Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1921-11-16

THEORY And.
!. SAYS !. MR. BOSCH
of the taxes on city property is local
it is obvious that it is a local problem
and, that a Federal system will not
solve it. ~.
OF course is is impossible for "a
single taxer to talk about taxation
without using the word value" Or
rather lie misuses it. He talks about
society bringing value into land: The
value of land lies in its power to
satisfy human needs, but it can pro-
duce nothing unless labor. is applied
to It. T.;
It can have no value except in con-
nectiQn, with or in anticipation of
labor. What is really meant is the
price of land, The price is determined
by the number of people competing
for the same piece OF land, or. by the
probable value of its products when
labor is applied to it. The, price of
farm land varied one half during the
past three years. If its value were
dependent on the community. it would
not change. But land is part of the
machinery of production and as such a
commodity on the market. 1t is there
fore subject to all the conditions
which affect the price of other tools
of production. AT present it is drug
on the market because money will
bring larger. returns if invested in
that which is rising in price. AS
simple Illustration OF the difference
between value, and price, consider a
bushel OF wheat. Its value is: its
power to sustain life. This is always
practically the same. Its price; is
fixed by the Chamber of Commerce.
This does change some times. Most
farmers, l suppose, have noticed it.
Unearncd Increment
Now we come to the "unaarned in
crement." This means that the value
Of land is socially created and that no
other values are. All single takers
from Henry George to Buell. and Kel-
Ter, whether they advocate the partial
or the complete application of the tax,
base their arguments and appeal on
this proposition-or supposition. This
is the thing which makes or unmakes
the single tax. This is the head and
tail, "the horns and the hoofs and the
rump" of the creature of Henry
Georges brain. AS we accept or re-
ject it, we accept or reject the whole
single tax system. Let US see whether
land values are the only values which
society creates. A civilized society is
necessarily based on diversity of en-
plcyment and the exchange of prod
uts-that is, on the exchange of la
Dor. One man ti!ls the sol! to produce
wheat, stock and cotton as raw ma
terials to be worked into finished
forms by some one else. A man work
ing in mine or factory to produce Ia
bor-saving machinery to be used on
the farm is helping to produce food.
The men who transport products are
producing. The professional man is
enlightening Or educating but all az e
giving their service to supply food.
clothing, shelter, fuel, amusements
and education-the sum total of civil
lied life, and all values are reciprocal
and dependent on each other. No val
ue, no real value, can exist apart from
service rendered. Move productive
labor away from the farm and mine
and their, price and social value will
disappear. In the same way all tools
Of production, no. matter how expen-
sive and complicated, are worthless
if the guiding hand of intelligent labor
is removed. Productive. labor has ere,
but also all city Values. If farming
were stopped the towns would go to
weeds and Hades and the social value
| Of all u,o,,ld npoor nv.
cept perhaps that of the undertaken
and coffin maker The "uncarned
increment if it means anything, must
mean the wealth that person gets
without giving for it an equivalent in
prduct or service. l shall give few
examples that Mr.. Lord carelessly
overlooked
When a Spectator buys a few
thousand or hundreds of thousands OF
bushels Of imaginary wheat and sells
it at higher price there is an ''un
earned increment" When a 5O-cents
cowhide is made into few $5-pairs .ot
shoes there is some unearned incre
ment..
il When the railroads or other trusts
get profits on a lot of watered stock
when the banks get interest On money
that does not exist there is unearned
increment The billions of dollars OF
war profits closely resemble an I'M
earned increment. l am even in
c!ined to think that there is some un
earned increment when a man makes
a living by writing plausible nonsense
about scientific taxation.
More Taxes
If the single tax system is really
sound there is one thing that has
been overlooked as an object of taxa
1 ton. That is the rainfall. The rai1
which falls in the United States i!
worth, billions of dollars. j.. Without i
I'VE should all die within a short time
And society creates the value of thi!
\ rainfall. This is plain because wher<
there are no people living. as for ex
ample in the Atlantic ocean, rai1
isn't worth much. And when. there il
l. a drought we can see that people los,
millions of dollars. Therefore thos,
people who receive the benefits of tn:
> rainfall should pay to society part 0
the value. We should not tax indus
try. We should tax, the rainfall-no
not, the rainfall, but the rainfall val
ues. There is: difference in this
which will be seen by all single takers
Ia 49,