The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-03-09

policies.
.REFORAF' Is EXPENSIVE.
That the political reforms Of the
Progressive practitioners como high il
to be found in the conditions that
have developed in Wisconsin. which has
been under their guiding hand since the
day that LaFollette's star began its
political ascendancy there. Attention
is again called to this forcefully In a
letter that appears in The Contributors
club department in the current issue OF
the Atlantic Monthly. It comes from
Ellis b. Usher of Milwaukee. Wis.,. who
writes as follows:
Permit me to thank you. and the
author for the very lucid. important
and timely article by Professor Alvin
8. Johnson, in the January Atlantic.
1.-The Case Against the Single Tax" In
the case against present political
tendencies in this country. We who
live in Wisconsin, which Mr.. Roosevelt
has SO happily termed the experiment
station" knows this better, perhaps.
than some others. for we have been
subjects for all the crack-brained pre-
scriptions for curing the ills OF unjust
taxation by using "the hair of the
dog"
The tendency in this state IL already
toward the confiscation of property by
taxation. Our system operates now. 30
far as farmers are concerned. virtually
as a single land-tax.
In his first message as governor. in
January, 1901, Robert NJ. LaFollette
criticized his predecessors because their
record showed "a steady and rapid in
crease in the cost Of government" He
defined this as IAN advance Of 80 per
cent within a period Of ten
years. A table which is a part of the
message. shows that the aggregate cost
of government for the ten years
(1SS9-1S9S) to which he referred, was
$30, 354. 0O0.72, or about 100000 per an
mum. In the last year OF the decade
total disbursements reached So, 708, $3.50.
Mr.. LaFollette, who established our
experiment station" was governor six
years, during which the state spent
$sO.524,s40.0s, and for the last year ex-
penditures rose to $5.104, 1868. That was
doing well, but the last legislature. Of
1913. appropriated over $36.0o0, 900. for
the current two years.
We collect this year in income taxes
over $4,000. 900: and in taxes upon
railroads over 100000. Either item
exceeds the entire cost Of state gov
eminent in 1900.
Meanwhile our ratio of increase in
population has fallen from 22.2 per
cent in 1900. to 1913 per cent in the
census of 1910.
These figures have large Significance
in the light of Professor Johnson's ar
gument.
Wisconsin has progressed in tax re-
form only in the direction of collecting
these greatly increased sums Of money,
and also. in adding largely to local
bonded INDEBTEDNESS; for as our assess
ments rise, the limit Of county, town,
and municipal Indebtedness rises, au-
tomatically. The constitution limits
such Indebtedness to per cent Of the
assessed valuation.
Thirteen Wisconsin cities have re-
Gently taken over various public utili-
ties and others are moving in this d.
rectiOn.
Is not the demand for government
OWNERSHIP Oh TduIOduSs telc8IAplS anu
telephones. a wider manifestation Of
the unrest that finds new burdens.
rather than relief. in higher taxes and
growing public extravaganza?
Professor johnson points to the goal
toward which reform" is Fastening US,
and at breath-taking speed. 1t il So
cialistic and communal ownership. We
shall first extinguisn private property
by methods of taxation that will event.
uate in the single tax. then eliminate
in confscation, and we shall extinguish
other private ownership in government
ownership. through purchase or vir-
tual confiscation, as in the case Of the
express business, now before our eyes.
Pardon me, but as l see 1t, this
country is already in the midst Of
revolution that means, if it succeeds.
the destruction of all rights in private
property II I am, even measurably,
correct in this view, the seriousness OF
the menace is my justification for tres
passing upon your space.
COMPARING LIVING'S COST.
la -