Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-07-13
FinancierS Cause War;
Rob Under patriotism"
Acquire Public Utilities.

ly perpetual franchises" declared Ben
jamin c. Marsh.
Acquire Public Utilities.
public utilities in all cities and
towns should be acquired at once by
the local authorities for@the value CIV
en- them by the owners plus the pres
ent value of improvements, they have
made therein and thereon. That would
lie considerably less than half of their
present selling price.
These public utilities should be
operated by the local authorities at
cost or less. This would save the
users of the public utilities at least
half the profits or $2O5, 100000 plus
taxes-$135, 0OO, 0O0-a total of $780,
600, 600.
Nearly every so called public ser
vice commission in the country is
either controlled by entrenched privl-
lege or intimidated by $them-the re
suits being identical for the public;
while the courts often back privilege
against the people"
Among the measures essential to
real Americ anism, SO to real prepared
ness, as defined by F. G. Lenbuscher
president of the Society to Lower
Rents and Reduce Taxes on Homes,
were:
1.-THE cost of government must be
more equitably distributed; access to
. the land must be offorded; profits from
monopoly of natural resources must be
eliminated from the cost of living.
Rich Shift Taxes.
"All taxes, except those on land
values. incomes and inheritances, can
be shifted, so that the tax payer is
not the tax bearer. Out Of the annual
current governmental expenditures OF
about $4,000, 100000, taxes on land
values, incomes and inheritances yield
approximately $3.50, 900, 0O0-about one
fourth of the total government expen-
ditures.
"Our indirect tax system costs
large proportion of the poorest work.
ers of the country from one fifth to
one sixth of their earnings while very
, few of the richest people pay over
tenth Of their incomes in taxes, and
many pay less
Because of constitutional limitations
a rapidly progressive tax on large IN
comes is the most equitable way for
the Federal Government to secure its
revenue, while a heavy inheritance tax
is feasible to pay for Federal and
State permanent Improvements.
"The high selling price of land or
the high rental demanded for its use
is a stone wall effectively keeping peo-
pie from access to the land.
Cause of Unemployment.
1.-THE United States Commission on
Industrial Relations states that I'M
employment is due to the denial OF
access to land and natural resources,
even when they are unused and I'M
productive except at price and undef
conditions which are practically pro-
=! hibitive'
MOnODOIy VS.. Preparedness.
monopoly of natural resources IS
utterly incompatible with real Ameri-
| canism and real preparedness. Fronts
from such monopoly are equally So.
Workers are entitled to get what they
produce, and until they do so, we are
| un American and unprepared"
"When l say that child labor and
| preparedness are irreconcilable; and
that we may as we'll realize that we
kill more people every year by polsln-
| ed milk impure food, bad air, lightless
tenements, overworkeM unemployment,
child labor, and the whole miserable
brood of grinding poverty, in New
York City alone, than have been MUIR
| dered on either side of the Mexican
border 1 hope 1 may lay claim to
patriotism which is permanent and not
spasmodic," was the keynote of an ad-
dress ON Child Labor and Real Pre-
paredness" given by owen R. Lovejoy,
General Secretary of the National
/ Gbi1d Tohor C0rnmittAa
The conference in which Lincoln
Steffens, Professor Slaughter, Mrs