New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1895-02-02
this will be small loss compared

- i'f ho" oI luc IdI U1cIS w uO ucN I'll
touch the handles OF n pillow, who
cultivate thousands of acres and
:. enjoy incomes like those of the rich
Southern planters before the war
Z but Of the working farmers who
constitute such Il large class in the
hI'ed Statesmen who own small
farms. which they cultivate with
0 the aid OF their boys, and perhaps
some hired help, and who in Europe.
, would he called peasant pr"ini"r"rS.
} Pa:,d"Alcal as It may al'l"ar l."
, these men until they understand
:IIc inll bearings Of the proposition,
Of all classes above that of the mere
lah"rer they have most TO gain 10y
p!acin" all taxes upon the value Of
land That they do not now get as
good Il living as their hard work
ou2ht to give them, they generally
feel. though they may not be able
to trace the cause. The fact is that
taxation. as now levied, falls on
them with peculiar severity. They
are taxed on all their improve
ments-houses, barns, fences, crops,
stock. The personal property
which they have cannot be as read
| lily conceded or nndervalued as can
the more valuable kinds which are
concentrated in the cities. They
are not only taxed on personal
property and improvements, which
the owners of unused land escape.
hnt their land is generally taxed at
a higher rate than land held on
speculation. simply because it is
all taxes imposed on commodities,
and e>pecialy = the taxes which, like
our protective duties. are imposed
with view OF raising the prices Of
commodities. fall on the farmer
without mitigation. For in conn
try like the United States, which
exports agricultural produce. the
farmer cannot be protected. Who
ever gains, he must lose. Some
years ago the Free Trade League
of New York published a broadside
containing cuts of various articles
of necessity marked with the duties
imposed by the tariff, and which
read something in this wise: "The
farmer rises in the morning and
draws OH his paDtaloOns taxed 10
n"r r"nn' 90! 81! his hcots .axel RI ! !
per cent, striking a light with a
match taxed 300 per cent and so
on. following him through the day
aud through life. until. killed by
taxation. he is lowered into the
grave with Il rope taxed - per
cent. This is but IA graphic illus
tralion of the manner in which such
taxes ultimately fall. The farmer
would he a great gamer by the
substitution of a single tax upon
the value OF land for all these taxes.
f,r the taxation of land values
would fall with greatest weight.
not upon the agricultural districts.
where land values are comparatively
small. hut upon the towns and
cites where land values are high:
whereas taxes upon personal prop
eIfy an,l improvements fall as
heavily in the country as in the city.
And in SparSrly settled districts
there would he hardly any taxes at
all for the farmer to pay. For
taxes. being levied upon the value
of the bare land. would fall as
heavily upon unimproved land
as upon improved land. Acre
f"r acre. the improved and cul.
tivatrh farm, with its h,ll.linsS,
fences, orchards, crops. and stock
could l~ taxed u" more than
unused land Of equal quality. Tue
result would he that speculative
values would be kept down, aud
that cultivated and improved farms
would have no taxes to pay until
the country around them had been
well settled. In fact, paradoxical
as it may at first seem to them, the
effect OF putting all taxation upon
the value of land would be to re.
lieve the harder working farmers
Of all taxation.
But the great gain of the work
in. farmer can only be seen when
the effect upon the distribution of
population is considered. The des-
truction OF speculative land values
would tend to diff'use population
where it is too dense and to concen-
trate it where it is too sparse; to
substitute for the tenement house,
homes surrounded by gardens, and
to fully settle agricultural districts
before people were driven far from
ncighbors to look for land. The
people of the cities would thus get
more OF the pure air and sunshine
of the country, the people Of the
country more of the economies and
and social life of the city. II, as
is doubtless the case, the applica.
iion of machinery tends to large
fields, agricultural population will
assume the primitive form and
cluster in villages. The life OF the
average farmer is now unnecessarily
drea1y. he is not only compelled
to work early and late, hut he is
cut of by the sparseness OF popula.
tion from the cOnveniences, the
amusements, the educational facili.
ties, and the social and intellectual
opportunities that come with the
closer contact of man with man. He
would be far better off in all these
respects, and his labor wonld be
far more productive, it he AMI those
around him held no more land than
they wanted to use. While his
children, as they grew up, would
neither be SO impelletl to seek the
excitement of city nor would they
he driven SO far away to seek farms
of their own. Their means Of living
would be in their own bands, and
ct home.