The morning times., 1895-11-03
SINGLE TAX COLUMN.

DlnuLL liza GUAUMN'
(The Times undertakes no responsi-
bility for any views expressed In this
column.)
a variety of panaeeas for hard times are
proposed, one of large following being
the abolition or reduction of interest. Let
us study this a little.
man is at work for 81 30 day, or
500 year, in case lie is employed every
nay except Sundays and Goiiaays. Ihe
product of his labor tas heretofore shown)
averages about $500 year. The 500
hc actually receives is, us II rule, ali cx-
pended by the years end At the end OF
ten UCars he has Teceivetl S4,vOU, ana
spent ii all. Ir during these ten years
hr had lived ON the same scale teApendiag
SioO year., and received the entire
product OF ms labor $500 year., he
would have Sl.G0O lah up His hvinG
expenses might he 30 per cent more Than
tlty are ROW, and yet AT the end of ten
years tie would be $4,000 ahead.
At the Ind of ten years one of bis chill
dren ssCktns and dies As n is nov, nav
ing nothing ahead. he is IN sad siTat
financially. He may be able 10 "stand
or the doctor for a year CT two; but Ior
a coffin. and lot in the cemetery, he is
compelled Ia pay cash; and lie mGsi nave
5000 forthwith. He must borrow II. He
calls upon his nearest friend among the
class that has any money, who loans HIM
$500, for year, charging six per cent
interest," or sig.
Observe that up 10 this time this laborer
has not been Impoverished by paying IN
terest. Also that II lie had the S4,Goo
which have been taken from him, at lie
rate OF $500 year for these ten years,
by lanG-oW ncrs, railroad corporations, gas
companies. sugar trusts, beef combines,
e,e., etc, he ouId not have 10 borrow
money now. He could simply make use OF
$500 OF his own money, and stili have 3d.
500 left
THIS is common. everyday, typical
case. show ing that the popular conception
rcverseS cause and effect. Asarule, ,la6dring
men are not made poor because OF paying
interest; they are compelled to pay interest
because they are poor.
ANOTHER PHASE OF INTEREST
But some one says 1t is not the interest
the labOrer pays personally and strictiy
that impUverisles him., but the interest
which his employer pays, aud shifts onto
his employees Snouidera-dtninlshlng his
wages Let us look into this.
A contractor engages to build house.
To put the brick. lumber, etc, into the
shape of building VIII require ID hunured
ia IS work in the aggregate. The average
wa,rrs. from hod carrier to painter. are
81 80 day. Total paid as wages, $500.
or this amount lie has to borrow Sl.OOO,
as lie will not receive his pay till the con-
tract is completed. He pays per cent
interest for 81 600 for two months. $40.
Total paid for interest and wages. S2,olo.
Any boy who has rea CHI ed long division in
arithmetic can figure out that II he did not
have To pay interest lie could afford TO pay
his lahorers (hiniseif making til" same profit
as berore) So 5l per day-ff he chose. itut
would he 10 soZ Wages are determined
not by what employees can afford to give,
but By competition among employees; and
there is not a laboring man in Washington
VINO has the least idea that his employer
would raise his wages a cent day merely
because he could borrow money without
pa wing interest
ThecompulsoryIegala bolitioHof interest
leaving our business and industrial policy
as iU Bow is-would have one of two results:
II an employer, scant OF funds. could find
anybody TO loan him money without inter
est so much the better for him: he would
pay his employees the wages fixed by COM
petition, and put the amount saved by not
paying interest into his own pocket.
II the contractor, as would bc more likely
could not find aDybedy to loan him money
without interest, he would have TO forfeit
laborers would go without work or wages.
Even upon the utterly untenable hypoth-
esis that an employer found an opportunity
to borrow thousand dollars without inter
est, aud thereupon raised his employees
wages from So 90 to S2.5l day, what
shall we say Of the sense or men who are
now rending the weIkin with clamor over
the purely hypothetical loss of that purely
hypothetical cent, and yet keep silent over
being exploited daily and nightly by rail-
way corporations, gas companies. land
spectators, sugar trusts and all that ilk to
a hundred times the extent?
EFFECT OF MORE CURRENCY.
We have heretofore portrayed IN these
columns the little community In which each
man received as wages for his days work
only half enough to enable him to buy
the product of his neighbours days work;
how goods accumulated in the hands of Mr..
Middleman; how the market became glutted
with more goods than the laborers could
buy with the money received for making
them; how production had to be limited
to wit, by dismissing from employment
some of the producers; how the men thus
thrown out of employment became hungry
and destitute and Offered to work for
lower wages, which the workmen stu
employed were compelled to accept or lose
their places. When this simple round of
wretchedness is thoroughly understood 1t
Will also be understood that the. cycle
viii run its course to the inevitable climax.
no matter what the Kind of money used
whether the money be made of gold silver,
aluminium, paper or leather-whether, the
amount in the hands of Mr.. Mddlcman
be million dollars per capita-alI the
laborer Will get viii be an amount
so close to the line of destItution that the
actually destitute unemployed will not
deem 1t worth while to bid lower.
EFFECT OF THE TARIFF.
For the same reason a high tariff has
practically no effect on wages. In the little
community above mentioned no pauper-
made goods were brought in from any for
eign country, yet the market became gIutted.
wages went down and workmen were forced
into idleness. The same tariff is in effect
all over the United States, but carpenters
wages are 30 per cent higher In New York
than in Philadelphia, because it costs 80
per cent more to live In New York than IL
docs in Philadelphia. Laburers in Georgia
receive 50 cents for the same kind of work
that laborers in Ohio receive 81 a day for
doing, because In Georgia white men have
to compete with colored men, who can live
on sweet potatoes and rico for 10 cents
a day. 1t is competition, not tho tariff.
that controls wages.
1t being very clear that the current
panaceas for low wages and hard times
are of no effect, it remains TO INVESTIGATES
what would be the effect OF the single tax.
How's Thisi
We offer One Hundred Dollars reward
Tor any case OF Catarrh that cannot be cured
by Halls Catarrh Cure.
r CHENEV q Nn