Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-02-04
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE SINGLE TAX.

THE SINGLE TAX.
@. A. Lothrop, of Neponset, Says 1t Is the
Only Remedy for Poverty.
Under the auspices of the single tax
league IN Reform club hall. 500 Main
street, last evening. O. A. Lothrop, of
Neponset, 1ecturei before a small aud
isnce. 7. J. Hastings presided, and in
D short Introductory address, said he
hoped the single tax would find more
open advocates in Worcester than it has
ut present He said New Haven, Min
neapolis and other cities had elected
single tax mayors. and in other respects
the single tax men had made greater
progress than they have in Worcester.
This was the first meeting since May
and election of officers was in order,
but motion to defer the election until
the next meeting was passed without
dissent Mr.. Hastings said he had re-
Gently seen William Lloyd Garrison. an
earnest single tax orator, and he ex-
pected it would be possible to have Mr..
Garrison in Worcester at the next meet
ing.
In beginning his lecture Mr.. Lothrop
expressed his pleasure being present,
and said the question of the ''unem-
ployed and the single tax" was one
which dwarfed all others of the coun-
try, including the slave question
Single tax advocates" said he. ''are
grum blers. but we are not alone; there
are many kinds of grum blers, and men
are becoming more and more dissatis-
fed with the present condition OF at
fairs The unequaled distribution of
wealth is attracting widespread COM
ment and criticism. Many remedies
have been proposed but the single tax
remedy is by far the best, since it goes
at once to the bottom of the whole mat
ter. All other remedies are merely
artificial
"a French writer has said that in the
stone age it was very difficult for the
human race to gain a subsistence. In
our own day, in spite of all the inven-
tons and improvements which have
been made, while few have been car
ried to the top and have become i'm
mensely rich, the great mass of man
kind are still in the stone age, and sub
sistence is barely possible"
Mr.. Lothrop called attention to some
of the improvements of the century. A
y CdIS ago t'io" GU ohC
man to hold, one to sit on the beam,
one to clear the way. and from four to
eight yoke of oxen; and even then not
more than one acre could be plowed a
day. Now, one man with team of
horses can plow two acres and half a
day, and, with a steam plow, it is pos
sible to pillow five acres. The speaker
referred also to the improvement in
reapers, corn shelters, printing, etc,
all showing the increasing power being
gained by mind over matter despite
these achievements" said he, 1.-The ma
jority of men are poor, and poverty is
steadily increasing" Mr.. Lothrop then
quoted long passage from Henry
Georges Progress and Poverty" bear
ing on this matter.
There are some" he continued,
"who deny that poverty is increasing.
One argument against it is the average
argument Men point to our great pro-
duction and say it can not be possible
that we are poor" The lecturer con-
tended that this argument is fallacious
and q-oted the labor bureau as saying
| in 1885 that the condition of the work
ing people could not possibly be worse.
| New York papers were quoted from,
| including the Press to show the mis-
cry, degradation and squalor that exist
within one-eighth Of mile from city
hall Talmage and Helen Campbell
were also quoted. the former saying
that if you would see how Latimer
looked in the fire look in the faces of
the working girls in our great cities
Such slavery as this was called worse
NV f,, ol FOL 81 ho
master was responsible for the bodily
comfort of his slaves.
The speaker commented upon the
| enormous increase in population, by
immigration and otherwise, and said
this would Inconvenience no one if
natural opportunities were free.
He discussed the wage question at
some length, contending that wages
could not help rising if land were not
monopolized by spectators, and that
they must go down under present cir
cumstances. Gould men work twenty
four hours day and live on one biscuit
day, they would still work all the
time for their one biscuit"
The speaker then told how the west
ern lands were held by landlords, in
this country and in Europe, and gave
figures to show to what an enormous
extent the land had been monopolized.
IAN American landlord is no better
than an English landlord" said Mr..
Lothrop. who claimed that robbery is
involved in the private ownership of
land and that the tariff is a tax
AS a remedy he proposed that land
value be taxed SO high that it would be
no object for any one to hold more than
he could use. This, he said, woald kill
speculation and make vacant land free.
He would abolish all other taxes, direct
or indirect.
eff something is not DONE" he said,
something terrible must follow. Up
to now there has been a West, where
those who were too badly pressed could
flee for freedom. Now there is no more
west; no more public land that is not
taken up, and yet millions of acres are
hardly scratched If another planet
could be brought to earth the man
whose land it touched, would claim it
for his own. All we want is a clear
field and no favors. Worcester Mass
Daily Telegram.
The True Remedy.