Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-07-10
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
SINGLE TAX THE INSTRUMENT.
Address of William Lloyd Garrison Be
fore the Unitarian Ministerial Union at

Address of William Lloyd Garrison Be
fore the Unitarian Ministerial Union at
Charming Hall, Boston, April %, 1890.
1t was Madame De Stael who said to
British statesman, Tell rae all about
the British constitution in ten minutes"
but my friend, Rev Mr.. Barrows, pro-
posed harder task when he asked me
one day to explain to MIN the single tax
in sentence. If l should say in reply.
1.-The single tax means equal and exact
Justice for all" or Ito secure the earth
for the use of all its inhabitants" or
s'to yield to the laborer the fruits of his
TOLL or the exemplification of true
Christianity / am afraid l should be
charged with uttering ''glittering gen.
eralties.' To be Illuminating l shall be
forced to use many sentences and yet fail
to be understood at my conclusion. For
how can one in forty minutes express
what has taken him years to colnpre-
bend? The very brevity and concise
ness required for concrete presenta-
tion of the subject will permit only an
outline of the great theme.
The single tax was deliberately
chosen as the name of reform which
foundation. 1t describes the instrument
to bring about result and not the OBJ
ject to be attained. 1t is the method to
be pursued in the solution of the labor
problem. The reason for adopting the
name is this: 1t has a clear, specific,
practical meaning. 1t IS not nebulous
or indefinite. A single tax is intelligi-
BILE to the common understanding. Its
aim is to abolish all taxes on property
and to raise the entire revenue OF the
country by single tax on land values
1t is necessary to understand terms
clearly. The single tax is not tax on
land, but a tax on the value of land. If
land is worthless because undesirable or
remote, it would not be taxed. If of
, small value, then the tax would be small
All value is given to land by the pres
! ence of people who require it for USE
Remove the people of Boston and place
them on a spot where the land can be
had for nothing and the land values Of
Boston will fade away and on the new
sight spring up full-armed, like Miner
va, from the brain of Jove. Therefore
remember that not land but site value
is to be taxed. 1t is value made by the
community, and justly belongs to the
community. Economic rent" is its
scientific appellation, and ground
rent the familiar term.
What wonderful change can this sim
pie process bring to society? The varia-
ton of tax, a mere fiscal measure, is
all that there is to the much Wanted
movement? Is it for this that volumes
nd
tablished? Is it upon such device that
the abatement of poverty and the equal
ity of opportunity is predicated? Even
SO. Let us get beneath the surface.
wonder how many of you are familiar
with the ninth chapter Of Herbert Spen-
GERS Social Statics," that famous chap
ter on The right to the use of the earth"
For the moral statement of the cause
we advocate, it leaves nothing to be de-
sired. 1t is complete and it seems to
me irrefutable. You have doubtless
seen the recent controversy between
Spencer, Huxley and others on the very
chapter, which Mr.. Spencer, shrinking
from the application of his teaching,
suppressed in later editions Even had
he recanted his philosophy, which he
did not, the philosophy would still re-
main to be judged on it's merits, regard
less of his altered opinion. To alter a
little Arthur Clough's lines:
1T fortiies my soul to know
That though men perish, Truth Is so,
That howsoe'er they stray and range,
Whate'er they do, Truth does not change"
Mr.. Spencer stood by his proclama-
ton, but shrank from the war that log
fol 10
proved their chance to 'heckle'' him
for his inconsistency. But the right of
mankind to the use of the earth stands
impregnable.
1t is upon this right that the single
tax plants itself. Its advocates hold
with Spencer that every human being
born into the world has an equal right
to the use of the earth upon which he
must subsist, but it is imperative that
no one shall use it in such way as to
prevent others from enjoying similar
use. Equity, therefore, forbids proper
ty in land. For if one portion of the
earth's surface may justly become the
possession of an individual, =
then other portions of the earth's sur
face may be so held; and eventually the
whole n may be so held; and
our planet lapse altogether into private
hands, 1t follows, logically, from this,
"that if the land owners have a valid
right to it's surface, all who are not land
owners have no valid right at all to its
surface" and they can exist by suffer
ance only. They are all trespasser. !"
They exercise their faculties and can
exist only by consent of the land own
ers, and consequently exclusive possess
sion is an Infringement on the law of
equal freedom.
Mr.. Spencer finds further reason to deny
the rectitude of property in land on ac-
count of defective title and refers the
doubter to the chronicles. violence,
fraud, the prerogative of force, the
claims of superior cunning-those are
sources to which those titles may be
traced. The original deeds were written
with the sword rather than with the
pen; not lawyers, but soldiers, were the
conveyancers, blows were the current
coin given in payment; and for seals,
blood was used in preference to wax.
Could valid claims be thus constituted?"
And he denies that Time is a great
lecalizer;" or that immemoria1 possess
sion can constitute legitimate claim.
This is the verdict given by pure
equity in the matter" he says, land die
tates tho assertion that the right of
mankind at large to the earth's surface
is still valid, all deed, customs and laws
Notwithstanding" 1t reminds one of