The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-09-29
The Mexican: That man can never reach prosDentv unlessh he renlacee
the Silver Wheel. Np"N

all mankind bears evidence. The la
o organization grows out of the in
stlnct of self-preservation and no man
VINO has given their work careful con-
slderatlon can deny that they have in
terposed a barrier to the iron pressure
OF the la" OF rent. which says that the
wages OF labor must be determined by
the 2vellge return to the laborer from
Tree land, or If there is no free land
worth working, by the average return
to the laborer after deducting rent. 1t
is a pity, however, that the vast ener-
giles Of labor organizations and the
vast sums Of money they have eXpend-
ed have not been devoted to secure the
removal Of the cancer, instead of for
palllatives, which are rendered largely
Intellectual by the laws of nature.
High wages and free lands so togeth-
er; low wages and no free lands go to-
sether. The way, therefore, to get
nigh wages is to get free land, and the
way to get free land is by unlocking
the door to the millions upon millions
of acres of land in this country, held
out Of use by spectators who have in
these vast natural opportunities the
basis Of fortunes beyond even the
dreams of the lords of England,
If it were not for the fact that in
Michigan a majority of the legislators
erected must vote for a measure before
IL Decomes a law, the right to raise
necessary revenues from a single tax
on land values would now be extended
10 every municipality within its bor-
Hers. A measure providing this only
lallco by II vote Of becoming law
and Rad a majority Of seven out of
the total number of members actually
voting. This vote in Michigan is an
indication of the remarkably rapid
growth Of the single tax movement,
which, though only twenty years old,
mas already been partially successful
III New Zealand and New South Wales.
IS the leading internal issue in the
politics Of England outside Of her for
elsn affairs. and has a propaganda
estapllshed in all the countries of Eu-
rope, and IN Japan and China.
Land values are highest where pop-
nlatlon is thickest. They are created
Dy al! the community, but they are APP
ploprlaled by a very small percentage
Oh the community. Farmers, while
holding large quantities of land. own
very little land value. A lot was sold
not long ago on Wall street. New York
RI the rate of $4,000, COG an acre. This
was for the land alone, as the build
ing which stood upon it was subse-
4hehtlE torn down. How many farms
are thele in Kansas which. stripped of
mouse, barns. fences and other i'm
ploVements arc worth $40 an acre?
Inc value OF that II acre of grOund
CT which that lot forms a portion is
equal to that of 10000 quarter sections
OF the richest unimproved land to be
round IN the West. and yet there are
farmers who imagine that a tax on
and values would compel them to zeal
the burden of taxation.
1t Is about time to reafirm the Dec |
lalatlon of Independence.
we call this Our country, but more |
IMAM half of us have no right to a
square inch Of its soil.
Even in Kansas. where there are no
large cities. the assessed values of
town lots are considerably more than
one-lhird of the taxable value of all
real estate.
The rights of the living yield to the
claims of the dead. The descendants
of a tory who fed from New York dur
ing the early part of the Revolution
are now claiming title to land on Man
haitian island valued at S4OO, 0OO, 900. |
There is only one way for the people
to obtain their rights while the pres
ent system Of representative govern
mcnt continues. They will have to
organize a lobby and 20 into COMPETE
ton with the corporation in the bust
ness of buying the legislators.
The land values of the city OF New
York amount to three thousand million
dollars, almost thirty times as much
as the farm values Of the state of
Kansas, and yet there are farmers
who imagine that a tax On land values
would compel them to bear the bur-
&c., g ,,,,