The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-26
IT Is EXPLAINED IN METR0POLI-
TAN HALL BY LOUIS F.
POST OF NEW YORK.
JAMES G. MAGUIRE'S WORDS.
TAX ON LAND THE ONLY TRUE
BASIS FOR PUBLIC REVENUE,
SAYS THE LECTURER.

metropolitan Temple was well QlleQ last
night by an audience which patiently and
with marked attention listened for two
hours and a half to a lecture by Louis N.
Post of New York on THE Single Tax
Land Value the True Basis of Public Rev
enues."
Congressman James 6. Mcguire, VINO in
troduced the lecturer, was greeted with
applause renewed time and again when he
appeared on the platform.
Mr. Mcguire said that he was pleased to
appear once more before a San Francisco
audience and to be able to present a gentle
man who is not only a co-laborer in the
cause of tax reform but personal friend
of his for many years. He then said the
speaker would by an analytic lecture show
what the single tax people advanced.
The purpose of the movement was the
adjustment of poverty, and if it did that
it should be adopted, but if it did not it
should be rejected.
1.-The whole human frame is made I'D of
land" he said; imam draws his shelter,
food and clothing from the land, and when
he dies he returns to the land that has sup
ported him. That" be said, sis part of
the doctrine of the single tax reformer.
The right of man" he added, sis to keep
and use that which he produces by his
labor, be it mental or physical but land,
the gift OF God to man, is quite another
thing. 1t is right when it is expedient,
and when it produces human happiness
After explaining that Blackstone says
that there is no right in land except that
given by law, he presented the lecturer,
whose introduction was warmly applauded.
Mr.. Post said: II don't often have rea-
son for being proud, but tonight l have
reason for being proud in being before
M Il
| the single tax was first expounded by
Henry George"
He then said that he had sometimes
| read in the papers about hold-ups and had
noticed that sometimes those who held up
| people were turned on and held down. The
great holder-up in California had been the
| Southern Pacific Railroad, and he felt
proud to be introduced by one of the men
who had turned on the great holder-up and
! held him down.
| He turned to Congressman Mcguire as
he said this, and this was followed by ap-
plause that lasted for several minutes and
in which many ladies who were present
| took part. The Congressman smiled and
! bowed in recognition of the honor.
! Mr.. Post then explained what single tax
| is. 1--WE propose to tax landowners and
tax land to the value of the same. We
want to abolish all other tax and make the
| holding of land the basis of revenue for
the support OF the government, SAID ne.
GOOD government is what is wanted.
| Every one gets the benefit of municipal
government, police, fire and other service.
! The landowner has the benefit of this as
well as dollars for his land.
bad government" he said, "means
cheap land. Reform the government and
you attract labor and capital and compe-
tition will follow. The price of labor will
go down and the hire goes up. Good gov
eminent only gives protection to the land
| owner who boards up the dollars. What
we want to do is to take away those dollars
| because the money is earned by the whole
| people by their labor.
| by tax which gives the owners of land s
! per cent for every 2 per cent they pay.
l The taxing of land, " he contended, sis not
| class taxation. Revolutions arose out of
issues of taxation, and that means that by
unjust taxation tyrants throttle the people
| until they turn.
at is not that landlords are tyrants, be-
cause they do only what the law allows
them to do, but it is our purpose to over
| throw the rule that has made landlordism
| the power that it is. F"
| This statement was received with much
applause.
The speaker then spoke of hard times
| and gave the reasons that the people in
each section offer for this condition
There is in the middle West" he said,
"a restlessness on the part of the people
| who are moving away from hard times.
| They were going from one place to another,
| having heard that some one or other had
made fortune, but these people did not
| know that it was not by hard work, but by
| the speculative rise in land that they had
| enriched themselves.
| He then spoke of the tramps who. steal
rides on brakebeams to look for a job in
| some place where they hope to find work
"This,'' he said, sis pitiful, and not only
pitiful, but it is something to be feared
When these men learn that there is no
work for them and that there is no hope
for them there will be such revolution
that neither the police can stay, nor courts
enjoin, nor a regular army put down, be-
cause it will be the revolution of the I'M
organized-under such conditions revolu-
ton would rise that would take years and,
perhaps, century to settle on basis of
equal Justice"
This announcement was vigorously ap-
plauded.
After addressing himself to the matter
of education he said:
'You ask workingman What is hard
timesr He will say it is when he can't
say lack of trade Aston will tell you
that it will be hard times if they take away
| his food and clothing. Lack of work and
lack of trade do not trouble him. But he
does not produce what he needs, but If
that is taken from him he will feel what
hard times mean.
Poverty and hard times are the want of
| food, clothing and luxuries," said the
speaker, who illustrated his meaning by
diagrams, as he did in his lecture in Oak
land last Saturday night, and given fully
in the CALL of Sunday.
| Speaking of slavery of the past, he said
that it was nothing to be compared with
that of the present. The slavery that
arose from the ownership of land was an
involuntary one, because the owner of land
did not know upon whom he inflicted
pain and suffering. Slaves. he said, were
not forced to ride on brakebeams, for
their owners always provided place for
them, if it was only car for colored folks.
This sally was loudly applauded.
eIn this city you have bright news
paper. That paper is the CALI" said the
speaker.
The loud applause that followed these
words, and which interrupted the speaker,
showed how heartily he had spoken the
sentiment of the audience.
''The CALL said that if man purchased
ham in Chicago California had the ham
and Chicago had the money, but that if
the California man bought the ham in