Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1891-02-13
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
RELIEVE THE FARMER,

| eminent Will no mere oHn and control
lard and rent = 1T to tho highest bid
| der than il does nj W. Land, under his
| system viii continu to he owned by in
dividuais precisely rs it is now. 1t will
descend to heirs and be devised to lega-
| tees precisely as il is now. Not q sim
| 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 tho
| exclusive possession OF tract of land is
conditioned upon the payment of tax
| upon its value. And so il 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 $50 imply proposes to re-
| form our present absurd and barbarous
| system of levying taxes, a system which
discourages enterprise and thrift and
encourages monopoly and greed
Take the case of young man here in
Texas, who, we will say, by working on
| shares, has finally saved up little cap
ital, and who now proposes to become
| the owner of farm of his own. He is
going to get a piece of wild land, break
it up, grub it, fence it and cultivate it.
| lie has a wagon, a pair of horses few
household utensils, wife, plenty of
| children and little money. lie does
not dream of getting rich; he merely
hopes to secure a competency by faith
full work. He looks around for a loca-
tion. He naturally desires TO settle near
town, whore he will be handy to market,
and where his family can enjoy the So
clety of neighbors and the benefits Of
church.and school privileges. He finds
| just such town. lie 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 he 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
hundred acre tract of this land
he must mortgage himself to
somo speculator. lie must bind himself
to pay over to Spectator all that he
can possibly save in excess of the barest
possibilities of life for term OF years.
lie feels that the land is already above
his means, so he turns away, drives out
twenty miles and buys hundred acres
out of a thousand acre tract held by
another Spectator, for which he paws
$500, 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 a great deal of
time on the, poor roads between his
nome 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 that which he has been compelled
TO select so far away. lie works to far
greater disadvantage than he would had
ho 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
tho worlds wealth increased? Do they
propose to invest dollar in the cultiva-
tion and improvement of this land? BY
no means. They propose that some one
else shall do the work and have tho
worry, and take the chances of the crops
falling. Yet they propose, nevertheless,
to got rich out of this land. How? BY
holding it in idleness, by driving labor
OFF from it, and compelling labor to pass
it by and settle on far less eligible
and desirable tracts One of these spec
ulators paid 81, 900 for a piece of this
land. 1t is now worth S., 600. Whose
labor has put an additional
value OF "a, 900 upon this
piece of vacant land? Not tho labor
of the present owner, nor tho labor of
any previous owner, because no one has
ever done a stroke of work upon the
land 1t has resulted from the increase
of population. 1t has been put there by
the community. The Spectator sells the
tract for S., 600 and thus makes 81, OOO
lie has not, however, increased the sum
total of the worlds wealth one iota by
the transaction. lie has simply drawn
to himself 81, 600 worth of wealth which
other people have produced-wealth
which labor has been compelled to pay
over to him for the bare privilege of
access to one of the gifts of nature.
We'll, our young farmer, after a year s
hard work i'll fencing, breaking the sod,
and putting up buildings, has added $500
worth of improvement to that hundred
acre tract of land. By the sweat of his
brow he has actually increased the sum
total of the wealth of tho world to tho
extent of $780, What happens now?
Why, tho tax-collector comes around
and fines him for it by taxing these i'm
proyements. lie has to yield up to the
govern ment in taxes on these improve
ments a portion of the fruits of his indi-
vidual industry. lie is robbed on ac-
count of taxes on these improvements Of
portion of the values produced solely
by his individual industry. The com
munity did not put this additional value
of $500 upon his land. lie put it there
by his own hard work. But who is put
ting values yearly on the vacant land
adjoining, which the Spectator is hold
ing in idleness? Is it not tho commu-
nifty that does it? Now, why should our
young farmer be taxed any mora for
dsing his hundred-acre tract OF land and
giving employment TO labor on it than
tho Spectator is taxed for holding in
idleness tract of equal value and pre-
venting labor from using it? Which act
conduces most to the prosperity of tho
country? Why should not tho Spectator