The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-24
SPOKE FOR SINGLE TAX
Boston Apostle of Henry George
at the Auditorium.
HE is A POLISHED ORATOR
The Law OF Nature Should Be Applied
to Governments-Patien Perse-
verance, Prevarication the
Conditions of Success.

DR.. B. r. Longstreet, the Boston
apostle of Henry George and his sin
gle tax theory, addressed a fair sized
audience at the library auditorium last
night. The doctor, no doubt, is pol
ished, pleasing and at times electrify-
ing orator, but there were few passages
in his address last night that were ap-
plauded, and not altogether was the
applause given to the sentiment, rather
was it bestowed upon the elegance of
delivery and beautiful diction. DR..
Hammond introduced the speaker in a
few remarks made into a brief bio
graphical sketch of Henry George.
The lecturer announced that at the
close of his address he would be pleased
to answer questions from the audience
relating to the subject of his talk. He
began by saying that everywhere there
is law-law Of nature and consequently
order. This is the highest of supreme
intelligence. He gathered up facts, be-
ginning with the ancients, the advent
of the telegraph. steam and other pro-
ducts of scientific research, to show the
effects demonstrated by the applica
ton of the law of nature. Time was
when men sought truth from authority
now authority must find it's source in
truth. The primary reason for the bad
effects noted in the economic system
is in the fact that the laws of nature
are not applied in governmental af-
fairs
When I think of legislators" con-
tinued the speaker, "endeavoring to i'm
prove up on the laws Of nature, the
thought of man trying to stop the
coming and going of the tide occurs
to me. Governments, l say, cannot af-
ford to ignore the laws of nature. Why,
think of that infamous law Germany
sought to fasten upon her race by re-
stricting marriages among persons
phose worldly holdings were less than a
certain stated amount. Think of the il
legitimacy that followed; let the builder
of a house ignore the natural law and
what will be the result? He will have
to prop up his building. Then he must
prop up the prop which props the
buildings, and then he will have to
prop up the prop which props the
building, and prop up the prop which
props the prop, which props the prop,
and so on indefinitely. One bad law is
propped up by prop, and SO on all
along down the line until it is a mass
of proppery.
This government is naturally and di-
vinely ordained. The natural laws in
dictate to us which course we should
take. Look about you and see what
you have. / will only have to suggest
the state of affairs existing at your
own state capital. Frequently men try
to buy their way into public office; they
seek to acquire honor by the lavish dis
bursement of wealth. Honor indeed
honor, dream Of honor. Corruption is to
be found everywhere. Can we marvel?
1t grows out of the conditions which
surround u.s.
he II ,,,+o
Of suggestive conclusions, grouped in
convenient form to serve as illustra-
tons of the condition as noted in af-
fairs governmental. Napoleon, in
stating the three essentials necessary
to the successful conduct of warfare
said they were money, money and
money. The lecturer put it in three
P's: patience, perseverance, and prevari-
cation. "All these exist to-day. Bust
ness cannot be carried through to a sue
cessful issue with moral turpitude, and
without prevarication. 7 don't say that
every business man is a liar, but I do
say that the business of the day is not
carried on absolutely without preyari-
cation
The fact that land is held by men
and let out al stipulated rentals, was
decried in tones stril<fngly Indicative of
the speakers disapproval.
God gave this great land to his chill
dren and furnished them with keys to
its store houses. That key is labor.
The most blasphemous statement was
that which emanated from a pulpit,
which was to the effect that there We're
too many people in the world; that
war and pestilence were required to
descimate the ranks of humanity; that
does not keep pace with the
population. 1t has been said right here
in America that we do not want any
more immigration: that this Is our
country, and that there is not enough
to feed the hordes that seek our shores.
Pity it is that the Indians did not say
that 400 years ago. There is not foot
of land in all America that does not
belong as much to the unspeakable
Turk as it does to any man in America.
The United States is big enough, rich
enough to feed every human being in
the world Look at Japan, not as large
as Texas, feeding A 900, 900 of people,
while but 100000 feed upon the pro-
ducts of Texas. Why is this? Because
in Texas hold millions of
acres of land away from production
This country does not belong solely to
the people living in it. This reminds
me. A general in Iowa advanced mon
ey to build a Methodist church. He
was not a Methodist-only a brother
in-law to the church. His wife was a
He took a mortgage on the
building. The new preacher arrived on
a day when the general was doing
some work about the new house. The
minister advanced and asked the gen.
eral very timidly If he belonged to
that church and the general replied,
grutfly No, by George, it belongs to
me- "
The doctor. with the aid of charts,
gave very interesting series of defni-
tons of wealth, land, wages. labor and !
rent, showing that all wealth is pro-
1uced by labor applied to land. In go
ing into the phases of the question of
wages, he became somewhat humorous. |
The miner, he said, receives wages, the |
a salary, and there is a |
class which insists upon accepting a |
position" Every one is a wage-earner, |
and you receive wages when you sit |
Town to your meals after dressing in
he clothes you earned
Even the president of the United |
States works for wages-s50,00 600 a year
Let US hope he earns his wages. But
hings now are so tangled and mixed Up,
a.. A.. n M