The Denver Jewish news., 1919-01-22
Single Tax, Mosaic Ideal,
To Be Proven
SOCIAL JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL.
IN JEWISH PALESTINE.
BY MRS. JOSEPH FELS.

IiOniSm has taken on Il new aspect
since the liberation of Palestine and
the promise of the British government
that the land shall not be given back
to the Turks. Palestine is in n sense
II new land. That is to say. it is
undcveloped in the modern sense. and
not dcnscly populated. The commits.
sion that has charge of the work of
restoration will be confronted by two
problems: First. how to get hold of the
land. and second, how TO find the rev.
cnuc to pay the enormous cost of the
reconstruction.
BY applying the proven principles
Ct political economy and taxing land
values the rcpatriated people will have
access to the land and they will have
at the same time ample revenue to
meet the cost of government. Tho
men and women who will have charge
Of this work will avoid the mistakes
that have been made in this and other
countries. where governments and pri-
vate enterprises have made improve
mcnts for the public only to find that
the owners of the land have reaped
the benefit. while a large part of the
cost has been laid upon producers who
have already been victimiZcd by land
doubt on the part of Informed people
that government service. whether in
maintaining order or in constructing
physical improvements. enhances land
values and not labor values. When.
for instance. the commission that sup.
crviscs the rebuilding of Palestine has
constructed railroads, opened schools.
established Justice. and brought order
cut of chaos. it will he found that
live stock. grains. fruits ard the vari-
Gus products of human labor will he
worth no more than before. The guam
titv will have increased. but not the
value The land however. being fixed
in quantity. VIII have Increased in
price.
Here lies the opportunity for the
Jew to demonstrate great truth to
the world by uniting the Mosaic prin-
ciple of land ownership with n just
system to taxation.
BY applying this Sysrcni of taxing
the land values that are created by
the community it will not he neces-
sary to tax labor values. This will
prevent any gain 70 landowners as
landowners. and so stop land specula.
tion-that curse that has stranglcd
economic growth in all other countries.
II will at the same time free industry
from the tax burdcns it has hitherto
borne, and SO stimulate labor and cap.
itnl to the highest degree in the crca.
ticn of wealth.
The outlook for the rebuilding of
Palestine is the brighter because the
land and taxation questions have al
ready received much attention from
The lows. The convention of tho
Zionist Organization of America. held
in Pittsburgh last Tune. adCpted n
program for Palestine which embodied
the idea of single-taS. In the restora-
ton of the land and development of
the Jewish Commonwealth for which
the Zionists are now engaged i'm rails
ing 81 100000 is the second installmcnt
Of the Palestine Restoration Fund
Every effort will he made TO cScmplify
tho sinGlc-taN idea.
DIR. Stephen s. Wise. one of the lead
crs of the Zionist movement in Ameri-
"a. recently expressed tn" hope that
the day was near when the ideal of
the singlc-tax in practice would be
realized in Palestine. What great
thing it would be- he wrote IF we
could. if the ideal which goes back
to the Mosaic commonwealth. which
was revived by man of prophetic
genius. Henry George. and again by
that real man and Jew. Joseph Fcls,
should at last find fulfillmcnt in the
Jewish land 1t was to this cause
that Joseph Fels dedicated himself and
his fortune; and had his life been
spared he would today be bending all
his energies toward aiding the Zionists
in rebuilding Palestine on solid
foundation. Such men are rcpreSent-
cd on the commission that undertakes
this great work.