The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-06-16

10dQS up 10 tue tuclue 2iuu d1uS III 1u1SA,
preting its significance. Let US continue
a little further
Politics and Economics.
From practical point Of view all
must admit that taxes are one of The
most important things in the world On
the efficiency and justice Of its system
of taxation depends, to no snail extent
the welfare of the people and the prog
ress If the nation Unjust taxation
caused the four great revolutions OF
modern history. 1t is now more import
ant than at any past time. Politics now
consists chiefly Of economics, and eco
romics shades Of into sociology, which,
of course, involves ethics In whateve-
light you lock at. it, the prevailing sys-
tenn Of taxation is bad. In politics IL is;
the shuttlecock with which parties play
at the expense of the business interests
of the country 1t fosters a contempt fc1
law because it consists Of mass OF laws
that cannot be enforced. In economics
it impedes production and renders dis
tribution inequitable. IN ethics it loves
the national conscience, fayors tie rich
and the dishonest and leads 10 wholesale
lying and perjury. It finds lis root IN !.
false principle in economics and scctot-
ogy-viz, the private ownership CT &nd.
1t must t;nd its remedy in the rejection
Of this false doctrine. 70 state the pIo5-i
lem III the proper order, the ills that So
ciety is suffering come, more than frca
any other source, from the private OWL
ersEip of land, and the remedy consists
in taking for the benefit Of the ccnislu-
nifty those valaes that are created oy the
community IS a whole ard leaving &c
each individual all the fruits OF his OWE
labor.
have said that private ownership cf
lard is the chief cause ct the evils taat
aflict society. It is the direct and ef-
Gcient cause Of niLe-tenths Of our eco
nomic ills, and economic raaladjustnenf
is tie cause, direct OF Indirect, OF tie
greater part CT the poverty and suffering,
the crime and degradation IL the world.
Scientific Taxation.
When scientific Ian desires to ind
the cause Of {. phenomenon, he searches
for {; constant factor. A chemist Will
not attribute y certain reaction to chic
rine if he finds it occurs when that ele-
ment is absent. So, III seeking to ex-
plain the constantly recurring economic
phenomenon Of hard times, it will not
do to attribute it to the form of govern
meut, for it appears under all forms OF
government, CT to high tariff or to low
tariff, for there have been periods Of dis
trcss under all kinds Of tariff, nor can
we hope to find preventive in bimetal
hsm or either form of monometallism,
since hard times have come upon the
world under every monetary system.
To digress for moment, has it ever
occurred to you that for the great mass
of mankind it is always hard times:
They are always hard pushed for money
to pay the rent and to buy food and
clothes. 1t is only; when the pinch
reaches the merchants and manufacture
ers and bankers that we hear of hard
times.
There must, then, be constant factor
that causes this social phenomenon that
is observed in 1nonarchies and republics,
in high tariff and free trade countries, II
silver countries and gold countries ard
bimetallic countries, and most Of all IL
the great centers Of civilization. What
is this cause that thus operates III old
countries like England and recently set
tied countries like New Zealand: 1t is
it can be nothing else-the private cwn-
ership Of land.
Without resort to experience and ob
serva1ion we can see, :; priori, that such
an effect naturally follows from such a
cause.
For all production is III the last ;'nal-
ysis, the result CT labor applied TO ana.
H, Therefore, any barrier is placed be-
cwcen the laborer and the land, produc-
tion is necessarily leSsercd. And, again,
if a few men have legal right to de-
mand from the many portion of the
products OF their labor, it is evident that
these few will be rich and the many