The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-03-21

the ovens are produced. just as black
smiths make one horseshoe while their
helpers heat the iron for another. Neither
is it necessary that all the ovens required
should be built before any bread is baked.
Baking begins in one oven as soon as
that is finished, and with the bread from
that the bricklayers and oven builders are
fed while they work at the production of
other ovens. All production is for all
practical purposes concurrent. The most
primitive tools are in process of produc-
ton concurrent with the most advanced
products OF such tools.
Now, what is true of bread Is true of
all kinds of things that men require. 1t
is true Of all food, Of all clothing. of all
shelter and of all luxuries. That is to say,
man is dependent upon nothing but hu-
man labor and the natural universe out
side of himself for any of those things.
Land supplies man with location, mat
ter. force-things that he cannot get ex-
cept as God gives them. But this gift is
as necessary to all animals as to man.
And if it were not supplemented by the
other great gift, man would be only as the
animals are, or at best he could only live
a savage life. That second gift is the gift
of the trading instinct. 1t leads men to
exchange their labor. or its products. and
so to increase labor power. Thus: If two
men are at the same point, and one wants
a horse while the other wants COW,
should each get his own COW and his own
horse-supposing the cow to be days
journey to the west and the horse days
Journey to the east-each would spend
four days--two apiece-in going and COM
ing for the cows, and two more apiece in
going and coming for the horses But if
they traded, one would spend two days
and bring in both cows, while the other
would spend two days and bring in both
horses. They would save two days
~ 1cxr, ~
Grafton. Men engage in it freely when not
obtructed by human law. 1t is what the
Socialist tries to accomplish by:abitrary
regulations-by enforced cooperation.
When there is no obstruction to trade,
the demand for anything turns labor in
the direction of supplying it, and not
H in the direction ie e Of supplying The necessa
ry capital. For the demand Tor anything
is demand for all that goes into its pro-
duction-the labor. the land and the capt.
tai. Demand, therefore, for bread, for
example, sets bakers at work, and their
demand for ovens sets masons at work,
makers at work. and SO on. The same
demand calls for land, but that is the one
thing that labor cannot supply-there are
no landmakers.
The first great gift of God to man,
therefore. is the land the condition OF all
life. both primitive and civilized; and the
second great gift is the trading instinct,
the secondary condition of civilized life.
Now. how have we used these gifts?
By every device of taxation and semi
socialistic interference with individual
enterprise that the ingenuity OF ignor-
ance and greed can devise, we have OBJ
structed trade.
And by d system of land tenure borrowed
from the worst days of Rome, system
that encourages the ownership OF land
ana discourages its use, we have brought
about a monopolization of the very source
of life such as the world never saw before.
Thus have we reached condition In
which no man can produce without per,
mission from another man, because all
available land is owned and held at prices
that leave but bare living for the laborer
when his rent is paid, and in which no
one can trade without paying fines that
in the case of poor people are practically
prohibitory. Let the unemployed man
try to raise potatoes upon land that no
the monopolist OF that land; let him try
to build up little trade as petty mer-
chant at a street corner and he must pay
tribute to the owner OF the adjoining lot
even though it be vacant; let him gather
together his little merchandise and try
to peddle it out from house to house. and
a heavy license fee is demanded of him.
III CNCiN uiiSSeioh VIZ POOA $1,000
off if he tries to go into business for him
self: and when he seeks employment from
others he finds score of applicants for
every Job. Then he tramps in the hope OF
finding some place where business is brisk
and employment easy to get-a place he
never finds. The next step is into the
ranks of the confirmed professional tramp,
who finds that when his self-respect is
gone he can live better as tramp than
he could as self-respecting man. This
point has been reached by thousands and
scores of thousands. The country is full
of professional tramps. And it is an
army which is being constantly recruited.
The next step is chaos. And that is not
far distant. But chaos can be averted
and the world grow into paradise, if we
but free Gods two great gifts. Let the
unused land be free to who ever may need
it, and let labor be free to exchange and
there will be no lack of employment, no
suffering from underpaid work, no hope
less tramps, no menacing fortunes, no So
cal chaos. This is the mission and this
would be the effect of the single tax.
When all taxes upon industry are abol--
ished trade would be free, and when all
land that had value was taxed to the ex-
tent of its value all land that was not in
use and much that was in use would be
open to whoever needed it.