El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-01-22

/ !".ssesScO of valuable buildings and 9TH
er Improvements, for which ne was in
no way responsible The government
wants 20 percent of the increase in the
value Of his property thus created.
The third feature IS the tax on unde-
veIoped land-a direct tax of a half
penny in the pound. a trifIe over 2 per
cent, payable annually. the land to be
reassessed every five years. This at
tacks those owners who keep land idle
waiting for the community to ;ncreaSc-
its value, and, horror of horrors 1T
proposes a tax on the game DreServesi
Assessment Stands fOF Sf4 y ears.
Important as are these innovations 10
the English people, they pale into in
Significance when contrasted with the
machinery provided for the purpose Of
enforcing them. The landowners aud
the lords were not so much frigh eenesi
at these taxeSs for they are very light,
as they were by the provision for the
| assessment aDd valuation of the land
of the kingdom
The last land assessment in England
was made by William the Conquero-,
Immediately after his conquest Of Eng
land in 1866. The records were then
compiled in the Doomsday Book, and
that has stood for S44 years as the only
land survey in England
In the United States, where land as
sessments are made at frequent inter
walls, and where, in most of the states,
the land survey is kept continually run
ming, this proposal for an assessment
NAV not seem TO be terrible thing. But
here the landlords. especially the peers
Who hold the great estates, regard SUCH
a survey as most dangerous approach
to socialism.
The Single Tax.
Their fears are not altogether with
out foundation, for there is a consider
able party in England which favors the
naturalization OF all the land The
Lloyd-George scheme of taxations al
though now very light, would yield, as
the chancellor says, constantly in
creasing revenue, and would make the
ownership of unimproved land, and or
large quantities of land, increasingly
burdensome. In other words the bud
get proposes a land tax based upon the
theory of the single tax, as expounded
by Henry George
The charge made by the ConserFa-
tiYes that this is the single tax, and
that it is inspired by Henry George
and that 1t aims at the breaking up OF
large holdings, is not denied by the
Liberals. Many Liberal candidates for
parliament have boldly proclaimed
their faith in Henry George, and the
doctrine that the land ought TO be own
n.
that tax on improvements and indus
try is wrong. and that a tax on the
idler who does nothing TO improve his
property. but waits for the community
to add TO its value and to his wealth, is
right.
Songs In Campaign
Next to the posters, the most re-
mark able feature OF the campaign is the
universal singing, by Liberals. of The
Land Song 1t is set TO the stirring
air of Marching Through Georgia"
and part OF it is:
Sound q blast for freedom, boys, and
send It far and wide,
March along TO victory, for God is on
our side;
While the voice OF nature thunders DER
the rising tide
God made the land for the peopley
'sThe land, The land.
Twas God who gave the land,
The land! The landI
The ground on which we stand,
Why should we be beggars with the
ballot in our hand?
God gave the land to the people""
This song was distributed in sheet
music form and every copy bore on the
back a portrait Of an American-Henry
George, the single taxer.
The Poor Mans Loaf.
The opposition. all through the cam
paign, worked to divert attention from
the land question and the budget, by
attacking the Liberal policy on the
navy, by predicting war with Germany,
and by offering tariff reform as
means Of getting revenue and protec-