The Whitefish pilot. [volume] (Whitefish, Mont.) 1904-current, 1912-05-16
TAXATION OF idle LAND
(By G. w. Avery.)


We are very much like the pro-
verbal OK which has wound his
picket rope around the post unit
ne had no room to move and stood
starving in the midst of plenty. Ma.
ture placed mans riches in the soil
they are there in abundance. We
have only to unwind the rope and
help ourselves AS the Irish scar.
gent said to the squad Of soldiers
Come out here and look at your
selves"
Here we are grooming, Tuning, Gus.
sing, and bowling about the high
cost of living. Blaming the trusts
tariff, manufacturers, wholesalers
retailers and everybody we can, while
all the time there are four hundred
million acres of agricultural land
lying idle in the nation. Hunger and
want abroad is in the land while
this stupendous storehouse of nature
riches is closed to the people.
Allowing acres to support each
individual. this idle land properly
handled would support eighty mil
lions of the people. 1t is beyond the
power of human tongue to tell or
brain to grasp the tremendous eco
nomic changes that would be brought
about if this vast landed wealth was
put to productive uses. The policy
The land for the people" is the
key that will unlock the storehouse.
Every political party, clique or
faction, is now appealing witch fran
tic eagerness to the people for their
support. The long suffering people
may elect all of them one after the
other; giving each in turn full con-
troll of the affairs of government,
but unless radical change is made
in our land tax policy, there will be
scarcely any noticeble change in the
economic condition Of the people.
History fails to show a single in
stance where the land was control
led by spectators and at the same
time people We're happy, contented
and prosperous. Nor has history any
such condition in store for us in
the future. The eternal laws of ma
ture will roll on unchanged until
time and man shall be no more. The
land for the people. Possession Of
land for use only. These are the
principles on which our government
must rest before any material chang
in the economic condition CT the
people will take place. Take from
the holder of the idle land in taxa
ton the full amount of the value
that has been to his holdings by the
industry of the people. and exempt
industry from taxation. In other
words arrange our tax laws so as
to make it Improbable to hold idle
land. When We have done this it
will make very little difference what
name We call our form of govern
ment; anything from absolute mon
archy to anarcy The fact will be
that the people then rule and make
a government to suit them.
If you think that the election or
Ing to make any material difference
sand years Of English history. 1t
is a history of political upheavals.
Now one party in power then that
party out, another in and SO the
game has gone on since the days of
w lllldu lie COuQuSL
In that time they have passed
through Feudalism, slavery, and in
to the landlord system, but through
1t all the land policy has remained
the same. That is to say, that at all
times the landless many have paid
tribute to the land holding few.
There can be but one result from
such policy,viz: excessive riches on
one hand and corresponding degree
of poverty on the other The same
principle applies to our own nation.
1t is slowly working out here as it
has in all the cid monarchies of
Europe.
Doubtless there were many causes
contributing to the downfall of the
Babylonian ,Grecian, Egyptian and
Roman empires but the one great
and overruling cause was their land
policy Cause proceeds effect. Every
dollar added to the value of idle
land is the lawful property of some
Industrious individual. It is taking
little from each of large number
and giving it to one. thereby crea-
ting class distinction, congested
wealth and intensified poverty.
Political parties may appeal to
The people with ship load of po-
lltical planks, but if they omitted the
one 1.-The land for the people" they
have missed the mark
All other policies shrivel into in
significance compared to this one.
humanity can not prosper without
access to the soil.
Let the land for the people" be
DUR battle cry
(The end.)
There never was time when peo-