The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-11-24
The Philosophy of Freedom
An Open Forum for Single Takers

1t by nature, or accrued by the growth
Of the community in whose midst it
lies, has not been created by the indi
yidual III possession, or by any one
from whom h has purchased it, and of
right belongs to the community.
This difference in the productive
qualities of land might have been Sc
cured to the community by a leasing"
T Of the land from time to time to whom
soeyer would give to the community
the most advantageous terms for its
use, and this course ought to be adopt
ed in the ccse Of all land not actually
now in use; but with the habits and
customs which have grown up in this
very complex organism called society
today, such a method would be, for the
present tim /, inconvenient as it is also
u necess ry; as the benefits properly
accruing to society from the difference
in productive capacity Of the lands of
the community, now claimed as the
property" of individuals, can be Sc
cured by assessing a rent upon such
land equal to the difference in produce
llNC Cdpd lily OCtWCCl IL N1ACluulHS3 tuC
value OF all improvements and other
products of labor therefrom) and the
least productive land in use.
In the complex society in which we
are living, this difference in value or
productive capacity, which is what is
termed the economic rent" of land,
would amply provide for the cost of all
| functions properly to be performed by
society as such. inded we may conf
IDENTIFY predicate, that no function which
can not be sufficiently provided for out
| of such economic rent can be one
which society, as a unit, ought to ad-
minister. Hence, all other taxes would
be unnecessary, and this economic rent
| is what is meant by the single tax,
which it will now be apparent is no
tax at all, but simply payment to
| the community for the privilege Of US
| ing more productive utility than an
other, of the utilities which belong to
society; being either such as nature
has provided or has been impaired to
it through the growth of society, and
being thus produced by the efforts of
all, properly belongs to ALL To per-
nit any selected persons to enjoy this
greater productiveness without pay
ment to the community is to permit
them to appropriate the property of
others, and differs from stealing in
that the law permits it and the ap-
perpetrators are generally unaware Of
the wrong thus done.
But this is not the only, nor even the
worst Of the mischief which results
from the present unjust state of the
law. We have recently seen the terri
BILE consequences of permitting indi-
viduals to monopolize the forces of
nature without giving any equivalent
for them. About 100000 of people
were in danger of being frozen to death
at the pleasure and for the profit of a
few wretched creatures, no better than
the average American, and by reason
of their defective surrounding become
incapable of recognizing the rights of
olaers. 10 these men the evil laws of
this country had given the right to
nearly all the coal fields of the eastern
part of the United States, and in dis
regard of those laws, they had become
posseSSors as well of the coal rail-
roads. The law, as administered, had
also made it to their interest to hold
the greater part of these coal lands out
of use, and to crush those who really
produced the coal by taking from them
by far the larger part of the product
of their labor and so perverted were
their minds through the possession of
the power thus, partly lawfully and
partly unlawfully in their hands, that
they actually believed or pretended to
believe that the Almighty had given
them the right to determine what por-
ton of the products of their labor
should be suffered to go into the hands
of the producers
Tired of the oppression under which
they had long labored, the miners at
last refused to continue to work upon
such terms, and rather than pay them
a mere living share of the products of
their own labor, these, the monopolists
of the coal lands by law and of the
means of transportation in defiance Of