The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-12-13
TO THE Editor
Persisten. T linking

feTstStcn. linking
EDITOR liERALD: Mr.. W. &. b. Ran
do ph has written two articles for The
He ALD--in the first IF which, with an air
Ut expe' fence, he recommends ''pers'stent
thi"kinR" as an antidote to what he con-
siders the caprv ,ting fallacies of the sim
| gle tax, and in both of which he furnishes
an unconscious illustration of the fact thar
| persistent thinkingn il not necessarily
clear thinking
In response to my challenge to show why
single TAX upon land values exclusive of
| improvements is not better than the pres
ent system of trying to tax everythi ig, in.
GLIDING al enterprise and industry, he re.
plies that CAPT . lists would confer with
each other as to how much they would
bid, ;" and would "get the advanta xeous
| sites at their own price, Why thew should
do this any more then than now. o how IL
would disturb the assessor in his work or
The stare and county b ard in fixing the
rate VI taXat,on," persistent thinking falls
to disclose.
Then he draws picture of capitalists
under the single tax "worklng large tracts
of land by immense and expensive ma
chinery running light and day" Let every
man out OF employment do little per
sis ent thinking" a. to whefher that 10 not
| a better state of affairs Il an to have our
factories idle and our mach ner, rusting
half the time.
Single tax men assert and are ready to
prove that the single tax is better-radi-
cally be,ter-imme ,surably better THAI
the existing S, stem OF taxation. Ii better.
Mr.. Randolph should not oppose 1t. If
worse, MIR Randolph should show why
The rest of Mr. Rand 'ph'- last article
L. pFh
sOciaiislic d'c rines. which single tax men
oppose. Starting with mistaken dea IT
what il capital (wh CHI, ny the way, would
be news TO every miuufac urer or dea g.
who carries a stock OF watches). he ends
with the doctrine which is at once the "
stone of SOC al'-m anu It's crown'nR ab.
/ surdity-the doctrine that capital 10 ned
is not enti led to interest. hat us,irers
| exact exoi bitant interest from those in dee
perate straits IL true, but proves MIR. Ran-
| duiph's care no more than sale of bread
to a starving man an exorbitant price
would prove it wrong to sell bread. i e
loan of tools to- a laborer confers upon him
definite adva ,taee, which is not cornpen-
stated by the mere return of the tools or the
money at The end Of the year So, also. of
,, the loan of STOCK OF goo Is. or the money
| to buy it, to the merchant; of a library, or
| the money to buy It. to the lawyer; OF ma
chinery, or the money to hu. it, to the
tended to enable thu borrower to produce
, more than he could produce without the
loan. In the millions of instances of '''ans
made since business began. ev n where
/ loans are made by the poorer to the r,ciie &,
both parties have agreed that the b brewer
should pay interest-an agreement based
UPON The common sense of both and q nui-
ttlal knowledge of the facts and purposes
OF tho transaction. To this rule exec, ,"rls
are few, and tile loans IN de withnu' inter
est arr usu ally based upon considerations,
not Of justice or OF business, but OF char
ity. j..
And yet this is the central principle of
Sociaiism-tliat loans Of lilo ey or OF an,
kind of property a not emit led to bear
interest. Stalking everything upon this
principle, Socialism demands that our ELF
tire industrial sys'em he revnlutionized:
that all business he centralized in he ma
ton; that everyone heroine all employ ee
of the government; that the government
do every thing for us; that even the wash
ing of our linen and the pairing OF our
corns shalt become All affair of state.
The claim can be made with confidence
that the man never lived with a IN nd COM
| prehensive enough 10 form even dimiy
| adequate conception of the comp icated ma
| ture OF such a j b.
| No wonder that the business and INDUS
trial world has no patience t, study such
sublina,ed and ut"pian schemes. up
position is ins, inctive. ra her than thought
! ful, and it is hardly necessary t. argyle the
question of Socialism with a business man.
while 70 argue il with Socialist IL useless.
persistent think nv" has invested he So
cialist with fixed d fusion VIII oh neither
| evidence nor argu ent nor the eutfeaties
of friends can dlspei
CLARENCE A. MILLER.