Evening journal., 1907-04-09
POWER OF THE
SINGLE TAX
CBy John N. Dorney1

he wrote.
Never yet grains Of truth were vainly
set
In the worlds wide tallow;
After hands shall care the seed.
After hands from Hill and mead
Shall reap the harvests yellow"
Addison also gives assurance Of the
inherent power of truth IN those SPLEEN
did lines:
'iSee the planets In their turn
Confirm the tidings as they roll;
And spread the truth from pole TO
pole"
Today throughout the civilized world
there is a mighty awakening Of hu-
manity-under Gar Emperor, Ki1g
and Lords of the old world. and IN this
great republic Of ours, the people are
arousing from the lethargy that so long
has held them I'm stagnant subiectlon.
From the Neva in frozen Russia 10
the Amazon In far South America
from Bulgaria to ireland. from Ger
many to New zealand-from Hyde Park
IN London to our own CITY on the hills
between the BrandyNine and Chris
tiana, the great common people-the
wealth producers--the taxpayers OF the
world are preparing for the struggle to
Unhorse plutoaracy. They are assert
ing with Robbie Burns.
Frank Is but the guinea stamp
A mans a man for a. that
And they are denying. with that
great Democrat. the immortal Jeffer-
son, that the mass of mankind were
born with saddles on their backs, and
q few born booted and spurred to ride
them. Lord Byron says somewhere.
But words are thiugs-and a small
drop Of ink
Failing Ike dew upon thought pro-
duces that which makes thous-
ands. aye, millions think"
II IS to the everlasting slory Of this
American republic OF ours that it was
an American. aye, and simply one of
the plain people. a mechanic, to whom
the entire civilized world and partic-
ularly this republic is indebted for the
mighty awakening of the people now IN
progress.
Henry George, the printer next to
Jefferson, the greatest man this Amer
| lean republic has produced. is the man
TO whom the world and particularly,
| America owes a debt of gratitude.
| His works are destined to abolish the
tinsel gew-gaws OF royalty IN the old
world to wipe out the destructive reign
OF plutocracy in this country and to
hiring about the reign Of justice.
The most intelligent criticism on
Progress and Poverty on its appear
ance twenty-five years ago was given
by the oditor Of the Virginia City (Ne-
vada) Chronicle. He said then that
! PROGRESS and Poverty is book
which every capitalist ought to read
(which every landowner would be wise
TO read, and IL Is a book. once it begins
to circulate among the masses Of the
people, every politician viii have to
read.
True, Henry George did not discover
the stupendous truth the mighty power
OF the single tax He gives due credit
to those illustrious Frenchmen of the
eighteenth century who bllzcd the way.
He dedicates his great work 'Protec-
tion and Free Trade" i'm these words
ITO the memory of those rlustrious
Frenchmen Of a century ago. Quenay,
Turgot, Mirabean, Condorcet duPonr
and their bellows. who in the night Of
despotism foresaw the glories of the
coming day"
Henry George is dead. but his work
lives after him. There are a million
| Henry Georges To-day who are using
their brain. money and time propagat- .
ing the great truths thet Henry George
made so clear that even the men sweep
ing the Streets or the cobhler mending
shoes can clearly understand.
The reference to the cobbler brings
up the striking fact that as Ear as I
have been able to discover. II was an
/ humble cobbler who was the pioneer
Single Taxer in this city. 1t may be
Of interest to the general reader, and
I am sure it viii be 20 the 1000 Single
Tax men in Wilmington. and the 1900
sngle Takers in our little state, to know
how the Single tax tree I'm Delaware
grew from a grain of truth
found the Single Tax ia the Knights
OF Labor in Camden \. j., in 1886.
I came to Wilmington in August. 1887
In the shops Of the Hanlan and Hol-
lingsworth Company. where / was then
following my trade. I got into a dis
cussion with a number OF my fellow
mechanics on "tho social problem"
found them all az sea as to what
was the remedy for their hard condi-
ton. Some Of them wanted more tariff
high as you can get IT, some Of them
wanted a tariff just sufficient to cover
the difference fin wages; some Of them
wanted free silver; some Of them were
sociaistic and wanted the government
10 run everything.
Some were anarchists, and they ad-
vocated Knocking hi out of the rich. .
And thrn there we're fellows who lack
ed gray matter. in that they wanted 10
stop all immigration and by the great
horn spoon. some OF those stop immi-
grafton eeezers were the sons Of Gei =
man and Irish Immigrants.
And ridiculous to state, some of them
were Irish and Germans who had late
~ passed through Castle Garden.
Well lit into 'em. That was my
first week in Wilmington.
The next day one Of the men told
me "he heard there were some men
going TO thy to organize a club about
that land business"
BY appointment ] met the young man
that evening and we journeyed TO the
hall at Fifth and Walnut streets, now
a macafoni factory and there / met 4
miscellaneous audience Of some thirty
men. All or nearly an, were strangers
TO each other
The meeting had lbcencaled by George
w. Kreer. and ] wish 20 say in pass
ing that George W. fIreer for years
was the main stay Of the Single Tax
I'm Delaware. IL was IN the shoe cob
ier's shop that the attention Of Mr.
I L~ro,r .t.oa drawn To tho Sfnrlo tax