The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-22
THE HOME OF THE SINGLE TAX
Fairhope, in the State of Alabama, Where the Referendum is an
 Established Process,

Ernest B. Gaston in N. Y. Independent.
 Upon a gentle acclivity on the east shore of Mobile Bay. in Alabama, on site well chosen for its natural beauty, ous, energetic. embodying a novel exper- imcnt in new methods of dealing with vexing social problems, the community has more than Justified the hopes of It's friends and weli-wishers.
 Beginning in January. 1885, with nve families of Iowans, in a pine forest on the eastern shore of the bay sixteen miles southeast of Mobile. Fairhope has now seventy-ive families and is growing with accelerating speed. The five fami- lies comprising its first settlers hailed from Des Moines. They subscribed each s2O0 for membership in the colony, with which a tract of land was purchased and deeded to the present landlord of the town. the "Fairhope Industrial Associa. tion." The association now owns 100 | acres and Is continually making fresn purchases. Forests have been cut down; land has been brought under cultivation: a water system has been put up; wharf and a steamer have been built.
 Any person, even though he be tndif- ferent or actually hostile to the central idea-single tax-may lease the land in Fairhope for 99 years on the same terms as one fully imbued with the principle. Rental valuations, determined ansuaily by the Executive Council" are sGo5ect to a referendum to the whole resident rert-paying membership, and approxi- mate per cent of the estimated value, exclusive of all improvements. The best | city lots, each one about one-fourth Of | an acre, can be had at $l.60 to about SIS | each per annum. Outlying lots cost less. , Farm lands are held as cheaply as twenty cents per acre, up to Sl00 annually. The rental charges represent the entire cost of holding lands in the colony. for State and county taxes are paid by the colony | authorities out of the rent.
 In 1908 the rent paid by the settlers Will 1 be about $1,00O; the State and county | taxes will be about $4000. The difference munity in the form of public improve: ments. A water system Is provided and | water Is free to all colonists. When lighting systems, street cars, telephones | and all public utilities shall have been called into being the services will also be free.
 A part of the rent is used to supple ment the meagre public school fund year. | ly giving Fairhope children nine months free tuition, where other districts have from three to five. Two commodious 1 bath-houses have been erected and are
 free to settlers. One of. tn finest fret | libraries in the State of Alabama is alst | an accomplished fact.
 1 The community Is governed entirely bS the initiative and referendum and thu | imperative mandate. Ten per cent of th'
 members of the association may demand a general vote upon any question affecting
 the interests of the community, and thu
 trustees are bound to call an election fol
 the purpose. Whether the question be fo
 the revocation of some order of the Ex
 ecutive Council or the retention of al
 official, a simple majority prevails Tn
 pur chase of a membership brings in botl
 husband and wife to equal voting rights
 Children of members have to acquire vot
 ing rights on the same terms as thei
 parents.
 Ccmpactness of settlement. which
 but another name for the complete an
 normal use of land, is actually to be seel
 at Fairhope. Scarcely any vacant lot
 gape between houses in the village. Tn
 taking for public use Of the full annua
 value of the sites discourages the hold
 ing of lands for mere speculation. Fair
 hope will never present the spectacle, S
 familiar in the West of miles upon mile
 of city lots' offered at fabulous prices
 of curbs and streets cut through prairie
 and forests; or a "city" of 10000 peopl
 with an incorporated area sufficient t
 house ten times the number Nor will l ever experience the bursting of a Ian boom by which thousands of people ar
 ruined and millions of dollars are lost , the inevitable turn of the tide.
 Nearly all the residents of Fairhop are from the North. Iowa contribute the first settlers; Ohio, Illinois, Indians Pennsylvania and the New Englan , States gave quotas; and one late acces r sion included a number of persons frol
 D Henry George coterie in Holland wh first settled in Paterson, N. J.