The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-02-01
na,r,. Rinarian nand Bin.

doctrine lying behlnd cShaeo'
Riparian Land bill and the Henry Georse
single tax mania? Is there any difference
ba4u,aan r,narian lands and any other
lands which makes a principle o. e
venue valid when applied to the one
while If is an economic absurdity when
anpl;etI to the other? The DAILY bill pro-
poses that the State should wlthura"
the title of the Riparian lands from the
present owners-compensating them Tor
s,c,, navrnents as they may have made
and for all actual improvements. II
then provides that the lands snail os
leased to anyone who wants them at
their full usufructuary value
This is the single tax idea, pure anu
simple. 1t is a much more unfalr anu
outrageous example of it than any advo-
Gated by George. George, to do him Jus
tice, proposed that the application Oh
his theory should be general and even
Dalv wants it enforced against one
class of property owners for the benefit
of the rest.
There is a great deal of nonsense talk
ed about the Riparian land question IN
his State. We do not mean to say nat
there have not been some ~utrageou
grants but a large part of the land pass
cd into the hands of the present holders
in a perfectly fair and square way
When they got it, it was worth nothlhs'
or next to nothing. If it is worth hun
dreds of millions. as claimed, they are
lust as much entitled to the increment
as the owner of the land on which the
First National Bank or the Weldon
Building. or the City Hall, or Mr.. Null
Inns store stands.
A hundred and fifty years ago, these
plots like the riparian lands of the State
were worth from ffg cents to five dollars
an acre, and their growth in value to
their present enormous value has been
gradual. Just as has been the growth in
value of the riparian lands. In morals
and in common sense and in law the
right to enjoyment of their present value
is vested in the lawful holders of the
title to each class of property alike, and
the high handed confscation of the RI
parian holdings is merely the first step
to a wholesale real estate grab in real5-
cation of the Henry George heresy-
Furthermore, it cannot be fairly said
that the increment of value in the case
of the riparian lands is an unearned in
crement There is no class of property in
which the labor, the capital and the brains
of the holders has counted for so much.
When we are told that the increase of
population and industry ave been the
cause of the increase, We reply that the
population and industry were to an enor-
nous extent aggregated by the owners Of
the riparian lands. This is obviously true
Of the railroads.; but perhaps the best case
in sight is that of Asbury Park, whose
sandy shores might have remained prac-
ticaliy valueless for another hundred
years but for the creative business con-
ception of James A. Bradley, backed up
by his shrewdness, his energy and his
capital.
Senator Days bill is a most objection
able one. 1t is the sort OF proposition
which broadly injuries the cause of the
people against the corporations. 1t is
so obviously unfair and unjust and sub
sersive of all order. that it turns the
sympathies of all ~rightminded and rea-
sonable men to the side of the latter as
victims of persecution. The bill should be
promptly dropped or killed. It is blocking
the way of real. business.