Denver labor bulletin., 1915-05-15
ENDURED PRIVATIONS, OVERCAME
HARDSHIPS AND CONQUERED
A WILDERNESS
Judge Henry v. Johnson Shows How
the Proposed Single Tax Amendment
Would Deprive the Early Settler
and Their Descendants Of
Their Property Rights
WOULD C0NFISCATE LAND TO A
COMMON OWNERSHIP
(By Henry V. Johnson


The single takers propose to raise all
the taxes OF every kind and description
by taxing land alone.
They propose to do away with all tax
on houses and improvements of all kinds.
on money, jewels, ry-goods. notes,
mortgages. live stock. automobiles. and
every other kind Of personal property.
Why2
Their answer Is that land values are
caused by the community. by increase
Of population. and are not due to any
effort of the owner; that the owner IS
not entitled to any increase in the value
of land; that this increased value be-
longs to the community, and should bear
all the burden of taxation.
They further claim that all other
kinds of property, dwellings, and busi-
ness houses, jewelry, dry-goods, etc, are
the result OF human industry, and there
fore should not be taxed; that to tax
such things is putting a fine on human
effort
Is not the whole thing an absurdity,
Has not the man who buys or settles
on the first piece of land in a community
paid a big price for what he gets, Take
Colorado, take Denver for illustration.
Did not the first settlers pay heavily for
NneN HpN- blu not Ie1Ne the
comforts OF civilization, brave the dan
gers of the desert and the Indians in
order to settle herei Did not they en-
dure the hardships and privations of
pioneer life in order to make it possible
for others to come later and live in
comfort! Did not they pay a heavy
fine for the land they got, when you
count in the trials they endured, the
lack of comforts, the work they and
their families had to do. to build their
houses and fences, to till the soil, to
cook their food, TO make their own
clothes, to be deprived of all kinds of
luNuries, of churches, of schools; to be
separated from their friends back home;
to endure the worry and dread of death
from the nearby savage.
Are Heavy Toll.
Are not all of these things a heavy
toll, a tremendous price for the land
they got!
But such has always been the price
the pioneers in this country. and in all
countries, have paid for lands they se-
cured by ventGring into the frontiers.
The single-taNer says We must not
discourage human effort by taxing any
kind of property created by human in
dustry Is not the United States from
the Atlantic to the Pacific today living
example of human industry and human
effort! When would the broad plains
have been peopled and covered with
thriving cities and towns, if the early
settler had not believed his efforts would
be repaid by an increased value OF the
land he thus secured!
Had he understood that he was to be
denied this increase; that the whole cost
of government was to be laid on his
land and that all other property was to
be exempt from taxation: when would
this country have been settled and peo-
pledr
The country east of the Alleghanies
would probably have been the limit of
our population. The fertile plains of
Ohio, Kentucky. Illinois. Indiana, and
Iowa would perhaps still have been the
home of the Indian, the buffalo and coy
ote. Nebraska, Kansas. Colorado and
Wyoming would still be laid down On
our maps as the Great American Desert.
Measured by human effort, human toll
and human privation the price paid for
the ownership of land is as great or
greater than that paid for gold or dia-
monds.
But why should the owner of land pay
all the tax to support the government,
and the owner of gold and diamonds pay
nothing on these luNuriesf
Is not the very statement OF it an alb
surdityi
Oh, but the single taSer exclaims
''God made the earth, and ii YOU use any
part OF it, you must pay all its value for
that use. and those who possess silver
and gold and diamonds, should pay moth
ing"
Did God. who made the land, also
make the gold, the silver, the diamond
Are not the gold and silver and diamonds
in their original state a part of the
earth, and properly elassed as landf Was
not every part of building, the brick,
the stone. the cement, the iron and steel,
the marble, the plaster, the nails, the
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