Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-12-20
the application of the single tax.

! LIS duCStlOh Wdo dShSN' II tuC biuH
tax would so much decrease the and
values, wonld there be enough left from
which to raise taxes
Answer-Yes. There are two values to
laud, selling value and using value, The
land would still have Il using value, al
! though 1t had no selling value.
capital have great advantage over the
Question Would not The man with large
man of small capital
Answer-Literally he would, but not
so great proportionately as he now has.
If we tax the lending of money, the
lender invariably puts it on the borrower.
All tax ON capital comes off the con-
consumer. Taxing capital never taxes
the capitalist, but gives large capitalists
an advantage ever small ones because it
| takes so much more capital TO conduct
the business. The small capitalist is un-
able to carry Oh the business. Our pro-
posal is a stroke at the foundation of
great fortunes. All great fortunes have
come from getting possession of land
| There AZ it is true, some great fortunes
that have sprcng from the monopoly of
franchises. The rich are in favor of tax
ing everything.
Question--Docs not the consumer in the
end pay the tax?
Answer-Ile does. A man here in Johns
town builds house and they not only
put tax on the house, but an additional
tax is put on the land, Take the axample
of those now holding valuable land un-
used. Put heavy tax on it, and they
will be more anxious to sell it. When
men go hunting for purchasers, are prices
likely to be highor low. Increase of the
tax on land has tendency to force land
into the market, hence to make it cheaper.
Question-Is not the using value an
index to the selling value
Answer Yes; the using value fixes the
selling value. Over and above its using
value there now is speculative value.
When it is expected that people will be
wanting land, ,.the teXpected using value
is put upon it, not its present using value,
Question: it is an injustice to tax
building and othea products of human
labor. is it not wrong to require tax on
land, which must be paid by the pro.
! ducts of labor?
! Answer-The lax IS not had by the pro-
duets, but in the products of labor, il is
taking what now goes to the monopolizer.
In reply to the question as to how much
he thought the application of the
single tax would increase the wages of
the common laborer, Mr.. George replied
that if he were to give his answer the
audience would think him imaginative.
Wages in general, said he, can only be
permanently raised by raising the wages
of the common laborer. The greatest in
! dustrics are those wLicn take from the earth
the raw materials. The common laborers
do this work. Wages were higher here
in colonial times, before we had Il tariff,
than they were elsewhere, because land
was free, or at least there was easy access
to it. God never made laborer till he
had first made the opportunity to labor.
Here Mr.. George had tilt with a
! quesliOner as to whether the application
of the single tax would not place our in
dustries at a disadvantage, while other
counties had not yet adopted that
measure. The discussion turned on the
tariff and was quite animated. The
! questioner wanted to know how we
were to be prevented from being
flooded with foreign goods. Mr..
| George said that he for one
had no object to being Hooded,
even if the goods were given and nothing
required IN exchange. But he thought
that foreigners always wanted something
In exchange, when they shipped goods
here and the making of those things
employed labor.
The speaker was several times inter-
rupted by hearty applause during the
lecture proper, and some of his telling
hits in answering hequestions put to him
elected storms of applause.