Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1919-08-30

Editor of the Palsadian--Your ar
ticle in your issue of August 16, Civ
ing some of my views on the present
political outlook, and your appended
note is before me.
Permit me to make reply. You ask
me, rs it not true, Mr.. Dintenfass,
that you hold a great deal of land in
Palisade for speculation? Also is it
not true that you declined to waive
restrictions on some of your Palisade
land recently for fear that commun-
ity house nearby might cause it to
deteriOrate in value? Will you ex-
plain how your single tax ideals coin
eide with your speculative holdings?"
In answer to your first question,
let me say that / do own an amount |
of land in Palisade. AS to the sec
ond question, it is true that declined
to waive restrictions on some of my
PaliSade land. But permit me to say
as emphatically as l can that it was
not for fear that a community house
nearby might cause it to deteriorate I
in value. AS to the third question,
let me say that my single tax ideals |,
do not coincide with my holdings.
Being human being and land,
therefore, being necessary to my exist |
ence, and having to carry on my eX-
iStence under the system which we all
live, 1 am confronted with an insur
mountable alternative. In order to
live and do business | must have land
and I must either obtain possession
of it by renting it or by purchasing it
in fee simple. There are times in
every persons life when the purchase
of land for ones use becomes a bet
ter business proposition than the rent
ing of it from some other person, and
so in the course of my life | have
acquired at various times various par
cells of land. That | do not fully use
some of it is a fact, but for every inch
| do use, the state of New Jersey and
the county of Bergen and the village
OF PaliSade treat me in the same
manner as if | had committed some
grievous crime. They fine me in the
shape of tax for every dollars worth
of improvements l put upon the land
which | have acquired in order that
| might be spared the onerous neces-
sity of paying rent to another human
being for the privilege of living on the
earth. ] stand ready to use fully every
inch of land that | possess the moment
the law ceases filming me for so doing.
What is more, | would gladly pay the
: full rental value of my land to the
community for the right of possession
; to it.
You are, no doubt, under mis-
2 apprehension as to my reasons for re-
, fuSing to waive restrictions on some
: of my land when it was proposed to
build community house in our viii
s lage. 1t is really ridiculous to accuse
S anybody of being fearful that com
4 munity house nearby might cause ones
land to deteriorate in value On the
: contrary, ] have every reason to be-
4 lieve that Il community house will in
Y crease remarkably the value of sur
:, rounding land. l refused to waive
S restrictions on my property for the
S reason that / do not believe that in
/ America that any public institution
t should be in the hands Of or under the
control of a Sectarian institution. 1t is
/ beside the case to argue that our
church is INSTRUMENTATION, for
though it is ii wonderful uplifting in
fiuence in the community, there are I'M
e doubtedly many people in Palisade and
p many more who will live there in the
future, who do not agree with it's ten
s cts. and | know that to support a (no
/. matter how liberaD church governed
:, community house, might seriously in
n terfere with their conscienceS
e Furthermore, 1 believe that land
could be had for the location of the
community house at a great deal lower
figure than that which was proposed