Show THE SINGLE TAX Its Justice Economy Benefits and General Gen-eral Effects A writer in the Knights of Labor Journal Jour-nal suggests a plan by which the coal barons could be deprived of their power I to extort a monopoly price for their coal He points to the fact that coal is the key to modern civilization that it supplies the moth power for most of tho industries indus-tries of the world Metaphorically speaking speak-ing coal is light and heat food clothing and shelter Therefore those who own the coal fields virtually control life and all the forces of industry The owners of the coal fields did not create these vast reservoirs of fuel nor add one dollar to their value Their value is given by the community and the growing demand for coal which increase of population and an advance in the arts gives Why should not the whole people then have some of the benefit of the values they create instead in-stead of allowing the coal barons to reap the entire benefit Q This can be sesured the correspondent shows by placing a tax upon all coal lands equal to their rental value The effect of this will be that the owners will not be able to control either the output or the price Instead of holding their coal lands in idleness and paying a heavy yearly tax they will open them or dispose of them to those who will make them profitable by production I in addition to this the tax upon all mine improvements improve-ments were lessened or abolished how it would stimulate the production of coal lessen it in price increase its use create a greater demand for labor and increase the purchasing power of the laborer The beneficial effect of such a plan would be felt in every branch of industry to a greater or less degree But why not carry this plan still further fur-ther Coal is but one of the raw materials mater-ials used in production Why not tax the monopolized beds oil fields and other reservoirs of raw material or opportunities op-portunities for labor When we come to think of it land holds all the raw materials mater-ials of wealth It is the one common reservoir res-ervoir to which capital and labor must resort for the materials out of which is made everything necessary for mans existence ex-istence and comfort Is it not clear that everything which prevents the easy access ac-cess of capital and labor of these raw materials ma-terials is a check upon production It makes no difference whether the raw material ma-terial is represented by 0 city lot upon which could be erected a cottage a mansion man-sion a store or a manufactory J or whether wheth-er ic is represented by a coal bed a tract of agricultural land a forest a waterfront water-front or water right a gas belt or an oilfield field All hold the opportunities for labor la-bor without which labor must stand idle and capitol uninvested Violation tends to encourage the monopolization of these opportunities the holding of them in idlenesschecks production keeps men out of work locks up capital andenables the owners of these natural Opportunities to secure nearly all the advantages which come from increase of population and advance in the arts Who ever heard of wales being raised by improvements in machinery ma-chinery progress in the arts or increase of population Is it not a fact that where population is most dense and production most highly developed there wages are lowest and the profit of capital smallest Is it DQI equally true that landno matter what opportunities for I labor itmay contain ia the moat valuable and it is the only thing which increases in value as population increases and development continues Is it not clear them that the owners of land will be able to secure from capital and labor a higher and higher price for the use of land and the opportunities it contains a the pressure of population increases and the development of Industry goes on This increase of value is quite independent indepen-dent of anything the owner does He may leave his city lot vacant his western land in its virgin state his coal beds unopened un-opened his oil wells plugged up and his forest untouched by the lumbermans ax These possessions will steadily increase in-crease in value with tha growth of population popu-lation and extension of improvements except eX-cept in these cases where the owner has discounted the future and then it will take longer for its actual value to reach its prospective or speculative value Since then tho community creates these values why should not the community have a portion of them in the form of taxation Why not treat all opportunities opportuni-ties for labor the same as the journal would treat the coal lands I This is what the single tax men propose I to do They propose to exempt all improvements I im-provements from taxation and have a single tax upon the value of unimproved I land Under such a system the making of improvements would be stimulated production would br encouraged for it would not be taxed the holding of vain sole unused land would be discouraged for itivpnld have to pay a tax in proportion propor-tion to its value It would be more profitable profit-able through use than through monopoly monop-oly and thus would be created an increased demand for labor in every branch of industry Men would not then be fighting Tor Chinamens and dagoes jobs There wouldnt then be thousands of idle men in every city making it almost al-most hopeless for the workingmen to get more than a bare living wage or f ornym effective organization Study this que3 tion fellow workingmen and see i the single tax does not offer the most reasonable reason-able remedy the evils from which you suffer D |