Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-08-21

1 -
Washington. d. c.. Aug. 2o.-The
progressive party, after . year OF ire
looks to be breaking up. The spii'
seems to be coming In New Jersey.
A dissention which began at the chi
cago convention at which tho part!
was formed has now grown until tne
differences between the two faction!
seem irreconcilable. The radicals. lee
by Pinchot, Record. Heney and Mer-
riam will 60 one way. The other wing
headed by Roosevelt, and lnciuoins
Pittsburgh boss, Dan Hanna. OF Cleve,
| land. Frank A. Munsey and others VIII
20 In the opposite direction, possibly
back to the republican fold. Such are
the signs,
It is known now to be the deliberate
purpose OF the radical wing to provoke
this split by carrying to the next ma
tional convention OF the party the as
tonishing platform on which the Pin
chot candidate is running for the pro-
gressive nomination for governor Of
New Jersey. 1t 10 believed this platform
IL adopted will drive the Roosevelt fac
ton out Of the party.
The issue Is seen in New Jersey,
where the. progressive primaries occur
on September 8. The radicals have put
up as their candidate Edmund Burke
Osborne. wealthy manufactures OF
calendars. a former Iowa school teacn-
er who became rich by developing his
own invention Of color printing pro-
cess, The Roosevelt faction is behind
Everett Colby, millionaire lawyer.
The platform on which Osborne 10
running ID something more than
platform. It IL doctrine, philosophy,
and revolutionary philosophy at that.
Only one other party, the socialist
party, has revolutionary philosophy
for righting economic wrongs
The Pinchot philosophy grew out OF
number OF conferences in New York
last spring. Its evolution shows the
value of such party revolt as split
the republicans last year. That revolt
set thousands Of honest men thinking
abount conditions for the first time IN
their lives. Pinchot. Heney. Merriam
In New York last spring. They began
thinking about the millennium. the
fundamental reforms needed to secure
absolute equality Of opportunity.
The Roosevelt people were not invit-
ed into these conferences The split be-
tween the factions had occurred over
the trust plank In the progressive plat
form. The radicals believed the trust
plank was written by George w. Per-
plank declared for regulation OF trusts
instead OF dissolution. The Pinchot ele-
ment was in favor Of dissolution.
A millennium based on the Roosevelt
idea would be socialism. The Pinchot
view would lead to the opposite ex-
treme, complete individualism, the
ideal state Of anarchy, in the philosoph-
ical sense of the word.
Having the individualistic belief. the
Pinchot group got down to fundamen-
tails AZ starting point for thought.
What, In the last analysis, causes the
economic evils OF today? Private mon
opoiy, they decided. And why can prt-
tvate monopoly exist? Because special
| privilege exists.
Therefore, runs their syllogism, de-
stroy privilege and you destroy monop-
oily, restoring fair competition and
freedom Of opportunity
But what are special privileges? ask
ed these political thinkers In their con-
ferences. Their analytical minds got
busy. For weeks they catalogued spec
ial privileges and they found that all
Of them could be reduced to Ave forms.
In fact, this is an axiom In the new
doctrine: There are Ave forms Of
special privileges and no other forms" 7
/. The franchise privilege.
2. The privilege Of monopolizing land
8. The privilege OF patents.
4. The credit privilege
5. The privilege derived from indirect
taxation.
The remedy for the first. according
to this new doctrine, is to abolish prt-
vate ownership Of public highways,
such as the railroads. telegraph and
telephone lines. and all public utilities.
from taxation everything but land, and
tax the use-value Of land 80 heavily
that the unearned increment IL confls-
Gated by the people.
A novel remedy is proposed for the
third. The doctrine recognizes the
right Of the inventor to the full reward
due him from society for his invention.
Today, It Is asserted he often gets
nothing and the public goes without
benefit because OF the suppression of
valuable inventions by corporations.
monopolistic ownership Of patents and
to allow anyone to manufacture any
patented device by payment of a roy
atty to.the inventor.
It il also proposed that the govern
ment conduct the banking Of the. coun-
try, thus taking the control OF credit
from private hands.
Finally, this remarkable propaganda
would abolish all forms Of indirect tax
alton, such as the tariff, internal reve-
nue. taxes and license taxes, on the
ground that the effect Of such taxation
is to farm out the collection Of taxes to
individuals whose tendency 10 to be-
come extortionate.
The significant feature of this pro-
gram lies in special privilege No. q.
ard the remedy therefor. In other
words, Pinchot and his followers have
adopted the single tax philosophy and
hope to make it the fundamental prin-
ciple on which the new progressive
party will rest.
Up to the present the single tax
movement has had no party Most Of
the believers Of the Henry George doc
trine. including his own son, are demo-
Gratis. II the Pinchot program is adopt
ed by the progressive party 1t will put
a different complication on national
politics. True, such revolutionary
movement would not hope for any
MANY INSPECT THE