The herald., 1894-04-24

and capital paying tribute to that mc-
nopolist, labor and capital would share
between them the full product of their
combined enterDrise. Would it not be
we'll to abolish monopoly, then, and give
labor and capital q chance?
Some will say il we give capital its
freedom capital would be monopolized.
Don't you believe it. Freedom and mo-
nopoly don't travel together. They are
oppositeH. Who is it that asks for tariff
laws2 The men who want to form trusts.
who objects to eingle tax on land val
ues? The fellow who wants to monopo-
lize valuable land, of course. All mo-
nopolists are opposed to free land, to free
trade, to freedom in general. Why
Because the more freedom the less
chance for snaps.
There ie NO monopoly in locomotives.
Why? Because all the people are free
to manufacture them. There is a mo-
nopOly in railroad tracks, bscause not
ell are free to build tracks. 1t requires
a special privilege, franchise, to build
q track. There is no monopoly on po-
tatoes, because we have free trade in
potato raising. There is q monopoly on
valuable land, because it required a
special privilege to get it, the special
privilege of having had an ancestor who
staked out a valuable lot before it was
valuable. Without that privilege the
chances are you will pay rent the rest OF
your life.
No, there is no danger OF a monopoly
on wealth as long as the public is free
TO produce wealth. Stanford, Gould,
r ockefeller, Astor and all the rest be-
came rich, not from their labor, not
h., Il
privileges they grabbed. Show me
millionaire, and if you will give me time
l will show you where he enjoyed a
taxing power which some government
gave him.
Why are not all laberers ready to
abolish these class laws2 In other
words, why are they not all single tax
era? Because false preachers have
raised a conflict between labor and
capital. Instead of union of capital
and labor against their common enemy,
the industries of the world today pre-
sent picture OF house divided against
itself, while the common enemy is un.
molested in gathering tribute.
But it will be said that these special
privileges, such as franchises, land
titles, patents, ETC., hold out tempta-
tion to the capitalist to favor such in
stitutions. II they do, it must be that
the capitalist is dazzled, because these
snaps are 80 few and far between that
for every one who gets one, hundreds
must go without. The chances for q
capitalist to get a paying monopoly
are about as hopeless as the chances
of the dupe VINO aims for the capital
prize of the Louisiana lottery.
No, it is not in the interest of capi-
talists in general to aim for a monopoly.
Their real interest is in staple invest
ment which yields good interest. And
1 want to say right here that by re-
moving all class lave and opening up
natural opportunities for investment
the general rate of interest on capital
would rise, and the single tax will
do it.
/ wish to be understood that monopo-
lists Of today OF all the different kinds
absorb very large portion of the total
wealth which is produced. But large as
that proportion is, it would be a small
matter if there was not a greater evil
resulting from monopoly. refer to the
speculation in land, which ties up op-
portunities for labor and capital.
That is the worst phase of our whole
social structure. Feeding drones ia
nothin.x- x-faE-AL>s-Azzvrfcuu people, We
are accustomed to that and have learned
to rather like it. but the idea OF being
forced into idleness when we would pre-.
fer being free to work somehow goes
against the American spirit of freedom.
What we want is to be free to ork with
our hands, our brains and our capital;
for that reason we say let us do some
thing to drive land speculators out of
our way as they did over in New Zsa-
land, then labor and capital would have
q chance, labor and capital would be
free.
Oh, freedom Oh, liberty Liberty
to do right. What noble cause. 1t is
the essence of Democracy; the corner
stone of natural rights.