The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-28
AN EFFECTUAL METHOD OF REDUCING THE HIGH
 COST OF LIVING


 There are ], 1,sO5 0o0. 900 acres of land in the United States. and it is est1rnat- ed that Approximately 100000 are at present available for farming purpos- es.
 The cultivated areas in 1911 yielded $15.72 per acre exclusive of farm anil mals and their products Calculated on a basis o< their poten- tiaI earning power the uncuttivafed 1 acreage should yield a, splendid total ing animals and their products. which the Agricultural Report of 1910 placed
 at $2.913. GOO, 900.
 Now here is a mine, compared with which the fabled GoEconda was pau ble. The marvellous Magic Lamp in the Arabian Nights story is alone comparable with it.
 someone to tickle it with a. hoe, that lit may laugh harvest But how are those someone's toN tickle2 What pre- this pleasant and lucrative diversion? Among all the hungry horde of req sons, two stick out Hike two sore
 thumbs-horrfbly obvious and intru- sive primarily, the high price of land due to huge areas being held out of use by land specuIators: and second ly-prohibitive transportat ton rates The first evil can be readily over come by taxing the land on a basis where it will be no longer possible for
 spectators to hold it out of use.
 THE SINGLE TAX TO REGULATE PRESENT UNFAIR TAXATION. The single tax is being employed in various parts of the world to this end and while it is not a panacea for all our economic ills, it bids fair to put
 the burden of taxation upon shoulders best able to support it.
 Does it not seem the very acme of
 folly and feeble mindedness for us to
 penalizsmas we now aoeverg sgt,tt attempr nl9f tax rates that the moment man makes a house and woodshed STOW where none grew before. we fine him
 for it, by drastically increasing h1s
 The adoption of the single tax sys- tenn would do away with this unjust method of extorting money, and re- ieve our impoverished rich from the necessity of perennially perjuring themselves by swearing off'' taxes And,s in addition, it would give tremendous impetus to building opera tions, put immense sums of money into circulation, and bring about an era of
 general prosperity.
 our acreage, PROVIDED that the av-
 aricious railroads didn't continue to inhfbit agrarian activities by extor- tionate charges, and skim ali the cream from the venture.
 PUBLIC MUST ACQUIRE OWNER SHIP OF RAILROADS. Under the present benefcent system of exploita tion-wher dividends upon
 $9, GOO, 100000 worth of pure, transiu- cent water must be dug out of the sapient public-the railroad barons have oIigarchic power. This they ein- ploy in zlevying heavy tribute upon l the farmer, not only in products tran sported from the farm, but in goods delivered to the farm
 We are now attempting to regulate these charges with perhaps. some slight degree of success. But it is ali extremely difficult thing to regulate another mans business without being 1 tyrannical or confiScatory in the Op- eration And further. it can be shown l by judicious system of bookkeeping, l that the charges are barely sufficient
 to pay the interest on the invest l nent''
 And further, if a. corporation cannot i capitalize the earning power Of its
 business, it is. in effect, prevented arbitrarily from enJoylng what JuStly l belongs to it.
 l So that the problem, from an ethical
 moral, and legal standpoint, is an ex- trernely complex one.
 However. it is only a question of a 1 few years until the railroads must be-
 come Government enterprises, as they are in almost every other civilized
 country in the world
 | Then with charges properly adjusted l on a basis of interest on the physical
 can be cut in half. And, strange to say, no one will suffer from this sur gery excepting a greedy horde of rail- 1 road owners who toll not, neither yachts. and palaces on the Bois de I Cologne. Under Government manage 1 ment the transportati ton service will be better than it ever has been- This is the universal experience of | countries where it has been in force. 1 And one thing we'll have-which is ! now denied us-an adequate number | of men and cars wherewith to handle | our freight and passenger busin ess. This is absolutely certain. So here l we have eur equation.
 1 To reduce the cost Of living, our 1 acreage must be increased. To in- I crea SC our acreage, land must be l cheapened and to cheapen land we | must force it's surrender by specula- tors, and so adjust taxes that they de