New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-12-06
RELYING ON PROF. CLARK
Writer Finds Hope in His Attitude
Toward Speculation in Home SUES

Toward Speculation IN Home oi'0''
To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir: In his rejoinder to our letter OF NJ
venber q Professor John b. Clark, or %
lumbia. I'm to-day's issue Of The Tribune
comedies that a certain kind OF speculation
in home sites. II It were general ana ionS
adhered to, might have a bad effect TO all
extent that would need correction.
Members of the committee on homes oil
the Tenants Union regard this concession
as beine equivalent to an assurance OF
help from the professor to eradicate TINS
most malignant evil. when truly lnior''ieu
Of. It's home preventing extent. Unlor'u-
nately. there are not an enormous num-
Der Of land companies competing Win one
another for the business OF the myrldos
of home seekers. There are only elgh'S
five of these companies I'm Manhattan ana
The Bronx and only eighteen In Brookiyii
and Queens. OF these very few own the
great hulk Of desirable land. The men or
families that are backing these land colii-
panies with the millions they nave won ny
forestalling, are so rich and so Jew that
they can afford 10 wait for the myrlaos Vi
would-be home builders. one famlly mas
obtained five hundred acres in The Bronx
which are not for sale. One company al
vertises twenty thousand lots In brooklyn
that are for sale at take-it-or-ieaVe-t
prices.
Peal estate dealers inform our home COM
rnittee that there IS little or no demand
for building sites at present prices Lots
vacant lots-everywhere. but all too dear
to buv and build on. We are, in fact, IN
onA 20 mil
therefore a house famine. with all the at
tendant horrors Of undue congesuon Oh
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. murders ana Immoral
tiles that menace the health and llVes OF
all orr citizens and cry out 10 heaven Tot
correction. Earnest lovers Of mankind are
APPALLED, at the awful conditions IN our
midst hut as vet only one source OF renel
has given them any hope-Vlz.' the piii
gradually to allow the taxes on houses,
that make them dear. 10 drip to the laho
that IL cheapens. as was done In van
couver. and is being done in other towns
I'm British Columbia TO keep their lnhapl-
tants from ali moving to Vancouver.
Professor Clark calls this remedy conns-
cation. Well. II Is confiscation Of a com
munal creation or value, whereas taxing
houses IS confscation of individual crea-
tions and not in harmony with the com
mandment not TO steal Nmle our city
continues to hand over it's valuable iran
chises and public utilities TO private eX-
ploiters II mus continue to support It's
government as it does now, by conhscauon'
Confiscation means to provide for the gen
eral Golfers. II is a word entitled to be
regarded as affectionately as patriotism.
Is II not distressing, therefore, TO see
go eminent an authority use this heaven
horn word as II It were synonymous with
robbery?
Ia Il not moro distressing TO hear the
deafening howls Of the rent-eaters whom
our government enables to force from It's
cit,zens more than $70oO0O.OO0 annually in
rent in the city Of New York. loudly shout
"Confscation!" as they begrudgingly give
TO the government its rebate In taxes TOT
this princely privilege? Professor CLARK
satiricaly suggests that the national gov
eminent might gain handsome income py
appropriating railroads. If the nationaI
government confscated its own contriou-
tions TO the railroads would there be any
thing left for anybody to appropriate?
Article VIII of the Articles of Confed-
Grafton, that preceded our CONSTITUTION
made provision for the support or the gen
eral government by the contributions OF
the several states OF their confscations OF
values Of all lands within the states. PM
losophers tell us that this moral method OF
taxation, or coniscation, would have oeen
in the Constitution If the removal or the
disabilities Of the Tories who fought against
Washington had been delayed long enough
N keen their parasitic influences out of the
convention that made our Constitution. I'm
happilv. they were powerful enough to SUBJ
stitute the pratical method properly called
tariff, after the home OF the most no
torious pirates, Tarifa. What great hu-
initiation for the greatest republic, with so
good a start in the right direction. TO be
diverted in wrong directions for 10 years.
whose radical citizens are feebly STRIVING
through reciprocity and treaties OF trade
TO return to the main road that was so
foolishly abandoned In 1883, the very year
I'm which the people Of France substituted
confscation for the general good for the
private possession Of the land for the fc'7.
II the evolution OF the reform that we
propose shall far overtop the Confiscations
of the French Revolution. as Professor
Clark says, perhaps we shall be able TO
harvest and perpetuate the good effects
for the multitudes of tenants and persuade
some of our neighbors who snamelessiy
shift their burdens to become self-reliant'
sef-sustaining, honest citizens.
CORNELIUS DONOVAN,
President Tenants Union of New York.
New York. Dec. 2, 1911.