IN socialism as distinguished from individualism there
is an unquestionable truth — and that a truth to
which (especially by those most identified with
free-trade principles) too little attention has been
paid. Man is primarily an individual — a separate
entity, differing from his fellows in desires and powers,
and requiring for the exercise of those powers and the
gratification of those desires individual play and
freedom. But he is also a social being, having desires
that harmonize with those of his fellows, and powers that
can only be brought out in concerted action. There is
thus a domain of individual action and a domain of social
action — some things which can best be done when
each acts for himself, and some things which can best be
done when society acts for all its members. And the
natural tendency of advancing civilization is to make
social conditions relatively more important, and more and
more to enlarge the domain of social action. This has not
been sufficiently regarded, and at the present time, evil
unquestionably results from leaving to individual action
functions that by reason of the growth of society and the
developments of the arts have passed into the domain of
social action; just as, on the other hand, evil
unquestionably results from social interference with what
properly belongs to the individual. Society ought
not to leave the telegraph and the railway to the
management and control of individuals; nor yet ought
society to step in and collect individual debts or
attempt to direct individual industry. —
Protection or Free Trade, Chapter 28
econlib
THE primary purpose and end of government being to
secure the natural rights and equal liberty of each, all
businesses that involve monopoly are within the necessary
province of governmental regulation, and businesses that
are in their nature complete monopolies become properly
functions of the State. As society develops, the State
must assume these functions, in their nature
co-operative, in order to secure the equal rights and
liberty of all. That is to say, as, in the process of
integration, the individual becomes more and more
dependent upon and subordinate to the all, it becomes
necessary for government, which is properly that social
organ by which alone the whole body of individuals can
act, to take upon itself, in the interest of all, certain
functions which cannot safely be left to individuals.
—
Social Problems
— Chapter 17, The Functions of
Government
IT is not the business of government to make men virtuous
or religious, or to preserve the fool from the
consequences of his own folly. Government should be
repressive no further than is necessary to secure liberty
by protecting the equal rights of each from aggression on
the part of others, and the moment governmental
prohibitions extend beyond this line they are in danger
of defeating the very ends they are intended to
serve.—
Social Problems
— Chapter 17, The Functions of
Government
ALL schemes for securing equality in the conditions of
men by placing the distribution of wealth in the hands of
government have the fatal defect of beginning at the
wrong end. They pre-suppose pure government; but it is
not government that makes society; it is society that
makes government; and until there is something like
substantial equality in the distribution of wealth, we
cannot expect pure government. — Protection or
Free Trade, Chapter 28
econlib
... go to "Gems
from George"
Q22. What is privilege?
A. Strictly defined, privilege is, according to the
Century Dictionary, "a special and exclusive power
conferred by law on particular persons or classes of
persons and ordinarily in derogation of the common
right."
Q23. What is today the popular conception of
privilege?
A. That it is the law-given power of one man to profit at
another man's expense.
Q24. What are the principal forms of
privilege?
A. The appropriation by individuals, or by public service
corporations, of the net rent of land created by the
growth and activity of the community without payment for
the same. Also, the less important privileges connected
with patents, tariff, and the currency.
Q25. Where in does privilege differ from
capital?
A. Capital is a material thing, a product of labor,
stored-up wages; an instrument of production paid for in
human labor, and destined to wear out. Capital is the
natural ally of labor, and is harmless except as allied
to privilege. Privilege is none of these, but is an
intangible statutory power, an unpaid-for and perpetual
lien upon the future labor of this and succeeding
generations. Capital is paid for and ephemeral. Privilege
is unpaid for and eternal. A man accumulated in his
profession $5,000 capital, which he invested in land in
Canada. Ten years later he sold the same land for
$200,000. Here is an instance of $5,000 capital allied
with $195,000 privilege. This illustrates that privilege
and not capital is the real enemy of labor.
Q26. How may franchises be treated?
A. Franchise privileges may be abated, or
gradually abolished by lower rates, or by taxation, or by
both, in the interest of the community.
Q27. Why should privilege be especially
taxed?
A. Because such payment is fairly due from grantee to the
grantor of privilege and also because a tax upon
privilege can never be a burden upon industry or
commerce, nor can it ever operate to reduce the wages of
labor or increase prices to the consumer.
Q28. How are landlords privileged?
A. Because, in so far as their land tax is an "old" tax,
it is a burdenless tax, and because their buildings' tax
is shifted upon their tenants; most landlords who let
land and also the tenement houses and business blocks
thereon avoid all share in the tax burden.
Q29. How does privilege affect the distribution of
wealth?
A. Wealth as produced is now distributed substantially in
but two channels, privilege and wages. The abolition of
privilege would leave but the one proper channel, viz.,
wages of capital, hand, and brain.
Q26. How may franchises be treated?
A. Franchise privileges may be abated, or gradually
abolished by lower rates, or by taxation, or by both, in
the interest of the community.
Q37. Does the single tax imply or involve the
municipalization of public utilities?
A. No. A public franchise value is a land value which the
single tax would assess at the same rate as other land
values. The municipalization of the public utilities
themselves is a different question, and is no necessary
part of the single tax.
... read
the whole article