|
On True Political Economy
(The Whole-Hog Book)
John Wilson Bengough
| |
Notes and Links
|
| CHAPTER
XVIII: AS TO WAGES |
|
| We have seen that the High Tax plan is a clog on
work. On the whole, it tends to choke up the spring of
wealth. Let us now see what it does for the spread of
wealth. All will grant at once that wealth must be
spread — that is, it must go, when it is once
made, to serve some use, and this is the same as to say
it must go in to some hands. If the whole of it goes to
one man, to keep for his own, and do with as he wills,
then it does not spread at all. Now of course it ought
to spread, and men should share it on some right rule
or law. What is that law? This: It should go to those
who work, and form a fair rate of pay for the work they
do by hand or brain. |
deadweight
loss, wealth
concentration, he who
produces, talent, |
| We have got to such a pitch of skill now that it
seems as though there is no end to the wealth that can
be made, and this in the face of tax plans that bind
and thwart us. But can it be said that the law I have
just set forth is in vogue as to the spread of wealth
when it is made? How is the loaf cut up? Do those who
make it get it in due share? Or do some who do not toil
nor spin get a share to which they have no right, and
thus in fact rob those who work but get less than they
ought to get? How does the High Tax idea bear on this?
That is what we will try and find out now. |
theft,
wealth
concentration, privilege, |
| The point is this: Does the high tax on goods raise
or tend to keep up the wage of the man who works; does
it, that is to say, help him to get the share of the
loaf that is his due? "Yes," say some, "of course it
does; for it makes good times for all, and so must
raise the pay of those who work, or at the least keep
that pay from a fall." This is not proof; it is mere
say-so. We have shown that, in fact, a high tax has no
such force. It does not make "good times for all," for
we do not need to be told that bad times come to lands
that have the plan in full swing. And we know that pay
does go down, and that there are spells in which men
are "out of work," that is, get no share of wealth at
all. But note this: It is not true at all times that
that which helps or hurts the mass of men helps or
hurts each one in the State. Fires and floods hurt
some, but may be a means of gain to others. A fall in
stocks is a loss to this man, but may mean a great gain
to that one. |
wages,
prosperity,
boom-bust
cycle, unemployment, |
| Trade, as we have seen, is a mode by which wealth
is produced (turn back and read once more what was said
as to what this long word is meant to stand for), and a
high tax on goods, as has been shown, tends to block
trade — that is, to curb the growth of wealth
— to make it less. |
|
| Now we pass on to say that, since such a tax plan
(as is its aim) puts up the price of goods, it makes
the great mass pay more than they ought for what they
buy, and gives to the few more than they could have got
in a free field for what they sell. It thus plays
pranks with the spread of wealth. It is those who thus
get more than their fair share that are so loud in
praise of the high tax scheme. But though the scheme
may be a good one for those who sell goods that are put
up in price in this way, how can it get for the plain
man who works more than his fair share, or how, in
short, can it do aught to make it sure that he gets
even his fair share? He does not sell goods; he sells
work of brains or of hand. There is no tax on this sort
of thing; there is no wall to keep men out. A smith
sells his skill to make tools, and he gets worth of the
tools he makes in the form of cash, and with this wage
he buys what he needs — clothes, food and so
forth. Now, what good does it do him to put up the
price of such things, by means of a tax, since the tax
can not raise his wage in the same way? Let us say
that, as a rule, he has to work one week to earn the
price of a coat. By means of a fresh tax, say that
coats rise to twice the cost they were. This is all
right for the firms that make coats, but it means that
the smith will have to work two weeks to get a coat
now. |
prices,
wealth
concentration, privilege, talent, |
| Where does his gain come in? Would it not be true
to say that in such a case the tax has just cut his
wage down by half? |
theft |
| It is all very well for the heads of great firms to
tell their men that the high tax plan is good for those
who toil for a wage; but what would these gents say to
a plan that would let goods come in free but put a high
tax on men? There would be a fine shout of rage. It
would be hard to make them see that such a scheme did
them good. With men shut out, up would go the rate of
pay, and with goods let in free down would go the
price, and groans would rise from these big mills and
trusts. But it is a poor rule that will not work both
ways. |
income
taxes, |
| Now, how can a high tax on goods raise the wage of
those who work farms when it does not touch the goods
made on farms? Wheat, live stock, and so forth are sent
out of the States, not brought in; how then can a tax
to keep out goods help farms? It is plain that this
plan can not do what must be done, that is, raise the
whole wage of farm work. The corn laws which John Bull
once had kept out grain and put the price up to a high
point, but did it raise the pay of the farm hands? No,
it did just one thing — put more wealth in the
purse of the "lord of the soil" in the form of
rent. |
all
benefits..., landlord |
| Facts all round show that a tax on goods can not
raise the pay of those who work. |
|
CHAPTER
XIX: WHAT IS TO BE DONE? |
|
| We have thus set forth full proof that the High Tax
scheme is a fraud. It fails at all points the claims
made for it. What then, shall be done? Put an end to
it, of course. At this there will be a cry: "Oh, no,
don't be in haste to do that. Go slow, if it must be
done; but to do it at once would be to bring ruin to
scores of firms." But if it be not just, why should it
not be put an end to at once? Why should we let a gross
wrong go on to save loss to the few, when day by day it
means loss to the many? |
conservatism,
transition,
single
tax |
| If there is to be a shock to trade when an end is
made of this fraud, let that shock be a short and sharp
one. It will thus do far less harm than if it is drawn
out through a course of years. No man would choose to
have his leg cut off by the inch. If short work is made
of it the rich will have to bear their fair share of
such loss as there may be for the time, but if it is to
be done bit by bit the poor will have to take the brunt
of it, as the rich will have time to scheme and so fix
it. |
transition, single tax |
| But all this talk of great loss is vain. It comes
from those to whom the fraud is a source of gain. They
do not want to let go their prey. But even they are
wrong when they think they would lose by Free Trade.
All sound trade would gain. It would break up the rings
and trusts, and bring down gains that are now got in
the wrong way, but would not that be a boon to the
land? In the case of the States, it would soon give
them the lead in the trade of the world, their ships
would sail the seas once more, and a great source of
"graft" and bribes would be put an end to. |
theft,
monopoly,
special
interests |
| And what are we to say of such a fact as this
— that in the slow old days, when folk had but
poor, rude tools to work with, and could not in ten
years make as much wealth as we now can in ten months,
the lot of the poor was bliss to what it is now? A man
in those far off times did not have to work so hard,
and got more of the good things of this world for his
work, while he did not know at all what the fear of
want meant. (See Thorold Rogers' "Five Centuries of
Work and Wages.) How comes it that in both Free Trade
and High Tax lands at this day we find such a change in
the class which is at the base? These men of the old
time had to Work but eight hours a day, and no wife or
child of theirs had to toil out of the home. How comes
it that we at this date are so much worse off? How
comes it that there is such a crowd of poor in the
midst of such wealth — like the man on the raft
with a whole sea round him but not a drop to
drink? |
poverty,
poverty's
causes, |
| To sweep off the High Tax, then, would not in the
end help those who work. That is it would not prove a
real cure for their ills. |
|
| Nor would it in the long run mean a square deal.
When wealth is not spread in a fair way, it tends to
grow less. Men who work, but do not get, lose heart and
tend to cease work. Nor can we say they are wrong to
feel so, when they see the growth of the set who do no
form of work, but get more and more of a share, which
must, of course, come out of the share of those who do
work. If the plan now in vogue does not make sure of a
fair spread of wealth it tends, in short, to vice,
crime and waste. And of a truth there is no need that
we break down High Tax walls so that more wealth may be
made if we are not at the same time to see that it is
spread in a fair way. With the plan we now have that
would be but to make bad worse. |
unemployment,
desperado |
| And what of "hard times"? The cause of these "bad
spells" we are told, is that too much goods is made. If
this be so, would not the fall of the High Tax walls,
if it led to free scope of brain and hand, mean a great
growth of wealth and thus a long term of "hard
times"? |
boom-bust
cycles, industrial
depression |
CHAPTER
XX: FREE TRADE THAT IS NOT FREE |
|
| At this point it is the rule for books on this
theme to close, for, in fact, this is the end of the
case as 'twixt what they call Free Trade and High Tax
plan. And, as we look at it, the High Tax is out of
court; it has been shown to be a scheme which is a sham
from end to end; which does no good (but to the few who
pull wires) but robs the poor while it sings sweet
songs in their ears. |
|
| Yet we must not stop here. We said this was to be a
Whole-Hog Book; so we must go right through to the end.
For all we have said has been said (by means of long
words, to be sure) more times than one could count, and
yet we find that lands stick to the High Tax plan, and
vast crowds seem to have full faith in it still. The
thing these folks need is more light. |
|
| You may well ask how it is that such a plain fraud
can still live and thrive? It is not that men have no
sense, as some say. The fact is, the root of the faith
in it is deep down, and that root must be laid bare and
shown to be false. This the books we have in mind (on
the Free Trade side) do not seek to do. |
|
| Ere we go on to dig out this root, let us say that
the pleas made by Free Trade men to show those who work
that the High Tax is a bad thing for them, do not hit
the mark. For what, at most, do they prove? That Free
Trade tends to the good of men, and the High Tax tends
to their hurt. That seems to be as far as they can go,
and this has no real weight with "men of the world."
They say, "Yes, they may tend as you say, but that does
not prove that they will do so." A brick that leaves a
roof tends to fall to the ground, but if there is a
broad ledge in the way to stop it, it will not fall to
the ground. In the same way the aids that men now have
to make wealth (one man now able to do as much in a day
as a score of men could once do) tend to get each man
more wealth for his share or wage, but will not in fact
do so, if, through some cause, there are crowds of men
on the search for work and who fight for each job in
sight. |
wages,
technological
progress |
| Those who plead for Free Trade show that since the
tax walls curb the growth of wealth, to take them down
would tend to help those who toil, and they "feel quite
sure" it would raise their pay. But how can they be
sure of this till they have shown that there is nought
in the way that might thwart this good and right end?
And what is it these "Free Trade" men urge should be
done? Not make trade Free, as you might think, but put
on a low tax in place of a high one, that is all! |
|
| There is not much in this to stir the hearts of
men, and it does not do so. There are men of a fair
mind who will hear all that is to be said (or read this
book up to this point) and say: "No doubt Free Trade
has the best case, and the proof seems all right, but
yet the hard facts of the day show that as a plan the
High Tax works best." This may have a strange sound,
but there is sense in it. What it means is, Free Trade
as thus set forth does not meet all the facts of the
case. And this is true. |
|
| One of these facts is that in a "Free Trade" land
— say John Bull's — the slums are as deep
and vile as in any High Tax land. Why should this be if
Free Trade gives those who work their fair share of
wealth? Such trade has no real right to the name of
"Free." |
|
CHAPTER
XXI: WHERE "FREE TRADE" IS WEAK |
|
| No doubt, if the Tax wall were torn down, pay would
go up, for a time. It did so when the Corn Laws were
swept off. But this would not last. The case would turn
out ere long to be the same as it is in that of the
steam loom, which, though it weaves more cloth than the
old wheel could do, has not in the end made the lot of
the poor one whit less sad. Free Trade would, no doubt
cause more wealth to be made, and it would bring down
the price of goods. But would those who work get their
fair share of the gain, that is the point? A glance at
the old Home Land seems to say, no. Why, then, should
the poor of France or the States go wild for Free
Trade? |
|
| The more goods there are made, the more each man
who works ought to have, in a fair deal all round. The
march of skill has made the world more rich in goods
now than in all the past. Yet we have hard times in
spells, and not a few starve. And what say the wise men
is the cause for this? That the mills have put forth
too much! This is what they say in lands which have
what they call "Free Trade," too! What these wise men
should show is what it is that comes in the way to keep
the bread the poor cry for, and would be glad to work
for, out of their mouths. Why does not this sort of
"Free Trade" "raise the plane of the sea of toil"? |
rising tide |
| Facts can be so dealt with as to make it seem that
the state of those who work is on the mend, that they
are, in short, well off to what they used to be. This
has some truth in it when we speak of men who have high
gifts or great skill or (as some say) good luck. But it
is not true of the great mass. They are worse off. A
poor man has scarce a chance at all at this day to
start in trade on his own hook as once he could have
done. To be sure some men grow more rich now than e'er
they did in any past age, but side by side with this is
the fact that the slums are more deep and wide than
ever. Some force is at work, the fruit of which
is Trusts and Tramps — Wealth and Want.
'Twixt these two states there lies a great gulf, and we
have proof that to change from High Tax to Free Trade
as they have it in the Old Land would not bridge this
gulf, nor fill it up, for we see it has not done so in
these three score years it has been at work. |
barriers to
entry, poverty, poverty's
causes, |
CHAPTER XXII:
THE REAL STRENGTH OF THE HIGH TAX SCHEME |
|
| We may make an end of all the pleas that are put
forth for the High Tax plan — as we have done
— and yet not touch the thought from which it
gets its whole strength in the minds of those who hold
it. What is that thought? It is that in some way, say
as we will, this plan "makes work," and as it is a
plain fact that there are more men who seek jobs than
there are jobs to be done, that which tends to "make
work" must be a great boon. |
|
| It is true that (as we have shown) since it leads
to waste, the High Tax scheme does "make more work,"
just as the rain does when it wets the hay on the
farm. |
|
| Rain in such a case is thought to be a boon by the
man who earns his wage by the day, though the man who
owns the farm does not take that view. |
|
| We read of a King who had a hard heart; and, we are
told, bade his slaves make bricks with no straw. Had he
lived in these days, and had he dealt with wage slaves,
he would have got high praise, for did his plan not
"make more work," or tend to make the job last a long
time? And if there were scores of men who sought work,
would this not have been a good thing for those who
held jobs? |
bricks,
slavery,
wage
slaves |
| It is of no use, then, to prove that "work" is not
what we need but the "fruits of work," and that good
sense tells us to get what we seek with the least cost
of time and toil. |
|
| We must deal with this root thought that work is a
boon, and that he who lets us work for him ought to
have our thanks. |
work |
| Whence springs this root thought? Out of the fact
that men can not now, when they need food or clothes,
go and work on their own hooks for these things. In all
lands we note that as soon as the time is past when men
can do so, and the time comes when they need some one
to hire them lest they starve, the High Tax scheme
comes to the front and gains the good will of the mass
as a plan that "makes work." |
free land, land
monopoly, |
| Of course no man wants work for its own sake. If he
works for fun, then he will do just such work as he can
get fun out of. If he works for life (as is the case
with most) it is the pay he has in view. |
purpose of
living, human
desires |
| No man will work for nought if he can help it, and
the things he makes by his toil is his wage by rights.
If his work brings forth nought (as in the case, say,
of a man who digs for gold on his own "claim") then he
gets no wage. So the man who works for a Boss and in
the course of a day makes no new wealth at all, does in
fact earn no wage. But as things now go in the world
the wage is paid for work done, not for the real worth
of that work. A man has "put in" a day and looks for
his pay, and gets it, though, had he done the same work
as it were on a "claim" of his own, he would have got
none. In this way it has come to pass that men in their
thought join the two words "work and wage," and not (as
in the old, rude days) "toil and the fruit of toil as
wage." That is to say, work has come to stand for
"pay," and when men praise a scheme that "makes work"
they of course mean a scheme that makes a chance to get
pay. In some towns they help the poor with a job on the
roads. The "work" is a mere form, it may be; it is but
a plan to give a dole to those in want. |
he who
produces, rights |
| In face of the facts as they are, there is much to
say for this idea that what "makes work" is a good
thing. Men may have strong arms, staunch frames, good
health and a will to work. All well; and it is true as
we have said that work is the one way by which wealth
can be made. But what if the man is at sea on a raft?
All wealth comes out of the ground, and that he
may work a man must be, not on the sea, or in the air,
but on the earth. Give a man strength of arm
and hope of heart and a bit of ground, and he need ask
no one to hire him or to give him pay. He will work out
his own wage each day. But since it is the fact that
men as a rule can not get at the land (which is held
for rent or must be bought at a price they can not pay)
what is there left for them but to sell their strength
or skill to those who will buy it — that is, to
those who will pay them a wage they can live on? |
land, land monopoly,
wages, rights, birthright, natural
opportunities, equal
opportunity, equality |
| And as those who can thus buy are few and those who
wish to sell a great host, we can see how it comes to
pass that thanks seem to be due, not to him who does
the work, but to him who "makes it," and that the work
is thought to be a boon. |
|
| Nor is it hard to see how this same thought takes
form in the oft-heard view — to which High Tax
men give loud voice — that our own land ought to
do all its own work, and any land which seeks to do any
of it for us acts the part of a foe. Hence, of course,
the High Tax which keeps these foes and their cheap
goods out, must seem to be a plan which tends to make
us at home rich. |
|
| Yet all this is false, and all that flows from it
must be false. "It is work we need — not that the
work should bear due fruit, but that it should get
'pay.'" Such is the cry. Thus, we hear it said of a
work that cost a great deal though it was of no use
when done — "True, it has done no good; but ah!
it made a lot of work for scores of men." If such a
thought is not false at the base then fires and floods
and wrecks of all sorts must be boons, yet who would
say this? |
|
| If each man in need of work were free to go at it,
all would see that each ounce of the wealth of the
world which was burnt up would be a loss to all, and
that those who did no work were as bad as thieves. But
with the facts as they are — with work a boon to
be sought as one would seek for life — we do not
think of it in this way. |
|
CHAPTER
XXIII: THERE'S A TH1EF IN THE CASE |
|
| The High Tax plan seeks to curb Trade, and Trade is
but the thought God put in the heart of man as a means
by which the whole race should gain. |
civilization,
division of labor, natural
resources, well-provisioned
ship |
| All that can be said for this plan could be said
with just the same force for a plan to thwart all the
new means that are brought out to save toil. This would
shut off steam and all the great things it has done,
and in all paths of life drive us back to the "stone
age." |
technological
progress, civilization |
| The mass of wealth of this age and the rate at
which that mass grows is so great that all ought to be
well off, but all are not. Each new plan to save toil
should give more ease to all; but it does not. The man
who has eyes does not need to be told this. He can see
the deep slums in the rich old lands; and he can note,
too, that in such a new land as the States the poor
sink while the rich rise. |
rising tide, poverty, technological
progress |
| In no place does the state of those who toil, as a
whole, keep pace with the march of the arts which aid
the growth of wealth. And in those spots where those
who work may from time to time get a bit more of a
share, this is not due to those arts. It is due to
strikes or threats of strikes. |
wages,
technological
progress |
| In view of these facts there is, of course, but one
thing to be said. If there is more wealth made and
those who help to make it do not get more for their
share, there must be some pouch into which goes a share
which should not go there. In short, there is a thief
at large. |
unearned
increment, theft |
| Who is the thief? In what way does he steal the
shares of those who work? How can we end his theft?
Here we reach the real point of the whole case. |
theft |
| We hear a voice say — "Stop. Do not vex your
soul with these things. Those who work are now well off
to what they once were. Do they not eat good food and
wear good clothes? Do they not have good times as a
rule? Just think how the poor slaves had to work, and
what hard times they had!" |
|
| Ah! how nice, to be sure. But does this make the
theft right? Let no such false talk switch us off the
track of the thief. This is a Whole-Hog Book. |
theft |
CHAPTER XXIV:
THE THIEF: WHO HE IS, AND HOW HE DOES IT |
|
| It has been shown that the High Tax plan robs those
who work, but to put an end to that plan would not
solve the case, for it would not touch the Chief Thief
— the man who owns the earth. His rule is to take
all that is left — all but life, and what will
just keep the man in a fit state to work. There are not
a few small thieves like the High Tax that thrive on
the son of toil, but short work can be made of them
when the Big Thief is done for. Do you ask, "How can it
be theft to own the earth, that is to say, to own land
rent? Some of the best of men own land — do you
call them by the base name of thieves? |
land, all benefits... ,
wages, ownership, possession, rent, privilege, usufruct, founding
fathers, I was
there first |
| It is not the men we have to deal with; it is the
law by which the land may now be held. That law means
theft, and must so mean as long as it stands as it is.
The blame is not on the man, be he good or bad, it is
on the law which can work in but one way, and that is
to take from A what he earns and give it to B, who has
done no hand's turn for it. This is to steal; so, for
short, we call it theft. |
land,
theft
|
| Let us see what the law now is as to land. It
treats land just as it treats hats, coats, books, wheat
and all the things which we call "goods," and which are
made by the skill of man or grown by his care and toil.
It says that a man can own land just as he may own a
bag of wheat, that is, he may do as he likes with it;
he may use it or not use it; he may let some one else
use it or not, he may sell it or deal with it just as
he wills. |
land,
land different from capital, ownership,
|
| Well, you say, why not? |
|
| I will tell you why; land is not in the same class
as "goods," and the law has no right to treat it as if
it were. Land is not the work of man's hands, nor can
he grow it or make it less or more. It is God's earth
and His free gift to the whole race, like the air, the
light, the sea, and so forth. |
land
different from capital, the earth is
the Lord's, land includes,
land
excludes |
| Yes, you say, I know all that, but how is land to
be put to use if men do not own it? True, men must own
it; that 's quite right, -- but not on such terms as
those set forth in the law as it now stands. Each man
who holds (or owns) a piece of it should, of right,
make up to the race what he thus takes from them
— he should pay each year what it is worth. If a
man owns a hat and sees fit to burn it up he does no
great harm to the race, for more hats can be made; but
if he owns a piece of the earth — for which he
pays no rent to the rest — and sees fit to hold
it out of use, he has cut down the size of the earth by
just that much. This is a loss which can not be made
up. |
ownership, possession, property
rights, pay for what
you take, rent, waste, flow, underused land,
theft, |
| No one man can in a true sense be said to "own"
land, nor in fact can all the men who live in one age.
For those who are to be born in the next age are to
have the same rights as men who now live on the earth.
Each age has but the use of the earth while here. But
if this is true, then no man can get the same sort of
right to land as he may to a hat or boots or house, not
though all who dwell on earth were to sign the deed.
That which is not ours we can not give nor sell. |
created
equal, birthright, intergenerational
justice, ownership, possession, |
| To own land, then, ought to mean no more than this,
that a man may have the sole right to it, to use it or
hold it out of use as he sees fit, so long as he pays
each year what the bare land is worth. Since the race
at large can not have the use of the land while it is
in his hands it is but right that they should have the
worth of it. When this is paid each year, it is fair
all round, and all that the man makes by his own use of
the land ought to be his own and free from all forms of
tax. In short while it is right that a man should "own"
land it is not right that he should also own the land
rent. |
title,
pay
for what you take, ownership, rent, land value taxation,
usufruct,
possession, |
| But this is not the law as it now stands. A man may
now hold land and by that fact he owns the rent as
well. That is where the wrong is. 'Twixt what he pays
for it in a tax to the State (where there is a tax at
all), and what he can get for its use from some one who
needs it in the form of rent, there is oft a great sum
of gain, and thus we have a class that lives on land
rent, that is, who get paid to let some one else work.
And what is this rent but a part of the wealth which
the some one else earns? And how much of it? All of it
but such share as will keep the man in a fit state to
work and to earn. If this is not theft in the sight of
God, what would you call theft? Hence we use the blunt
term thief for him who takes goods he does not earn in
the, form of rent and by force of law. In past times
men used to own slaves and take all the slaves could
make, but then they had to keep and feed their slaves;
now they own the land on which "free" men must work,
and this gives them a right in law to a share of the
wealth in the form of rent; nor do they have to keep or
feed the new sort of slaves. You see, to bring forth
any form of wealth you must have two things, the toil
or skill of man, and land. It makes no odds which of
these two you own to give you a right to a share of
what is made, with no work on your part. |
landlord,
wealth
concentration, theft, unearned
increment, deadweight
loss, privilege, slavery, wage slaves,
rent, sharecropping,
all benefits
..., absentee
ownership, |
| And note this, that the funds which the State needs
each year must be paid, out of what is left when the
rent which of right is the State's has been paid. Thus,
the man who works pays twice, he pays first for the use
of land (that is, for leave to work at all) and then he
pays for what the State does for him. |
paying
twice, |
| When we say that the Big Thief takes "all that is
left" we point to the fact that the growth of land rent
keeps pace with the growth of the race. Each move that
makes life more bright and fair, or tends to the good
of all, sends land rent tip. Free street cars would be
a boon in large towns, but what a man might save in
fares he would have to pay in land rent. If, in fact,
gold fell from the clouds like rain no one would gain
but the men who own the land on which it fell. |
rent, rent as
God's provisioning, technological
progress, population
growth, civilization,
all benefits
..., landlord, manna, absentee
ownership, leakage |
| Rent is not a thing which comes by the will of man,
it is the gauge which tells what the chance is worth in
each case, and it goes up or down as a town grows or
fails. It is there all the while, and is in no case the
fruit of toil. By the law as it now stands rent goes to
him who owns the land. If the man who works a farm does
not own it, he pays the rent to some one else; if he
owns the farm he keeps the rent, as well as the wealth
his work earns. Land that is in use bears rent just as
a tree bears leaves. |
rent, community, all benefits ...,
absentee
ownership, landlord, three hats,
ownership |
| If some men own the world on which the whole race
must live, and have the right by law to charge for its
use while not made to pay a fair rate for the land they
thus hold, it is clear that there must be just what we
see — the Rich and the Poor. While this state of
things lasts nought that we can do can cure the ills of
men. High Tax and Low Tax plans both fail to do this,
as we have seen. True Free Trade would do it. |
privilege, special
interests, poverty, poverty's
causes, monopoly,
wealth
concentration, land
concentration, |
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