The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-12

prompted grasping landlords to advance
renta But in America the farmer pays in
taxes the ''unesrned increment" of his
lands.
George teaches that there 10 IN ''un-
earned increment" in the value OF land
due wholly to the growth of population
and the progress of society. He argues
that this unearned increment belongs to
society because society created it. He
teaches that this ''unearned increment" Is
sufficient mot only to cover all the neces-
sary expenses Of government. national,
state and local, but also the cost Of pro-
viding and maintaining and operating
libraries, baths. art galleries. places OF enc
tertainment and amusement, railroads.
telegraphs. telephone systems. and many
things besides" So George proposes 70
confiscats all the rent Of land proper. sx-
elusive OF buildings and other improve
ments. by taxation. This Land theory In
principle is - old a. Moses, who decreed
In Leviticus . new partition OF the soai
every City years, and the Hebrew tribes
were prohibited from intermarrying lest
the Land Of one be alienatsd TO another.
OF course the Mosaic rule OF land tenure
10 no more . rule for modern CIVILIZATION
than Mosaic polygamy, concabinaes and
slavery ere permissible under our modern
legal or moral code. In India Georges
ideas of land ownership were inherited BY
England. There the state H. proprietor OF
the soil and exacts from the cultivator
the rental value of the land, and England
has applied the proceeds Of this land rent
to the government, and yet India under
this system of land tenure and land taxa
ton IL one of the most wretched countries
in the world.
The defenders Of Georges theory assert
that George only follows Herbert Spencer
in his general principle OF the right Of the
people to readjust its system Of land ten
ure according to its needs. This 10 . mis-
take. George directly differs with both
Spencer and Mill, for he argues that IL
would b unjust to the community to
make any compensation to the owners OF
lands dispossessed, saying that whom the
state seised private property no compen-
sation should be made to the owners, but
that they should be left with nothing but
their title Deeds" Spencer believes in .
direct tax on land values a. an equitable
mode of taxation. but he believes in COM
pensation. and nowhere accepts the the
DRY Of con6scatlon Of property In
land. George il . socialist who
believes In the extremity Of pa
ternal government; in . rule By
believes in individual effort; or the gov.
eminent which governs least, which was
the soundest thought of Tom Jefferson's
piebald political philosophy. George
would enlarge the state civil service
enormously and Spencer would vastly re-
duce it. George would relax the rule Of
the police, while Spencer with character
istic Anglo-Saxon common sense would
have ~ many police a. are necessary to
make lite and property safe.
The disciples of George ask II our gov
eminent did not practically con6scate
Confederate property in slaves and land7"
This shallow question is easily answered.
OF course We did, by the same right Of
self-preservation and penalty by which
our government could have erected q
scaffold after the war for traitors had It
not been too wise and too humane to do It
There Is no danger that Georges propo-
ton to confiscate ell the rent Of land
proper. exclusive Of buildings and other
Improvements. BY taxation will ever DO
adopted to any serious extent, for the
workingman who has any property sees
that this proposition Of Georges would
gut the cottage and protect tho palace; no
sees that this theory reduced to practice
would rob labor and increase the income
of men like the late Jay Gould. Arthur,
the chief of the Brotherhood Of Locomo-
tive Engineers. expressed the sentimento Of
intelligent labor when he said:
I am directly opposed to many OF Mr.. Georges
theories, especially the one relating to the own.
ership OF property. Quite . large number OF
our members own their own homes, and am
sure they would seriously object to giving them
up to benefit men who don't own homes and
never wonid II their possession depended upon
their own sxeftionA
George holds that the state may Justly
claim from every individual land owner a
compensation equal to the rental value Of
the land appropriated by him to the ex.
clusion Of others, to be paid into the COM
mon treasury for the common benefit.
George contends that II this were done
mot only would no taxes be needed for
government purposes. but the revenue
thus produced. besides being sufficient to
pay oil public expenses. would leave q
surplus to Be expended for the relief Of the
poor and the sick. and for the general
promotion Of the happiness of mankind"
This theory that the rental value of land
would be enough to meet oil the expenses
of the government and leave q surplus has
been completely exploded BY Matthew
Marshall, the financial editor OF the New
York Sun, as follows:
A matter OF fact. the revenue now collected
In this city By taxes real estate Tar exceeds In
amount she rental value OF the mere land within
the city limits. apart from the Improvements
upon it. which, IL 10 not disputed. srs the rtsht.
full property OF their ownera II from the fuu
value 81 the real estate IN this city were 70 be
dea ucted the cost of the buildiucs sior> .