Mohave County miner., 1897-01-16
DestitUti0u and Plenty.

cdGlOQ dUu 0ACuduS0 Ol COh Houi'lOo oO- tween remote regions was unknown, it sometimes happened that, owiug to local causes, there were failures in the food supply and consequent famine and dis tress. But there is no good rear on why, at the close of the nineteenth century, with the means of production increased a hundred fold and the utiermost ends of the earth brought together by modern transportation facilities there should be any suffering among men for want of any of the things which the hands of man can produce.
 No good reason, we said; but there are bad reasons enough And the foremost of these bad reasons is land monopoly landlordism. Men have been shut of from the bosom of mother earth, and are forced to take their nutriment at second hand, securing it at such sacrifice as the monopolist may dem and. Willing work CTS are forbidden to gather from the gen erous soil the food which the All-father has stored there tor them and those de pendent upon them from the beginning, while monopolized land lies idle and un titled at the command of a system of ownership which is contrary both to good policy and justice Landlordsm is the first great cause for pauperism, and the two have come and will finally dis appear together.
 The fact that landlordism and pauper ism go hand in hand was proven by the discovery and settlement of this country In the early days of the country, espec- ially after the War of Independence, no such thing as pauper was known. The vast tracts of rich lands to the westward were open to all; and as the brave pion- eers pushed their way toward the setting sun, they were followed by that vast army of home makers who have since made this the richest. strongest, freest land on earth. And the slaves of land monopoly throughout the entire old world felt their burdens grow lighter on account of the expansion which the peopling of the new world produced
 But gradually, as stately palaces arose on numerous lordly domains, and tenant occup4 ants took the place nf independent freeholders, the almhouse and the public hospital made their appearance, the j4ils and hooouoo nUororouHoH and street beggars no longer startled the beholder on the streets of our cities, for they had become too numerous sight. But for years after these changes had lost their novelty in the East and South, the West and Northwest, with their vast expanse of fertile prairies and wooded hillsdes, were free from these hideous evidences of "advancing civilization" and while bearing the reproach of being wild and uncultured, they enjoyed the blessing of being prosperous and free.
 But the money lenders and land grah bers followed fast, and today there is DO part of the great nation which is not in the grasp of the rack-renters, who are slowly but surely tightening their coils, while their tenants lie helpless in their power, tied fast by landlord made laws, seeming totally oblivious to the fact that the single tax lies within easy re Ach, and they have only to seize it, sever their bonds and be free So much for land monopoly, the very root of pauperism.
 Next to the monopoly of the earth, the source of III life and energy, comes the monopoly of public utilities and human inventions as d cause of pauperizing and enslaving the race. Even if one Is so fortunate as not to be buncoed out of his inheritance in the land, he finds scores of schemers ready to take from him what he produces from it without giving him for it just equivalent or any return at all. The manufacturer with his protec tive tariff taxes him for his farm imple
 ments, for his clothing, and even for the sugar with which he sweetens his coffee, while the same individual, in the role of capitalist, reduces the price of his pro duct by one-half by demonetizing silver and otherwise shortening the supply of the money of commerce. Machinery, which should be blessing by Tightening mans labor while at the same time in. creasing his comforts, is monopolized and turned against him, doing his work, ln- tensifying competition in the labor mar
 ket, bringing about what is miscalled