Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-12-27
oina n he nut IN a house whore none

else MS mlnu, or teleScopc Win Wnlcu
to sweep the heavens, or laboratory in
which to seek out the laws Of natures
combinations; II out OF his savings he
lay by provision for his declining days;
II by his energy and thrift he accum-
late capital with which to assist and or
ganize and provide tho tools for indus
try-down comes the tax gatherer to
make him pay for having done these
things! Is not this as absurd rs it is un-
just? Is it not in direct contravention
Of the plainest dictates OF enlightened
public policy? Do we not all want more
wealth? Why, then, should we tax and
fine the production Of wealth?
Some OF the Southern States have re-
Gently passed laws exempting cotton
manufactures from taxation for q term
OF years, and the result has been the
erection OF q number Of cotton factories,
for the capitalists who thus invest their
money can calculate on dividing as
profits what otherwise they would have
had to pay rs taxes. Are not these
States wise in this? Do not these cotton
factories create new industries, add to
the wealth of the neighborhoods in
which they are erected, and enrich the
whole State? But II this DO wise, would
it not be still wiser to make the exemp-
ton permanent instead Of for term OF
years? And, II 1t be wise to exempt
cotton factories, would 1t not be wiser
still to exempt all sorts Of factories, all
forms Of capital, all kinds OF wealth
houses and goods. horses and cattle, rail-
roads and telegraphs? Is not the State the
richest that has the most OF these things?
Why, then, should the State tax them?
Is not the stupid system that does tax
them too absurd for any rational de.
Tense? The people of New York want
cheaper house rents. Is 1t not stupid,
then. to put taxes on buildings, which
necessarily will diminish the erection
of buildings and, unlike the tax on
land values, must inevitably be collect
cd from tenants in higher rents?
But the direct obstacles to production,
which this system imposes, are not the
worst. All the indirect taxes which
pass from hand to hand, increasing the
cost OF commodities, are taxes against
production. which increase as they 60.
This barbarous tariff Of ours, that raises
an artificial barrier around our coasts
is more difficult for commerce to sur.
mount than would be the Andes or the
Himalayas, takes from the people much
more than is received by the Govern
ment, and, by its action and reaction on
prices, hampers every exertion OF indus
try, from the building of railroad to
the shingling Of woodshed or the max
ing of q shirt.
Now, it is clear that to abolish all the
taxes that thus hamper industry, would
be to vastly stimulate production and
increase the general wealth. But this
Is only one side Of it. To put taxation
on the value Of land would also be to re-
move obstacles to production. For the
speculative value, which now attaches
to land as soon as it becomes probable
that it will be needed for use is direct
check to production. To get the vacant
lot on which to put up house, even on
the outskirts OF any one Of our large cities
costs as much as or more than ordinarily
does the house. Before he can strike
plowshare into virgin soil, the farmer,
unless he will go far beyond where his
labor can be exerted to most advantage,
is obliged to pay down a large part OF
his capital, to embarrass himself with
mortgage, or to agree to give up large
share of his produce as rent The re-
suit is to fill the land with tramps; to
crowd our centers even in the best OF
times with men who are willing to
work, anxious to work, but unable to
find opportunity to work-and thus to
produce an unnatural competition,
which in all occupations tends to force
wages down to the minimum on which
men can live, and which workingmen
are driven to resist by what President
Glackin, in his address to the Anti-POv-
erty Society on last Sunday night,
styled the resort to brute force. The
result is to crowd people together too
closely in the cities, to scatter them too
far apart in the country. To say moth
ing Of the moral, social and intellectual
disadvantages which result from this
unnatural distribution of population,
there is q great obstacle put in the way
OF Improvement, . manifest waste Of
productive forces.
The measure we propose, which would
utterly destroy the speculative value OF
land, and would reduce the selling value
Of land to but nominal figure, would
remove this obstacle and prevent this
waste. No one would care to take up
land that he could not use, or to hold
land unless it was put to its most valu-
liable use. The homes Of our farmers
would be closer together, the poorer
classes Of our cities would no longer be
compelled 10 herd in tenement houses,
and the capitalist who proposed to erect
. factory would no longer have TO pay
- a., Il g. II T.