Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-02-02
HENRY GEORGE.
He Speaks Upon the Social
Problem.
A LARGE INTERESTED AUDIENCE
An Outline of His Remarkable Will
Answer Questions Tonight
The Single Tax.

The capacity of Illinois hall was tested
to the utmost last evening by the larg
audience which assembled to hear Henr.
George on the "Social Problem" AL
the available space was filled in will
chairs, and nearly every seat was occu
pied. About 900 people were present
who listened with rapt attention durin.
the hour and three quarters that the lee
tdrer spoke, and frequently punctuatet
his sentences with enthusiastic applause
At little after s, Ralph f. Hoyt, the
president Of the Illinois Club, under
whose auspices the lecture was given
rose and introduced Mr.. George with 8
few brief but appropriate remarks. The
speaker of the evening was greeted with
lcng and continuous applause. He said
My first essay in speaking was in South.
ern California. They dubbed me Colonel
and when 1 objected they called me
Professor. The chairman tonight seems
to have carried out the practice by call.
ing me honorable. I ran once for the
Legislature, and if had been elected l
suppose I might still have been called
honorable. Laughter 1 regret that l
could not get here last night.
For nearly ten years 1 have been
where California seems very far off-in
Europe and the East; but when 1 re-
turned to see its green fields in winter
felt again that it was what the early ret
tiers called it, Gods own country. We
all take pleasure in seeing such growth
t,1x ,,1, -,
Yet the change from the village TO the
city is not without its darker side. Is it
going to be easier for the man to make
his living who has nothing but his
labor to make it with? In the very CEN
ter of wealth there appears want and
destitution unknown in earlier days. l
wonder if you have been exempt from
that misfortune. Here comes the social
problem. YOU may see it in all the
great cities Of this country and Europe.
l met this afternoon an old friend of
mine, Colonel Ayers, of the HERALD,
and l asked him about an old printer we
had known, one Of the fairest and most
honorable men who ever lived. He told
how he had become old and unable
to work and how some of his friends
went to millionaire and to others to
raise money to keep the old man through
his declining years. How many men
are there who, if they happen to live be-
yond their time of useful labor, will have
to be supported by those Who have been
more fortunate in life
All over our country we find an in
creasing class that must be supported by
charity. Year after year we 60 on build
ing prisons, pauper houses and ssylums
for an increasing ratio of criminals, pau
per5 and insane. There is today greater
average of activity and intelligence than
ever before existed. Yet the great
masses of our people must work hard
merely to live-must work hard and
think it boon to have work. There are
all over the United States thousands OF
men anxious to work but unable to find
an opportunity. What is the reason for
all this?
Now, We who call ourselves single tax
men say that there is clear and COM
p,ete explanation of this, and remedy.
We say that all work is but the chang
ing in combination of materials which
are furnished by nature out of the earth
Whereas all men alike need land, and
must have it in order to live, We have
made the possession of land the exclu-
sive right of some portion of the people.
There is great class which is diain-
herted and refused right to the land
which they must have in order to live.
To this we trace all the difficulties of
the present time.
No one dares assert that some men
have originally better right to land than
others. The individual possession of
land is necessary TO its best use. Until
this ia secured, civilization is impossible.
No one will plant an orchard unless he
may pick Its fruit Now, is it possible to
divide land up 80 as to give to each An
equal share. 1t is not necessary to secure
equality in the use of land that each
man should be given his share. Even if
that could be done, q fresh division
would have to bs made every
year. But if we cannot divide the
land We can use for public purposes
the revenue drawn from land. That
is the method which we eingls tax men
propose. We call ourselves this that our
name may suggest not our ultimate aim,
but our method. We propose, through
the method Of taxation, to take that value
which attaches to land through the
general growth and Improvement,
which John Stuart Mill calls the un-
earned increment, for common use, and
dpOlloA oil tdACS WAlCA AOW lC5V upOA
enterprise and thrift.
We have good need for more wealth
What a stupid thing that we should tax
the production of wealth. Take that sys.
tenn of tariff taxation, miscalled protec
tion. We are taxing people for bringing
wealth into the country. Industry anC
thrift We say are good things. Yet if one
man be Industrious and thrifty and an
other idle, down comes the State on ths
first man and forces him to pay taxes
and the more work he does the more ta1
he must pay We used to tax dogs be
cause there were too many of them. d;
we tax horses for the same reason? W.
have taxed our ships off the high seas
To tax capital is either to drive it away
or compel the man who uses what i
produces to pay more for it. You may
tax land values all you please, but it will
not be any the less valuable to the maj
who needs it. Then the speculato
who is holding land idle must pay al
much as the industrious farmer who ha
put his labor into his land.
What is the labor problem? 1t is thi
surplus element of workers compelling
those who have labor to form combina
ations to keep out labor competition
Work is the exertion necessary to sup
ply the things which human want de
mands. Is there any lack of thi
want? Right in the place where labor