The independent., 1903-05-14
THE SINGLE TAX
A Critical Investigation of First Princi-
pies in tho Light of History, Literature,
Jurisprudencs. and Common


of The independently
The object of the single tax on land
values in lieu of all other taxes, is
to take for public purposes that alone
which belongs of right to the public,
and to leave with the individual that
which belongs to the individual. This,
upon the ~manifestly just theory that
whatsoever man produces individual
ly, in a private capacity, is sacredly
and exclusively his own, but that
which all men produce collectively,
and in a public capacity, belongs 10
all men and cannot, without their
consent, be appropriated by the indl-
yidual for private purposes.
The public makes land values. The
Individual, as such, can make MOTH
ing but the product of his individual
labor Let us, then, give to the pub
lie that which belongs to the pubic,
and to labor that which is labors.
Tax land values and exempt the pro-
duce of labor Render therefore un-
to Caesar the things that are Caesars.
and to God the things that are Gods"
Have you ever lived in a town
whose population was steadily declin-
ing? If SO, you found that as the
people went away the land values
went with them. But as commun-
ity grows more populous the land
values grow with the population. EV-
cry babe that is born into that COM
munity adds to the value OF that
land.
No man, severing himself from civ
ilization and from all communication
with the civilized world, can go into
the heart of wilderness and add one
iot or title to the value of the land
finds there. All the Improvements
he may make can add nothing to the
value of the land. But let railroad
pass that way, to give him transpor-
tation facilities, and a telegraph or
telephone to put him in communlca-
ton with the outside world, and the
situation will change. Let other men
come in and build cities and lay out
farms around him, and the value OF
his land will leap from naught into
the thousands. If he has been wise
enough, or strong enough, to secure
a legal title to all the land in his
vicinity, no man can go there to labor
or to build, except on terms dictated
by him. He is the lord paramount OF
the soil. With the increase OF popula-
ton and industry-but not his in
dustry--his land will continue to grow
in value. He need not toll; he need
not spin; he need do nothing, but ev-
cry soul that goes to dwell in that
community will add to the value OF
his land @
Who gave this man the right to ap-
propriate the values made by the la
bor of other men? Who gave him the
right to take for his own use that
which is produced by the increasing
growth of humanity? Who gave him
the right to take from the nursing
babe the values which it brings into
this world as it's birthright? Who!
The law-the law; not Gods law, for
it is written in the book of Leviticus,
25th chapter, 3rd verse: 'The land
shall not be sold forever; for the land
is mine, for you are strangers and
sojourners with me-" And again, the
power that tipped Isaiah's lips with
hallowed fire, thunders forth the
words: ''Woe unto them that join
house to house, that lay field to field,
till there be no place, that they may
be placed alone in the midst of tho
earth"
No, it is not Gods law by virtue Of
which this thing is done-it is the
municipal law of the land; man-made
law; the same old man-made law
which compelled Socrates to drink the
hemlock, and sanctioned the cruci-
fxion Of Christ; that law which made
slaves of Terence and Epictetus, took
theFlives of BBoethius and Savanarola
dragged Huss to the stake, and sent
Russell and Sydney to the block. It
was the law, that sent the Apostle to
Rome in chains; the law, that BAN
ished Cicero and Demosthenes, and
Aristides the Just, from the lands
whose liberties they had tried to save.
1t was the law, the glorious common
law, in whose name Richard Rum
bold was sent to the scaffold, where
he declared with his latest breath In
tones that will ring in the ears of hu-
manity for a thousand generations,
mo one comes into. the world with a
saddle on his back, neither any booted
and spurred to ride him!" No great
reformer ever arose in defense of his
couutrv,s liberties without incurrjng