Iron County register., 1899-05-18

application the REGISTER made of the
homely old saying, Come easy, go
easy" If those who pay the taxes
| had the spending of them this adage
might apply, as the REGISTER tried to
apply it, but such is not the case. The
double tax makes life such a struggle
that men are both drawn and driven
into corruptfon; and those who have
the spending of the taxes are only
men, under the same influences, and
open to the same temptations. that all
other men are in state of society
where nearly every trait we despise
and condemn, in our fellows. is calcu-
lated to make them rich, and almost
every characteristic We respect and
commend in man tends to send him
to the poor house.
Your writer has been the custodian
of public funds for many years, but
with perfunctory powers only, and he
has often had cause to protest against
the extravagant expenditure and mis-
appropriation of public money raised
by taxation.
Generally these malfeasances were
caused by the very men who growl
most about taxes, and who are always
abusing public officials with discretion
ary powers; but I cannot recall a sim
gle instance in which such misappro-
priations did not grow out of the
struggle to live, superinduced by the
double tax-the taxation of both land
and labor. 1t would be strictly cor
rect to say that such conditions grow
out of the taxation of labor; for while
taxing labor makes its products dearer,
living more costly, and the getting of
money necessary, the taxation of land
makes labor products cheaper, living
easier, and money convenience rath-
er than necessity.
But the single tax is not merely q
fiscal reform; it is, primarily, and pre-
eminently, a moral reform. On pages
II and II of Henry Georges reply to
the pope's encyclical letter on the con-
dition of labor, Mr.. G. lays down the
rules that must be applied to a system
of taxation in order that it may accord
with the moral law.
1. 1t must not take from individuals
what rightfully belongs to individuals.
2. 1t must not give some an advan-
tage over others as by increasing the
prices of what some have to sell and
others must buy.
8. 1t must not lead men into temp
tation, by requiring trivial oaths, by
making it profitable to lie, to swear
falsely, to bribe or to take bribes.
4. 1t must not confuse the distinc-
tions between right and wrong, and
weaken the sanctions of religion and
the state by creating crimes that are
not sins, and Furnishing men for doing
what in Itself they have an undoubted
right to do.
5. 1t must not repress industry.
6. 1t must not check commerce.
z. 1t must not punish thrift.
8. 1t must offer no impediment to
the largest production and the fairest
division of wealth.
Every requirement here stated is in
disputable; yet one may safely chal-
lenge any one to find any system or
method that will meet these require
ments other than the single tax.
The REGISTER cannot better serve
its country, or party, than by calling
attention to the single tax. Even ad-
verse criticisms help to show how
sound it is, and how weak are the ar
guments of double takers.
Democracy would long ago have
triumphed, and we should not now be
under the shadow of the black bat
wing of plutocracy and Imperialism,
but for this blind blundering that has
made the Democratic party what some
body has, half facetiously. half de-
rislvely called it, s'the assistant Re-
publican party
Will not some true and earnest lover
of his country organize the single
takers in Ironton and supply to all who
read such pamphlets as Georges Reply
to the Pope, ShearmGn's Natural TaI-
alton and Bengough's Single Cate
chism? VIM. CAMM.
Mnrrauvilla Ills Nav IL 1899