Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-09-27

eratl ons at home. sent a small army Of the
bravest soldiers that history has ever known
into the very thick Of the fight here at Johns
town.
The millions OF the total fo0tlngs somehow
will not speak 20 Us Of money, they viii be- but
a feeble exponent Of that great thfob OF love
that swept over the whole nation, shared BY
city and hamlet alike. They win be but the
clphered factor OF that great gulp in the throat
| by which the Nations manhood kept back lts
sobs, to turn 20 active work and help.
had intended using no names. We owe 30
much to philadelphia. the city OF Brotherly
| love; New York, who stopped Ito busy life TO
subscribe to our needs, Boston, chicago, In fact
to each and every part or the country, that 1t
seems ungrateful to mention some and not ALI
But It is not ingratltude, we thank them all,
but we are only human. and we cannot dwell
upon the picture without at first thinking OF
those who came in person and worked in our
midst and even OF those we cannot mention all.
But is there nothing TO be learned from the
horrors OF the food. and frJm the comfort OF
the nations great help3 think there is az least
to us, the followers Of Henry George
we all know that taxation IS Necessary and
we all believe in II. We al know that taxation
can only be paid for out OF the pr0ducB OK
mans labor, AMI all, even our strongest oppO-
nents will agree with us that It should be shared
by one and all not alike, but IN proportion to
the good 1t does the individual 50 far our OPP
ponents 20 with US.
We think we have found means OF securing
this result and at this point we commence to
differ. our proposed means is to tax all land 70
It's full rental value.
We know that II Mt Is the exponent OF the
value that man puts upon the opportunities
OF giving by land over and above
the cost of that living and as man cannot alto
getLer live In the air, nor in the sea, we think II
tolerably safe measure OK that value.
All who live, pay directly or indirectly their
share OF rental yalCe. There !s &c escaping It.
Therefore II we tax rental values we tax all
Those who enjoy the greatest opportunities pay
the highest rental value. therefore If we tax In
proportion to rental values we tax in proportion
to the opportunities OF amasslng wealth OF each.
AS a method or taxation II IS not to-day much
disputed But why do we want to take the whole
rental yalue2
Because we hold that the labor OF this world
is far from being as productive as it should be-,
and that the cause Is private ownership OF land
Because we hold that unproductlye as that
labor IS Il does not get IT'S tull share OF It's o@H
produce ana the cause Is private ownership OF
land.
Because we believe that men and women cease
to be God-tike when they have to work every
moment Jr heir lives IN order to live, when
they become beasts or burden and we hold that
on theprlvate pasture of land ownership has been
bred the beast OF burden. In the Cambria Iron
Company's rolling mills you VIII find some en-
gines with tiy wheels OF tremendous weight
revolving at great speed. II you step up TO the
journals Of one OF these engines and drop on
them a handful Of emery dust, It will not be
long before you notice q change. / cannot out
line Just what, but 1 can say that the speed VIII
be less, the stops from heated bearing many and
the userul product OF the mill greatly reduced.
] can also say that The bearings II not quickly
attended to- may 80 cut the shaft as tU entirely
wear It through and there may be broken shaI
and burst ny-whcel and sad had havoc gener-
ally, and yet /, was only handful or gritty
powder. so we hold that private c.uership Of
land disturbs productive power 70 an extent
far greater than its face value would lndlca G.,
Let us see. To-day our tramps number hun
dreds OF thousands, and our men and women
who could work harder ana do not because thciT
heart IS not in it, number millions. To-day OUT
death rate is high because We crowd together
In miserable tenement houses, or because we
cannot afford that investment IN sanitary
works needed to keep the community health.
! To-day our cities are crowded, because If the
poor man leaves the city he has got to go to the
confines OF civilization, away from fellow men
| to better himself, and being man, be dies with
|
away from them. one and al only need land
nothlng else and around one and all exists
| this land, and sim more 10 exists vacant un
used, but # exists monopollzed by the private
land owner Itmust be paid for, ana the more
| Il is needed, which IS the same as saying the
| greater the suffering OF those Who need 1t, tho
more must be paid Ior Il. II might as well not
exist for the good 10 does the many
Now we hold that by taxing land to It's fu
| entail value, land only, not Improvements which
are the products Of mans labor, no one woull
care 70 keep unused luuJi crl'ha choose TO he
! could only do so by pay ins lJ ,Ay community IT
| the share Of .ay, lAg. value mat lac kept then
from feaplng We would not onN
! open the door TO every man now
| ldc, but we would put the wage.
earned by man at its fun productive value. 4
man who can secure land on which 20 earn hii
living need not work lor anybody else at less
than this living, and upon his own energy, thrift
and brain power would dcpend the comfort ant
ex 'ent OF the living he could control. All tax
alton ON the product OF labor we condemn. ThC
more you tax a thing the less OF that thing i.
produced. We believe 10 good 70 encourage
wealth, not TO tax II away.
! Al taxation on the opportunities oi labor We
| uphold, because iJ cannot reduce those oppor
| tuniucs OF labor. There is but one thing tha
cannot be reduced BY taxation and that is land
! There Is but one thing that must and VIII be IN
creased by taxation OF the fun rental value O
land that is the amount OF land put to produc
! tive purpose because the advantage OF keeping
It Idle VIII have gone, and the more land that Il
put to productive use, the greater the wealth o
the community. Still further the more man cen
tralzes and lives together, up to the point o
overcrowding, the more efficient his labor feI
thousand human beings living within a healthy
measurable distance Of each other would b,
wealther as a community and happier as In
dividuals, than eight thousand living crowded
| like animals in tenement houses, and two
thousand isolated on the confines Of civilization
1t needs no abstract political economy to en-
phaslze this common sense suffces The forme
IS the improvement on civilization that we arc
working for the latter civilization as r. exists
t1-das.