Feliciana sentinel., 1891-01-24
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
RELIEVE THE FARMER.

/
dividuals precisely as it is now. 1t will
descend to heirs and be devised to lega.
toes precisely as it is now. Not a sin.
gle law relative to land ownership and
control now upon our statute books will
be changed in carrying out his doctrines
to the fullest extent A mans right,
under the present system, to enjoy the
| exclusive possession of tract of land is
conditioned upon the payment Of q tax
upon its value. And so it will be under
the George system, without the slight
est change in the machinery now in use
| for the assessment and collection of
! taxes on real estate.
Henry George simply proposes to re-
form our present absurd and barbarous
| system OF levying taxes, q system which
discourages enterprise and thrift and
encourages monopoly and greed.
Take the case of a young man here in
Texas, whc. we will say. by working or
shares, has finally saved up little cap
| ital, and who now proposes to become
the owner of a farm of his own. He is
! going to get piece of wild land, break
| it up, grub it, fence it and cultivate it
He has n wagon, pair Of horses, few
household utensils, a wife. plenty of
children and little money. He does
not dream of getting rich; he merely
hopes to secure competency by faith
| full work. He looks around for a loca-
ticn. He naturally desires to settle near
town. where he will be handy to market,
| and where his family can enjoy the so
| ciety of neigh hbors and the benefits of
church and school privileges. He finds
just such town. He finds tens of
thousands of acres of vacant land all
around this town and close to it. just
the kind of land he is looking for. No
one is using it. and it lies there idle,
waiting for the hand of industry to be
applied to it. But no finds that the
spectators have got there ahead Of him.
They are keeping it for an increase in
value. In order to get hold of
a hundred aero tract of this land
he must mortgage himself to
some speculator. He must bind himse
to pay over to a speculator all that he
can possibly save in excess of the barest
possibilities Of life for term of years.
He feels that the land is already above
his means, so he turns away, drives out
twenty miles and buys a hundred acres
out OF thousand acre tract held by
another speculator, for which he pays
$780, and then settles down in the will |
derness.
His children can scarcely get to school !
at all. 1t is miles to any church. He |
has to haul his cotton five miles to the |
nearest gin. He wastes great deal OF |
time on the poor roads between his |
home and the town where he does his |
marketing, hauling his produce over
thousands and tens of thousands Of acres
OF land just as we'll adapted to raising
it as tbs. which he has been compelled
to select SO far away. He works to far
Sad " a n IN hor no I,,l Il
he been permitted to settle nearer town,
hence he produces less, and Therefore
must buy less.
Now, why have the spectators seized
this vacant land and taken it out Of the
reach of this Industrious farmer? Do
they propose to use it? Do they propose
to do any thing with it by which labor
can be employed, and the sum total of
the worlds wealth increased? Do they
propose to invest a dollar in the cultiva-
ton and improvement Of this land? By
no means. They propose that some one
else shall do the work and have the
worry, and take the chances of the crops
failing. Yet they propose, nevertheless,
to get rich out of this land How? BY
holding it in idlencss. by driving labor
Oft from it, and compelling labor to pass
it by and settle on far less eligible
and desirable tracts. One OF these spec
ulators paid $1,000 for piece of this
abor has put an additional
ralue of $4,000 upon this
piece Of vacant land? Not the labor
If the present owner nor the labor of
my previous owner, because no ono has ,
,ver done stroke of work upon the
and. 1t has resulted from the increase
II population. 1t has been put there by /
he community. The speculator sells the
ract for IS, 600 and thus makes 81, 900. I
lie has not, however, increased the sum I
otal of the worlds wealth one iota by i
he transaction. He has simply drawn t
o himself 81. 600 worth of wealth which I
ther people have prod /
which labor has been compelled to nay n
yer to him for the bare privilege of i
ccess to one of the gifts of nature. n
Well, our young farmer, after a years b
ard work in fencing, breaking the sod, a
nd putting up buildings, has added $500 n
'orth of improvement to that hundred "
ere tract of land. By the sweat OF his c
row he has actually increased the sum 81
otal Of the wealth of the world to the 8,
xtent Of $500. What happens now? n
Why, the tax-collector comes around W
nd fines him for it by taxing these i'm n
rovements. He has to yield up TO the d
overn ment in taxes on these imp prove b
rents portion of the fruits of his indi- Ii
idual industry. He is robbed on ac- 6,
ount of taxes on these Improvements of n
portion of the values produced solely h
= his individual industry. The COM n,
unity did not put this additional value a,
$500 upon his land He put it there
? his own hard work. But who is put
ng values yearly on the vacant land (;
ajoining, which the speculator is hold la
,g in idleness? Is it not the commu- it
ity that does it? Now, why should our Sc
oung farmer be taxed any more for al
sing his hundred-acre tract of land and it
wing employment to labor on it than v;