The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-12-08

Editor independent: The present
prominence of huge combinations and
the recent gain in the socialistic vote
are more than a coincidence
The questions that are brought up
must be settled and it high time that
the theories of the socialists were eth
er disproved or applied. While in
sympathy with their aim. the aboli-
tions of involuntary poverty, can not
bring myself to believe in the remedy
proposed by them. They say that the
ownership OF the m ans of production,
land and tools. gives to the possessor
power to oppress This statement |
can not accept in it's entirety. To say
that man is a slave to that which
he can reproduce with ease is to state
that which is obviously absurd. Nine
times out of ten the socialist, when il
Illustrating his idea of the benefits that
would come from government owner
ship, takes as the object of his illus
tration. a business that in it's very La
tdre is monopolistic, such as railroad,
telegraph or street car system. A mo-
nopoly in private hands is indefensible
and that such systems as are monopol-
istic from the very nature of their bust
ness should be operated by the govern
ment is admitted by an ever increas
ing number of citizens who are without
leaning toward socialims and are. in
fact, opposed to it.
Buildings and machinery are created
by labor and can be>reproduced with
ease. They are, in fact, mere tools and
to say that the laborer is appeased and
held in servitude by his tools is the
height of absurdity. That the laborer
is appeased and receives less than a
just share of what b. produces is ap-
parent. That t..3 is due. in any de-
gree, to the fact that he does not own
the machine that he operates or the
building in which he works is not We
must look elsewhere for the cause Of
involuntary poverty.
All the products of human labor, all
the tools that are used in production,
are produced by the application of Ia
Dor to the earth-the earth being the
source of all wealth. Deny man ac-
cess to the earth and he perishes. Let
one man own the land on which anoth-
er man must get a living and that man
is his slave The fact that his owner,
or employer, owns the tools does not
give him this power, it is the ownership
of the land With free access to the
earth labor could readily furnish itself
with tools If the demands of those who
had them were unreasonable.
While the source of all wealth is
held by a few it inevitably follows that
the great mass of mankind are doomed
to practical slavery and any attempt
at reform that ignores this is predes-
tined to failure.
The earth was intended by the Gre
ator for the use, the equal use, of all
mankind. The poorest child has, NOR
ally, as much right to the use of the
earth as one who inherits thousands
of valuable acres. That this truth is
fast becoming recognized is ,evident
by the spread of the theories of Henry
George. The single tax proposed by
him is the only practical remedy ever
advanced that strikes at the root Of
injustice. It's adoption would dispel
the storm clouds now gathering. 1t
would usher in new era in which
every man might sit under his own
vine and fig tree and no one need be
afraid
]. F. COMERN.
East Charlotte. VT