The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-02-20
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
a WOMAN TO WOMEN.

OF Octooer Z, says: II am as much sur, |
prised that men should seek To enlist |
the sympathies of the DISTINGUISHED in |
questions OF public welfare, as that
women Themselves should lend their
energies "a the furtherance of any
movemene until their own liberty is at
tanned"
will leave single tax men to explain
their position to Mrs Howard, whHe
try to show her why single tax women.
or those at least who are advocates of
woman suffrage, are glad to lend their
energies to another reborn than that
1t is because they believe that by adj
vocating the angle tax they are taking
the best means to secure, not only their
own liberty, but that of others as well,
because they believe that the whole Is
greater than part; that the race is of
more Importance than sex; that true
liberty for all is better than sham liber-
ty for all; that the substance is better
than the shadow, the real thing better
than tho symbol.
They look abroad upon our land, and
they see that men with the ballot in
tc.eir hands arc not free. They are
freer than women. Mrs Howard
would say: Oh! yes, they make our
laws, such as they are. They live un.
der laws they themselves make; woin-
en- live under laws that are made by
others II men are taxed to death.
they have themselves to thank. If
they are denied access to natural oppor-
tunity. their God-given heritage, it is
they themselves who have put up the
barriers and keep them in repair.
Gent under the same weight of taxa
ton. pcnt in by the same barriers,
women with the franchise would be as
free as men are now, and no freer
What does that freedom mean for the
masses of men? freedom to carelessly
toll from the cradle to grave or slowly
starve; freedom to satisfy the coarsest
animal appetites If they are strong,
sober and industrious; or, IL they or
ths.r parents or their parents parents
grew tired of being strong, sober and
industrious with SO little to show for
the effort, then have they freedom to
sink to lower and lower depths of deg
ration till charity hands them over to
death And close at their heels will
drag their women, ballot OF no ballot.
And as for those little up in the
world" as the phrase is-but why speak
of them? The fate of nation is de.
cided by It's lowest and most numerou:
class Rome fell because her crop Of
men gave out She was rotten at the
foundation
l yield to one in the strength of my
desire for woman suffrage, but I mus
admit that the exercise of that RICH
under present social conditions would
not give me the satisfaction that
should expect from it after the adoptio,
OF the single tax had purified our ma
tional life ara raised the standard o
morality in every department
II the fates offered me woman sui
frage tomorrow ] would take it. l
they offered me woman suffrage or tn
single tax would take the single tax
knowing l should then have both.
is not certain that the single tax woul
follow the enfranchisement of woman
but the adoption of the single tax
which means the abolition of funda
mental wrong affecting alike men an
women, would open the way for ever
other reform. Woman suffrage is gair
ing ground now; under the single tax
would be speedily attained.
10 single taxer can be an anti-woma
suffragist without laying himself ope
to the charge of unreason. He and til
single taxcr who declares himself a
anti-free trader. are birds of feathe
and equally illogical / am happy
believing that there are few of either.
As have said elsewhere. single ia,
ers propose to turn the stream OF nj
earned increment, now DETECTED fro
its natural course by our system of lar
tenure, from the pockets Of the lam
lords into the hands of its rightful owl
ers, the people, to be used by them as
common fund for common expenses
place of the multitudinous taxes no
draining their life of all that makes
worth living The people are the RICH
full owners Of this fund because thu
created it. Now, what are the peopl,
Men, women and children, or men al
male children alone? If we could spin
away into space all the women and
male children in the world, wouldr
land values drop? Apart from sen
mental reasons, Us political economis
say, that is. eliminating from the pro
lem the sorrow. dispair, discomfort al
confusion caused by such an event, al
eliminating also consideration of 4
fact that such loss would mean {
extinction of the human race, and loo
ing at the problem simply from an &c
nomic standpoint, wouldn't the remov
of half the population cause a sha
decline in land values? No. sane m
would deny it, and no single tax m
can fail to advocate woman suffra
without proving himself only one {
gree better than the landlord. The
ter says: This is mine to be spent
please" The former says: 1T
enormous sum belongs to the poop