The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-12-20

bn9 OQlGSu obAtSS IN I6SUs no leG9 IMAM
36 per cent. were tenants, while of the
nominal owners no less than 81 per cent
were in reality tenants under mortgage.
But, as it has been in the cities, not in
the agricultural district that the great
increase Of land values has gone on, and
consequently the greatest concentration
OF ownership has taken place, Mr..
Holmes conclusion as to the non. sgri-
cultural families of the United States is
still more startling. OF these 65 per
cent. were tensnts-rRck-rente tenants,
to use the Irish phrase-while Of the
nominal owners 81 per cent. were under
mortgage.
Could anything be more ominous OF
our future? Three years Rgo-snd con-
centrRtion has gone on with RccelerRt-
ing rspidity ever since and is still going
on-the majority, the great majority, of
American citizens were homeless and
lsndless men, who must from week to
week or year to year, buy the privileges
from some landlord Of finding a spot to
to live on or q place to work on, in
land they call their own. Yet the full
truth is not shown in these census re-
turns, for they take no account of the
great tracts OF ground, unused and un-
built upon, which are held by q com
pRratively few people, nor yet do they
show, what is clearly the fact, that the
concentration is greatest as to the most
valuable land. Is it not about time that
we stopped talking of the American
farmer Rs though he were necessarily q
land owner, and about the land question
Rs though it were something that had
great interest in ireland, but had no
practical interest in the United StatesP
Concentration in the ownership Of land
means necessarily concentration of
wealth. Mr.. Thomas G. Shearmsn, in
an article published in the Forum msgs
zine in 1889, entitled, "The owners Of the
United Ststes?" declared as the result OF
q chain of reasoning based on an esti-
mate of great fortunes, that:
"The United States of America are
practically owned by less than 250,000
persons, constituting leas than one in
six ty Of it's adult male population.
"Within thirty years, the present
methods Of taxation being continued, the
United States Of America will be snbstan
italy owned by less than $4,000 persons,
constituting less than one in 500 Of the
adult male population"
From the returns OF the census as to
homes, farms and mortgages, Special
Agent Holmes estimates tnst in 1890,
one. tenth OF the families owned three
fourths OF the aggregate wealth OF the
United States, leaving but onefourth In
the hands OF nine-tenths of the people.
Considering that the same ascending
proportion must hold among the one
tenths is not this the most startling con-
frmation of Mr.. Shearman's conclusionP
What 10 the cure?
Fellow citizens there is no cure save
in removing the cause. Nothing will
avail that does not do away with the
primary injustice that condemns men to
poverty by denying them their equal
right in the bounty Of their Creator, and
therefore their natural right in the pro-
duct Of their own labor.
Under the conditions Of modern civili-
zRtion there is but one way TO do that
We cannot do it, as it was substantially
done under the provisions Of the Mosaic
code, by securing to each family its
piece OF land and making that inslien-
able. We cannot do it, as it was SUBJ
stsntially done, and to some extent is
yet done among our red Indians, by
making the holding OF land dependent
on its individual use. Our civilization
is too complex, the division Of labor is
too minute, the difference in the value
Of land has become too great. There is
land in Chicago and New York that is
worth more by the foot than land is
worth here by the acre and even by hun
dreds Of acres. But we can do it by tax
ing the value OF land for the common
use. We can do it by the single tax!
Whak r,a u,bo oIronoka - roaoy h., kba