamen,
sheep shearers and commercial trav
elers). . : - '-; ; ." "
By 1890 the concentration of land
ownership had reached the astonishing
pass that more than SO per cent of the
people had no land only 14 per cent
of the- white population were land
holders, and less than 3 per cent , of
the landholders or 1-3 of one per cent
of the people owned over half of the
areas and , values in the hands oi the
people. . v
Besides the land monopoly, there
were developed a money ring, timber
ring, shipping trust and other com
bines, which, with the help of years
of falling prices, crushed the wealth
producers of , New Zealand and made
them in. a mood for the political revo
lution of 1890. : ' vi
fThe ; history of this is .one of the
moiiateresting chapters in tne pon
tics IfoNew Zealand." The farmers
and5 theprganized laborers joined
forces ats theallot box and swept the
conservatives ; power and ever
since, at ach tni.njal ; election, the
liberals have oyed overwhelming
victory.- It was ;Wi4ry ;of "class
conscious proletarian1 ordeal anar
chistic "voluntarians'impkli the
joining forces at the polls of meriho 1 or any other perEptf who makes no
worked; men who worked at wages jfcj more - than $1.500 -a year. rsJtateL.
others and those who worked forem-rimber of income taxpayers 1a"' only
selves on their own or leased lands
It is such a victory as the populista
dreamed about at Omaiia in 1892 but
failed to realize because nearly all the
wageworkers and the vast majority of
the farmers allowed partisan insanity
to possess then!: It was not a victory
for Karl Marx socialism or Henry
George individualism but . a victory
for , the plain peopfyv the men who
toiled; and they made the best of it
and have kept in power ever since, not
by measuring their legislation accord
ing to the principles of equity and
justice enunciated so well by Henry
George, or by thja "surplus, value"
yard-sticK of Karl Marx, but -rather
by enacting legislation which would
benefit themselves
The wage-workers indulged in no
dreams about a co-operative common
wealth', with "collective ownership of
all the means of production and dis
tribution, with democratic management
of each, industry by those engaged
therein." They were willing to accept
good wages under "state capitalism."
They were not worried about the "sur
plus value" the "boss" got. With
cheap transfers of land title, free edu
cation; postofllce savings banks, gov
ernment life insurance, and manhood
suffrage, they were not afraid of the
"reactionary" measures their agricul
turist allies proposed. They were quite
willirg to rssist in killing off the "va
cant lot industry" even if the proposed
tax failet. to meet the ethical require
ments of "equity and Justice' They
were looki.-g for relief and were more
concerned in securing it than in split
ting hairs over what sanction the tax
would have. They were quite willing
to tax? "according to ability to pay,"
even if metaphysicians can prove that
such is rank robbery. They were quite
willing that the tax, should, be laid so
as "to free the small man" and said
so in their Land and Income Assess
ment Act" (1891) with brutal frank
ness. In fact, scarcely anything in the
way of legislation by the liberals since
1890 will stand the test3 of theoreti
cians of either the school of George or
Marx; but it has produced results.
Not always as beneficient as the legis
lators hoped for man is not' omni
scient; but with the net effect of keep
ing the people ever alert for anything
new which w"l help them.
The wealth producers' victory in
New Zealand vage-workers and far
mersforeshadows what is likely to
happen in the United States before
many years. But . the liberal victory
here was not accomplished until ruin,
soup houses, strikers and monopoly
had made both farmers and wage-workers
amenable to reason.'. And a popu
list victory here will not be possible
while corn is 34 cents , and the. wage
worker has even a' partly "full dinner
pail." The farmer may know that even
at 34 cents for com, he is being robbed
by the railroads and grain trust. The
wageworker may know that he is en
titled to something more than a tin
bucketful of, food each day but Mark
Hanna was a shrewder judgs of hu-
man nat'ire than most men when ta
coined or adopted that sentence,
"Let well enough alone,' for a cam
paign slogan.
There are three .prominent features
in . New Zealand's fiscal policy: (a)
The land tax on the "unimproved'.'
value of the land, with an exemption c2
$2,500 where ihe net value, of the est&ta
does not exceed $7,500, so graduated
that the exemption vanishes when tha
estate reaches $12,500 Upvalue (b)"
Graded land "tax for wealthy landlords
and absentees, which makes them pay
16 to 18 times as high as the man of
moderate means. And (c) the income
tax, with an exemption of $1,500 (ex
cept in case of absentees, and com
panies whether absentees or not) and a
further optional exemption up to $250
a year for life insurance if the citizen
wishes to spend his money, that way.
: "A farmer who derives all his income
from land pays no income tax. Neither
does a lawyer, doctor, teacher, artisan
ac't 5,600. (There are 16,000 land tax-
pay eft out of a total of 110,000 land
owners.orking people, small trades
men crd fanaers with less than $2,500
of land -,Yaluboye improvenic-t:,
pay neither ;lanffnor income tax:-.
But but it must r.of5 Jimagined ti:i
they escape taxation e4ely, for t :
bulk (about 75 per Cfc-t) .''dJjfaw E in
land's net revenue is rzJseffc: 5y V 2
tariff, and the citizen is -t tcr-n-
taxes whenever he eats, or "eB.Y.y
clothes, or buys a bicycle or a p
shoes. Moreover, every property-ho.
er large or small must pay municipal
or local ta-;es.
The total revenue of New Zealand is
about $40 per head of white population.
J half of it raised by taxation, with the
direct taxes all on the well-to-do and
largely on the rich. -v,
"The people like these taxes, and
there is a growing sentiment in favor,
of ; lowering tae tariff and increasing
the land and income taxes less tax-,
ation on life and more taxation of
natural resources and monopoly. The
new taxes do not discourage Industry,
nor put a premium on idle land and
speculative holdings. They fall only
where the -irden can easily be borne.
No merchant, pays when business is
bad and he makes nothing. And no
farmer " finds his ; taxes trebled and
quadrupled because he improves his
land. The taction of monopoly has
increased the prosperity of the coun
try and helped to break up big estates
and secure a wider ; distribution of
land."
It is not intended that this shall re
lieve Independent readers of the ne
cessity f procuring and studying Dr.
Taylor3 little book-but rather that
they may see the wisdom of buying
a copy. It ought to be in the hands
of every populist, so that he could an
swer the doctrinaries; by pointing out
concrete examples of applied populism. '
Populism is "eclectic" but not "sci
entific." It will not spurn a good
thing because it fails to measure up
to the requirements of some new the
ory in world-building. The average,
populist can not defend public owner
ship of railroads and government ope
ration thereof, against ,the onslaughts of
the metaphysician who, talks learned
ly about the "true" functions of gov
ernment. He can not defend it against
the collectlvist who Tefuses to see any
difference between the ownership of
a railroad and the ownership of a pea
nut stand. Yet. for all that, the popu
list has faith in the practical, good,
hard, lommon sense of the proposition
to do away with private ownership of
some forms of property, and continue
It as to others. New Zealand Is a
veritable nightmare to extremists of
all kinds. Her laws are "reactionary
and "unscientile," viewed from the
collectivistic standpoint, andthey vio
late the maxims of "equity and justice"
and overstep the "true functions of
government" when seen from the indi
vidualistic vievpoint. Yet, thy tave
been of great benefit to.tLa. r";l3 cf
New Zealand aid appeal to th3 cz
mon senss of men who have no tin.
! .
11
11-