The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-12-21

FRANK H0fey reported to the ponce last
night that he had been robbed of $5S by
a sleeping companion Monday night. He
had come in from the woods and had put
up at a lodging house, being assigned to a
room with another man. Monday morning
when he woke his companion had disap-
peared and Hafey's pocketbook with him.
THE SINGLE TAX THEORY.
We have received the following letter
from gentleman for whom we have
the highest respect-a good and able
man:
NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 1899.-Hon. Ignatius
Donnelly Editor The Representative, Min
neapolis, Minn.-Dear Sir: In your issue
Of Oct IL, under an article entitled THE
Single Tax Again." you ask In heaven s
name, what excuse can be given for reliev-
ing the Goulds. and Astors and Vanderbilts
from taxation?"
why should we wish to reach the Goulds,
Astors and Vanderbilts, II their bonds or
their money represent labor products to
which they have honestly acquired Just
title?" This question Is a legitimate off,
spring of the plundering theory that men
should be taxed according to their ability to
pay. 1t is a question which may also have
been suggested by the fact that "bondhOld
ers' and men Of money" such as the
Goulds, Astors and Vanderbilts, are nearly
all men who have special privileges that
coin money for them. There Is feeling
that 1t would be unfair to allow such privi-
leges to escape taxation. 1t would be- But
inquiry will show that the most important
OF these privileges rest in the ownership
of land, and that the "bondholders' and
men of money are in fact great landlords;
that is to say, that their fortunes are really
based upon land. Were land values taxed
the great source of unearned incomes-land
monopoly-would be practically abolished,
be only those who earn what they have.
Such property no man of honest instincts
should wish to appropriate. Yours truly,
BOLTON HALL.
Mr. Hall is sadly of the track in the
foregoing article.
No man will pretend that the millions
of the Goulds and Vanderbilts were
honest labor-products. They were OBJ
tanned by watering stocks" of rail-
road and telegraph lines, and making
the multitude pay interest on capital
that never existed. To enforce these
robberies they bribed the courts. and
bought up legislatures, and controlled
public opinion through the hireling
newspapers, and demoralized the whole
country, until they have brought the
republic to the verge of destruction
The wealth of the Astors is more re-
spectacle, as it was obtained by the
growth in the value of New York real
estate.
Men should be taxed, not according to
their ability to pay" but in proportion
to the benefits which they derive from
the government which is maintained by
the taxes they pay. Surely the man
who has 100000 worth of property to
protect, whether it be land or bonds or
money, should pay more taxes than the
man who has but 81, 900 worth; and he,
in turn, should pay more than the man
who has nothing.
The rich are the principal beneficiar-
les of government. If it was abolished
the poor would have little to steal, and
their strong arms would be fully able to
protect what they had. But the rich
would have to hire an army to defend
their possessions from the hungry null
titude; in other words, to take the place
of the police officers, courts, juries and
troops which now protect them.
Therefore proposition to relieve &C
cumulated wealth, not invested in land,
of all taxation and pile it on the owners
of real estate, and then tell the masses
to make their homes on the land and
pay the taxes taken off the shoulders
of the money-lenders. the usurers, the
bOndhOlders, the railroads, the mer-
chants, the spectators, ETC., etc., is a
proposition too gross and horrible to be
considered for one instant
The wealth of the country is push
ing this single tax crusade. They have
been encouraged, by past political
events, to believe that the mass of the
people are irredeemable fools, and that
they can be deceived into shouldering
the burdens of plutocracy under the
pretense that they can obtain homes.
And are they not justified when they
remember that a few years ago the in
telligent foreigners of Minnesota voted
for an amendment to the constitution
to deprive themselves of citizenship?
All Wall street need not own as much
land as one poor sheep raiser in Mon
tana, with his ranch mortgaged to the
eyelids.
Bolton Hall! Bolton Hall! You are
a philanthropist. But can you not see
the devils dance you are trying to lead
the people of the United States into?
You are trying to crush agriculture
the great interest of our country, now
the most poorly paid of all our in
dustries.
Look at the poor devils, rudely dressed
in old buffalo coats, with the hair worn
of, coming into the cities to peddle DO
tatoes and poultry, and then ask that
they pay the taxes of the Goulds, Astors
and Vanderbilts!
And as to the statement of Mr.. Hall
that the wealth of our millionaires is all
based on real estate. it is altogether
false
Capital does not invest in this coun-
try in real estate. They are too wise