The advocate., 1896-01-01

monopoly-that none shall be given by
law an advantage over another, but that
all shall have equal opportunities and
bear only equal burdens.
The key TO the application Of this
theory is found in mans dual nature az
an individual and az a member OF society,
or citizen OF the State. Everyone one il
an ego, unit, personality, producer
and user Of wealth, and has personal
rights, interests and values 40 such.
Each one is also q member Of society, OF
the body polite, q social being, with pub
lie interests and activities and social me-
CessitieS which must be served by and
through social organization.
There are also two classes Of values,
entirely distinct in their nature and
origin. One class is the product Of mans
labor Of brain and Drawn, the result Of
personal exertion and of saving, hence is
Of q personal or private nature, and
called personal property. It 10 the only
kind Of values an individual can or does
produce. The other class Of values iS So
cisl or natural in its origin and character,
contributed to by all, or the gift Of nature
equally to all; but % gifts Of nature,
or natural bounties, have no value until
men require them as opportunities for
production and consumption Of wealth,
it may be truly said that oil social values
are the joint product Of the presence,
needs, labor, skill and enterprise Of all
the people, hence are social or public
values, in which all are joint producers
and joint owners. Equal justice requires
that each shall have his own, hence we
draw q sharp line Of cleavage between
public or social, and private or personal
values, giving to each their OWn--to 90
cisty the values produced by all, to bo
used for social purposes, and to the linda
vidual the entire product Of bis personal
Oxertion. Social values being amply Suf-
Aclent for ell public service, it is no
longer necessary to tax labor or its pro-
duct. .
BY this method OF distributing and
squslizing both opportunities and bur
dsns, no one pays a. tax any value or
thing be has himself produced, but only
returns to society the value OF the Bpe-
cial privilege which he has first received
from society, hence it is seen the single
tax iS not tax at all, but only settle
ment Of values received between society
and it's units. For q lot on Broadway
or State street no would pay many
thousands, but Tor . quarter in central
Kansas little or nothing. Chartered
monopolies should be owned by the peo-
pie TO give service at cost.
What can be simpler or more just than
this formula: All land values, being the
product Of all the people (where there are
no people land has no value( belong of
right to all the people in their collective
capacity as q nation, State or munich
pality. To give to one person land worth
millions, and to many others none at all,
or to some land of little or no value, is to
give public values for personal enrich
ment, and is q manifest and glaring in
justice. 1t is also bad public policy,
for it enables speculators (dogs in the
manger) to held land vacant, shutting
idle labor from idle land, limiting the
production Of wealth and producing in
voluntary poverty and the ignorance,
misery, degradation and crime which re-
suit FROM it, which are q danger TO the
State and menace to civilization. TIC