Evening journal., 1910-03-16
Peoples Column
SINGLE TAX AS A
REMEDY FOR ILLS

Editor THE EVENING JOURNAL.
Wherever went the past few days
almost every ono L met spoke Of VIII
lard salisbury Meredith. and not ono
word did I hear in his favor. In fact,
were he. believe l would prefer
obliyion-even dcath--to the thorough
denouncing he is receiving at the hand
Of friend and foe.
Willard Salisbury Meredith. In as
sisting in the operation Of a strike
breaking employment agency is entire
ly within his legal right. but appears
TO have decended 10 the level OF the
kind of greed unpleasant to contem-
plate. Yet whose fault is IL? Is Mere
dith responsible for the position IN
which we find him? Possible but not
probable! DO conditions mould char
acter or determine destiny If so why
blame Meredith? His vote or influence
could not set conditions. IL requires
the will OF the majority TO perform
that functional least so IL is said;
and, in the last analysis, Meredith is
no more responsible for the presence
OF the strike-b breaking agencies than
any other citizen who voted to bring
about the conditions under which we
are living at present.
Willard Merediths political career
may have shown him 10 be good. bad
or indifferent. and he is responsible for
the present condition OF affairs to that
extent. but l have heard men raking
, him fore and aft using language that
would not look nice in print. while they
themselves were and are equally re-
sponsble with Meredith, that is for the
presence Of strilSe-brealSing employ
ment agencies.
That the writer despises Meredth's
attitude goes without saying and could
not utter one word in his defense, yet
see clearly that IL conditions did not
force men into being strike breakers
| (that is IL they do). there would not
be any need for agencies to employ
| them-Hence. no Merediths
Mercy help Meredith! A man I'm his
position needs sympathy instead Of con-
demnation, and those who assisted in
placing in his path the stumbling block
over which he fell might do we'll 20
look out lest they themselves be en-
\ gulfed in the quagmire of filth thoy
are maintaining by their votes.
Is it not clear that a change of gov
ernmental policy is needed, and needed
badly?
By scanning history we find. even
without the least pretense to investiga-
ton. that clergymen, men Of profession
and of business men, who would be
considered above suspicion-sometimes
fall to terrible depths of degradation;
that the most sincere of those who oc-
cupy the more lowly walks of life COM
NIT themselves TO words and deeds
ignoble and prostituting. wondering ar
terward why they did so. The list is
emendous-incalculab
II is not sufficient to say we have
tried faithfully 20 better conditions by
electing tho various political parties
each with its "ism." and yet the evils
prevail" We must try. try again
There never was an evil but Alothel
. Nature provided an antidote.
The labor unionist may feel that thl
union is the remedy, but II is not. Tha
labor unions are a valiant BUFFER be
tween the oppressor and oppressed
5 admitted, and that there must alway
2 be labor unions to guard against TN
avariciousness of men is also granted
but yet If even the most pure of me
were at the helm in times Of STRIKE
d and every union man constituted him
s self a public guardian, assisting th
r police to maintain order aye. TO tn
best Of his ability. there would the
be such men who would be LAY
breakers--for selfish purposes-know
G ing that the odium would be cast upo
o the strikers. and these might be an
perhaps are encouraged by tho EN-
ployers in their dastardly acts. al
actuated by the greed for gold So. /
/, would seem. there must be a remed
}, found and tried that would actuall
remove selfshness. Under the mos
4 favorable conditions there must be
remedy that would lessen the necessit
. for the eternal vigilance to whic
worlSmen are subjected
Party politics cannot alter condition
except as parties change the policie
they advocate. And I do not believ
there is any necessity for the formatio
: OF new or third party. since sue
action on the part Of some of the peo
pie would merely indicate a scrambl
for places. But il is clear that eithe
Of the two. or both. great partie
should take up g. now policy that wi
eradicate the evil. This is offered II
the Single Tax. a proposition worthy o
every mans attention. But, however
II Is time TO do something-make an eff
fort extraordinary, casting our prejud
ices aside for the while. or. some day
the mob might take Il into its hea
TO try revolution-destructio
And we should not point the finge
OF. scorn at the millionaire who seek
to become Multi" nor vet at the in
dividua1 who. losing heart in the fierc
struggle for subsistence. opens al
agency for the employment of stri1
breakers. Poverty might actuate tn
latter while fear Of poverty goads tn
former along.
And. I would ask. why should thos
who toll, either by brain or Drawn, fea
poverty? That poverty could b
brought about by flood. famine 0
pestilence is admitted. but, even ther
the ehectlon could be only local. Panic
should never occur--and would no
under the Single Tax. That men woul
become wealthy-as those who wor
deserve TO be, is a foregone conclusion
but never multi" and such men a
Meredith would change from the un
pleasant character that pictures one q
our citizens to-day 20 the bright, IN
beautiful the nobler man.
But something must be tried, and
anyone can offer a better remedy tina
the Single Tax we would be please
to consider it-but try something