The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-10-05
HENRY GEORGE.
What lie Will Do If Elected Mayor Of New
York-VieWs Concerning Property.

lork-tieWs Concerning Property
NEW YORK, Oct 4--The Sun contains long
| interview with Henry George on various topics
of interest Mr.. George begins by declaring thai
| ne favors change in the method of the govern
ment of New York There are too many hydra
headed commissions at present. He believes in
local self-government, and declares that tho
best model of government Is afforded by tho
Constitution of the United States He does NOT
believe in second house or in senases The
executive head should have charge of all the de-
partments, with power to appoint and remove.
Mr. George favored giving the Mayor absolute
power and declared that in election tho Or
binary voter will exercise some degree of selec-
ton as to the head of the ticket and then. as to
the rest, most citizens vote as random. Mr. George
believes that our system Of voting is bad
and that is the foundation of the rings The
best system of voting, he believes, is the Aus
tralian system, now introduced into GEeas
Britain and Ireland, where instead of millions
of tickets and hundreds of ticket peddlers TO
stand around the polls, the candidates are regis
tered by the proper officer, and all their.names
printed on one ticket II
Mr. George continued: s'You ask me why you
should vote for me rather than for any honest
Democrat Republican. Ny nomination is In
reality Democratic nomination-more Demo
cratic than any that has been made for long
time. / am a Democrat in the widest sense ia
that believe in the Declarations of Independ-s
ence and the principles Of Thomas Jeffersou.
My nomination proceeds directly from the
voters, and it is not the result of intrigue or
the management of cliqueS In the next plac0
stand as a representative of the workingmefa
of New York, and that because my name liz
identified with principles which the masses are
fast learning to believe to be conducive 20 their
best interests The real strength of the Demo.
cratic party always has BEEN and always must
be- that it is the party Of the working masses,
and the elevation of Democrat who peculiarly
represents those masses will do much Co make
the Democratic party more clearly and unmis.
takably the party of the people. The terms
Democrat and Republican mean nothing to-day.
1t is a contest of another kind than il was
when these paties were new, and when the party
names had soma distinctive meaning Today
it is the contest of the workingmen for theiPN
rights. The natural division of parties is that OK
the House of Have and the House Of Want
those content with things as they are and thcsG
who want to improve them. The existence Of
one Of these parties involves the existence of
the other. l am the candinate of the working
men, and accept the candidacy because 1t 10 atf
honor for any man to appear as their representa4
tive. They want to make the issue and Il
want them to succeed, not because am their
candidate, but because am one of them. aua
Socialist IN the sense of one who desires social
improvement aud believes social Improvement to
be possible. AS such never refuse the term
Socialist nor do shrink in any way from its
application to me. But am not Socialist In
the sense attached to the term by numbers Of
people who associate with it the destruction og Z
individual enterprise and division of property
| believe that at the bottom of the social prob.
lem of to-day is that social wrong which gives Co
some man the absolute ownership of the ele-
ment on which all must live. 80
81 am thorough believer in the right OF
property. holding that all that any can pro-
duce by the exertion of any power of mind or
body belongs exclusively to him, but do NOT
hold that the same right of property can attach
to the super6ces OF the earth. Absolute.
possession, however, is necessary for
the improvement of land and (
would leave to individuals the sam9
same secure possession that they have now un--
der the present system, merely taking for the
use of the community that value of land which
arises from the growth of society, and not from
the exertion of the individual My political
creed is best defined in the Declaration of Inda-
pendepee | believe that all men have O right
to do as they please so long as they observe the
equal rights of others, and in no way interfere
with the liberty of individuals. would abolish
all taxes which have been laid on individual ex-
ertion. / would impose no tax on buildings or
improvements, or production, or the acquisition
of any form of wealth, believing that the more
wealth there is In any country the better it is
for the whole people, and would raise the funds
necessary for the support Of the government by
a tax levied upon the value of land exclusive of
improvements. In this way would take for
pubic use that enormous value that arises from
the growth of the community. My election
would mean that the working men OF
New York had made an issue on their
principles and that they had won. It would
mean that the fight of the working masses for !
their rights had begun. and that they had started
with victory. If 1 am elected shall appoint
Co. 49, .1kr~ -
other things being equal, will appoint to Office
the men who have supported me, and who may
be presumed to have at heart the success of my
believe the men who have the
Offices should be honest and capable, and be.
ieve they should be in harmony with the 3D.
mnistratiye head and the principles lie was
elected to represent. The men whom will con. .
suit about appointments and like matters of nv
administration will be the same kind of men.
men whom know, men who have supported me,
men / can trust, the same men in whose integ.
rity and judgment have faith, and who repre-.
sent the elements that combined to elect me.
II am an absolute free trader. ] am much
more of froe-trader than the Golden Club or .
the Frss-trade League, and tariff for revenue
only seems to me as vicious in principle pro-
tectivs tariff, and perhaps even more unjust in !
its application / believe liz freedom in all
things. opposed to contract labor and
pauper immigration l want to be Mayor merely
because am the representative of principles T.
believe in, and for the success Of which have
done and will do all in my power
"The campaign this fall is only tie first step.
The movement of the working masses has started
here. 1t will spread elsewhere and every where.
When workingmen have shown their voting
strength they will be respected by politicians.
and their just demands will have to be granted,
Capitalists and the men of the house OF Have for
a long time have been in possession and power
They ruled by their combinations and brides,
and the workingmen were under their feet
Now has begun the rise of the working masses
and this is the first marshaling of their forces