Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1890-07-25

they have such right then IL would
be proper for the sole proprietor of an,
kingdom-a Jersey or Guernsey, for ex
ample-to impose just what regulation,
he might choose on its inhabitants--t,
tell them that they should not live OIL
his property unless they professed ,
certain religion. spoke a particular Ian
guage, paid him a specified reverence
adopted an authorized dress and con
formed to all other conditions he nigh
see fit to make. II they have such {
right, then is there truth in that tenet
OF the ultra tory school, that the LAND
owners are the only legitimate rulers Of
country-that the people at large re-
main in it only by the land owners per
mission, and ought consequently to sub
NIT to the landowners rule, and respect
whatever institution the land owners
set up. There is no escape from these
differences. They are necessary corol.
laries to the theory that the earth can
become individual property. And they
can only be repudiated by denying that
theory"
leave the strictly moral considera-
tion here, with an expression Of my
inability to answer the reasoning or es-
cape from its conclusions. In the dis.
cussion OF the single tax its critics,
judging from my own experience, waste
no words on the ethical side. They
brush 1T away as all right enough In
theory or principle, but what has that
to do with practical things? Personal
ownership is established in all civilized
countries. Laws, custom, prejudices are
in its favor. AS Boss Tweed remarked:
What are you going to do about it?"
Consider the problem which confronts
us and forces us to answer it at the peril
OF relapsing into barbarism. The NAL
thusian bug-bear which alarmed our
fathers and attributed to the Creator of
the world blindness which brought
forth human beings with such made
quate provision that the population was
destined to outrun subsistence, no longer
scares us. 1t painted future Of misery
and starvation, when hungry and naked
human beings would curse existence
and perish miserably. 1t championed a
hopeless and fatalistic creed.
Since Nautilus was laid away with his
ton of the globe has steadily increased,
and the fear he generated has vanished,
for subsistence and production have
multiplied in greater ratio The pres
ent embarrassment is the embarrass-
ment of riches, and the surplus of food
and clothing is made responsible for
poor trade and hard times. With accu-
mulating wealth wo find greater inc
quality of condition, and vice and pov-
erty more than keep pace with palaces
and millionaires. How is it that tho
producers of wealth are prevented from
sharing equally its enormous growth?
Gould man of the last century," says
Henry George, "a Franklin or a Priest
ly, have seen in a vision Of the future
the wonders that we are so familiar
with, what would he have inferred as ia
the social condition of manl1ind?" And
he answers, ut would not have seemed
like an inference, further than the Wis.
ion went; it would have seemed as
though he saw, and his heart would
have leaped and his nerves would havq
thrilled, as one from a height beholds
just ahead of the thirst-stricllen caravan
the living CLEAN of rustling woods and
the CLINT of laughing waters. Plainly,
in the sight of Imagination, he would
have beheld these new forces elevatine
society from its very foundations, lift,
ing the very poorest above the possibil-
ity of want, exempting the very low.
est from anxiety for the material
needs of life; he would have seen these
slaves of the lamp of knowledge taking
on themselves the traditional curse,
these muscles of iron and sinews of steel
making the poorest laborer's life holt
day, in which every high quality and
noble impulse could have scope to
grow"
But the fact remains quite otherwise
than the vision. "Some get an infinite-
ly better and easier living, but others
find it hard to get living at all. The
tramp" comes with the locomotive, and
almshouses and prisons are as surely
the marks of material progress as are
the costly dwellings, rich warehouses
and magnificent churches" What is it
which associates poverty with progress
and increases want with advancing
wealth? This is tho riddle" says Mr..
George, (which the sphinx of fate puts
to our civilization, and which not to
answer is to be destroyed"
The trouble is not to be laid to the
parsimony of nature; it has to be ac-
counted for by human Interference with
the natural distribution of wealth which
is the product of labor and capital APP
piled to land. Partial laws, privileges
and protective tariffs account for much
of the existing social confusion, but abol-
ishing all those, the fountain head of
misery will still be left untouched.
In his recent address at San Francisco
Mr.. George, after referring feelingly to
his California life, went on to speak of
his journeying across the continent be-
fore the railway was completed, and
said: "When in the streets of New
York, for the first time | realized the
contrasts of wealth and want that arc to
be found in greatcity, saw those sights
that to the man who comes from the
West alright and appeal, the problem
grew upon me. / said to myself there
must be some reason for this; there must
be some remedy for this, and l will not
rest until / have found the one and dis
covered the other. At last it came clear
as the stars of a bright midnight. l saw
What was the cause; l saw what was the
cure; l saw nothing that was new. Truth
is never new"
To BE CONTINUED
Where's the Assessor?
lce Ys poinu tn ha scarca +bis cuc,xo,