HENRY GEORGE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 105, 30 October 1913, Page 11

HENRY GEORGE

+ LOCAL COMMEMORATION LAND VALUES LEAGUE'S TRIBUTE. The annual social gathering of tho Wellington branch of the Now Zealand Land Values League, held last night in connection with the Henry George Coni'« memoration, was largely attended. Mr. P. J. o 'Regan was in the chaif, and those present included the Hon. G. Fowlds, Mr. A. Withy, and Mr. D. M'Laren. Apologies were received for the absence of the Hon. Mr. Paul, and Messrs. Webb and A'tmore, M.P.'s. In his opening remarks, Mr. o'Regan said that if they surveyed the movement towards taxation on land values, which was looming large throughout the length and breadth of the world, or if they turned to America, where sweeping reduction had been made in the tariff, they were compelled to conclude that these achievements were tributes which practical- statesmanship had been compelled to pay to tho immortal memory of Henry George. Single-tax had become the political issue of every civilised country. Very few men by the sheer force of their genius could simultaneously summon all over the world such an annual gathering as this. It was a great tribute to the truths taught by Henry George. All George did was .to give / definite expression to the olfi principles of justice and morality, that _ all men should have equal natural rights. What every man was justly entitled to on this earth, in the shape of the whole of the product of his labour, could never have been obtained without single-tax. The failure that had followed State settlement of land did not snrprise him. Single-takers rejected any Bystem of purchase, for they denied that it was the function of the Government to provide homes for the people; but it was the bounden duty of the State to see that every man had an equal opportunity to employ himself. GRADUATED TAX A FAILURE. The mission of the league was to re- j duce indirect taxation and concentrate it on the unimproved value of land, until such time as the baneful bond of landlordism was compelled to relinquish its grip. Proceeding, the speaker pointed out that it was impossible to settle the labour question until the land question was settled. Nothing short oi " flat taxation "on land woufd suffice. Followers of George had never asked for the graduated tax, as .they did not accept it as a solution *of the problem. They were not going to have it. Like the Land Settlement Act, it was foredoomed to failure, and it simply gave a plausible pretext to the city land monopob'st — the greatest curse of all— to escape taxation. Regarding the "false issue of freehold v. leasehold, the speaker said that one was as bad as the other. The salvation of the country lay not in a Land Bill but in a Budget, which he "^ould undertake to frame on half a dozen sheets of paper! (Applause.) ***• "PROPHET OF SAN FRANCISCO." The Hon. Mr. Fowlds referred to the death of the " prophet of San Francisco" sixteen years ago. The speaker briefly traced George's career in interesting vein. Progress and Poverty " was published in 1879, only after publisher after publisher had refused it. In the end George and his friends had to sot the type before it was printed. This was the book that was notr immortal! George, lived only eighteen years after the publication of his work, but even in that short time he lived to see hi 6 propaganda covering the whole of th» civilised world. Even many of the leading spirits in the Chinese revolution were professed and acknowledged " single-taxers." No such great truths had ever made such far-reaching progress as the truths proclaimed by George. Within the last few years leading statesmen had proclaimed tho truths and used the arguments of the " Prophet " in justification of their Budgets. NOT A POLITICAL PARTY. Single-taxerß throughout the world had refrained from forming political parties, believing that it was better to cany on the propaganda work and preach their doctrine, thus securing the conversion of men in all political parties. Th© speaker J instanced the growth of the tenets of single-tax amongst many members of the Unionisj. party in England. Altruism and . justice were going to solve the problems of civilised society.. In an advanced state of civilisation every labour-saving device which was brought into use, and every natural increase in population^ expressed itself in increased land value, and under existing circumstances the landowners were able to gather unto themselves the whole of the economical value of all the improvements that took place. Concluding, the speaker drew attention to the sweeping progress made by' the doctrine of single-tax throughout the world, especially in Canada, where the farmers in the great North- West were working for its adoption.