The morning times., 1896-01-19


worth OF property" SAID a gentleman "a
| the writer Of this the other day. a gcntI,.,
man in many respects intelligent and rr.,
| sOnablc. "
The remark reminded Of us of a chap,c,
IN The history or the unfortunate island
or which we spoke in last weeks Times.
II occurred at time when th.. lard he
Ionged in common 10 all the inhabitants of
the lsiand-dbOut 500 families. or 2.5Od
persons The island, 1t Will he remen.
Defcd, covered an area OF about five
square miles.
a SHARPE SCHEME.
Among them was a man named Sbarne
For some service done the king of tbs
island, the latter told Sharpe that auy
reasonable favor he might ask would ba
granted.
Sharp replied that he would ask only tb,
absolute ownership and control or a space
uPon the island 10 BE- selected Icy himself,
elGht rods wide and twenty rods Icng-ac.
C"iulhG 10 our methods oil measurement
10 De selected where he might choose.
Inc king, surprised at the mOc,.sfv ar the
request granted it instantly.
NOW IL happened that upon the. yyhnl,
island there was but single spring of
fresh water. This bubbIcd up within "A
uo%ch roos OF the ocean beach, Un the east
ran from the spring into the ocean
Sharpe selected his acre of land 80 as In
embrace the spring, and the stream running.
from IL TO the sea. The king gave him
patent under his own royal signature
anu seal transferring this acre into nis
absolute possession.
WATER MONOPOLIsT.
Inc next morning young man named
hranque drove down to the spring with
yoke or oxen, cart and i'll the cart .
water barrel He proposed to fill the barre
WIN water TO take home for the use of hu
Ianlly- Bat Sharpe was ON thc groun1
before hitn, and as KTanque approacbet
ordered him 70 keep off the grass.
hrdnque, with considerable Indignation
asked Tor his authority TO issue any sucI
order. sharpe showed him The paten
from the king, and then told him tha
be tsharpel now owned that spring, ant
nobody CoLld have any water wIthuut pay
ing hun 10 cents u barrel for IL.
hrdnquc cOntended that the king ha,
no right to confer upon one individual tin
ownership OF that spring; that neither tht
king nor sharpe had made IL: that 1t wal
the inaAenahle heritage "t all the In
habitauLs al jhc island, and That Sharpc'I
so-calicd patent simply conferred upo.
him the demanding tribute from everybOd,
else on the island, and OF enforcing hi
claim by refusing them the use of theI
own water unless they complied with hiI
unjust and inlqUitOus demand.
SHARPE told him that he had neither time
nor disposition to discuss the question. d,
had the right, by royal permission, and II
krdnqur dIl not want 10 pay fOT the water
he could 20 without.
There being no alternative Kranuu- paid
ten cents for a barrel of water. ana drove
off.
During the week the entire five hundred
families Cdme or sent down to the SprinI
for barrel Of water, each paying ten cents.
So Sharpcs income for the week amounted
to fifty dollars.
As the island was situated in n climate
where rain very rarely fell. Sharpe wal
thus afforded a pretty certain source OF
a generous income.
a CHANGE OF ADMINISTRATION.
By and 10y that king died, and L he,
king reigned i'll his stead. Kranque al
once appealed to him in behalf of the general
t. revoke the grant made bJ
his father to Sharpe Of the right TO monopo-
lie the only fresh water there was Un ths
island.
OF course Sharpe could not be expected
Ia surrender without objection his lncom,
Of $50 a week for doing nOihinC-eXCepl
the watchmau, whom he hired
Ia guard the gate which afforded accesr
to the spring First and foremost. he told
the king that il he acceded Ia kranque's
request he would at a single stroke de-
stroy very valuable property.
hrauque replied that Sharpe could not
be more sophiSticaly false n his argument
II his name were kruphit. Il was the first
pnc," he added, "to come 10 the spring for
4 barrel of water after your royal father
made grant "r it to Sharpe. In payment
for that barrel of water 10 cents wen,
Jut OF my pocket aud into his pocket
Taking both OF US together we had pre-
cisely as much money as we had before.
Since then. 10y virtue of your royal father's
grant, $4,000 have gone into Sharpe'i
luckct-but they have gone out OF thu
pockets OF the community. His prop
'rty" right in that spring has enriched him,
,ut has tn precisely the same amount i'm
loveriShed the rest OF US.
The water tastes No better, quencheE
hirst no better, serves no better purpose
n any way, than 1t did before. If the
,rant were revoked not a penny worth OF
property would be destroyed. The water
would taste as good, would quenCh our
hirst as well, would wash our clothes at
would serve every purpose as
as it does now wien we are
to pay him for it. There would
,e just as much wealth in the island. to the
'iSN NNiiN, tllt his III lIldt
pring had been abolished S there was the
lay before. Nothing would be destroyed
.XCept his privilege OF using his authority
% exclude US from that spring a q means
II transferring wealth out Of our pockets
md into his, without his doing anything to
us for it"
THE MONOPoLIST CHECKMATED.
The king announced his decision. which
vas in substance as follows. He had OBJ
erved, he said, that the amount Sharpe
eCcived from the rest of the Inhabitants
i the island was just about the amount
equIrGd TO keep bridges and SChoolhuUScs
II repair, pay tcdChersF etc. Therefore he
would henCetOrth remit all ether taxes AMI
lefray these public expenses by 4 single
AK levied on Sharpe's spring. And il
sharpe Increased his demands upon the
leOple for the use OF water, his tax should
'e propOrtionaIly increased.
Sharpe Indignantly rema rked that If
his was to be the royal policy. he might
is well open his gates and let everybody
axe al the water they wdUtCd, without
harge.
To which the king smilingly replied. that
he did SO, the people of the island would
probably be able to stand it,
The assertion that the single tax would
iiminish the value Of lGud is trans
larent sOphistry- Land would cease to serve
Is an instrument for transferring wealth
rom the pockets of persons who had
armed it into the pockets OF persons who
lad not earned it; but il would produce
IS many bushels of wheat or potatoes,
md serve as coed purpose rs sites for
factories aud business houses
Is it does now. And the people would
AVE to pay only single tax fer the sup
,ort of the government. instead OF -
Iouhlc tIX-onc to support the SovernmcrS
md ore to sunport land speCulat Ors.