The herald., 1895-04-07
To Celebrate LincIOln'S and JEFF
ferson's Birthdays
THEORIES ABOUT TAXATION
Byron Welcome Criticizes Present Meth
ods of Raising Revenue
Clarence, MilIer's Exposition of the signifi-
canoe Of the Number Of Unem-
pIoyed rlen

tenueQ tne SlnSld tdA Sy hpoSiuhi i"S'
night, and greatly enjoyed the exercises
The chair announced that next Saturday
night, April 18th, would be the anniver-
sary of Thomas Jefferson birth. II
would also be very near the anniversary
of the death of Abraham Lincoln. There
fore ON that occasion there would be
special exercises commemorative OF these
great statesmen. such exercises to be sup
plemented with discussion and questions
on taxation.
After vocal music by Miss Grace Pearce,
which was intensely enjoyed and applaud
ed, the speaking began.
G. Byron Welcome, speaking on Balky
Taxation. said
IA horse which refuses to go when
ordered to do so by the driver is called
balky horse. A tax which is levied with
a given purpose in view and does not 1ul-
fiji that purpose we will ;erm balky tax.
"A strong, healthy horse which obeys
orders is called a good horse. A tax
which yields the required revenue with
out doing injustice we will call good or
scientific tax.
''Let us now examine existing taxation
as to the baking qualities OF the different
varieties.
IA tariff tax is extremely uncertain as
to the amount of revenue it Yields. The
same law produces much more revenue
one year than another year. increasing
the tax sometimes decreases the revenue
rece we'd, and lowering the tax often IN
creases the gross receipts. 1t Is therefore
not a reliable tax.
Some time ago congress decided to
increase the government income oy add
ing to the tax on whisky. Late treasury
reports show that it had opposite effects,
hot bo VI fhQrQby acntallV
duced. This tax is called internal reve-
nue.. 1t has shown itself unreliable. 1t
did not pan out. 1t is balky taxation.
''But the income tax. What about it?
In the first place it is a scheme whereby
they may rob the few which is almost as
base as the tariff scheme by which the
few rob the many. 1t is not quite as bad
because as rule the many earn what
they get while the few as a rule get what
the many earned. The income tax is by
far the best tax congress has so far de-
vised. 1t will balk of course; you cannot
depend upon it: yet it is the best ma
tional tax we have, because it has no
such effects on the side as the tariff,
which builds trusts, or the liquor tax.
which forces the brewery and the distil-
lery and the saloon into politics. Yes,
the income tax balks. Hundreds of peo-
pie will have large incomes all the year
round until assessment dav, when it will
shrink instantly below $4,000 per annum.
Uncle Sam, therefore, has nothing but
balky taxes. He has become so much ac-
customed to seeing his taxes balk that he
would have no faith in any proposed tax
which would not balk. Last winter
Judge Mcguire and Tom johnson tried for
three months to convince Uncle Sam that
the single tax, which does not balk, is
better than the tariff internal revenue or
the income taxeS-all of which do balk.
And Uncle Sam has supersttiously mis-
trusted the single tax beacuse it does not
balk that he voted it down, and he is
not convinced yet. Now it will be asked
how do we know that the single tax will
not balk? The single tax is tax on land
values. Land values are taxed now to a
degree, and as far as that tax has been
applied it has been success. When you
give in your assessment on the first day of
March you need not tell the assessor the
value of your lot. He knows all about
that. Any real estate man could sit in
his Office and assess every lot in Los An
geles within few dollars of its real value,
and by driving through the streets he
could tell you the value of every foot of
ground in town, almost exactly. This is
not mere theory; it is one in actual prac-
tice every year and no one denies it.
The la nd value tax has been thoroughly
tried and we know it is a success. How
about other local taxes? are they sue
cess? Take houses, for instance. Outside
CT a land value tax no other tax is as
nearly a success as a tax on houses: vet
houses are sometimes assessed at their
full value and sometimes at less than one
tenth their value. When they undertake
to assess personal property the greatest
baking of all takes place. We have there
fore positive proof by actual test, that all
other taxes balk, and that land value
tax does not balk. Besides the actual ex-
perience, we have the common sense of
the thing; also, all authorities on politi-
cal economy from Adam Smith down to
Henry George, admit that tax on rent
cannot be shifted: that means it does
not balk. We have therefore all the au-
thorities en- our side. and hard facts devel-
oped by actual experience to prove that
we are right. In other words, we have
both theory and practice to back us up,
while the opposition has nothing to sup
port them save long acquaintance with
balky taxes, which causes them to mis-
trust scientific article-a tax which does
not balk."
Clarence A. Miller spoke on The Unem-
ployed. In the course of his remarks he
said:
''The most significant figure of our
times is the man out of employment.
Yesterday he was regarded, if regarded at
all, with alternating pity and contempt
Today ne is regarded with concern. To-
luoiIoW uc may uc ItSdTueu WlCQ terror.
On your way home tonight some of you
will see coming out of the shadow OF a
building or an alley man-abject, un-
kempt. He will not venure to stop you-he
will walk along with you, and IN SUBJ
dued voice and with cringing air ask you
for the price of a nights cheap lodging or
cheap supper. Who is he? The man
out of employment. You have seen him
before. He has called at your otfice-he
has been seen at your kitchen door; YOU
have seen him in crowds before the bule-
tins of employment Offices as they were
streaming all day long into some office
or factory that had advertised. Help
wanted" You have seen him wistfully
watching the more fortunate men at work
on some excavation Or some building;
you have seen him on the country road
side; you have seen him crawling from
the trucks of a railway train; yes, and
you have seen him in the cars, and even
In the Pullman sleepers, but you did not
recognize hin. there. Nor is he unknown
to tame. You can hear of him in the
newspapers, where he appears in the col
umn OF crimes or the column of suicides.
This is a day of labor problems, and
on every labor problem falls the shadow
OF the man out of employment. Who
keeps wages down? The man out of en-
ployment. Who reduced the wages of the
Pullman employees? Not Pullman: not a
greedy corporation, but the man out of
employment. Who ordered the great
strike of 1884? Not Debs; not the Ameri
can Railway union, but the man out of
employment. Who was out of employ-
ment. Who was it that the strikers
feared? Not the railway managers; not