The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-22
7. v. 4. SHANEHAN MAKES AN APPEAL
tn THE VOTERS Of THE PEOPLES PARTY.

J
| Government bonds for which a premium
is paid But the single taXer says I'M
provements would not be taxed. very
true; as l have already SHOWN. OhaoIe
to pay taxes on the land the owner cou4d
! uproot his vines and trees and remove
| his buildings or mining or other i'm
provements-where? The home would be
| destroyed; we would become nomads. BY
rendering land so worthless by taxation
| that any person could secure a portion OF
! it, ii would not be taken under the pui-
| dens imposed and would ultimately ldlI
to furnish even revenue TO carry Oh the
Government. ~
erty," page $50, quotes Mrs. FaWcett ap-
provingly as follows:
The land tax whether great or small in
| by the owner of land TO the state In a great
part of India the land is owned by the Coy,
direct to the state. The economic perfection
of this system Of tenure may be readily per-
ceived.
If the single tax works so beautifully in
India as a cureall for poverty, why was II
| that in 1897 the Legislature of this state
passed resolutions asking the Nauonal
! Government TO furnish shipping to carry
food donated in the United States to the
wretched and starving inhabitants OF tnat
| country?
Since the American Revolution, any
variation at any time in existing metnodS
of taxation has been a political question:
yet the fusiOnists claim the single tax ls
not an issue: 1t is an issue. when the
| acts of Mr.. Mcguire II Endorsed ms acts
on the single tax question as well as ms
opposition TO the funding bill and MS OPP
position to Hawaiian annexation In TACT,
the Democratic party is more nearly COM
mttted by the acts OF its representaIiyes
| to the single tax than to the anu IuldiIlS,
| as Senator White failed TO vote against
| the refunding bill Mr.. Mcguire has loaded
the Congressional Record with speeches.
| on the subject of the single tax for the
| purpose of making converts, ana IN inc
| and eIectine men to office who will carrv
| I,4 On
Der IA in his speech in San Francisco, mT;
| Mcguire claimed it was not an issue ana
then forthwith delivered what consututed
a column OF close prlnf IN , aIot ~ Iir 10
newspaper on that question. among olleE
| things he claimed that the single tax
would break up the monopoly OF Miller q
| Lux of 14000,0OO acres or lana IN the 1 a
cific States and Territories. he forgot 70
explain that the constitution OF ms otaIe
| REQUIRES that land, improved ana uhlIn-
| proved of the like quality, shaH pc as
sessed at the same value, thus going as
far as law can equitably go against hold
| IISe tive nurnoses He neglected TO say
| that a tax on land values that would
break up the monopoly OF a greater acre
age would as effectually break the mono71-
| oily of an acreage devoted 10 d sHAelii
Prior to 1882 the Examiner, referring to
Progress and Poverty henry o' Geoi
work on single tax. said: Progress anu anu
| Poverty must in time produce deep eI-
fects, and give to the most important uIs-
cussion a new turn. 1t cannot IonS Ds
ignored by those who regard its doctrines
as dangerous. .,7
work George says:
But when the times are ripe for them, ideas
grow, even though insignificant in their nrst
appearance. one day, the I1ird estate esq cG &c
hat. A little while thereafter, and the head OF
| The anti-slayery movement in the United States
commenced with the talk OF compromising own
| euancfpated, the owners got no compensation,
| nor did they clarnor for any. And by the time
United States are sufficiently aroused 10 the in
justice and disadvantages OF individual owner
aroI'seS re nationaiize il in a much more di-
rect and easy way than by purchase, /. e. by
taxation. They win not trouble themselves
about compromising the proprietors OF land
Following the above predictions we
have the single tax before US. II Mr.. Ma
guire is elected the single tax will be IN
dorsed; and If as Jealous in that behalf
here as he was in trying TO secure It's
adoption in Delaware he will, with the
power in his hands, keep the people in
, | strife on that question to the exclusion
| of all genuine measures of reform for
, | four years to come. But the single tax
can be removed from m. politics and IL fr E21
Mcguire on the Sth day OF November
: | next.
Two years ago introduced an income
, tax bill in the legislature; Our consd-
tition has provided for such q law since
1879. I believe in taxing incomes whether
derived from land or from stocks, bonds
. | or property of any description. I do not
believe in taking mouthful of food from
! any hungry human being by taxation,
nor do 1 believe in taxing the homes from
men who in most cases have labored the
better part of a lifetime to earn or main
. | tain them. Surplus wealth should be
taxed; and any person who has net in
come over and above operating expenses
lily has surplus wealth which should be
taxed. The Republican majority in the
Assembly did not dare kill my bill, but
as a matter of delay referred 1t to a
committee of three to consider and re-
port upon to the Legislature which meets
J next January. 1t should then be reintro-
duced and become a law. But the cleo
ton of Mcguire would give such an i'm
petus to the single tax, as have before
suggested, that the income tax and other
measures of reform would be lost sight
of for four years to come in the strife
on that question. While on the subject
l cannot refrain from stating that many
otherwise we'll informed persons think
a State income tax unconstitutional by
reason of the decision of the United
States Supreme Court on the income tax
feature of the Wilson bill Instead of so
holding, the court held the income tax to
be direct tax, and that, as such, the
power to levy 1t was vested solely in
each of the States and not in the Federal
Government
The way to reach and carry the meas
ures of reform heretofore proposed by the
Peoples party and to restore the life Of
the party is to defeat Mr.. Maguire and
the single tax. If the defeat of the single
tax idea in its incipiency is not a question
And to the end of removing the single
tax from public consideration I shall, as
a member of the Peoples party, vote for
Mr.. Gage, who, as a private citizen and
lawyer, recovered millions of acres of the
public domain from the railroads; who,
as a lawyer, never fOreclosed a mortgage
on home and who, as a candidate for
Governor declares himself against the
single tax and against taxing land own
| ership and homes out of existence. With
his election. barter of principle for office
being all things TO all men, the candidacy
on three platforms, the destruction of a
political party for personal ends will be
| rebuked. And the men, women and chill
dren of California will rest in compare
tive peace, knowing that the instru-
mentality of destroying their homes by
: an insdious and unjust method of taxa
ton has been defeated.
T. w. H. SHANAHAN.
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