The Colfax chronicle., 1891-12-05
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT
THE NEW ABOLITION.

From Speech Delivered by william
Lloyd Garrison Before the Chicago
(llL) single Tax Club, September 8, 1891.
lind myself unexpectedly brief So
Journer in your great city, and yet
wathout the feelings of stranger.
And, as in the German song, "Where is
the Germans Fatherland?" the answer
Is, wherever there is freedom" SO
geography matters not, where there
ure common sympathies and common
aims; and by the great lake, am made
10 feel as much at home as by the At
iantic where my lot is cast The kim
ship At humanity transcends that of
birth. and association in the pursuit of
an unselfish ideal makes the true
brotherhood.
l bring .-ou cheer from your fellow
workers in the east The principles of
the single tax are winning their slow
but certain way. Slow, only in the
sense of our impatience. Taking
retrospect of the movement dating
from the publication of Progress and
Poverty" marvellous and rapid has
been our stride.
The subject of taxation, wrested from
theorists and statisticians, commands
the thought and conversation of the
community. Labor too long insensible
to the conditions which have crushed it,
begins to ask the reason for its burdens
and to perceive that they are possible
only SO long as passive ignorance pre-
walls. For poverty comes not of the
gods, but is self-imposed. and instead
of calling upon Hercules to lift the
wagon out of the mire, the driver must
put his own shoulder to the wheel
The tax-gatherers of all nations, OBJ
scure as far rs possible the workings of
their systems, purposely intricate and
involved. They throw the common un-
derstanding off the scent. and the toilcr.
who has little time for thought or read
ing, concludes that government is an
inscrutible muddlc and that the higher
power is responsible for the hopeless
degradations of its victims
We preach a new evangel of reason
and of life, ard repel as blasphemous
this aspersion of divine goodness. The
fault is in ourselves. not in our stars
Self-governmenti is not intricate, taxa.
tion is as simple as the daily trade Of
the citizen w tn his grocer, but as an
instrument of spoliation and exaction it
has to be disguised. Personal interests
underlie the public veal. and indiv d.
uals grow rich because the masses are
defrauded
y = -
IN our anxiety to win converts to our
reform, to make them see what seems
SO plain to us, we sometimes show a
lack of patience which is horn of zeal
but not OF philosophy. When the pio-
neer of the anti-slavery movement first
realized the ntrocity of slavery, he
thought that he had simply to bring it
to the attention of his church and his
good fellow-c:tizens to command in
slant cooperation. Little did he dream
that thirty years of agitation and bitter
persecution lay before him, and that
the ministers and the merchants would
Join hands t6 crush the abolitionists.
Yet it was natural and could not have
been otherwise, because vested inter-
ests were intcrtwined with slavery. and
the kind neighbor grows savage when
his pocket nerve is touched
So we find it hard to secure the con-
vert to whom our argument entities us,
and reasons. though as thick as black
berries, have no weight, il he thinks
his personal interest is to be affected
by our plan. That is human nature and
It takes long time for men to see that
what is injurious to the body polite can
not be good for the individual; but by
and by the logic of events, as it is call
ed, forces them to side with right and
they see that true material prosperity
can not be divorced from moral methods
In speaking to audiences unfamiliar
with our doctrine and unread ir our
literature, I am always puzzled to know
how to present the question intelisgi-
bly,. If the ethical side is dwelt upon.
then many go away saying: THAT is
very pretty and plausible theory, but
how will it work in practice?" and they
imagine one case where hardship would
seem to follow, and conclude that the
scheme is chimerical If the economic
side is emphasized and figures and facts
adduced--as comparatively few are
students of political economy, the lis
tener is often bewildered, and naturally
thinks that the other side can Offset
these statements II it had chance.
Personal experiences ere always in
teresting, and sometimes an experience
Is more enlightening than a sermon or
illogical argument and as have neith-
or one nor the other to give you to-
night, suppose tell you as simply as 1
can how l came TO be an advocate of
the single tax, and to see in it the most
fundamental and far-reaching reform
of the century. Not the only one, for
progress advances on many lines, and
there is no single panacea for human
Ills
have profound interest in the en-
reimbursement of women, great qucs-
tion concerning half the race directly, |
and indirectly all the rest and l am
sure laws will be better when the peo- |
pie who are governed have a voice in |
tho,~ The Av;v1lx v,V<,1,1ovv, s<,v,~