Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-08-26
Henry Georges Testimony.

Alrich were present. There is no doubt
said Mr.. George whent asked to give what
facts he could bearing on the labor ques-
! ton, that there is a great and growing
dissatisfaction among the working classes
of the United States. Whether the con
dition Of the workingTnen is improving or
growing worse is a very complicated ques-
ton, but in my mind there is no doubt
that the condition Of the workers is stead
lily growing worse.
"The prosperity Of the country has stead
lily increased, but the worker remains al
most the same. The object OF all business
| now is TO concentrate. There is a concen-
tration of wealth in vast amounts, and the
CONSEQUENCE * that each day the laborer
finds it more difficult to be independent.
Some years ago, before machines, men
made shoes. Then a man had but to get
a last, some needles and thread and leather,
and he might earn a living wherever men
wore shoes. Now the shoemaker can work
only where capital is concentrated-in a
factory. There is no conflict between labor
and capital. They go hand in hand, but
there il conflict between labor and mo-
nopoly.
THE CAUSE OF LOW WAGES.
"The cause of the low wage is because
the source Of improvement, the land, is
monopolized, hence all other monopoly.
Wages in all occupations have a~certain re-
| latiOn to each other. fixed by certain cir
c~umstances, but i'll general dependent On
the largest occupation. This is agricul-
ture. Wherever there is free access TO the
soil wages cannot sink lower than what a
man can earn tilling the soil. So We see
in new countries wages are higher and the
people happier, for there is free access to
the soil. A railroad or a telegraph is a.
monopoly. As a railroad extends itself
into Il new country the free access is cut
off, the wages do not rise, and yet We say
the railroads make the country prosper
Gus. They make individuals wealthier,
but not the great mass OF jewellers in the
land. When a mar owns the Lane he owns
the men, and the men who do not own
the II must work for those who do. Ma
chinery is supposed to benefit the laborer.
Then let invention 90 on to such an ulti-
mate degree that everything could be pro-
duced without the aid of abor. What
would be the consequence? There would
be no necessity for labor, and the land
owner would reap all the benefits OF pro-
duction. This, of course, will never hap
pen, but such is the tendency OF society"
o-vERPRoDUCTIoN.
Senator Pugh here spoke about overpro-
duction in the coal and iron districts, and
asked the witness how he would avoid
overproduction.
81 did not know there was overproduc-
ton" Mr.. George replied. There can be
no overproduction until every man has as
much as he wants. Labor very often can
not employ itself on accoun Of monopoly.
Very often we hear of an era of great
financial depression. Business is paralyzed
from one end Of the country to the other,
and there is but one cause for this, name
ly, the increased value of land. The man
who wants to use this land must pay for
it, and pay high. The consequence is, the
man cannot tax the land. No building
is put up. The building trade is dead and
all improvement is checked by this high
price for land. All other industries are
thrown out through this rise i'll the value
of land. The laborer, the mason and
bricklayer are all out of employment. The
paralysis extends through the whole net
work of the country. Business is bound
with ligatures around its body, and the
blood of the nation ceases to flow. Labor
has no employment.
"How to remedy this is by a change in
the land tenure. Land is a natural ele-
ment the same as air. Lane exists, it has
existed, and will exist forever. No man
owns the air; no nan should own the
land. 1t is his to Use while he lives. He
can, but should not, fence it in and say:
Il do not want to use, but you must not
use it. We must break up this dog-in-the-
manger business. Land is not property.
A man may create property or make it.
That is his; he can do what he likes with
it; burn it down if he chooses, take il to
the grave, or transmit it to his children.
But where did he acquire a title to land.
He did not create it or make it, and hence
has no title to it. The land IS the great
question to settle every other question,
and if every man had but as much land
as he needed, then these questions of
labor would soon shape themselves into
very simple questions. Property belongs
to individuals put land to all. | own my
coat, because I paid the man who made it
for it, but l paid no man for my land who
made it.
an the existing state of our laws it is
not possible to divide up the land in equal
portions and give to each man his share.
This equality would soon lead to %inequal-
ity, and things would soon come around to
an old rut. We must tax the land, n
the and only. This would produce the
desired results. As it is o we are tax
ing productions. Why should we tax
productions-things which are adding to
the general wealth? If a man wants to
build a house, the house will be taxed.
Then the man will not build the house.
Hence so much the less production hence
such a loss to the commonwealth. Pro-
auctions should never be taxed.
IDLE LAND.
"Here is a man who owns a lot of land.
He never touches it. Here is another man
who builds a house on his lot of land, add
ing so much to the general wealth, and vet
is taxed for producing the house. Take
taxes, then, off all things but the land.
Let us drain all our revenues from the
land. Abolish the tariff. The consequence
will be immediate where a man now has a
1 1-,,,, - - - 1--I - -
vacant. He will have to pay the same
amount of taxes for the unOccupied as for
the occupied land. He will be forced then
either to build or to pay an exorbitant rent
for something which is of no practicable
value to him. The value of land will i'm
mediately fall. The value of and now is
not its real value. 1t is a speculative value
on what land may be worth at some future
time. By this method of taxation no man
will occupy any more land than he needs.
Houses will then go up all over, and the
dwellers in the Easements will benefit.
"Half the land in this city is unoccu-
pied, and yet thousands swelter and die in
heated compartments. The land is not
used, and yet is fabulously valuable. When
the u~noccupied land is taxed building will
begin and labor will be in demand. Land
must get cheaper and cheaper il there is
more than necessary. The effect OF this
WOulu DE lIldL the great COTpOrdllOIlS llOll-
ing land in the West would sell or give it
away. For why should they hold it, since
each year as it gets more valuable they
will have to pay higher and higher taxes
for it. A man would not then as now
OWL a block of land and let it lie for years
until the combined efforts of other men,
the community, have made it valuable.
The Astors draw immense rentals from
lands they have not given the power to
draw rents, but which the community has
made valuable. Wherever there is free
access to the land labor does not suffer"
Senator P4gh-We have been endeavor-
ing year after year to get laborers on lands,
at q small rent, in the South.
~LABoRERs BEFIKR CONDITIONED N FHEsoUTH
Mr.. George-Fhere may be barriers to
taking land there-religion, superstition,
yellow-fever, etc. Still there is free acces-
sion to land in the South. Does the South
ern laborer suffer like the Northern la
borer?
l Senator Pugh-No.
'"They say there is land in the West.
There is not. l havs net men time and
time again coming from the West, who
nave said that the easiest way 10 get a
homestead in the West is to buy one.
Land is not free. When land is in this
condition everything else will flow into its
Il pldkG. IdDOI. AOuhu lNOI NC CidAhRCA anu
crowded as it is now. If youdo not think
that free accession to land would relieve
the pressure on labor, declare all the land
in Harlem free of access aud see the re-
suit. Land not being property, of course
cannot be transmitted, but the house built
on the land may be bequeathed. What
ever State first begins TO live under this
changed law OF lapdtenure would speedily
outstrip every other State in general wealth
and happiness. The incentive to the mo
n~opolfzs6on OF land would be destroyed,
and hence We might col back to the first
argument OF agriculture and wages. QuT
taxes are more a source Of corruption, and
are levied only by men ignorant Of the
right methods of taxation. Ii 3 man goes
West and attempts 10 build, Immediately
, comes the t~axcollector, and hence the in,
|, centive TO productioni in the West is killed.
I'm regard TO any other method OF allie
Waiting the condition of labor l cannot say
3 much. Men own land who have no titles
and until land is common labor will suffer
| l believe in a great change. There has
been an injustice done, n the only way
to remedy the existing evils is to do JUS