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


tion Of land ownership aud the tend9ncy
to the conditi )ns Of Europe. It is not
interest that impoVerishes the masses.
1t ls the injustice that roos them OF the
produce Of their labor and makes them
the payers Of tribute under the form Of
interest.
But why linger over details? Hsre is
the clear principle that makes hopeless
all reforms that do not lead to the bot
tom injustice, struck at by the single
tax: By virtue Of q natural aud i'm
mutsbl9 law, every general improvement
Of whatever kind, adds to tne value OF
land, and increases the speculation in
aud forestalling OF land, therefore not
m srely not helping, but actually making
harder the lot Of the mere laborer. Do
we not see this in the result OF all the
wonderful,improvements OF this century?
Do we not SEQ it on every hand? The
constant tendency OF advancing civilizs-
tion, is by reducing ths cost OF produc-
tion to lessen the price OF the products
of labor. But the price Of lsnd goes up
and up wherever population centsrs.
A railroad is built Up 60 land values.
A vein of natural gas is discovered, phos-
phate beds are found, mineral deposits
are unearthed. Up goes the value of
land. A school teacher fcom the north
goes to the vicinity OF Galveston aud
shows how pro6tsbly pears can be raised
there, and Immediately the price OF land
Jumps from 81 to $50 an acre. A man
goes down on the shores OF Cape God or
New Jersey, and followed by a few
friends, shows what q nice place it is for
summer bathing and summer houses,
and Immediately the barren sands for
miles around are marked up to almost
city prices. A rich man leaves what he
cannot take away for the building OF
university, and land values about it
Jump up. The national goVernm snt
spends millions to inn prove the streets
aud parks OF the national capital and
enormous private fortunes are made by
the rise in land values. A Worlds Fair
is begun 10 Chicago aud over 5000 00O,.
900 are already added to the price of lots,
and rents are everywhere raised. So it Is
in everything. It Tsmmsny hall were
to become virtuous, taxes in New York
would ba less and public Improvements
greater--snd up would go the V.lue OF
land and the speculation in land.
1t must be so. IL invention and i'm
provement were to 60 80 far as to make
it possible for man to obtain without
labor all that the earth is capable OF
} ieldinR him, what would be the result?
That all possible wealth would belong to
the owners Of land, and there would be
no use for mere lsborers. IL the lsud
owners did not keep them for Rmuss-
ment or feed item for charity they would
stsrve.
1t must be so. The Almighty himself
could not relieve poverty so long as men
continue to M AXE private property OF the
land on which he has placed them II
he were to rain wealth feom heaven it
would, uuder our laws, bs the property
of land owners. Has not the supreme
court Of Iowa dscided-snd 1t is uuques
tionable lsw-thst the Rreolite that
recently fell from the interstellsr space
on Iowa Is the private property OF the
owner of the land on which 1t felt?
But this great natural law, by virtue
OF which ell reform and improvement
ultimately increase the wealth OF land
owners is in its nature bani6cent. 1t is
only our injustice 10 denying the equal
right to the use of land, that turns Its
good into q curse. Wnere land was
treated as belonging in usufruct to all,
and the value that attaches to it Rs
human advance goes on were taken for
the benefit Of the whole community, its
manifest eff act would be, by increasing
the share of wealth that went to each
member of the community, to lessen the
differences Rs TO condition among men,
and to make the progress OF clviliza zation
an advance towards greater sud greater
equality Of condition, instead OF as now
an advance towards q more and more