The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-02-06
GETTING MAD.
THE SINGLE TAKERS.
The Dog Was Very Fat Indeed.
But Not Too Fat.

There is story told of an English
man who regularly attended the de-
bates in the French Chamber of |
Deputies, although he did not under
stand word of the language used. A
friend asked him what pleasure he |
could take in discussions he did not |
comprehend. He replied that he en-
joyed seeing one side get the better of
the other. But" said his friend.
show can you tell which side is beat
en?" easily enough" replied the
Englishman, 'they always get mad"
Upon this principle we must have
given the Single Takers the worst of
it, for we have received, recently, a
perfect shower of abusive letters.
Some of them assure us, in the most
candid spirit, that we are a fool; 9TH
ers denOunce us as knave; others
call us nasty names. 1t sounds like
an Insane Asylum in a state of insur-
rection,-one fellow spinning around
and declaring himself a teapot, and
another astride of chair and swear
AAk HC 10 II C1OONlLS Vic 0lpos
Now, really, there is no necessity for
all this excitement. The Single Tax
is simply proposed method of taxa
tiOn,-a governmental meaSure;-it is
| to stand or fall upon its reasonable
ness and its practical workings. If it
will iniure the working classes instead
of helping them, the workingman is
| MI, To ci IL
| because he has been advocating it.
Now we lay down these axioms:
| l. There is no reason why all forms
of property should not pay an equal
share towards the support of the gov
ernment.
II. To remit the taxation against
certain classes of property tecause
they are difficult of collection, is to
abdicate the functions of government,
and give premium to rascality.
III. To put all the taxes on land
means to put them on the occupants
of land; and as the homes of the peo-
pie must be upon the land. it is to put
on the homes of the people all the bur-
dens of government.
". 1t means the destruction of all
right of private property,-and that
means universal confscation;-and
the reduction of the people from the
status of hOme-Owners to that of ten
ants of community. If the COM
munity was mal-administered the oc-
cupants Of the land would sink into
serfdom; and past experience has
shown that it is safe to presume NAL
administration in all cases.
V. The theory is founded on sophis
tries. They say no man should own
any part of the land because man did
not make the land. But what did
man make on this earth? Nothing
not even himself. Where did the
worker in the metals get them? From
the earth. Where did the carpenter
and the ship-wright procure the wood
they use? From the earth. Where
did the manufacturers of cotton and
: woolen goods obtain their materials:
From the earth. Where did the shoe
maker get the leather he uses? From
, cattle raised on grasses grown on the
earth. In short all that the industry
of man can do is to work over the
gifts of God, derived from the planet
If Henry George is right, in his
: theory, that there can be no property
in anything that nature gave, ther
Henry don't own the shirt on his
back, for bountiful Providence furn
ished, from the soil the cotton Of
linen of which it is composed. II
}. fact, Henry don't own himself,-fo
= every particle of him is derived from
the earth or the air-the universe
. largesses and bounties of God tt
Il man; ergo Henry has no title to hi
y ;, own shin bone, but it belongs to tn
u whole family of mankind!
:. The great poet says:
.'Thou art not thyself;
Z For thou eXiStSt of many thousand grain
n That issue out of DUST"
n One of the most deadly things il
IF the world is generalization whicl
: has no root in reason.
II To attack the right of property
@ to attack the right of labor to it's ow
IS fruits: and that is to end all incentiv
q: to industry and turn us back into bal
10 barians. The Indians have everythin
in common. Look at them in thei
skin tepees, with the thermometer 3
degrees below zero, shivering, over
Y: few sticks and dining off rat! Pleas
Is ant prospect for cizilized man! Wher
n harship and starvation keep dow
70 over-population!
n. There are great wrongs to be RI
10 | fOrmed-but there is no use of burr
E. ing the barn to get clear Of the rats
q To avoid the evils of concentratin
" property in a few hands it is nc
10 necessary to abolish all property. I
u what city, county or state or natio
W today, IN all the world, do the homes
o. producers control the government
Not one. And now they ask us I