The sun., 1900-12-09
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS TyGLE
TAYFR.
New Views Of THIS Distin nRuished Citizen Of
MaNachu sets.
I'-,sr the Bosson Dn,Iy A,

Massschu.etts.
ProSs the Boston Dn,'y Adrertissr
The single takers are In a very happy frame
oi mind
They are counting c. + Adams OF Boston
and Lincoln on their list OF important con-
verts. and calling public attention 10 his
views iubilantly.
Mr. Adams has been their guest Mt two or
thrcc dinners Of late and at tho last one eX-
pressed himself so aereeably that the league
has persuaded him to write out his position
FOR publication.
This lands him in just the attitude that
particularly uokles the league members who
are working on Beacon Hill, for he seems to
be local option single taHer. As TO The
moral side. Mr. Adams says there can be
but one way OF looking AT 1.-THE complete
freedom IL would secure from false swearing
ofYsetting any possible wrong or injury.
Passing to his individual case, he says;
Il will at once frankly say that would be
glad 10 have it put in operation. | have
various investments hero and elsewhere. Of
different chara cter. l am interested in real
estate. both improved and unimproved. I
have a certain amount of personal property.
Now. under the operation OF the sinsle
tax, should be relieved. OF course Of all
burdens on personal property. and also Of
all burdens upon the improvements on real
estate.
The whole burden OF taxation would fall
upon my holdings OF realty alone. apart from
the improvements upon IT,
MY land tax. therefore. would unuues-
tionably be doubled. not improbably trebled.
perhaps .quadrupled. but the entire burden
would fall there.
"On the other hand nv real estate would
derive a great advantage from the system
an advantage. in fact, not easy at first
ton Of all other kinds OF property. indus
tries and occupations from taxation. there
would d. nssoessary sessa be very large and IN
for purposes Of Improvement;
lease from, taxation of all industries and
al other ,6s ns Of rHPery The indus
for the increased use OF real estate. In
other words. all the innumerable activities,
freed from burden. would feel new life.
and that new life must take the form OF a
demand for real estate upon which to work,
values. that would not trouble me. as a con-
siderable owner of land. in the slightest
degree; 81, s,or o,o ,h.,0,o,o ro.. ,,.,o,o,
am. there should be no great difficulty
about the adoption Of the single tax system,
provided always public expenditures are
strictly limited to the amount fairly neces-
sar!yy for eoye,rnmental purposes economi-
but the real practical difficulty in put
ting the single tax into operation he finds
in the country. where it would amount al-
tho S's HShfCG@n snss lie n1Spfry among
OF course. IN the end system Of COM
pensation would work itself out even. there
erty. being relieved from a burden, would
rise In value. Real property, apart from
,mIroy"ments. having double. or treble.
But each would in time find its own level.
and the, second rqrchaser. who purchased
subject 10 % the 1H burden % or IRE freed from it, and
when. that came about. the readjustmens
would have iIS become tTn complete ,,. ,. :.
came TO the point Of selling or disposlnG
Of property. would enjoy an advantage or
1s 1hs sed ali nEhs Ena. De
the mere shifting the burden would make
no difference. One hand would. as in my
Come aaain 10 q concrete case, that of
the town of llnooln' in which ! live, Lin
has no water power. or other nanufactur-
ing. advantage il IL purely residence
say that one-half Of It's tax is on land and
improvements. and tho other half on per |
Under the system Of the single tav the
personal property would be exempt. tho
inprovementS on the land would be OK |
eInpt, ana me fntlTe Dlr0cu Wplllu tueu
fall upon the unimproved land, which Is |
only adapted for agricultural nsns. Here |
is an exceptional cas-"
he result IN that Case would I've. TO fnr |
a. | can forecast II, that, coming again 30 |
an individual instance. under the operation !
OF the single tax my land tax would he proha- |
bly, raised two-fold NV total tax would /
he reduced by at least onc-half The taxes |
of my neighbors. who make their living by |
farming, would be doubled OF trebled The |
question of how much larger market they |
would enjoy for their product il one which |
can only be guessed at
Thus, from the moral point Of view, there |
seems TO be no two sides TO the discussion, !
and while. in the large majority Of towns |
in the commonwealth Of Massachusetts, |
the chances are that the system would ad- |
iuSt itself without innicting serious injury, |
NV present impression il that exceptional !
cases would develop themselves in which |
the change would amount almost to a revo- |
luton, approXirnating very closely to con- |
flsCation OF property This OF course. would 4,
have to be carefully taken into considora- /
tinu. and some measure devised through |
which the local and exceptional cases of /
hardship would he alevatcd, IL not alto
getber removed
Gould any better way of overcoming tho !
difficulty he devised than through "A sys-
ten of local option' | certainly can sug-
g"-t none In fact, IL il hard TO see what
reason could be advanced why any COM
mUnity. which saw 1T 50 Ia do, should not
u" free 10 adopt the single tax system ~
tho basis on which To raise all the revenue
necessary to cover its public expenditures