The Colfax chronicle., 1892-01-09
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE NEW ABOLITION.

THE NEW ABOLITION.
From Q Speech Delivered By William
lloyd Garrison Before the Chicago (Tll) |
single Tsx Club, September 8, 1891.
(coxrfNu.D FROM LAST issuE.)
We are the new abolitionists, because
our object is be attained purely by the
abolition of vicious taxes, taking on
one by one, until land values alone sup
ply government with revenue. While
working for the ideal society where
Justice shall make charity obsolete, we
strike directly at the obstacles which
lie neal est our land We do not ques-
ton the result
1--WE may not live to SEQ the day,
Rut earth shall giisteA in the ray
OF the good time coming"
Ihave time only to suggest few OF
the points wherein single tax puzzled
me, hoping that the reasons which dis
sipated my objections may remove sim
liar ones from some hearers mind
I had no hesitation in accepting the
basic proposition of our creed. that man
has . right to the use Of the earth
80 long as all wealth is drawn
from that source by the application OF
labor, and to deny human being &C.
cess to this great storehouse of nature
| Is, OF course, wrong. The simple state
ment carries with II conviction, and for
the bounty of the Creator to be con.
trolled or monopolized by individuals
| for aggrandizement, at the expense OF
their fellow creatures, is manifestly
unjust and indefensible, and needs no
demonstration.
That this Is our strong fortress is mani
fest BY the disinclinstion of our oppo-
uents to debate It. never yet met one
who tried to controvert our principle.
II is about details and methods and re-
suits that the controversy always RACES
The failure of all attempts to reach
personal property il widely recognized.
the rich escaping and the poor and con-
scientious making up the deficit The
tax on incomes leads to false returns
and is q premium on deception. So
students of long experience, like David
A. Wells and Edward Atkinson, con-
tend that real estate should bear the
burden, because it lies open to the sun
and can not be hidden, and the tax will
distribute itself most fairly. Strange
that these men, with whom we are 90
nearly In agreement should range
themselves among our opponents
Now the single tar would lift every
burden from the product of labor. moi
taxing the houses and improvements
put upon the land, as the economists
have mentioned propose to do. We art
efenders of property and insist upor
the sacredness of mems just earningi
and their inalienableT right to exchang'
their products or services to the bes
advantage.
Our difference arises in our definition
of property. under which head w
deny that land properly comea II i
Z the element from which property !
. evolved by labor, but in equity Is NJ
more property than the air or the sun
shine. It has been treated as such. be
; cause, unlike air and sunshine, It i
possible to monopolize II, but the gen
. sis of every title deed rests on 'force
fraud or cunnin6''-to borrow MI
Spencers words We do not deny tina
the law considers land property. bu
thirty years ago it also recognized tn
E ownership of human flesh. We sa
with regard to land, as the righteou
] Vermont Judge said to the slaveholde
D claiming his fugitive: ''Show me bil
I of sale from the Almighty and vii
deliver him to you"
: was puzzled at first about Ian
bearing the sole burden of taxation. bt
cause thought the farmer would suffe
I most But when learned that lan
J: values only were to be taxed, not lan(
/ saw that farmers would pay less II
stead or more, because the value {
farms, irrespective of all improvement
q would be small, while under the pre-
4 ent system. the moro industrious an
:, self-denying . farmer IL, the more th
!. tax gatherer takes from him Tw
l. farms, side by side, having the sam
e site value. are taxed to-day in propo
' ton to their working, and the thrift
e farmer is made to pay heavily becaui
y of his industry, and his shiftless neigl
|. Dor is let of with small contribution
e Thrift is punished and neglect il =
s warded The single tax would lea,
It to labor its entire earnings The re'
}. land values are to be found In cite
It What enormous farms the little lot III
d der this building would buy!
4 The hardest thing for me to unde
II stand was the fact that land taxes ca
y not be shifted by the landlord, and +
It day neither Mr.. Wells nor Mr. Atkil
r son can see It. thereby differing wit
/ the recognized authorities on polite
y economy.
t; thought II leased lot OF land,
1, could make my tenant pay the tax bas
- to me in added rent 1t seems a. ii
I, might do So But it takes two to NAL
le . bargain, and it is not what I ask tn
d get, but as near that as my custom
o will give. I get all that can, and
II gives the least that he can and the re-
A. T. - ia