The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-03-21

to them, then action and b
has produced it The Populists may
have built wiser than they knew when
they declared for a graduated income
tax" An income tax can be devised
that will deserve and secure support.
Take that portion of the income of the
Astors and all others Of a similar chat
acter that is derived from bare land
values and tax it into the peoples
treasury. The fact is emphasized that
this is right. Take away the people
and all thai they have done as individ-
uals in civil communities and aggrega
tions of people, and the bare lands,
even with honest improvements on 1t.
is valueless if without a population.
The moment you allow some men to
enjoy the fruits of the in tustry Of
others without any labor performed
by them, the moment you equip them
with the exclusive right to natural
bounties or give them the products OF
other mems labors; you create an IN
dustrial slavery more injurious and
deadly in its results than personal
slavery ever was. Tax the incomes
now derived from the rental value of
the bare land and make it Improbable
for men to keep landsa and other natural
gifts of the Creator idle and unused for
speculation aud higher rents when the
labor and an increasing population in
crease their value. 1t is the worst kind
Of ~extortion and robbery not only from
the masses of the people now living
but from the generations yet unborn.
Thoughts and illustrations press for
utterance but time and space and edi-
toriaI patience is limited.
One illustration only is given. 1t
comes in this days morning paper.
Two years ago a gentleman in New
Orleans bought a tract Of vacant land
: in that city for the sum Of $33, 600 Gts
original cost to the first proprietor was
/ o.. The paper says: AT that time
$500 the g~entleman's friends we're in
J clined to poke fun at him for his pur
= chase, but his faith in the progress of
! the city and the increase Of population
+ was strong and he determined to let the
, property lie idle until "a more prosper
Gus time and an accession of pOpula
ton and new enterprises, industries
and improve ments made by them
should enhance its value. He judged
rightly, for population, enterprise and
commerce came and is still coming
rapidly to New Orleans and to day he
is offered 800. 600 for this property
, that cost him only a third of that sum
and upon which he has expended moth
], ing except the nominal sum colleced as
, q tax on unused property and this and
| more he has, more than likely recov
/ cred by renting shanties to fruit ven.
ders and bill posters. He adds to his
, income and gets that much further on
his road to millionaireism by pocketing
sec, 900 that belongs to the laboring
} people of New Orleans.
The Populists are right, tax that in
! come into the treasures of the people
and abolish or lower all other taxation
on labor and the products Of labor.
What has been said as to land mo
nopoly applies fully to all monopolies
other than land and hold from the gov.
ernments national, State and munich
pal franchises that exclude competition
> and give them the right to tax the
: trade commerce Cf the people, levying
at the same time a tax on the producer
at one end and upon the consumer.
3 The government has abdicated its
sovereignty and has placed in the
hands of corporations and private in
dividuals the power of taxation, farm
ing it out just as was done in the EN-.
3 pire of old Rome with the governors of
the provinces. The right to coin money
+ and regulate its volume is in Congress,
; that is to say it rests upon the will of
the whole people. It has been given
for nothing to the banks, and the silver
and gold bugs who have made fortunes
by the incomes derived, both from the
expansion and contraction of the
amount of money used by the people.
Stop this source of income and let the
people determine the amount of money
that should be coined and upon what
commodity the impress of the govern
ment shall be placed. Is there any
sense or reason in permitting a man to
control the volume of the current coin
of the people by giving him who may
be the owner of a gold brick the power
to store that brick in his vault or take
it to a United States mint and have it
made, free of cost to him, into current
coin. There is merit in the contention
of the ~siIverites that silver should have
l~nnnnl nriuilnrns with cold Vet the