Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-11-19
Considering the Single Tax in Mexico.

The Mexican Financier, the leading
paper of Mexico ON finance, railroads,
mining and commerce, publishes let
ter on the single tax from Henry Ware
Allen, and, commenting editorially,
says:
Mr. Henry Ware Allen, who contrib
utes to our columns to-day a brief ex.
PLANTATION of the single tax theory, ad-
vocated by Mr.. Henry George, an econ
omist of worldwide reputation, is one
OF a large number of intelligent men,
scattered over the globe, from Mexico
to Australia, and from South Africa to
England, who find in the single tax the
solution of the great social and eco
nomical questions now pressing for an
answer The single tax, however, still
remains in the realm of theory: it has
not yet been tried by any nation,
though there are reasons for thinking
that one of the states of the new Aus.
tralian commonwealth may possibly
put it in practice. 1t is an experiment
which every thoughtful man would like
to see made, for in economics much re-
mains to be found out by the trial of
new plans of taxation. As
Napoleon said, you can not make an
| omelette without first breaking eggs,
| and so, in taxation, little
| boldness in experimentation may
result in the discovery OF
way infinitely better than our present
| clumsy devices, which, century from
now, are likely to be regarded as thor
oughly barbaric. Everything that the
human race possesses is derived from
the land, or the sea that rests upon the
land The wool of the sheep is derived
from the heritage which, the sheep
transmutes by it's animal chemistry
into FIBRE There is absolutely no wealth
/ which comes not from the soil or the
sea. But man lives not on the waters,
but on the solid ground, and he who
owns the land is master OF all the rest
of his kind Look the world over and
Won will find that the landowners are
| the permanently wealthy class; specu-
lators in stocks come and go, merchants
rise and fall, but the owner of the soil
has that which is substantial. He owns
the mine from which all wealth is TAX
en-. In the cities of the world the rich
families are those who own the land
and the houses upon it. The
| Astors of New York, the dukes
Of Westminster and of Bedford
| in London, the Winthrops in Boston
all these rich people are landowners,
and possessors of land standing in
crowded cities where it's value is enor-
nous In London, land near the Bank
of England is worth CO, 900, 900 an acre.
To buy that land you would have to
cover it with gold In Mexico, who
are the richest people? There is only
one reply, the families who own lands
and houses. There are people who live
in Europe and spend their great sums
derived from the income of lands and
houses here. This expenditure does
not enrich Mexico; it is in the nature
of a tribute paid. Yet we are far from
blaming individuals. The system which
makes all this possible is the best that
the civilization of the white race has
. evolved, and communities and individu'
ais must make the best of 1t till Some
better system is discovered by actual
, experiment II New South Wales will
try the single tax the world will be un.
der a debt of gratitude to her; for, u
demonstrated to be feasible. Q greai
problem will be solved