The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-03-28
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION.

- UnHO W.T.
A very effective method OF showing
the evils of slavery much In vogue In
anti-slavery days, was the contrasting
of the workings of the two systems OF
labor, FREQ and slave, as they we're seen
in two different States, separated only
by a river, as in the case OF Ohio and
Kentucky.
The south side of Long Island pre-
sents similar opportunity of contrast
ing the working of the two systems
of common and private property In
land.
The territory of Long Island was orig
nally granted by patents from the crown
to certain individuals having influence
at court or by purchase, some OF which
grants were confirmed by subsequent
colonial governors, and some were re-
purchased from the Indians, who lived
upon it. Most of these grants extended
from the sound to the ocean, and conse-
ouently included the bay that intervenes
between the south shore OF the island
and the outer beach, q narrow strip
OF sand separating the bay from the
| ocean.
With one or two exceptions these
grants have not been held to cover or
convey any right to the waters OF the
| bay or to its bottom, If covered by water.
| As a consequence, the bay and its nat
ural products have been held and used,
! as they we're by the Indians who lived
on its margin when this country was
discovered. Every person, at least ey-
| cry person residing in the town which
| claims jurisdiction over it, is free to
| launch his boat, and take from its
| waters its natural products without any
restrictions except such as are binding
upon all, and enforced by the town for
the good of all. If any revenue is de-
rived from renting portions OF its bot
tom or for the privilege Of cutting grass
i on its islands, that revenue goes into the
treasury of the town, not into any pri-
| vate pockets.
| Here, then, is an example of natural
opportunities. which by some good for
tune escaped the clutches OF monopoly,
and are now, as they have ever
been, free to all who choose to use
them. The general result of this is,
that nowhere in the United States is
there less suffering, less poverty. and
more independence than in those
towns bordering on the Great South
bay. Here there are no strikes, no lock-
outs, no beggars and no poor. except
from misfortune or vice. In times OF
financial depression and business stag
nation. when want of employment con-
verts skilled workmen and wealth pro-
ducers into homeless tramps, the towns
of Long Island bordering on the bay dc
not feel the hardness of the times" ~
it is felt elsewhere. And why? Be-
cause natural opportunities are never
closed to any one. When man can dc
nothing else or find nothing else to do
the bay, with its inexhaustible store Of
wild fowl, shell and other fish is open tt
him at all times without the permission
OF any one and without the necessity o.
paying some one for tho privilege. Hun
dreds OF men in all the towns bordering
on the bay do now, as their ancestors
have done for generations, follow the
bay" for livelihood, and from the earn
ings of which many are enabled to Owl
their homes, but which is becoming
more and more difficult to do, because o
the monopoly of the land near thu
shore; which natural opportunities from
their enhanced value (being held from
use for speculative purposes) are M
longer accessible to any but the rich
Grants conferred by some King O
Governor, long since turned t
dust, and who had no more RICH
to give away the land of Lonl
island to the then existing generation
than he had to convey territory in tn,
moon, much less to deprive the men o
1 succeeding generations of natura
right enable few to hold the land from
those who could use it, awaiting thu
coming of the wealthy, who because o
its advantages near the sea, will Civ
for it sum which the baymen can neve
hope to possess.
Now, supposing tho same system hat
obtained on the water as on the land
how different might not the condition o
the. baymen have been to-day! Instea'
of ownership by the town, there woul
have been many private ownerships o
landlords. No man could then hav
launched his boat upon the bay withou
somebody's permission. On every bush
el Of shellfish he brought to shore, ant
on every take of fish he would be re
quired to pay tax. just as the baron
of the Rhine used to exact toll of al
who sailed past their castles, the forme
tax being no more justifiable than tn
latter. AS result Of that system, w
! should have seen palatial residence
modern castles) in every tow
erected by the descendants o
the original grantees out of tn
rents levied on the industry Of tn
baymen, who from a condition o
independence and comfort would be
come dependent and poor in proportion
as their landlords became rich. Or
might happen, as it has happened i
Scotland and Ireland, where Who'll
counties have been depopulated becaus