The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-05-21
WHAT AILS US.
A Prominent Australian Gives
His Opinion
AS to Causes of Hard Times in
the United States.
1T is LAND MONOPOLY.
Public Revenue Should Be
Drawn From Land Alone.
Australia Owns All Public IT'LL
tiles in the Country.

from foreign countries was John Hin
die, a prominent merchant of Sydney,
New South Wales, and an ex-member
of Parliament. Mr.. Hindle left Sydney
ON his first voyage to the United States
March Is last and arrived here 25 days
later
Mr.. HindIe was a member of the New
South Wales Parliament from 1891 to
1894, having been elected as a represen-
tative of Ia Dor and business interests IN
Sydney, and especially as champion
of tax reform He is q clean-cut ana
uncOmprOmising single-taXer-one VINO
is dominated by the idea that INDUSTRY
should never be taxed or in any way
bufdened by legal restrictions, ana that
all public revenue should be drawn
from land values alone ASKED as TO
his Impressions of this country and the
conditions of his own, on the first pro
position he said:
I like California exceedingly, or at
least what 1 have seen of it. You GER
tainly have here a natural garden-spOt,
capable of unlimited development and
San Francisco is in many respects
magnificent city. But find here, to my
surprise, industrial conditions that are
deplorable. With all your vast natural
| resources there are thousands and tens
of thousands of people out of employ
ment and unable to get it; in fact, many
| are subsisting on charity, with no pros
! pect of any change for the better
yet 1 should not feel surprised at
| this since I know that your land and
| all natural resources expressed in the
| word land are mOnOpOliZed by a few
| greedy corporations and individuals, so
J that labor cannot apply itself to the
| passive factor in wealth production
! without the consent of the earth lords
and then only on such terms as the
| lords of the soil may dictate I found
! the same conditions in and around Los
Angeles as those that exist heTea bouts.
| In fact your whole state, grand and re
sOurcefuI as it is, naturally rests under
| the dark shadow of land monopoly, and
! that, in my opinion, is what ails your
| people"
| How about Australia Pr
| "Wel, Australia has suffered and is
| yet suffering from this same evil of
! landlOrdism. In New South Wales. how
! ever, we have taken a step toward re-
| form on these lines, and the good eff
! fects of it are already felt Until about
! a year ago we had imposed no govern
/ ment tax on land, but depended entire
| " on other sources for the necessary
| public revenue.
Our sources of revenue are twofOld
| direct taxation and public service. 1t
| should be borne in mind that the gov
| ernments of the Australian colonies own
| and control all railways, tramways, pos
| tai and telegraph lines water and sew
! erage systems, and such other public
| works as harbOrs, roads and bridges.
| The Australian governments are the
| greatest employers of labor on earth.
| They do not employ labor, however, as
| a matter of charity to those who need
| to work, but because a vast amount of
| labor is required in the construction
| and maintenance of such public utili-
| ties as I have named. Taxation on for
| eign impOrtatiOns yields, in round num-
! bers, $55 00O 900 per annum. No cOun-
! try in the world IS so lightly taxed
! Australia. Our revenue in New South
| Wales from public services is very
| large-abOut S105, 600 900 per annun
| This, of course. cannot be called taxa
| ton in the usual sense of the term, as
| it is payment by the people to the gov
| eminent for services rendered.
| The people of Australia believe in
| government control of all natural mon
| opoles. Private control of them would
not be tolerated in our country.
| Public opinion is also rapidly crys-
| tallizing upon the idea that govern
| ments should not sell the remaining
! public lands, but that they should be
| disposed of by the leasehOld system, or
| in other words, brought practically I'M
| der the single-tax system.
We do not tax personal property or
| improvements; but we have a mild
form of land tax, only 1 penny to the
| pound, which is equal to 2 cents on IS
| in United States money. This land val
| ue tax went into effect a year ago, and
| much benefit has already developed as
| a result Even with so light a tax on
| land values, the owners of idle lands
find it Improbable to hold them out of
| use. and are therefore either abandon
ing them to be improved by others, or
] cutting them up into small holdings and
| selling them at reduced prices to those
| who will put them to their best uses.
| No doubt, New South Wales will in
| crease this land tax until we have
| reached a point where no land private
| ly owned, either in city or country will
| be held idle.
Our tariff taxes are very light and
| likely to grow smaller by degrees and
| beautifully less. Aside from liquors,
| opium and tobacco only seven or eight
| kinds of imported products are subject
| to duties. To Australians visiting the
| United States the policy of taxing per
| sonal property, as you do here. seems
| so strangely inconsistent and unjust
| that we can hardly believe it is done
If a public official in our country
| should undertake to go around into peO-
pies houses and places of business and
| ask them what was the value of their
| goods or furniture, how much money
] they had in bank, how much jeWelr.y
how many musical instruments or other
personal property they owned or what
were the gross receipts on their bust
| ness such an impairment intermeddler
| in private affairs would be looked upon
as a lunat1c freshly escaped from some
We do not believe that the govern
| ment has any right to poke its nose into
| peoples private business. nor has 1t a
| right to take from them under the name
or taxation any portion of their personal
earnings. This sentiment is growing
stronger all the time as the subject of
taxation and revenue continues to be
Are the industrial conditions in New
South Wales perceptibly better now
IMAM they We're year or two years
Yes. they are decidedly better and
constantly improving Legitimate bus
mess of all kinds is more active, money
clrculates more freely collections are
easier, wages are higher and there are
few if any involuntary idle workers
Those who do not find satisfactory en-
ployment in the cities can have re-
course to the land, since the grip of the
landlord has been slightly loosened. This
tax on land values is producing good re-
| suits not only directly but Indirectly
The feeling among owners of large
tracts and valuable ground ia the cities