Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1890-08-08

by the landlord who has no power to
shift it. Above that is placed the tax
on houses and personal property. The
houses can not escape, and generally
the tax can be shifted to the tenant.
Personal property can largely escape,
especially If held by rich people. But
the poor man, like the farmer, who can
not hide his COW, or horse, or pillow, pays
the full tax. The widow and orphan
are fully taxed. Then we are down to
personal property and houses. The
manifest difficulty and injustice Of tax
ing the first would soon exempt 1t, and
we should reach the goal of Mr.. Wells
and Mr.. Atkinson-the taxation Of real
estate alone, houses and land.
With the field cleared to this point we
could make apparent the wrongfulness
of taxing houses. Why should men
who confer upon the community the
boon Of stores and dwellings be fined for
1t? That will not encourage them to
build more and make rents cheaper 1t
Will have contrary effect The wage
Garner will pay more of his scant earn
ings, tenement houses increase, and sep
arate homes be harder to obtain. The
only excuse that can be given for taxing
buildings is that they can not run away
from the assessors, but the tax
can mako wealth run away. At
last we reach our ideal tax on the
land. Gradually the burden has been
adjusted. Year by year it has been
withdrawn from one thing after another
and concentrated upon the rest, until at
last it settles upon the earth, where it
belongs, and vanishes into the ground.
Wealth, no longer discouraged and
punished, increases marvelously. Ex-
change free and unhampered, the
equitable distribution of the product
OF mans labor cheers and en-
courages the worker. The open field
for self-employment raises wages from
the bottom and makes life easier and
better. No cunning law permits one to
take away tho fruits of other industry and
selfdenial. The sacred right of property is
respected because it grows out Of the
right OF man to himself No mete or
| bound is set to its accumulation for the
reason that there can not be two much
wealth, and with no partial laws to di-
vert It's natural flow, it would settle
where it should. Excepting the physi-
cally incompetent those who remain
poor Will deserve their condition, but it
would be sclf-imposed by idleness or vice
and susceptible of self-cure. But en-
forced idleness would be impossible.
The land has broad back and feels no
tax. However much is put upon it-and
no more would be, SO placed than the
community needed and would cheerfully
pay-it could not be transferred to la
Dor. The tax which diminishes property
can not diminish land by an inch. In
stead Of making it hard to getss4and
would come tempting men to use it, with
the assured guarantee that they may
gather their full product unmolested
and unplundered.
Only one condition must be exacted.
Choose what spot you will, as much as
your use requires, be it more or less, and
pay for the privilege what 1t is worth to
you and no more, gagged by what others
VIII readily pay for it. Hesitate not to
improve it. Heap up all possible pro-
duce from it, whether in grain or goods,
In warehouse or in buildings, for others
use No finger but your own will ever
subtract penny from it. You made it.
and it is yours against the world Not
one extra cent will 'evied upon YOU
because of your imp. If it
should happen that, through increase of
population and consequent rise in site
value OF the land you occupy, it shall be
worth more for some different cose.
no one can take it from you III - he
remunerates you for your mprovenIcnts;
and plenty of land suitable to YOU &C.
cupation awaits you. Above all Il $.
your tenure, as long as you pay rental,
shall be as secure as any title of owner
ship now gives you.
The basis of the scheme is Justice. No
one gets an unfair advantage. If Jor-
dan, Marsh Il Co. desire to hold their |
favored corner, they are at liberty to do
so by paying the single land tax for the !
privilege Not one in the community is
wronged. for the reason that they paw
the people for the advantage and no |
landlord gets it. In short the single tax
Is the assurance of freedom. The more
one studies it, the more he will be able
to appreciate this eloquent and hopeful
utterance of Henry George:
but il, while there is vet time. wa
turn to justice and obey her, if we trust
liberty and follow her, the dangers that
now threaten must disappear the forces
that now menace will turn to agencies
OF elevation. Think of the powers now
wasted; of the infinite fields of knowl-
edge yet to be eXplored; of the POSSIBLE
tues OF which the wonderous inventions
OF this century give us but hint. With
want destroyed; with greed changed to
noble passions; with the fraternity that
is born of equality taking the place of
the jealousy and fear that array men
against each other; with mental power
loosed by conditions that give to the
humblest comfort and leisure, and who
shall measure the heights to which our
civilization may soar? Words fail tho
thought, 1t is the golden age of which
poets have sung, and high-raised seers
have told in metaphor. 1t is the glor-
lous vision which has always haunted
man with CLEANS of itful splendor 1t
Is what he saw whose eyes at Patmos
were closed in trance. 1t is the culmin-
alton OF Christianity-the city of God
on earth, with its walls of jasper and its
gates of pearl. 1t is the reign of tho
Prince of Peace!'
EVANSVILLE COURIER
Wants improvements Exempted From
Taxation.
Tho E,oa.,-;IIo