The San Francisco call., 1895-05-19
THE S|MGLE-TAXERS WON.
An Interesting Debate Held by
the Y. M. G. A. Last
Night.
PRIVATE PROPERTY IN LAND.
The Winning Side Contended That
1t Should Be Abolished for the
Good of Man.

The Young Mems Christian Association
held an interesting public debate last
night.
Messrs. A. III. Sanborn, A. Marchant and
Thomas Whitten, for the affirmative, and
]. G. Jones, DR.. q. c. Ryder and P. R.
Lund for the negative, debated the ques-
ton: Resolved, That Private Property
in Land Should Be Abolished. Judge E.
d. Sawyer, Rabbi Jacob Voorsanger and
S. F. Long acted as judges.
1t was the closing debate of the season,
and the large audience gave it close and
interested attention. Before the debate
was begun G. S. Turtelson delivered reci-
tation, Julius Cesar" in an able manner.
A. ii. Sanborn was the first speaker for
the affirmative. Gas long ago as Moses
time it was the law that no man should
gain monopoly of land,'' he said. 'The
lands were distributed equally among the
people. When man gained possession of
more land than he needed for his own use
and support it was considered great evil.
The time is coming when the question of
private ownership of land must be settled.
People who look on the subject from this
viewpoint are no longer called cranks. The
right to own the earth is looked OH in the
same light as the arrogated right to own
human beings as slave chattels. The man
who gains ownership over vast acres of
land has almost as much power over the
human beings who come under his in
fiuence as if be were a slave-owner instead
of a monopolistic landowner
The speaker quoted Herbert Spencer in
support of his position, wherein that great
philosopher said that private property in
land, if carried to its ultimate conclusion,
is equivalent to slavery" He also called
to his aid John Stuart Mill and General
Booth s observations on England's darkest
side. "More than half of the farmers
in the United States are tenants" he con-
tlnued, land thus we see that in the last
century we have reduced over half our ag-
ricultural population to the condition of
the European peasants"
AS remedies for the present condition of
affairs he mentioned absolute socialism;
the system recommended by Wallace
that the State become the landlord and
/ > out the land, and third, the single tax,
which he characterized as the most con-
servative method proposed.
2. r. Lund, for the negative, followed.
'It seems an absurd and illogical argu-
ment," he began. ''that simply because
some men have gained control of large
bodies of land the whole system should be
abolished. The affirmative proposes to cut
up the whole body of society. The owner
ship of land was one of the primal objects
of the organization of society. 1t is
divine right"
A. Marchant was the next to advocate the
affirmative side OF the question. He in
sisted that the question was entirely one of
right. "No man has any more right to
own and rent out the air at so much
cubic foot, than he has to do the same with
the land, the source of all wealth and sus-
tenance of lie. He who owns the land
has command over the man who is on that
land q c fpyu ha
lation OF Ireland was eight millions. Now
| it is less than five millions.
| THAT is the work of the private owner
| ship of land A despotic power is given
| into the hands of the landowner. He can
| reduce the wages of the men who till the
| land and increase the rents of those who
work his acres as tenants. When the prices
of land go UP, wages go down. The land
owner, who has done the least to enhance
the value of the land, is the sole gamer;
the laborer, who has cultivated and i'm
proved the land, suffers a reduction in
wages. The trend of the age is toward the
| Capitalization of wealth and the ownership
of land
DR.. c. G. Ryder, for the negative treated
the subject from the viewpoint that the
man whose labor and money improved the
land and made it valuable, is entitled to
| the profits thereof and the benefit accru-
ing from its rental or sale.
that the land should be as free as the air,
that the air cannot be sold or rented by
the cubic foot" he said. "Yet would you
deny the inventor of the air-brake the
royalty on his patent simply because he
used this free material in his brake If
there should be no private ownership in
land-if the individual has no right to ac-
quire land what right has the State to hold
and rent that land? The affirmative has
mistaken the nature of the disease. 1t is
not in the ownership of land, but it is in
the hearts OF men,"
Thomas Whitten was the last speaker
for the affirmative. He denied that land
is property SIT was here before any of
us were born, and will be here when we
are all gone," said he.
His argument against private property
in land was ingenious, and his delivery
rapid and assured. He indorsed Henry
Georges single tax theory as the brightest
idea ever evolved in the brain of man.
James G. Jones closed the debate for the
negative. He insisted that according to
the arguments of the affirmative, if the
present system were abolished it would be
replaced by socialism, anarchy, in fact.
Owing to the lateness of the hour he had
to cut his arguments short.
After a short deliberation the Judges,
without leaving their seats, announced
their verdict in favor of the affirmative.