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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1905)
Nebraska. IndopondcntV PAGE C MARCH 23. 1905 The Philosophy of Freedom An Optn ForuB for Single Taxers Open Letter to Mr. G. S. JH Blank, Ga. Editor Independent: Your recent fa vor to hand. You believe that it is Just to tax according to ability to pay. If you were a merchant would you charge your customers according to their ability to pay? Should a theatre manager charge his patrons according to their ability to "pay? Or shouldn't he rather charge them according to the value of the seats they occupied? The only just tax is a tax according to benefits received from government. All public benefits are reflected in the value of land. Therefore the ground rent tax is the only just tax. Under the single tax every privilege would be repealed or its beneficiaries would have to pay the full value of the privlege into the public treasury, when it would cease to be a privilege, That being the case, whatever income any man received would be his, as against the whole world. New Zealand has a graduated land and income tax and an exemption of each. This is wrong, but its effects 'are better than the old system and it is an approach, however slight, toward the recognition of the justice of taking ground rent for public purposes. If all ground rent were taken, in the form of taxes, there would be no need of an income tax, and the small rob ber, as well as the large one, would . be shown no favors. . You refer to my illustration of the river. You would move on a boat anchored in the river and thus escape all taxation, while levying tribute on . the community. In political economy all natural things, external to man, stich as rivers, seas, sunlight, natural heat and cold, natural electrical cur rents, rain, etc., are included in the term land. So your river would be land, as well as your present farm or garden or town lot. But that is not the point. Under the single tax your water privilege would be repealed.- All would have free and equal access, to the-river. - I , used the illustration sim ply to show you the character of . the bulk of the so-called capital or wealth of the 'plutocracy. It is not wealth or capital at all. It is simply the power to levy future tribute upon labor, cap italized. The annual tribute is the in terest, so-called really ground: rent. The market value of the stocks 4 and bonds represent this annual tribute capitalized. .'"'.-, . Yes, under the single tax, all land for which there was competitive de mand for which people would be will ingvto pay a premium for use, would be taxed. The tax would be just what people wotild be willing to pay for it if it were unimproved. If your young man's $500 land continued to be in demand, despite the fact that '1,70S, 000,000 acres could be had to use free of tax, then it would continue to yield taxes. However, if there were 400,-t 000,000 acres of more desirable land than it, no one would want to use it, and consequently it would have no value and would pay no tax. As I stated in my last, exchange is a part of production. The facility of exchange, multiplying production, dif ferentiates the civilized man from the. savage. Where exchange is encour aged, each member of society need not catch his own fish, build his own house, make his own clothing, plant his own garden, etc. Where each haa to' do all of these things a high state IT 4 n WJ4 i 'H jonn i. wmte Lecturer SUBJECTS: "Henry George and His Doctrine." "Robert Burns; Poet, Man, Reform er." "Thomas Carlyle."- "The Revolution of 1789." "The Dignity of Labor." "The Right to Work." "How to Prevent Strikes." "The Public Ownership of Public Utilities." "The Source of Municipal Corrup tion." "The Single Tax." (Questions and Answers Following Lecture.) For terms and dates address F. II. MONROE, Pres. Henry George Lecture Association, 610 Steinway Hall, Chicago, III. of civilization can not be attained. The subdivision of labor, incident to exchange, makes it unnecessary for the individual to go to Brazil for his coffee, to China for his tea, to Texas for his beef, to Minnesota for his flour, etc., before he can eat breakfast. One thousand men working in a shoe factory can make sixty times as many shoes as 1,000 'men working Individ ually. Through the subdivision of la bor one man can make 3,000 pins or 200 horseshoe nails where he could make one without such specialization of industry. .. The greatest exchanges are made, as a rule, on the most valuable land. Some land on Broadway, New York, is worth $16,000,000 per acre. The vast volume of exchanges made on a sin gle acre of such land effects a saving to the public and to the dealers of probably millions of dollars annually. The dealer pays the bulk of his sav ings from this concentration of bus! ness, to the landlord, as rent. As the landlord did not make the land, this should go to society as a whole, in stead. While one man is raising wheat in Dakota, another corn in Kansas, still another is making shoes in Massachu setts, while another is growing cotton in Georgia and still another raising sheep or cattle in Texas, etc. By ex changing these things, each of these men may enjoy wheat bread or corn bread, can wear shoes or woolen or cotton clothing, can eat beaf and mut ton, etc. In the last analysis each man has produced all of these things. Exchange and the subdivision of labor has multiplied each man's share of each of these commodities. Were it not for privilege, due to highway mo nopoly, unjust taxation and financial systems, etc., his share would be much larger, but as it is the; privileged classes take toll all along the line. The most valuable productive area qp the American continent is Man hattan Island Manhattan borough of Greater New York. Men are willing to pay vast sums for the privilege of exchanging wealth on each acre of this island. Whatever they are willing to pay would be the tax under single tax. For instance, when in Chicago in 1893 I was shown three splendid twelve story buildings and was told that the lots were the property of a widow that she - received $50,000 annual ground rent from each of the three lots, and that at the expiration of the lease the three magnificent structures become her property The buildings probably cost $1,000,000 each. So each of these tenants is paying over $100, 000 annually for the use of a lot. Un der single tax this prodigious tribute of ground rent would go into the pub lic treasury and would be equitably dis tributed among the governments of the city of Chicago, the county of Cook, the state of Illinois and the United States of American. Whenever such lots as these, either in New York of Chicago or else where, whether improved or not, cease to be desired, they will cease to pay taxes under the single tax, and not until then. Contrary to your opinion, so long as there is competitive demand for them they will pay taxes under thfs system. Rents in cities would probably fall and the people would spread over the whole city, instead of living packed like sardines. The aggregate rental value might not exceed the (ground rent now paid on land in use, as you assume, but population, and incidental ly land values, would tend to' scatter in cities and concentrate in the rural districts. You say you do not know how much the Standard Oil company s dividends are, and that you are ignorant of the proportions of it which are ground rent, interest, profits, return on ficti tious capital, etc. Its dividends for 1902 were $45,000,000; for 1903 they were $44,000,000, and for 1904 they were $36,000,000. In addition to this the company usually sets aside mil lions of earnings to use once or twice in a decade to suddenly swell divi dends and thus boom its stocks and enhance its credit. There are only three factors in the production of wealth. These are land, labor and capital. Their returns are rent, wages and interest. All the of ficials, of the Standard Oil company, from the president down, and Includ ing the directors, receive their wages, or salaries, before dividends are de clared. Therefore no part of the divi dends can possibly .be wages. It is probable that all the tangible capital of the company can be duplicated for $50,000,000. The dividends average about 5 per cent on the market viv or 44 per cent on capitalization, which is $100,000,000. So the economic in terest must be less than $3,000,000. As nothing remains but rent, over $41, 000,000 must be the return to land. You say that as labor moved on to the free land such land would be come productive and would then be taxed under the single tax system. But you miss the point. The tendency would be, as stated before, for labor to concentrate on the 400,000,000 acres of most productive land and forsake the 1,708,000,000 acres of least produc tive land. Doubtless more than one half of the 400,000,000 acres now in use would be abandoned and posibly 200,000,000 acres of land now unused would come into use. What one can produce on superior land in excess of what one can produce on the least pro ductive land "in use, is rent- Wages are determined by what labor can pro duce on the least productive land in use. If labor forsook less productive land for land of greater productivity, the rent line would advance onto bet ter land. Labor would be much more productive and wages would advance sharply would doubtless doubles The ground rent tax is the one tax that can not be shifted. All econo mists are agreed on this. I showed you in my last that the manufacturer or merchant can not add it to the price of his goods. The big factory or other improvement does not make the land more valuable, as you assume, but the increased demand for the land. If a million dollar factory or. palace were erected on the Desert of Sahara, it would not enhance the value of the land, as you seem, to think. You could still buy any of the adjacent land for probably less than one cent per acre. No one would want it at any price ex cept the eccentric who built the palace or factory, for there must be competi tive demand for land before it can nave a value. . . The single tax program compre hends other things besides the land tax, as you will see by reference to any of Henry George's books, written n the last thirty-five years. .'. Among hese are public ownership of all high ways, including railroads. You say, not the tariff, but the railroad, is the mother of trusts. Both are prolific in this respect, but land monopoly is the original progenitor of all. Eliminate all other privileges, and the landlord would receive all the resultant bene-: flits, in higher prices or rents. A. FREELAND. Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. Stock Merchandise For La.nd Large general stock of merchandise now running in a good Minnesota town and doing good business which I will exchange for good improved land and some cash. - FILED F. CLARK. 426 Boston. Blk., Minneapolis, - Minnesota. CERTIFIC ATE OF PUBLICA TI ON STATE OF NEBRASKA OFFICE OF AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Lincoln, Eebruary l9t 1905. It is hereby certified, That the Security Trust and Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania has complied with the Insurance Law ot this State, applicable to such companies and is therefore authorized to continue the business of Li e Insurance in this State for the current year ending January 3lst, jyut. Summary op Report Filed for the Year Ending December 31st, 190-1. INCOME Fremiums ....$963,318.08 All other sources ...J252.444.09 Total $1,215,762.17 Paid policy holders, $445,389.50 All other payments, J601.183.31 Total 51,046,572.81 ADDMITTED ASSETS J2.522.145. 43 Net Reserve, 11,9ft ,783.00 Net Policy Claims,... ....$ 66.650.62 All other liabilities...... J 44,352.42 12.062.786.04 Capital stock paid up,... J 500,000,00 9 500.000.C0 surplus Deyona capuai Stock and other lia bilities, Total 82,562,786.04 Witness my hand and the seal of the Auditor of Public Accounts the day and year first above written. E. M. PEA RLE Jr. seal Auditor of Public Accounts. JOHN L. PIERCE, Deputy. CERTIFICATE OF PUBLICATION STATE OF NEBRASKA OFFICE OF AUDITOR OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS Lincoln February 1st 1905. It is hereby certified, that the Phoenix Assur ance Company of London England has com plied with- the Insurance Law of this 8tnte, applicable to such Companies and is therefore authorized to continue the business of fire and lightning Insurance in this State for the cur rent year ending January 31st 1906. Witness my hand and the seal of th Auditor of Public Accounts the day and year first above written. JC. M. SEA RLE Jr. f8EALl Auditor of Fublic Accounts. JOHN L. PIERCE, Deputy. ' - Safe Deposit Insurance Agency, Lincoln, Nebr. The Old Line Bankers Life Insur ance company of Lincoln are wanting agents. Good salaries. For particu lars address J. H. Harley, secretary, Lincoln, Neb. Please mention The Independent. your wife the drudgery and labor and yourself money you should use gas for cooking and heating. A gas stove is ready to respond immedi ately to the touch "of a lighted match at any time of the night; Think what this means in case of sudden illness. Gas Ranges, Heaters and Water Heaters at cost. LINCOLN GAS & ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANY ; Open Evenings AutoThone 2575 ' Bell Phone 15 COLUMBIA NATIONAL BANK CF LINCOLN, NEBRASKA. I I Capital, Surplus I Deposits, $100,000.00 14,000.00 1,350.000.00 OFFICERS John B. Weight, President J. H. Webtcott, Joe. Samuels, P. L. Hall, W. B. Rtohs, let Vice Pres. I Sd Vice Pres. Cashier A sat. Cashier Record of Articles of Incorporation. Know all men by these presents that J. Ilul bertLoper, James R Burleigh, Dora T. Bur leigh, and Ethel M. Lopcr, whose names are hereto subscribed, have associated themselves together for the purpose of lorming and be coming a corporation under the laws of the state of Nebraska, and for that purpose hereby adopt these articles of incorporation: Article I. ' ! The name of this corporation shall be the People's Loan and Trust Company. Article II. The principal place of business of this cor poration shall be Lincoln Nebraska. Article III. ... This corporation is iormed for the purpose of and it shall have power, to loan money on real and personal property; to bay, own, hold, and sell real estate nnd persona property: to own and operate dray and transfer lines; to conduct a storage business; to deal in coal and general merchandise; to own stock in other corporations; to incur debts and issue mortgages upon its property to secure the same: and to do any and all things necessary, convenient, or customary for the establishment, operation, ' and conduct of the objects stated, v ArticleIV. . - -The term for which this corporation shall exist shall be the period of fifty years from and alter the execution of these articles Article V. The Capital Stock ol this corporation shall be fifty thousand dollars(50,000) divided into five thousand share? of the par value oi ten dollars per share. Ten thousand dollars of said stock shall be subscribed and paid in at tha begining oi business. The remainder of said stock shall be subscribed and Issued at such times and upon such terms and conditions as the board of directors may determine. Article vl The highest amount of Indebtedness to which this corporation may at any time bubject itself shall not exceed two-thirds of its paid up capi tal stock. Article VII. All the business of this corporation shall be . under the management of a board ot not less than three nor more than five directors. The directors shall be chosen by the stockholders, and shall hold office for the term of one year and until their successors are elected. The board oi directors shall elect from their own number a president, vice-preMdent, secre tary and treasurer. The secretary and treasurer may be one person. Article VIII. The board of directors shall adopt such by laws, rules and regulations for the more com plete management and control of the affairs of the corporation as shall seem to them best. Article IX. These articles may be amended at any annual or special meeting of the stock-holders by three-filths vote of all the stock. J. HULBERT L.OPEK, - JAMEH R. BUrLEIQH, Dora T. Burleigh, imt ' " Ethel M. Lopkb, Incorporator.