The independent., 1903-06-04


right to life, it follows that their right
to use land must be equal. The value
of anything justly belongs to the
rightful owner of that thing; therefore
rent" wealth or labor received in
return for the use of land" the righ.
OF use being equal, must belong to all
equally and should therefore be taken
by the community to pay the common
expenses. All other wealth belongs to
individuals, since each person has an
exclusive right to himself and conse-
quently to everything he produces by
the exercise of his faculties and the
use OF no more than his share of the
land. So long as he works on land
which will not yield rent his whole
product is justly his; and when he
uses land that does yield rent and
pays that rent TO the community, its
rightful owner, all the rest of the
product is justly his. Therefore the
rent-tax is the natural tax, and should
be the only tax, the Single tax
The rent-tax is paid now, and al
ways has been since land was treated
as private property, and always will
be while it..eontinues to be so treated,
but it is not paid to the rightful re-
cipient. Instead of being paid to the
public, to whom it rightfully belongs,
it is collected by private individuals
and retained by them as their own
while the public which per-
mits this misappropriation of its nat
ural and rightful revenue, resorts to
all sorts of unjust and burdensome
taxation, the public appropriation Of
private property, to get the means to
pay the public expenses.
This unjust and unreasonable course
is the direct or indirect cause of in
voluntary poverty and of the long
train of evils which flow from this
prolific source.
The private appropriation of rent
speculation in land, the
holding of land wholly or partially
out of use while waiting for it's value
to increase. Keeping good productive
land idle, forces men to resort to in
ferior land, with the result that rent
ls forced up and wages down; for
both rent and wages are governed by
the rent line" the Zine which
bounds land that will yield rent"
When this is forced out beyond where
it would normally rest, the result IS
an abnormal increase in land values
and a corresponding decrease in
wages, wealth or labor receive in re-
turn for labor"
On the other hand, the public ap-
of rent would DESTROY
and speculation, for there would be
no inducement to hold land for rise
when that rise was sure to go into
he public treasury. Good land would
hen always be within the reach of
LII and no man would have to be idle
who wished to work. Wages would
oe raised toIhe full earnings of labor
md kept there, while trent" would
% reduced to normal and kept there,
or no matter how high it might af-
erwards go, it could never be more
han the land was worth for use at
hat time.
The blessings which would follow
he abolition of our present unjust
ystem of taxation (if such an un-
scientific tumble can be called a sys-
em) with all it's related monopolies
md privileges and the adoption Of
he single tax, the natural tax are
90 numerous to mention here; suf-
ice is to say that it would abolish the
resent industrial slavery, with all
is attendant miseries, and woulI
make mankind truly free, thus paw
ng the way to the realization of the
ivine ideal of human brotherhood,
ot as divine sentiment merely, but
S grand practical reality.
EDWARD D. BURLEIGH.
Germantown, Pa.