The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1912-01-13
Unemployment.
toby Labor rs Gale

To prove that thereyis a large body
of workers, capable, Industrious and
willing, who are denied the opportun-
ity of employment ds unnecessary. It
is fact admitted on all sides. The
problem has been with us from times
long ago.. and is+growing Increasingly
acute. Many so-called reforms have
been instituted, and schemes carried
out, but so far no impression has
been made on the evil. Neither is it
necessary to dwell on the terrible pow
erty and suffering that results from
unemployment The evidences stare
us in the face wherever we turn, and
it is apparent that the National Con-
stttution is being gradually under
mined by this dread social disease.
No one will deny that to cope eft
fectively with any social: evil the only
way is to discover, the root cause,
and apply the remedy there. It is
because this fundamental truth. has
not been taken account Of that all the
unemployment cures that have yet
been tried have so utterly failed.
They have but treated in ;a$pallat1ve
manner with the effects of the d.
sease, ignoring the root cause. am
going to try and show, in the limited
space at my disposal, what we sup
porters Of land values taxation be-
lieve to be the cause of unemploy-.
ment, and the remedy we would ap-
ply. :: ..:.:
When a man is involuntarily un-
employed it means that he is denied
the opportunity Of applying his ener-
gies and abilities in order to produce
for himself food clothing, and the
other things that make life possible
and pleasureable, or he is denied the
opportunity of producing a certain
article or articles that he could ex-.
change for these |necessaries. When
we find In our midst a great num-,
Der Of unemployed it means either
one of two thing -namely, (a) that
the soil of this country is unable to
comfortably support it's inhabitants;
or CO. that production is in some
way restricted . =
DO not think that onyone will
for moment erfously take the first
contention as a possible one. Take
casual walk through any town and
you will see quite a large number
Of vacant plots, eminently suitable
for the erection of houses, shops,
factories, warehouses, and Offices:
Take journey through. the country
side land you will see acre upon acre
of good arabic land under. grass, or.
perhaps you may come. across an i'm
mense pheasant run" game preserve,
or deer forest. AL this land could
produce excellent crops for food or
raw material for manufacture.
We are then forced to accept the
second contentious, that production is
in some way restricted. Now, every
thing produced is the result of the
application of labot;s assisted by CAPT.
tai, to land. This nnfy seem rather a
sweeping statement;' but take any ar
ticle or substance you like; and you
will find that in fhs first instance
the raw materials In its: constitution
are direct products OF the soil, and
that no matter how many or how
varied are the processes through
which it passes, it is quite simple to
trace how for each and everyone Of
them access to land Is the first es-
sential T..
1t is quite clear, then, that to :'ex-
tend production it is necessary to in
crease the opportunities. of applying
labor to land. 1t seems 80 simple.
Here in this country there is plenty
of good producing and building land
and plenty of labor eager-straining
at the leash in its eagerness-to ap-
ply it's energies to the land. Yet
there is land out of use and men out
of employment. Why? Because land
is held as a private monopoly, and
because our present systems of rating
and taxation penalize the use Of land.
It is left to the within or caprice of
a private individual to say whether
production shall take place, or on
what terms. If he says nay, or de-
mands .prohibitive terms, men are de-
MED the opportunity of satisfying
their needs and must starve.
And this individual is encouraged,
even Influenced, to do this by our
taxation systems. So long as his land
is idle, producing nothing, he pays
| nothing towards the public expend-
iture, but directly he opens his land
to industry he is rated and taxed in
proportion to the use he has made OF
the land. If he allows 1t to be badly
used he pays little. If we'll used he
pays heavily. So long as these con-
ditions obtain. SO long will landown-
ers be able to Withhold land from use,
and so long as they are able to with
hold land from use. restricting. the
available supply, and SO putting two
or three producers into conpet ition
for an average piece Of land, so long
will they have the power OF demand
ing. in the form Of rent, the best
portion of all wealth that is produced
by the workers. : :. -. =,
We supporters Of the taxation !, of
land values claim that matters can
be adjusted. and idle land thrown
open to labor that is waiting to- apply
it's energy and ability in producing