Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-10-13
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
Some Object Lessons.

The following experiences are plain
illustrations of the rewards OF land
speculation, and of the prevailing ideas
of assessment, and / therefore offer
them to the readers of the Standard. 1t
will be seen that the evils here typifed
might have been considerably amelio-
rated by just and strict application
of present laws, and / am quite sure
that workers for the single tax cause
can hardly put forth their efforts to
better effect than by trying to get the
present lawsrightly executed. Ninety
nine per cent of the assessors of town
property, some in ignorance and some
"a lack of conscience, sport with the
laws of taxation, virtually changing
them from lot to lot, from street to
street. There is no law for assessing
unimproved lots, and yet this practice
is well nigh universal I should be
happy to join club which should make
its object that of trying to beat into
the heads of assessors the fact that va
cant lots are FUSED" just as much as
lots that are occupied, and that specu-
lation is use that does not deserve
special favoring.
In 1881, in Norfolk, Va. where was
at that time working as principal of q
private school, attended an auction of
lots in Brambleton. a suburb not then
made part of the city. / bought for
S55 one of the last two lots that were
sold Thirty-six lots had been knocked
down to a wealthy gentleman at an
average price of about s35. The rest
were bought by intending builders,
who, like myself, were looking for
lots whereon to make homes for them
selves
In the course of few years, houses
sprang up as by magic. The streets
were graded, sidewalks laid, and Bram-
bleton became the growing quarter.
My lot being but thirty feet front, I
concluded that 1 wanted more land.
therefore bought 125 feet, farther out,
at IS a foot, and sold the former lot
This thirty feet, for which I had paid
$50, brought readily s725 cash.
Meantime, the thirty-six lots bought
by the rich man for speculation were
growing in weeds and value, and daily
becoming more and more an eyesore to
the community. ] knew of his refus-
ing $500 for a lot that had cost him
about forty; and yet he was making no
contribution to such improvements as
grading and sidewalks, which were car
ried on largely by the voluntary contri-
buttons of those who were building
houses around his vacant lots When
approached by would-be purchaser,
his reply was that he was saving his
property for his son-a boy in knee
pants. He could well afford to hold the
land, since, as being considered unpro-
ductive. it was assessed at an insignif-
cant amount.
That struck me as queer. Here was
a man who was a positive drawback to
the progress of the place, and yet max
ing out of it some thousands per cent.
AS to myself, while I had contributed
my due share to the grading of the
street on which my lot was located,
thought it remarkable that I should
somehow get more for nothing than
could make by three months work in
the school-room.
On the new lot which had bought
commenced to make some improve
ments. Having put around it fence
at a cost of $50, l leveled the land,
sowed it with grass, planted two dozen
trees of rare variety, and thus at a cost
of about 5000 made it look like an at
tTactive building lot, instead of a ridged
field How unwise this was was soon
shown by the arrival of the assessor.
Because of these improvements the lot
was assessed at s2,250. might not
have given a second thought to this val
uation but for a contrast Opposite my
lot a Spectator had bought five acres.
The land was still in cultivation, so
that it looked like farm land. Although
it lay between my lot and the city, and,
therefore, nearer to population, and
more desirable, its assessment was at a
rate just one-tenth as high as mine.
This again struck me as queer. felt
that had been punished for building q
fence and planting trees.
Subsequently I built house, which
was welcomed as a great improvement
to that locality. The vacant lots adj
joining my property were owned by a
told me, in delightful innocence, that
l had doubled their price. This again
struck me as queer; that poor school
teacher in Virginia should add hum
dreds to the wealth of a man in New
York, whom he had never so much as
seen.
The queerness of these object-lessons
was fresh in my mind while 1 was read
ing and rereading progress and Pow
erty," and they helped me to appreci-
ate some of its revelations.
AS read on, could not but see how
the homely events that had been going
on before my eyes in that corner of old
Virginia were interviewer with the
greatest social problem of the day.
Since that time, whether in Virginia, or
Missouri, or Louisiana, or New Hamp-
shire, 1 have found no lack of similar
instances. The consolation is thai
wherever I have been, have found an
increasing number of those who appre-
ciate the exposition of the master who
has thrown his light upon the injustice
of a system which fosters such transac-
tionS-Prof James II. billiard.
Effect Of the Single Tax.
ALI wealth being, in the last analysis,