The Labor enquirer., 1886-02-06


rectly through his home. It saws to him.
we want this land for right of way, stock
yards, ETC., etc. The old man objects, but
the railroad company call out jurv, tell
them incidentally Of the great ad vantage
of having Competing lines" ETC., ETC..
and the jury fixes the value of the old
mans land. The law compels him to
take the monev and surrender the land.
He takes his family and starts west.
When he reaches Nebraska, he sees ad-
yertisements on every hand, millions
Of acres Of land for sale" by this same
railroad company. He finds q l6O-acre
tract that suits him, walks into the rail
road Office and inquiries the price he is
told 500 per acre on ten years. time, with
10 per cent interest. The old man oro-
tests that the land was never held BY the
government at more than SIPS per acre,
and that it never cost the railroad COM
pany anything. The agent replies, "Our
prices are fixed by our board in Boston,
if you do not want it you need not take
it." The reply is, II want it and / will
take it, but not at that price. Call out 9
Jury and we will try how eminent do
main works on your land. / will apply
the same law to your land that you did
to mine."
The Jury could not help but take into
consideration that the lands never cost
the railroad company anything, and
that the old man must by hard labor
make them valuable and assist in devel
oping the country. I have no doubt but
that their verdict would be just one,
and have no doubt that when tele-
graphed to the Boston Office it would
fall like bomb shell among the dude
proprietors therein. l
What would be the result if this rule
were established? You, would find cap
ital in greater hurry to get out Of land
than ever it was to monopollze 1t. 1t
would flee from lands as it would flee
from destruction. Money, which is the
blood of commerce, would again seek its
arteries, 1t would 60 into trade. The
wheels of factories would begin to turn,
vast sums would be thrown upon the
market and interest would be reduced.
Lands would he held as God intended
they should be, for homes. A freeman's
home would rise upon every hill, and
every vote that came therefrom would
be freeman's vote,
Henry George proposes to drive capi-
tai from land by placing all the taxes on
the land. But ask, Who can tax LANDS
in proportion to the power of the land
lord to raise his rents? AS the taxes
increase he will increase his rents, and
thus at last shift the burden onto the
tenant.
think you are satisfied that if the
right to condemn lands and take them
for homes is once established, that il
at once wrings all the waters of specula.
ton therefrom, and makes the landlords
title so uncertain, so precarious, thai
he will at once put his money elsewhere
You cannot starve family SO long a,
they have ten acres of good land npor
which to work. Therefore drive the
speculator's money out of the land and
keep it for homes.
At this time it appears to me tha
| American labor needs far more to be re
lieved from obnoxious laws and institu
tions than it does to have the state be
come the one overseer of llindustries
Place the laborer in proper position as
regards the land; release him from the
effects of a rotectlve tariff which serves
to make the rich richer and the poor
poorer.
Take another step. Place the rail
roads, the canals and the telegraphs un'
der governmental control. Every insti
tuition that Is in its nature a servant O.
the people, at least quasi public insti
tuition, should be owned and controlled
bv the government, just the same as the
postal service. The people of the
United States have paid for every rail
road three times the price that it has
cost. They have paid Jay Gould ten
times the cost of his telegraph system
Is it policy to place the business of the
nation in the hands of these monopo'
lists, so that they may build up or teal
down state as they please?~
In section VIII. of article XIV. of the
constitution of this state we find this
language:
'The right of eminent domain shall
never be abridged nor so construed as to
prevent the general assembly from tax
ing the property and franchises of in.
corporated companies and subiecting
them to public use, the same as the
property of individuals"
And by section ". of the schedule il
is provided:
1.-THE general assembly shall pass all
laws necessary to carry into effect the
provisions of this constitution"
1 doubt not that it is surprise to
many of you to see how nearly within
your reach is relief, and still year after
year the oppression continues. You
elect senators and representatives ex-
pecting them to labor for your interests.
Do they do it. At the last session Of
the legislature I introduced bills regu-