Workmen's advocate., 1888-11-24
HORACE GREELEY ILLUSTRATED,


 Close to the entrance in the great cen. tral hall of the New York w0rkhouse hangs wooden panel, on which is in- scribed
 "The darkest hour in the history of any young man Cor old) is when he sits down to study how to get money without honestly working for 1t. HORACE GREELEY"
 A young man has worked and saved some money. He might lend his surplus on interest, to be used by the borrower in employing labor and increasing the wealth of the country; but he reads in newspaper advertisement that the price of lots in certain locality is rapidly advancing, and that the investor who will buy land to hold it for a rise will certainly double his money. He studies | the situation aud decides that here is an opportunity to get money without work | ing for it. The growth of population the increased demand for the land in | question will raise the price, and the owner of the title will pocket the un- earned increment. He is not a law breaker; he cannot be sent to prison, like the thief he may be regarded as a | good citizen, but he nevertheless "sits down to study how to get money with out honestly working for it." If he takes time to look into the problem to the bottom, he must see that somebody honestly earns the money which he gets; he must know that this act of holding the land unused until he can obtain the increased price which he has in view is hindrance to the production of wealth and robbery of the poor by raising | their rents; he must see that 1t would | be more just to abolish all taxes on the products of labor and let the State take | the rental value of land for public rev enue; but he is apt to look first at his own personal interest. He doesn't want the people who produce that land value to get it; he wants to get it himself, and lest he should not get it he votes for the | policy of taxing goods, houses and in cOmes regardless Of the fact that such taxes take the bread from the mouths of the poor, who have to work for all they get, and support spectators into the bargain. The man who works for a system of taxation which he knows to be unjust, in order that he may person ally profit by the advance in land values, is not much better than the man who sells his vote for a cnstoms duty to en- able him to charge double price for his goods. s.-HdmiHon Times
 Right you are, dear Times; but suppose this man lends his surplus to one who will use it "ln employing labor and increasing the wealth of the country,' will he be working for the interest he draws? Evi- dently not Yet we are safe to say he will not forget to take the inter- est-and if he does Che must see that somebody honestly earns the money which he gets, and we doubt not that he must know, too, that his act in charging interest on the money which he does not need to use ''is hindrance to the produc- ton of wealth and a robbery of the poor" by either raising the price they must pay for what is produced, or by making the wages of those en- ployed in production less on account of the interest charged on the money borrowed. He doesn't want the people who produced the goods to get the full value of their work; he wants to get part of it himself, and lest he should not get 1t he votes to continue the issue of money through the banks in insufficient volume. so that money may be at a premium and therefore draw interest, regard less of the fact that such interest takes the bread from the mouths of the poor, who have to work for all they get and support spectators | money lenders as well as the land lenders into the bargain. The man who works for the continuance of a currency system which he knows to be unjust, in order that he may personally profit by the neces- slty of others Is no better than the man who sells his vote to support the law which gives one class of men the right to shut out another and much greater class from the opportunity to obtain place of abode or means of sustenance from the earth, which Is the heritage of the human race. - Canadian Labor Retormer.