Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-12-02


were granted and accepted upon con-
dlt!ons which any court OF equity must
hold to be biuding;. conditions inuring
10 the benefit Of the community. and
requiring expenditure and alteration
Of position on the part OF the grantees.
Take the case OF bounty grants to the
heirs Of deceased soldiers, the ones
most purely gratuitous in character.
The present unfortunate owners Of
many OF these lands, yet unOccupied
and lying more or less remote from
market, have already paid 20 the
state in the way of taxes thereon for
the half century past. as much as the
present full value Of the land. They
have done this upon the faith of the
absolute and indeieasible nature OF
the grant, as 1t was made to them, and
have not, especially the nonresident
majority OF them, received any benefit
whatever in return therefor; but to the
land alone, which the single tax is 10
conhscate. they must look for their
recompense.
Since tile single tax proposes to in
crease the taxes on land $50 that talD
revenue shall be derived from that one
source" and unused land shall be
taxed at the same rate as similar
land however greatly improved" 1t Is
clear that this must result in practical
cOnnscation 10 the state OF all unim-
proved land. Indeed IL is obvious
that such transfer OF the title to the
community is the purpose intended,
since without II the final consumma-
ton, restoring to the masses free ac-
cess 70 the bounties of nature" that
IS. the land-could not be realized.
What an idle beating Of the wind,
then, is the unwarranted declaration
that the single tax would not take
from any one anything he had earned
or justly possessed
leading reason assigned for the
proposed taking of all taxes from
personal property and placing them on
land alone Is, that as the community
gives the value to land, it may justly
claim such value. The fallacy of this
reasoning lies in the fact that the
proposition as 10 the value Is about
equally true as to personal property.
From the Mosaic account OF creation
1t appears that when there were only
two people in the world q fig leaf
served for bridal rousseau, and the
sacred chronicle nowhere intimates
that 1t was not regarded as sufficiently
elaborate by the primal pair Jointly
participating In the uuptial ceremonies
and hymenial rites of that occasion,
or that 1t would have been exchanged,
even up, for the costllest one that the
Partisan mOdistes Of Worth could sup
plNs II ~ INT community Win us
consequent social relations and inter-
course, the necessities which it be-
gets the stimulus II affords in its
appeals to pride, ambition, vanity,
and the other passions of human ma
ture. that causes the demand for and
gives value to the greater extent of
personal property. The tailor-made
clothes of a well attlred business man,
including with them his boots and
49, IA to T.gs.lAV Nu gFlIl
watch as much more.
Expatrlate him as second Robinson
Crusue to the solitary shores of Juan
Fernandez. and four-hfths of this value
Is at once annihilated. The gold watch
VIII not be preferable there to II silver
one with similar works, costing only
$40; while the clothes would be gladly
exchanged for palmer and stronger
ones costing one-ffth of the money
Without the community diamonds
could hardly be exchanged, even
weight for peanuts All articles used
exclusively for ornamental purposes de-
rive their value almost entirely from
{ he community; while the ornamental
quality and value OF which, as we have
just seen, enters so largely even into
useful articles, must also be credited
to the social aggregation, Some other
reason must be invented to Justify this
ically distinguish all property into two
classes upon consideration almost
equally applicable TO both OF them.
a basic and Indispensable principle
OF the single tax rs that the earths
surface Is the common property of all
mankind, their right to which Is inca
pable OF alienation, or OF individual
ownership in fee; and 1t is declared that
If any one exclusively occupies any
part Of the earth he must compensate
the balance of mankind" even for the
mere occupancy. The interest which
the reader may have in the lands of the
antpodes. of All Sin and the unspeak-
able Turk, In "Greenland's icy noun
tain's aud Afric's sunny plain" and in
al the cities that dot this terraqueous
globe, he could neither ascertain nor
utilize, even with the single tax prlncl-
pie In full operation. Certainly, a the
Org that asserts a right the extent and
value of which can by no possibility
be ascerta!ned, much less made availa-
BILE, may justly be characterized as
thinner than the attenuated light Of the
new moon far down in bottomless
caves.
IL i be said that this right Of uni.
versal ownership may be limited re-
strlcted and localized. Invested out Of
the generality of mankind in general"
especially the balance" OF them. and
vested in specific communities and ma
tons, which may again be Indefinitely
supdlVided into states municipalities.
and yet smaller communities. this con-
codes the principle of alienation. and
the grounds upon which lndlyidual
ownership Is based. II such right re-
mains Inherently and wholly inaliena-
BILE, then II has now become so general
and 50 widely diffused as 10 be incapn-
BILE OF any definite ascertalnment. ad-
tustment, or practical enforcement n
mere abstraction. an ideal ohateau
d hspagne, Il nonentlty, without value
without form and void. II. on the oth.
er hand, the right Is not inallennble
II 1t may be dlvested ana revested MS
the convenience OF men may reo,1Ire
ana as Its utilization even under tbs
single tax theory would imperativsl,,
demand. then this idea that il Vet AZ
lists In all mankind, IN the indeilnabia
community" falls to the ground
In putting all taxes on Land the Gin
gle tax principle win work manifest
injustice and inequality IN that man.
VINO nave only personal properly gnd
large amounts OF Il. VIII escape taxn-
ton altogether Take All men hal
70 the nrlmevaI state, the genasis ~
me social economy and evolution ~
the human race. and start them IN
out together from that point. and Inc
single tax theory might for n,ti,a
at least, be appiled v-itbn,. t,,t..'.,i'tn