Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-09-24
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
CLARENCE nOELLER ON "SPEC-
ULATING IN LAND"

ULATING 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 seat
in the hall being taken and the interest
in what he had to say unmlstakaoie.
The visitors included Mrs. Haskell,
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 M
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 for
human happiness, and that the only
reason why that happiness is not real
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
perfect consciousness Of its unversallty;
that all is law. even to the gust of wind
coming around a 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 benehcence
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 interior
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 it produces. If not
forcibly, the producers hand 1t over
voluntarily because of the latent force
which lies behind under the name of
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 our
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 a
scholar and original thinker as Herbert
| Spencer. That right of property Is
simply that when a man applies his Ia
Dor or energy, directly or indirectly, to
| raw material taken from the common
storehouse. the thing which he has
thus transformed becomes his against
| all the world 1t is not necessary for
him to own exclusively the particular
| part of the storehouse-the earth
from which he draws this material in
order to apply his labor and produce
wealth. but it is essential to his wei
fare that he shall have unimpeded &C,
| cess to the common storehouSe. IC
abridge this right in any way is to rob
him, and that is what land speculation
does If while coming through a dark
passageway on my way here tonight
| had been Invested of what little wealth
I have on my person people would say
| had been robbed. Suppose that some
men get into the pathway of humanity
| and by power of law hold it up anc
in addition shut it out or obstruct i
| from nature, should we not call thai
robbery also? One of the command:
of the Almighty was that men should
go forth and subdue the earth not sub
due their fellow-men.
Some people Who admit the justice o
the single tax declare that equity woule
| require the landowners to be cOmpen
| stated for the loss which that clas
would suffer through tax on land val
ues alone. Both spectators are sup
posed to be men who are familiar will
all the elements of chance, and as the.
must know that the people can at an.
time pass what laws they may see ii
on the taxation or land question, a
spectators they should be prepared TO
the effects of such possible legislation
| As a matter of fact, however, there
not a Spectator who would not have
chance to pull out even if he would
He would simply have to improve hi
|
dog in the Manager. Ever then the poo
widows, who are said to be dependen
on our present land system for thel
support, would have this opportunity
We want government in this countr,
which will recognize the rights of tn
producer. The rightful property of tn
producer is the residue of the tota
wealth produced, after the ground rem
is subtracted for common purposes l
the government, therefore, were t.
cease taxing the products of labor an
to exact just obligations from the land
owner the producer would get hi
own, aided by the sublime law of com
| petition There would be labor mil
lennium 1t would make no difference
whether the laborer was digging pota
toes or working at the top of THU
teen-story building; natural law thel
being free, each would get what he pre-
duced and no more.
Moralzing Over a Boom Town.
L. w. Hoch, the mayor of Adrian