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

improvements upon it and the other lie
unimproved and unused.
IL not this just? II l take more berths
IN steamer, more seats in q theater,
Gore rooms in a hotal, than / use or
care to use, must I not pay for them just
as il used them? And IL man chooses
to hold more land than he can or cares
TO use, should he not paw az much as the
man who uses his landH For is he NOT
depriving some one else Of it's useg
Is it not wiser It is the using Of land,
not the holding Of land, that adds to the
wealth Of the community? Is it good
public policy to tax o man because he ia
industrious and thriftyp To put heavy
tax on the man who builds and improves
and cultivstes, and a light tax on the
man who keeps land idle or half used
which others would gladly put to use il
he, dog-ln-the-mRnger- like, did not stand
in the way?
Would it not make easier every true
reform? See how it would simplify gov
eminent, how it would dispense with the
horde Of direct and indirect tax gather
ers, and the corrupting and demOraliz-
ing methods OF raising public revenues
that are now employed; and how it would
take out OF our politics the enormous
monied interests that our methods of
taxation, our giving away OF public fran
chises and our fostering of land specu-
lstion now brings into them.
Take, for instance, transportation re-
form. 1 am one OF those who believe
that the building and maintenance Of
railroads, like the building and mainte-
nance Of common roads, is q proper
function Of the state. Now, the obiec-
tlons to state management and owner
ship OF railroads are: First-The in
crease in public functions and function
aries and consequently Of political
patronage. See how greatly this obiec.
tion would be lessened by the simplif-
cation in government and the esseniDg
OF the opportunities of making money
out Of government which the single tax
would at once bring about! Second
The danger that q government railroad
system would be pulled and hauled by
the private interests concerned in the
great increase OF land values which rail
roads always bring. See how the TAX
ing Of land values for the public revenue
would absolutely do away with this OBJ
lection!
So, take any true reform. care not
what it may be, and If you examine you
will find that il the single tax would not
of itself bring it about, it would make it
easier to bring about.
For this simple measure goes to the
very foundation OF all social and politi-
cal life. As land is fundamental to all
material life, the source of all produC-
tion, the reservoir of and gateway to all
powers and forces that can be used by
man, 30 is the land questionable ques.
tion OF the access Of man to the planet
the most primary and all determining OF
all social and political questions. II
there is anyone who does not sec that it
is because he is accustomed to think of
land as place where corn ia grown and
hogs are raised, and to imagine that me-
chanics and bankers and sailors and
oRloonists make no use Of land.
What the single tax would do would
be to put all citizens on o plane OF
equality with regard to the use OF land.
Take land values for public revenues, by
the simple process Of taxing them, ex.
elusive of all improvements, and the only
difference as to the profits Of land owner
ship between the man who held piece
OF land in the business center Of a
great city and the man who was
farming piece of land on the
outskirts that would yield nothing to
mere ownership, would be that the one
would have to pay large contribution
to the public revenues aud the other
would not be called on at all. The man
who held much land and the man who
held no land would profit alike by the