The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-02-06
SINGLE TAX.
A Correspondent Proposes What He
Calls Better Plan.

To the Editor:
l am greatly pleased with our paper,
The Representative, for it is ably advanc-
ing the principles of truth and justice for
our common humanity. Its 81. D." articles
are worthy Of their author and no higher
praise could be given to one who has
wrought so ably for the good of man
kind. Our forum is instructive, for it is
like the contact of flint and steel 1t brings
forth sparks of light, in fact the whole
paper is a credit and glory to the Peo-
pies party, and the principles it advocates
The following thoughts have been lying
ON paper in my desk for some time, and
l think perhaps the rational and conclu-
sions may give some one else a spark of
light, SO 1 send them. l have been reading
Henry George and others ON the single
tax, and found much in their ideas that
was pleasing but it occurred to me that
the producer now pays all taxes, either di-
rectly or Indirectly and the produce all
comes from land, so the land pays all the
taxes for all cities with their palaces
and marts of trade come first from the
producers) and it is a mere matter of
legislation to place all the burden of taxa
ton directly on the producers. Of course,
piles Of the non-producers, for they would
exact the same amount of profits or trfb-
ute, whether they paid any tax not. 1
found that to get at the truth l had to
go step further back, and consider the
question, why does amy one pay tax? I
am here on this earth without any Volt
Uon of my own. | one of a common
FAMILY, from common origin. AS such,
l have right to a share in the common
heritage Why, then, should / be taxed for
using my share of what by right belongs
to me? The answer is, the human family
while possessing high and lofty attributes
st3ll possesses many of the attributes of
the brute creation, and like them, the
strong prey upon the weak. Realizing
then, the weakness of the Individual to
resist aggression, and also the benefits ac-
cruing from society, the individual agrees
to give up certain Individual rights for the
commonweal and to abide by rules laid
down by the majority. This we style re
publican government, which is the highest
form of civiliZation-a government of the
people, by the people and for the people,
OF necessity this Aggregation of people
must have portion of the earth on which
to dwell, and this we call their country
Each individual has right then to a por-
ton of this territory as a domicile and ON
which to obtain a livelihood. He also has
right to the fullest amount of
liberty in every way so long as it does
not interfere with the rights of other in
dividuals or the whole community, as agreed
on in the compact or constitution. The in
divfdual retains the right to the fruits of
his labor, the right to trade with each 9TH
err and this, of course, involves the right
to travel and transporta ton throughout the
territory, with other means of commune
cation, as also a fair share of air, light
fuel and all minerals. A government may
be composed Of the whole people, with a
committee to formulate laws, to be referred
back to them for their sanction veto, or
1t may be composed of pc sons selected from
the whole as representatives to do the
tire business for them The executive of a
government is composed of certain individ-
ualS clothed with certain powers to carry
out the will of the legislature. To protect
the weak, to restrain the strong or greedy
in TACT, to administer justice have our
courts with their attendant police To pro-
tect our territory the land of the COM
munity from foreign invasion, we have
our army and navy. We also look to this
source of strength in time of rebellion. This
simple statement Of facts shows why the
members of such community called
on to pay taxes, and resolves itself into
the simple proposition of payment for serv-
ices rendered. AS a simple matter of JUS
tice, each one should receive pay for the
amount of services he receives, and the
person who owns a million dollars worth
of property should pay 999 times more taxes
than the man who owns only $1,000 WORTH
for he receives that much more service
from the general government in the protec-
ton and collection of property, ETC., for
the thieves and thugs of society don't hunt
for prey among the huts of mankind, but
in it's banks and palaces.
Property is divided into two classes, that
which is movable and termed personal and
that which is immovable and termed real
Keeping in mind the reason of all taxation,
viz, paying for services rendered, the ques-
ton next arises, which of these classes of
property requires the greater service of the
government for its protection. Our single
tax friends maintain that this tax should
all be collected on the land values; that
there should be individual property in
land, and that the products of labor should
go free of taxation. If there-is private
property in land, how could we know it's
value I go to town and ask the value of
certain articles and told that there is
no trading in those articles, consequently
no value can be set, and it must be with
the land Again, it takes more government
al service to keep personal property secure
than it does real. Consider the immense
expense of national state, county and town
ship, with it's courts of law and police. In
addition to this, our army is frequently
called out for the protection of personal
property. Again, man may own millions
of land, yet this property may take a squad
of police regiment of militia to protect
it, then why should my little farm be taxed
to pay for services rendered in such a
case?
| 1t is unjust We have seen also in the
previous part of argument that every
| person has a right to a portion of our
| common heritage, for nation to be strong
| must be nation of homes.
| AS the bg-brained. big-hearted Bob In
| gersoll puts it: Men don't fight for mere
| boarding house, but for their homes and
| firesides,' and it is such men who make
| patriots Moreover the land, with nv
| stock and buildings, are my stock in trade
for the pi odu ction of m! livelihood and one
| is as necessary as the other, though my
| land may be worth 5000, and my stock and
| buildings only $500 So in the neighboring
| little town a merchant may have $500 in a
lot, and $1,000 in his buildings and stock,
and his income may be double what mine
is, with the same. amount of labor. Can
you tell me. then, why, I should pay tax
on $1,000 and he On $3.50?
| Friend Single Taxer, it will not do. The
more this single ttax is investigated, the
| less can be said for It. Behold! 1 show
you more excellent way.
| First-ConfiscatS every foot of land held
! by aliens. Why should be taxed to sup
| port army and navy to keep him from
| the conquest of my country, and then let
| him in with his money bags. to control