Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-07-25

to the whole people, making thereof
under the general forms of the present
law the single tax.
Taxes on the products of labor tend
to restrict production. This is obvious
to any one who will think. Put tax on
hats, and smaller number will be
brought; tax houses, and the building
of houses will be checked; and so on
with every other product of labor The
tendency of such taxes is to diminish
consumption and check exchange, and
thus to hinder and make ineffective the
natural demand for products of labor to
satisfy human wants. The ground rent,
which rightfully belongs to the COM
munity, is ample for all purposes of
government. Therefore there should be
no taxes imposed on improvements or
commodities, and no expenses of govern
ment beyond the annual proceeds of the
single tax.
A sufficient tax on the assessed value
of land makes it Improbable to hold
i''iiN' 'uS VI dot, cl'ciliiiS oDDOl-
tunities for labor, stimulating production,
and facilitating exchange. If the com
munity took for the uses of the COM
munity all Of that value produced by it
and none of the values produced by in
dividuals, it would tighten the burdens
of working farmers by exempting all of
their stock, implements and improve
ments from taxation, and it would better
their condition by giving them access to
enormous quantities of land thatspecula-
tors now hold out of use. 1t would free
them from the burden of tariffs and
the tribute, extortion and robbery of
monopolies, trusts and combines, and by
vastly increasing the opportunities for
mining, manufacturing and exchange,
thus increasing the wages of labor and
the prosperity of the whole people, it
would give steady and increasing
market for all that they could produce
All other producers would be benefited
in like manner, and even the speculator,
turned from the evil of his gambling
ways, would make, if a more modest, yet
a safer provision for himself and family
under the reign of the single tax
No one should be fined for being a
man, and therefore poll taxes are as un-
just as they are unequal. Import duties,
internal revenue taxes, and the like, are
unjust and unequal because they fall in
the end on people, not in proportion to
their acealth, but IN p'oportion to ochat they
are Obliged to consume, and thus bear with
special hardship on the poor, who must
spend nearly or quite all they receive in
satisfying their wants as consumers. In
the case of tariff taxes this hardship is
increased by the fact that thesystem en-
ables private individuals, for their own
benefit, to raise prices and thus practi-
cally to levy new taxes, and often far in
excess of those obtained from like arti-
cles by the govement. This system is
burdensome to the great mass of the
people, and bears with special hardship
on those whose interests its advocates
declare it is specially designed to serve.
Therefore indirect taxation must be |
abolished trade relieved from all imposts |
and restrictions, and the revenue of the |
government derived from the value of |
land created by the community, as can
best be done by means of the single tax.
But beyond all this every man is en-
tit1nl 70 f,,n l, l.
or enterprise in producing goods, erecting
buildings, improving lands, transporting
or exchanging goods, or in any way
contributing to the satisfaction
of his own wants or the wants of others,
while the value that attaches to land by
reason of increased competition for its
use, and which is due to growth of
population and advance of improvement,
justly belongs to the whole community.
Therefore, the public should take, and
only take, by taxation for the common
use and benefit, the full rental value of
land; by the convenient means of the
single tax.
Whenever ground rent shall thus be
taken for the support of government and
the satisfaction of public wants, industry
and enterprise will be relieved from
taxation, and no inducement will remain
for holding land without using it. Land
speculation will cease, and unused
farming lands, water powers, quarries,
mines, building sites, and all other
natural opportunities, will be opened to
labor. Workmen who cannot make fair
bargains with employers will be able to
employ themselves; not that everybody
will take sto farming, but that, with
agricultural, mining, and building lands
accessible to those willing to put them to
use, there will be no lack of employment,
and wages in all industries will rise to
their natural level-the full earnings of
labor. The labor problem is; How
shall all men who are willing to work
always find opportunity to work, and
thus produce either what will immedi-
ately satisfy their wants, or what will do
so through its exchange for the products