Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1894-04-13
NOT A CLASS MOVEMENT.

A Portland Business Man Writes . Very
Interesting Article on the Question OF
Taxation.
Here lie an exceptionally strong and
simple argument on the single tax from
s. B. Riggen, a well-known business
man Of Portland:
Why should the individual be required
to divide the products Of his labor with
the community by having . part Of his
taxed away for public purposes
when the community, as such, creates .
value which it now permits private indi-
viduals to take without compensation?
Why should not the community be en-.
titled to that which it produces, az we'll
as the individual to that which he pro-
duces?
These are pertinent inquiries, and in
creasipg thousands are earnestly and
honestly asking, and they want earnest
and honest answers. II there exist
sound and cogent reasons why Q COM
munity of one hundred people or any
other number are not jointly entitled to q
value which they jointly create, let us
have them.
These questions have been put to the
scholarship Of the world for many years,
and all honest answers are to the effect
that the community az we'll 40 the indi-
vidual has the exclusive right to the
possession of that which it produces a.
each has right to its own.
Nothing can be more obvious than the
fact that land values, exclusive Of all i'm
provements, are created by the COM
munity-and not the individual. It
therefore follows as logical necessity
that the community, and not the indi-
vidual, should have these values, other
wise, the producer must be denied the
right to his product. The object and
purpose Of the single tax is to tax away
these land values and turn them into the
public treasury in lieu OF all other taxes
now imposed upon industry. Every
thoughtful person knows that to tax in.
duetry 10 to discourage it. Viewed from
q fiscal standpoint alone, the single tax
is clearly both right and expedient right
In restoring value to it's rightful owner
and expedient in removing burden
from industry.
While the fiscal advantage flowing
from the single tax on land values ID
enough to commend it to an enlightened
people, this is but an incidental merit
The great blessing which will accrue K
society by adopting the single tax will bt
solution OF the social problem thu
abolition OF involuntary poverty. It will
close up ali the boards Of charity, remove
all the elevator cash boxes and close vi
all the free soup houses and other simi
lar institutions, by the substitution o
| Justice for charity. To suffering hu
manity, whose normal condition ha
been poverty from time immemorial. thi
seems too much to expect. Nevertheless
it is true-absolutely true. And will
tell you briefly why.
All wealth lie produced from land. B.
the land mean the land, water, air, an
sunlight from no other source whateve
is wealth produced. The land is nature
storehouse, which the Creator has pre-
vided, az We believe, for the common us
and benefit OF all mankind. Its obviou
to anyone that land exists in measurelee
quantity. Land 10 the raw material {
wealth or, as we say In political econom!
the passive factor in production. 1t car
!! not be said that nature has been III
generous or niggardly in providing tt
raw material, or passive factor in pr
,, duction. Everybody knows tina. ra
! material is converted into wealth by Il
I application of labor. Labor applied
2 land or the products OF land produc
wealth, and wealth is produced in l
: other way whatever. Labor is thereto
called the active factor in productio
Capital is commonly called factor
production, but since capital is but stor
up labor, it is itself form of lab'
Hence in the production of wealth, the
u are two factors, land and labor, (
passive and the active factors. Now 1t
y perfectly apparent, even to ten-year-c
;. boy, that there is an abundance OF la
as we'll as labor. This being true, W
should anybody suffer for want
II wealth? The answer ia this land and
II Dor are kept apart. 1t follows that socie
can provide employment for all, q
e thereby abolish involuntary poverty
resdjusting our system Of land tenure
q as to make it Improbable to hold la
n out of use-and this the single tax wor
h do. The single tax would thus not or
/, restore to the community the land valu
IF which rightfully belong oft, and there
@ provide a fund for public expenditul
}, without taxing industry, but in 80 dol
So it would provide abundant employing
e. for all by throwing open to use all
Ze vacant land now withheld from use.
The corner stone OF the single tax ia
ia the self.evident truth that land v
and is the common heritage of all mer
for their equal use and enjoyment. II
8, folly to talk Of equal rights to life, libe
~ and the pursuit of happiness and at
X same time deny equal rights to land,
ne source of all three.
as The single tax is not class moveme
at but social movements movement
Id the interest Of all the people for all