The Colfax chronicle., 1891-12-26
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
CLARENCE MoELLEh ON "sPEo.
uLATINo IN LAND"

CLARENCE MoELLEH ON "SPEOs
uLArlNo IN LAND"
CHICAGO, July LIT was ninety in
the shade last Thursday night when
Mf. Clarence Moeller fose to address
the Single Tax club on 'Speculation IN
Land" but he had no reason to COM
plaia on any other ground, every seat
in the hall being taken and the interest
In what he had to say tinmistakaole.
| The visitors included Mrs. Haskett,
| Mrs. DR.. Kelley and Senator Castle
prominent in equal suffrage movement;
and besides these there were many
strangers who listened to Mr.. Moellsfs
striking argument with the closest at
tention In part the speaker said:
Prof. Huxley had said that to the saw
age mind there Is no law; everything
happened by accident To very large
extent this is true of most men to-day
so fnr as the economic world is con-
cerned. They can see no order in ma
ture. The single taxer has q greater
faith than that-a faith in the benevo-
i lent order of things He believes that
things in this world were arranged for
human happiness. and that the only
reason why that happiness is not q rea'
ity is because of mans disarranglng
laws. Herbert Spencer once said that
the difference between the lowest'igno-
rance and the highest enlightenment In
man was marked by the line of progress
from the Inconsistencies of law to the
nerfect consciousness of its unversality;
that ali is law, even to the gust of wind
coming around q corner bearing
feather in its way-all borne along by
forces which are positively irresistible
So far as my knowledge goes, only the
single taxer has faith In the benefcence
of this universal law. even to the law
of competition. which is but one OF the
forces working for justice. Statute
laws which permit and encourage spec
ulation in land are positive interfer-
ence with the natural or just order
Speculation in land robs both capital
and labor Spectators take forcibly-
by power of statutory enactment-from
labor the wealth 1t produces 1t not
forcibly, the producers hand it over
voluntarily because of the latent force
!, | WHICH llcS OcnIuQ un0Ck sAC AAoAAAS -
vested rights The handing over OF SO
!, large part of its produce by labor Is.
therefore, compelled by man-made law.
The fact that the adjective vested is
,, so often used in connection with GER
!. tain rights would indicate that there
are other rights of which we do not
frequently hear The Declaration OF
, Independence says that one of cur
natural rights is the pursuit OF happi'
,, ness which includes property rights.
. We believe we have the highest idea OF
! all these rights of property. and these
. rights were recognized by so eminent
|. scholar and original thinker as Herbert
Spencer. That right OF property !.
simply that when man applies his Ia
!, Dor or energy, directly or indirectly, te
raw material taken from the common
|. storehouse. the thing which he ha'
: thus transformed becomes mis- agains
: all the world 1t is not necessary fol
! him to own exclusively the particula'
" part of the storehouse-the earth
! from which he draws this material il
order to apply his labor and produces
wealth, but it is essential to his wei
: fare that he shall have unimpeded &C
3 cess to the common storehouse. II
abridge this right in any way is to rol
him, and that is what land speculation
= does If while coming through darl
passageway on my way here tonight
had been divested of what little wealtl
n have ON my person people would sa:
had been robbed Suppose that som
men get into the pathway of humanit
and by power Of law ''hcld it up" an
u in addition shut it out or obstruct
g from nature, should we not call tina
2 robbery also? One Of the command
y Of the Almighty was that men shoul
: 60 forth and subdue the earth, not sui
'e due their fellow-men.
. Some people who admit the justice {
u the single tax declare that equity woul
Is require the landowners to be compeI
~ sated for the loss which that clai
= would suffer through tax on land va
ues alone. Both spectators are SUI
vs. posed to be men who are familiar wit
ig all the elements of chance, and as the
es must know that the people can at an
"a time pass what laws they may see I
IN on the taxation or land question, {
4 spectators they should be prepared Il
rs the effects of such possible Legislation
es As matter of fact, however, there
al not a speculator who would not have
n chance to pull out even If he woul
III He would simply have to improve h
Sc land-become producer instead of
TO dog in the manger Even then the po'
at widows, who are said to be dependeI
Ill on onr present land system for the
90 support, would have this opportunit,
We want government in this countl
which will recognize the rights Of Il
producer. The rightful property Of Il
%. producer is the residue of the tot
ng wealth produced, after the ground rel
ice is subtracted for common purposes
i'm The rovarnment therefore, Wer0