The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-05-15
LETTERS FROM The PEOPLE
Farmers and the Single Tax

see in your columns statements .nae
single tax would be oppressive 10 ialine.s,
porm,t me 70 offer briefly some autnentc
facts In answer
Do farmers know that they own put one
tenth OF the taxable wealth OF the oniou
and that they are paying more than nVe-
! tenths of the taxes that are levied anu COZ
| lected2 This is the truth II the oni'eu
| States census reports for 1880 are uue.
Do thew want this wretched Injustice 10
continue? II not. why do they SO 'ena-
ciously cling to the system that iuiuesS
I such injustice, that does SO IN hnsieiu'
has done SO for centuries and VIII 10 81
as long as 1t continues 49,. - ,be
why do farmers pay 81 per cent Oh the
taxes. while they own but one-tenth Vi wv
wealth? Let them hear the answer
Our present system aims 70 ASSES ~
sonal property as wen as Isa'' 1904
J xonal property of farmers can be assessed
because IL can not be hid. Ihat OIL NIL
/ lionaires can be hid, is hid and does escape
ltaxation. The 1.-Two stock, implements
\ furniture etc, of the farmer are hho"n W
his neighbors and can be known oy the "a
SCISSOR or any one else who is lhlelesteu'
Therefore the farmer can not aoese tue
taxes assessed upon them. But the Vaes
aggregations OF wealth now in the hands VI
ne rich can escape the shrewdest assessor
that lives. The unposted farmer Is con
tinually saying: What, tax land ana let
the stocks and bonds, money ana JeWels
and all the other splendid personal proper
ty of the rich go untaxedF No, SIT am
J compelled 10 pay on my wagons anu
horses, my organ and reaper, my HOUSES
and barns. my orchards and tanks, ana
a. Mill
sonal property, too
Just so. The farmer thinks the mil
lionaire should pay. and so he should. buI
he does not. He never Will under l9e
present system: nor can he be made 10 uo
30 Let us see.
Money, bonds, mortgages, notes jewels
: certificates of ownership. shares. STOCKS
etc, are portable. intangible, ccncea!aole
inaccessible. In proof read what follows
THE Chicago City railway in 1894 mad
market value of SOS, $50 $40 and was as
sessed at $61O,6l0, leaving SOS, 600 un'
taxed In the same year and city lSo cor
porations reported their aggregated capt
tai paid up stock at 1851 0i5,O35 and were
assessed al $4,000, 240. leaving more thar
$3.50, 600, GOO absolutely untaXed. The banks
and bankers for the same year and in the
same city reported for taxation in money
S43. 1925 and in credits 100000! Could any
thing be more absurd, more farcical2 And
yet there were In twenty seven banks o.
Chicago at that time over $l,0O0,000 of mel
credits and s19,000,000 in money!
The writer some years ago, as assessor
of Hill county, Texas assessed $4,000 IL
; money in that county of 10000 population
Cook county, Illinois, In which Chicago
stands, should have rendered in the same
proportion $l,7S7,SS, but rendered instead
S43,925l The State and National banks o
Cook county had shares amounting to $780,
100000 aud were assessed at less than
1858, coo. Eighteen State banks and eigh
teen National banks had capital stocks
and surplus amounting TO SAT 600 900 anC
were assessed BY the local assessors a
100000, raised by the State board O.
equalization to IS. 900 600. The BOG fire anC
burglar proof safes that We're rendered
were assessed at S296O each, while the
CAB engines, including boilers that do th'
Titanic work of the great Western metrop
oils, were worth $204,9l each Pianos wer
worth S2S,3D apiece, while all the furnitur,
and fixtures in all the saloons, restaurants
and eating houses in that vast city aggre
gated for assessment Sl3 4S3, while rea
property was in many instances esti-
mated at 81 per cent of It's market value
some as low as six-tenths of / per cent o
its market value One three-story stor
and fiat, with stone front, watch sold TO-
$4,000, stood assessed during the year
lS9l-2-3 at 1910!
/ Now I have in hand State document
with facts and figures like these enough
to fill an issue of The Post--and | chal
lenge any of its readers 10 demand tht
proof. Yet farmers think they will be op
pressed If the system of taxation SHOULD
be changed. | was born and reared en-
farm | know the hardships and labor
endured by this indispensable portion o
our people. / know that they support thu
Union in peace and both support and de-
tend it in war and If there lie one elias,
that Is more regarded by me than another
the farmers are that class, I have studied
the single tax for seven or eiltht years al
! would problem i'm mathematics, and
believe as sincerely as | believe anythint
that 1t would do more TO relieve farmer:
OF the burdens that now crush and I'M.
poVerish them than any and all other pro.
posed reforms combined could do
Inc reasons for thus believing are II
part as follows
!, Taxing land values, and land value,
only would relieve the farmer Of all take.
on his buildings and improvements. on al
ms personal property, leaving oaly his
land value TO be taxed. This would mall,
his taxes extremely light because uniu,.
proved land is of but little value.
= TaNing land values would lay bare IL
tne public gaze the stupendous frauds OF
the tax dodgers in great cities whore III,
{ - AtN' A+'SoAl4ieA III the vain al
tempt to raise revenue by taxing persona
property. These acres that are worth mil.
mons ana are taxed at only to per cent
OF their value would be taxed according n
: ther selling or lease or rental value, be:
cause those values being the only tnyabIs
thlng public intelligence and the uublit
conscience would reach and control ne
SUBJECT. Want Of Information rs the bar.
rler now standing in the way of this the
greatest OF all reforms
In Georgia, by the last United .stata:
! census reports, there were nineteen con-.
, tles N each OF which the taxable value;
were less than Sl,000,o00. 1t Atlanta there
was one acre worth exclusive Of its i'm.
proYements' 100000 Under fhe singi.
! TAX more revenue would be raisex from,
lhat acre than from an the pronertv in
any one Of those nineteen COMMITTEES ",
farmers shrink from taxing Land values
III every great city In our Union tbora
, are acres worth hundreds-nav tbn,,san.ss
-oi farms II the value Of the Land aIn,,s
ne considered, and that Is the onIv vains
the single tax will ever to,ich
,o,,., Ir say some, TO take the anuua,
rshtai Nalue OF bare land would lower ihr
price or worth Of land and render Il No
longer desirable people would NOT hoIl
!aho II an revenues were raised from, -
they would not improve land n thew d,c
nor mold lee simple title 10 II :" ~ M,
DC true, why do renters nav t,go tbrae
-FOUR or ten dollars per scre ~, ~ - ~. ~
: OF landY Why aid Hulbard T,,yni,a,',, VS. Is
. Nhlcago lease for los rao.. - 49, -