Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1916-10-17
FOR THE SINGLE TAX.

questions affecting the farmers
pocket book questions that are vi
tai to his happiness and prosperity.
They are concerned with the amount
of his taxes and their most efficient
use. They are issues whose import
ance can be measured in dollars and
cents, and the question of whether
or not these dollars and cents are to
be found on the right or wrong side
of the ledger depends upon the de-
cision Of Iowa farmers at the polls
on November 7th.
Mr.. Meredith is an out-and-out,
dyed-in-the-wool, whole-souled sim
gle taxer of the Henry George
school. He is a member of the Fels
Fund Commission for the propaga-
tion of single tax theories and re-
ceived the editorial endorsement of
this commission for governor Of
Iowa in their June Bulletin, which
says that his position on the taxa
ton question is sound and that he
is in a position to have great infiu-
ence with the farmers Of the Missis-
sippi Valley. Mr.. Meredith has urg-
ed and advocated single tax in sea-
son and out of season, in the editor
ial and news columns of his maya
zine for years, and in this position
he has had the approval Of the Reg
lister and Leader, as we will show
later in this article.
Let lis first clearly understand
what is meant by "single tax" Bald
ly stated it is a plan to take taxa
ton off of every kind Of property ex-
cepting land, and to lay taxes on
land high enough to equal their
rental value. 1t is based on the the
DRY that there should be TO private
ownership of land; that the land be-
longs to everyone. However, since
nothing short of complete socialism
can destroy our present system of
private ownership, the next best
thing is to practically confiscate
land values through taxation. The
single taxer says that it is society
that gives value to land-not the
individual; so society should get the
benefit of increasing land values
through taxation.
MI. Meredith, the Candidate, Is
now going up and down the state,
telling the farmers that he is OPP
posed to any increase in taxes, that
the farmers are already paying more
than their share of the tax burden,
and similar things, calculated to lull
them into a sense of security. Let
us now see what Mr.. Meredith, the
|single-tax editor, was saying up un-
til the time he was nominated for
governor, about this tax proposition.
In the February issue of Mr.. Mer-
edith's magazine for 1912. there was
"a long article on Single Tax, by Jo-
seph- FeIs, the founder Of Fels Fund
of America, for the propagation OF
Henry Georges tax. views. Mr.. Fels
was a multi-millionaire soap manu-
facturer of Philadelphia. Natural
lily, he took the manufacturers view
point and saw a great thing for him
and the interests ne represented, ii
taxes were taken off all business and
confined to land. Among other
things, he said:
All that is necessary is to abolish
taxes on improvements, on person
al property and on business, and
levy instead single tax on land
values only. That would relieve in
dustry of a great burden.
There would result an increased de-
mand for labor, wages would rise
and there would be more business
for the manufacturer and merchant,
and more demand for farm products.
In an editorial in 1914 Mr.. Mere
dith gave the following exhibition
of bad temper:
It is very unkind, of course, to
say in closing that there is one way
to assess taxes so it can't be lodged
by anybody-and that is on land
values and let all other taxes go. But
some of you always have fit every
time the single tax Is mentioned.
= Don't stand pat OH this tax
question and say, ooh, let's leave
the law alone, I'm afraid the land
value tax will hit me harder than
the old law" - But what's the
use! Some will write in and say
"stop my paper, l don't want any
single tax in mfne!"
As this churlish sheer end sarcas-
tic criticism did not seem to edge
Iowa farmers any closer to the sin
gle-tax precipice, Mr.. Meredith
threw off all restraint and in Feb
ruary, 1915, he published one of the
most surprising articles ever print
ed in a journal, supposed to be rep
resenting the farmers interests. He
compares the values of farm lands
4