The morning times., 1895-12-08
SINGLE TAX COLUMN.
t, (The Times undertakes no respon-
sibility for any views expressed In
this cOlumn.l

| ferred to the incident uf the Russian capF
| talist who set up q fertilizer factory on
the shore uf Norway and hired Norwegans
| to work in 1t for him. They were all ex-
| pert fishermen, and for a while, su long
| as he paid them wages equivalent TO what
| they could make by fishing, ali went we'll
| But when he cut down their wages to one
| half what they could make by fishing they
STRUCK and returned TO their boats and
| nets, and the only way he could keep any
| worknien was by raising their wages To
| the equivalent OF what they could make
| by fishing.
This was because the waters on the shore
| of Norway were free. II they had been
owned by s,Iile capitalist, whether the same
| one who established the fertilizer factory
| or some other, then, instead OF the wages
! of the wurkmen in the fertilizer factory
| being forced up Ia the level OF what they
could earn by fishing, the wages of fish
| ermen would have been forced down TO
| the level of what they Cnuld earn in the
! fertilizer factory, and by combination be-
| tween the two capitalists the two sets or
workmen wnald have been compelled to
| work fur whatever price they were pleased
| TO fix, or quit work.
The obvious parallel is, that if the Ameri-
| can laborer were offered tue same advan-
tages on land that the Norwegian fisher
| man is afforded on water-were given the
| free use OF land, as he is afforded the free
| use of the sea. instead of being compelled
| to pay some land speculator tribute for the
| use OF it-wages would rise to the level
| of what a man could earn by working for
| himself on free land.
NO SOCIALISM IN THIS.
| 1t will be observed that after tie Norwe-
| gian fishermen have come ashore with their
| catch, they do not fling il into one common
| pile and divide ii among them evenly. In
other words, the fact that none OF them
have to pay any other or them tribute for
the use of the water does not carry with 1t
| the necessity communism" as to the fish
caught from shat water. Each keeps what
| he has caught.
| If such change were made in our land
| laws, that no man would have to pay tribute
| to any other man for the privilege of using
| land, that would not carry with IL theneces
sity Of dividing equally among themenbers
| Of a community the articles raised from or
| manufactured upon that land.
| This line of thought is elected by an en-
velope full of printed extracts that has been
| sent us by some anonymous person. The
| longest Clipping is credited TO the New
| York Sun, and is headed, Failure of an Ex-
pertinent Centuries Ago in the Common
| Ownership of Land" The article says that
several hundred yearsago.
THE CHINESE SCHOLARS PLAN.
"A Chinese scholar, named Ouang Ngam
Che, was teaching the principles which un-
| derlic modern socialism. The first neces-
| sity TO pu bile life. he said, is that tie land
and all it produces shall belong to every
body"
| Now. ~, that is the fundamental princi-
| pie OF communism, but not OF socialism.
| t2) Whether it be communism or socialism,
| IL has nothing to do with the single tax t3)
| The writer of that article never saw, nor
| heard of. nor read a line from any single
| an anil
doctrine that all the land produces shall be-
| long 10 everybody. The article is Il column
| long, and is throughout as exuberant with
| falsehoods as the five lines above quoted.
| Yet we fear that the writer of IL VIII never
| achieve the success he deserves as liar,
| because his mendacity is so completely
eclipscd by his ignorance. His misinforma-
| ton relative to economic matters is as man
| ifest and amusing as would be that of
| writer who should objsct TO the procession
| of the cQuinoXes on the ground that the Dec
| laration of Independence prohibits the
| shooting of oysters on the wing before the
middle of September.
A DEMAND FOR MORE MONEY.
The envelope before referred to contains
an article urging an increase OF currency
| sufficient to raise the price of wheat TO 81
| bushel, and OF cotton to 20 centsapound, OF
| at the least. II insists, TO $40 per capita,
1
| Some of our mathematical readers may
| be able to figure out how much better off
| both the farmer and the cottonp planter would
| bcif the farmer paid a bushel of wheat worth
So for ten pounds of cotton worth 20 cents
| pound, instead of bushel OF wheat worth
| GO cents for ten pounds OF cotton worth SIX
| cents a pound.
| But where would the ldboring man come
In? What assurance has he that his wages
| would be increased so that he could buy
clothing and food for his family, with wheat
So bushel and cotton 90 cents pound?
| France has per ca pita money circulation
| nearly twice as great that of the United
| States and the prices of many commodities
are corrcspondingly high; beef 40 cents
pound; chickens, S1.50 piece, etc, report
| the consuls from French cities.
But how about wages? In Paris, reports
Samuel Z. Morss, consul general at that
city, 1.-The prevailing rate OF wages is much
lower than in the United States. In Roubaix,
| "a railroad engineer working twelve hours
a day receives 81; Il conductor on street cars,
twelve hours a day, so cents; workmen by
| the month, So to SIS per month";
II our anonymous friend is dcsirous of
benefiting the condition of the laboring
| man, does he not see That he is "berkinS
up the wrong tree?'
THE LAST BOND ISSUE.
Another of the Enclosures vehemently as
| sails PTeS S1tc0t tItNtldDu IbI HIS ttul sc
| in connection with the latest bond iss ue.
| Conceding, rather than digress to argue
the matter, that it was a gigantic and
| objectionable crime, let us do little
figuring. The bond Issue amounted to
$50, 800. The annual interest upon
this at per cent is S2,604, 200. Divided
among so, ,OOO, 600 inha bitan,s OF the United
| States this amounts to 4 3 cents each per
year. man with a family of four be-
sides hins elf, paying taxes for five, would
| be taxed q fraction less than % cents
year on account OF these bonds. Accord
| ing to the highest authority in the United
| States, cited in these columns last week,
such a family would have to pay, upon an
| average, $40.15 year as their share of
| tribute to the land speculatiDg class. VIII
our anonymous friend make himself known
| and inform us whether we are correct In
| concluding, from his sending us these e1-
tracts, that he is intensely indignant at
| being compelled to pay some what less than
! % cents year for the support of the credit
of the nation, but has no objection to pay
| ing $40 q year for the support of land
spectators? If this is not what he means
| what does he mean?
1 Q