Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-10-03
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
CLARENCE MoELLER ON "sPEc-
ulATIN1 IN LAND"

CHICAGO, July Lit was ninety IN
the shade last Thursday night when
Mr.. Clarence Moeller rose to ADDRESS
the Single Tax club on Speculation IN
Land" but he had no reason to com
plain on any other ground. every sea-
in the hall being taken and the interest
in what he had to say unnistakable.
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.. Moeller's
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 far as the economic world Is con-
cerned. They can see no order IN ma
ture. The single taxer has greater
faith than that-a faith in the benevo
lent order of things. He believes that
things in this world were arranged Tor
| human happiness, and that the only
| reason why that happiness is not real
itv 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 10 tne
| perfect consciousness of its unversallty;
that all is law, even to the gust OF wind
coming around a corner bearing a
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 benehcence
| of this universal law. even to the Ia"
of competition, which is but one OF the
forces working for justice. Statute
laws which permit and encourage spec
ulatiou in land are a positive interfer-
ence with the natural or just order
Speculation in land robs both capital
and labor. Spectators take forclbly-
by power of statutory enactment-fron
labor the wealth it produces II no.
forcibly, the producers hand 1t ovel
voluntarily because of the latent force
which lies behind under the name O.
vested rights. The handing over OF 81
large a part of its produce by labor IS
u therefore, compelled by man made law
The fact that the adjective 'vested' l
so often used in connection with Ger
tain ripkts would indicate that ther
!, are other rights of which we DO no
- frequently hear. The Declaration Q
Independence says that one OF ou
natural rights is the pursuit OF happ
ness (which includes property rights
We believe we have the highest idea
all these rights of property, and tines
rights were recognized by SO eminent
- scholar and original thinker as Herbe
Spencer. That right of property
simply that when a man applies his
tpr or energy, directly or indirectly,
"a raw material taken from the commt
storehouse, the thing which he hi
thus transformed becomes his again
all the world. 1t is not necessary I
him to own exclusively the partlcul
part of the storehouse-the earth
from which he draws this material
order to apply his labor and produ
wealth. but it is essential to his >"
fare that he shall have unlmpeded
40 cess to the common storehouse.
" abridge this right in any way is to r
him, and that is what land speculati
does. If while coming through da
passageway on my way here to-nlSh
had been divested of what little "ea
l have on nv person people would s
I had been robbed Suppose that SO
men get into the pathway of human
- and by power of law 'hold it up a
)IV< in addition shut it out or obstruc
from nature, should we not call t
robbery also? One of the comma1
of the Almighty was that men sho
.. go forth and subdue the earth, not
due their fellow-men.
Some people who admit the justice
3. the single tax declare that equity wo
REQUIRE the landowners to be COMP
- sated for the loss which that c
q would suffer through a tax on land
IN ues alone. Both spectators are
posed to be men who are familiar v
H. nd
must know that the people can at
time pass what laws they may SCI
ON the taxation or land question
speculators they should be prepared
the effects of such possible leSislat
As a matter of fact, however, the
not a speculator who would not ha
chance to pull out even II he VIC
- He would simply have to improve
~ land-become n producer instead
q dog in the manger. Even then the
~ widows, who are said to be depen'
~ on our present land system for t
support, would have this oPportuI
We want government in tins cou
which will recognize the rights OF
producer The rightful property
producer is the residue OF the
wealth produced, after the GROUND
is subtracted for common purposes
nv. the government, therefore, "er
0As' cease taxing the products of labor
to exact just obligations from the
owner, the producer would get
own, aided by the sublime law OF
petition. There would be labor
1ery. lennium. 1twould make no differ
whether the laborer was digging
toes or working at the top OF
teen-story building; natural law
being free each would getwhat NJ
: duced and no more.
hoods mora''z'ng Over e00'" 20"
L. w. Hoch, the mayor OF A'
Mich who is single taxer OF ma