February 18, 1891 Vol. IX, No. 7Whole No. 216

THE STANDARD

PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY, BY WM. T. CROASDALE, AT NO. 42 UNIVERSITY PLACE.

VOL. IX. | NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1891. | NO. 7.

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RECRUIT SUBSCRIPTIONS.—

When our recruit subscription books were first prepared there was some complaint that the prices, especially for the $1 books, approximated too closely to the retail price of the paper. Now that the paper has been enlarged and improved and its price increased proportionately, this objection no longer holds good, as the books are still sold at the old prices. Our experience already demonstrates that the greater variety of topics discussed is beginning to bring to THE STANDARD new subscribers from beyond the ranks of the Single Taxers ; but it ought to have a much wider circulation among men interested in economic questions and public affairs generally, and no better way of introducing it formally to the notice of those likely to be interested can be devised than the use of these recruit subscription books.

They are so arranged as to give those using them comparatively little trouble. No remittance is necessary after a book is once purchased, since each leaf is a paid order for a four weeks’ subscription to the paper. As soon as one of these orders is received at the office, the person designated is notified that at the request of the person sending in the order. THE STANDARD will be mailed^sic to him for four weeks, and that unless he becomes a subscriber it will be stopped at the end of that time. This not only inclines the recipient to examine the paper more closely, but it relieves him from any fear

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that the publisher is trying to force a paper on him without his consent.

Of course we understand that those who use these books are rendering THE STANDARD a valuable service at their own cost. That is just what they were devised for. The paper has not a large capital that will enable it to make a free distribution of copies, either for its own benefit or for propaganda purposes. We know, however, that the paper has thousands of friends eager to do anything in their power to increase its prosperity and widen the sphere of its influence. It is a nuisance to such people to buy papers and mail them, and many of them have eagerly embraced this convenient plan for reaching their friends. Of late we have not been pressing the matter on the attention of our readers, but the change in form has called forth such general commendation that we believe great good can be accomplished through an active renewal of this method of calling the attention of thoughtful people to the merits and attractions of THE STANDARD, and we have accordingly resumed advertising these recruit subscription books.

BLAINE’S “FREE TRADE.”—

Mr. Shriver could not very carefully have read the article entitled “Blaine, the Free Trader,” in the last issue of THE STANDARD if he drew from it an inference that we think that that tricky politician is consciously carrying out any policy antagonistic to the protected monopolies. We can only guess at Mr. Blaine’s motives, but it seems reasonably certain that his political instinct taught him that McKinley’s crazy scheme was one that would endanger the protection policy by a method analagous^sic to that of the fool in the fable, who killed the goose that laid the golden egg. He had not the power and prestige that enabled Henry Clay half a century ago to save all that could be saved of protection for several years, but he unquestionably did protest against the McKinley folly, and he probably was not the least happy man in the United States when the election returns came in, showing how overwhelmingly the people had rebuked McKinleyism. The result not merely indicated his judgment, but gave him a better place in his party.

His reciprocity scheme is, doubtless, intended to “throw a tub to the whale” and to exalt himself in the eyes of Republicans dissatisfied with McKinley. It will accomplish nothing of importance for the country, because, as was pointed out in the article that troubles Mr. Shriver, the tariff that we maintain against the world in general prevents us from manufacturing goods at a cost that will enable us to compete in Brazil, or elsewhere, with British manufacturers. Furthermore, we do not believe that on this, or any other economic question, Mr. Blaine has any clear-cut convictions or well-defined policy.

Despite all this, we believe that Mr. Blaine is doing good service for the Free Trade cause. He is enraging intelligent Protectionists and dividing the Republican party. He is confessing to the world, and particularly to the American farmers, that the home market, about which the Protectionists have prated so long, is not sufficient. The moment they get this idea clearly in their heads they will demand access to markets that will really benefit them. Lastly, by turning public attention to the value and importance of trade, and demonstrating that tariffs are an obstruction to it, Mr. Blaine’s policy tends to lead men to desire Free Trade for its own sake, and that is a condition of mind to which the arguments of the timid tariff reformer would never bring them.

Should Free Traders, because of this, accept Mr. Blaine as a leader and abandon their support of the Tariff Reformers ? As well ask if they should accept the continued on p. 4 →

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SHERMAN AND PORTER.—

By a notable coincidence, the last great soldier and the last surviving great naval officer on the Union side in the Civil War, died last week. Admiral Porter the, first^sic of the two to pass away, was unquestionably one of the two greatest naval commanders engaged in that struggle, while General Sherman, who died on Saturday, was one of the three Union Generals who held the highest place in popular estimation at the close of the war. He is probably generally regarded as second only to Grant among our most successful commanders, and there are capable military critics who rank him even above Grant. After his famous march from Atlanta to the Sea, Grant was himself ready to accord Sherman the first place and, in a letter published in Sherman’s memoirs, Grant declared his willinguess^sic to take a subordinate place under the hem^sic of that marvelous and audacious manoeuvre.

It is needless that THE STANDARD should dwell elaborately on the death of these two men. The daily press has published minute biographies of their lives, and editorially represented the American people as bowed with grief over their loss. As a matter of fact, the grief is not a tenth part so general or so deep as it would have been twenty years ago. The surviving soldiers of the war, and the people, not soldiers, whose hearts throbbed and palpitated with the hopes and fears of the great conflict, feel more or less keenly, according to their temperament, the passing away of these men whose movements they watched with painful anxiety, and whose many victories they hailed with delight.

But the number of such people grows constantly smaller and they constitute but a small proportion of the generation that is dominant to-day. To that generation the war is history, and even such men as Sherman and Porter are but historical personages further removed from their actual lives than the fictitious characters in the current novels. This is not a pleasant reflection for those who still keenly feel the loss of these heroes of that conflict, yet there is really no cause for regret, since the further we drift away from the wild

p. 4, col. 2 passions and the litter memories^sic of the war the more completely will be accomplished that unification of the American people which was the object for which Sherman, Porter and thousands of other less illustrious but equally devoted heroes fought.

STILL AFTER THE WOOL GROWERS.—

“The Standard American Merino Association” of sheep breeders held its annual meeting, at Rochester, on February 4. Though the association has a membership embracing breeders in Vermont, New York and Michigan, it appears from the report in the Union and Advertiser that there were but eight representatives present at this meeting. Mr. John M. Norton, of East Bloomfield, by invitation of the secretary, read a paper on “Our Protective Tariff in Its Relations to Sheep Breeding and Wool Growing,” in which he handled without gloves the stupid notion that a protective tariff promotes the interest of wool growers and sheep breeders. Mr. Norton tried to induce those present who are “dyed-in-the-wool Protectionists” to discuss the very excellent arguments presented by his paper, but anything like discussion was out of the question. The secretary of the association, John P. Ray, made a brief address, rehashing the old Protection arguments, and followed it up by a set of resolutions endorsing the wool schedule of the McKinley bill, and asking Congress to place a tax of fifty cents per square yard on all goods manufactured in part from shoddy, whether foreign or domestic. These resolutions were unanimously adopted by the eight men present.

The Union and Advertiser reporter, after the meeting, met W. A. Cook, of Warsaw, Mich., formerly of this State, of whom he says he is probably the “father of merino sheep breeding” in this country, having begun the business in Vermont 1834^sic and been identified with it ever since. Mr. Cook told the reporter that he had been compelled to dispose of the flock of four thousand sheep because of iniquitous tariff legislation, and he declared that the talk of protection benefiting the sheep breeder was all “bosh.” We cannot clearly make out from the report whether Mr. Cook was present as a member of the Merino Association or not. If so it seems a pity that he could not have been in the meeting to back up Mr. Norton’s views and prevent the vote of the association from being unanimous in support of Secretary Ray’s foolish resolutions.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN SHOPS.—

“An act to regulate the employment of women and children in mercantile establishments, and to provide that the State Factory Inspectors shall enforce the same,” has been framed by the Working Women’s Society of 27 Clinton place, and introduced in the State Senate by Hon. George B. Sloan and in the Assembly by General Martin T. McMahon. The bill is substantially a transcript of the provisions of the present factory law and its purpose is to apply the regulations and restrictions imposed by that act to mercantile establishments. It provides that no person under eighteen years of age and no woman shall work in any such establishment more than sixty hours in any one week, and that no one under eighteen and no woman under twenty-one shall work there before 6 in the morning, or after 9 at night. Exceptions to this rule are made for the Christmas holiday season. The bill also prohibits the employment of any child under fourteen years of age in any mercantile establishment in this State. Provisions are made for insuring proper sanitary arrangements and a due regard for decency, requiring that seats be provided for women, that sufficient time be allowed for meals, etc.

Such a law applicable to factories is already on the statute book, but it is largely a dead letter. This is not continued on p. 5 →

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THE DEATH OF JAMES REDPATH.

THE DEATH OF JAMES REDPATH.—Few men have crowded into less than sixty years of life so much of excited activity as James Redpath, who died at St. Luke’s Hospital, in this city, on February 10. He was born of a Scotch father and English mother at Berwick-on-Tweed in 1833. He came te this country^sic with his parents, who settled in Michigan in 1848. He began life as a printer, and at the age of eighteen. like^sic many others, he went from the case to the reporter’s desk. He was an ardent abolitionist, took an active part in the exciting Kansas troubles of 1855-56, and became there the friend and confidant of John Brown, whose Virginia raid he approved.and^sic defended. Mr. Redpath^sic was an ardent Republican from the birth of the party until 1886, when he actively supported Henry George in the Mayorality campaign in this city, and he openly renounced Republicanism in the campaign in the following year, when Mr. George was a candidate for Secretary of State. After the split caused by the attempt of Dr. McGlynn and others to form a national united labor party for the express purpose of aiding the Republicans in 1888, Mr Redpath adhered to Dr. McGlynn and was chosen vice-president of the Anti-Poverty Society, a position that we believe he held up to the time of his death.

Mr. Redpath was an ardent friend of Irish Home Rule, and was closely identified with the Irish agitators in Ireland and in this country. He organized the famous Redpath Lyceum Bureau, and was, until stricken with paralysis about three years ago, one of the editors of the North American Review. He was always a radical in opinions and he was an energetic and restless agitator in behalf of his beliefs up to the time that he was stricken with paralysis. Since that he has been in very poor health, though his wonderful energy enabled him to make a tour as a correspondent through Ireland, and he was at the time he was run down by a street car, two weeks ago, employed in the editorial rooms of Belford’s Magizine^sic. For several years Mr. Redpath has appeared so bent and broken p. 5, col. 2 that he seemed to be a man well on in the seventies, and there was a general expression of amazement among the many friends who mourn his death when the newspaper obituaries showed that he was less than sixty. The feeling is general that it was little less than marvellous that any man should have crowded so many events into less than forty years of adult life. Despite his stormy public career, James Redpath was a man of gentle temper and urbane manners who was sincerely loved by a host of friends.

THE CENSUS INQUIRY.

THE CENSUS INQUIRY.—We know of no good reason why a legislative committee in this State should not investigate the accuracy of the United States census of New York. The Legislature is expected to base the redistricting of the State for congressional elections on that census. Official protests against its accuracy have been made, and it is justly open to suspicion. Yet Mr. Murray, who managed the taking of the census here, has flatly refused to answer questions put to him by a legislative committee, and in support of his refusal has produced a letter from Robert P. Porter, Commissioner of the Census, saying that while the census may “be investigated by any properly constituted authority,” that Mr. Murray is “instructed not to answer any questions or produce any papers” touching his “official action as supervisor of the census.” We sincerely hope that this matter will be pressed and the case tested. If centralization has made such rapid strides that an understrapper of the Federal Government can thus defy the State of New York, it is time that the people knew it with a view to amending the Constitution so as to restore the rights that the States have inadvertently lost.

QUAY’S DENIAL.

QUAY’S DENIAL.—Senator M. S. Quay, of Pennsylvania, read a speech in the United States Senate on Monday, in which he denied all the charges of dishonesty made against him by various newspapers many months ago. He mentions one or two witnesses who, he says, will support his denial of some of the minor charges, but he seems to expect the country to accept his denial of the main charge without the support of any evidence. This is the charge that he used public funds for his private speculations, and on one occasion would have become a bankrupt defaulter if Senator Cameron had not come to his assistance. If this is all that Mr. Quay has to say after his prolonged silence it is remarkable that he said anything. A plea of “not guilty” is never accepted as conclusive in a criminal prosecution. Mr. Quay must back up his denial with evidence, and a great deal of it, before he can expect the country to accept it.

THE NEWARK RIOT.

THE NEWARK RIOT.—Of course there is no excuse for the attack by a mob on the thread mills at Newark. Popular sentiment in this country will never tolerate the system of settling economic problems by smashing windows, and there is happily very little disposition amongst Americans to resort to such a course. The incident at Newark, however, admirably illustrates the absurdity of the protection humbug. These Clarks are Englishmen; who^sic came over here to obtain the benefits of our protective tariff, which enabled them to sell goods to our people at a higher rate than they could have obtained while manufacturing such goods in England. They brought with them most of the workmen that they employ, and as these people, after a long residence in this country. have^sic shown a disposition to demand better wages, the Clarks have imported people from Canada and elsewhere to take their places, and are keeping these immigrants housed in their mills for fear the people they have displaced will mob them. The police are bound to pro- continued on p. 6 →

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McKINLEY FOR GOVERNOR.

—At the recent annual meeting of the Ohio League of Republican clubs, which took place in Toledo on February 12, Major McKinley took occasion to declare his continued devotion to the doctrines, the embodiment of which in a law, deprived him of his seat in Congress and his party of power. This seemed pleasing to the young men. A despatch to the Press, of this city, declares that it was “a McKinley day from start to finish,” and foreshadowed Major McKinley’s nomination as the Republican candidate for Governor next Fall. We hope the Press is right. It is highly important that the country shall not, by any oversight or diversion of interest, forget for one moment McKinley and his bill.

BRIBERY IN CAUCUSES.

—Assemblyman Woodbury, of Chatauqua County^sic, has introduced at Albany an amendment to the “Corrupt Practices Act” of 1890, making its provisions apply to the expenditure of money by candidates at party caucuses and conventions. There is no doubt that there is a large expenditure of money corruptly at these gatherings, but why does Mr. Woodbury wish to apply the present law to such practices? Does he not know that the existing law is a dead failure? It only requires that the candidate shall swear to what he contributed, individually, whereas the very essence of any effective law is to require a statement of all expenditures made in behalf of a candidate’s election by any of his accepted agents. If Mr. Woodbury wants to effect a reform he had better go to work on the existing law to bring about its improvement.

FOR ONCE THE PRESS IS RIGHT.

—The New York Press refers to the incident recently commented upon in THE STANDARD, in which a man named Sanford, after he could no longer escape paying a fair tax on a vacant lot in New Haven, proceeded to erect a fine building on it, because he could no longer afford to let it lie idle and pay taxes upon it. The Press commends this incident to the consideration of the New York tax department and urges it to adopt the plan of the Bridgeport assessors. It says: “There is utter disproportion between the listed values of unimproved and improved property on Manhattan Island, to the disadvantage of the owners of that which is improved. The owners of the unimproved property are largely speculators, while the owners of improved property are investors and pay double because of the evasion of the others.” It is really surprising that a paper so hopelessly wrong on the question of federal taxes should approximate so closely to correct ideas when considering local taxes.

KANSAS RAILWAY BILL.

—The Railroad Committee of the Kansas House of Representatives has prepared a bill providing for the two-cent passenger rate and making the Railway Board elective by the people. The term of office of the present board expires on the 1st of April next, so such a bill, if passed, would go into effect almost immediately. It vests in the Railroad Board the control of the express, telegraph and telephone companies, and of all persons or combinations doing business as common carriers. The board shall have free access to the books of all such companies and be empowered to obtain information from any other source. Throwing obstacles in the way of obtaining

p. 6, col. 2 such information is made punishable by a fine of $1,000. The proposal is one of the most important brought forward by the farmers, but it proceeds on the lines of governmental interference with companies and individuals whose rights to the private ownership of public franchises it tacitly admits, and therefore, does not, we believe, present the true solution of the railway and telegraph problems. Nevertheless, it is one of the efforts to secure a relief from intolerable burdens that may promote the success of the true and final reform by demonstrating the inefficiency of half-way measures.

THE DIRECT TAX BILL.

—There is some good, apparently, even in Republican extravagance. It appears that the exhaustion of the money in the treasury has so far alarmed the Republican bosses that they hesitate about carrying through a scheme to revive the bill to restore to various claimants seventeen million dollars collected by the United States Government through direct taxation, during the war. This is a bare-faced job which has no warrant except the greed of a lot of adventurers and the disposition, on the part of the protectionists, to get rid of an important precedent in behalf of direct taxation.

AN EMPTY TREASURY.

—It is easier to handle a surplus than a deficit was the one notable utterance of Fred Grant during his brief and preposterous intrusion into the domain of politics. If this be true the Republican party cannot long postpone a difficult task. On Wednesday of last week the Acting Secretary of the Treasury issued warrants for the payment of $1,000,000 on account of $30,000,000 due for pensions during the quarter ending March 4. The payment of the whole sum would exhaust the cash balance in the Treasury were it not for the probability that receipts will be $10,000,000 in excess of all other expenditures during the next two weeks. This is a pretty close shave, and there is little if any doubt that there will be a large deficit before the end of the present administration.

TARIFF PETTY LARCENY.

—About as mean a dodge as ever was practiced by a bunco steerer is that of the customs’ officers at this port, by which they practically have nullified the provision of the new tariff law that admits raw hides without duty. It seems that a number of calf and goat hides, imported for the purposes of making leather, have hair on them, and, as the woolen men had managed to get hair included in some fashion with wool and subjected to a duty, the appraisers have decided that these skins with the hair on are subject to a provision in the new tariff bill, which requires that wool on skins shall pay the same duty as other wool. The collection of tariff duties appears to dispose men to rob their fellow men even when they have no personal interest in the proceeds of the theft.

TROUBLE IN TORONTO.

—There is a “bitter cry” not merely from the laboring poor of London but from those of Toronto, Canada. Last week a large body of unemployed men marched through the streets of the city bearing a black flag on which was inscribed the words “Work or Bread.” They interviewed the Mayor and threatened that there would be violence unless something was done to relieve their distress. James Lawler, one of their leaders, said that what they wanted was bread, not charity, and he declared to the Mayor “We have the worst landlords in Toronto that ever put foot in a boot of leather.” Several of those who spoke declared that they were about to be evicted for non-payment of rent at a time when they could not obtain sufficient employment to earn bread alone. Noth- continued on p. 7 →

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SHOP OR HOUSE ?

Mr. Cranford, writing recently to THE STANDARD, seems to think that the ladders on which we poor mortals are obliged to climb for distinction, are like the ladder Jacob saw let down from Heaven, its rounds starting from the top, where he would place us all at once. Unfortunately for his theory, there is necessarily a bottom to society, and various grades of it from that upwards.

The great teacher of our religion recognized this condition when he said that the servant was not greater than his lord, intimating very conclusively that he was by no means so great, and when he descended to the most menial of services as an illustration that it could be performed without any loss of dignity or self-respect.

Mr. Cranford proceeds to knock out the bottom rounds of the ladder by saying, “Menial service—the infinitely mean and degrading position implied by the words lackey and servant—are doomed,” and then paradoxically continues, “But men shall cook and scrub and still keep their self-respect and honest pride.” Most of us can cook and scrub, but we cannot all do this sort of work to our own satisfaction. It is cheaper for us to employ others, who happen for the present to be a little lower down on the ladder, to do it for us, and they are very glad to get the work. “Every giri, madam, as well as boy, who is born in America to-day, is apt to feel exactly as you would were you asked to work in a menial position.” Fortunately for our philosopher, as well as for all of us, he is greatly mistaken. If every girl or boy had risen as high on the ladder as the lady he addresses, and was then obliged to descend, this assertion might be correct, although there are many instances of coming down with a good grace.

But, if I understand this somewhat contradictory writer, he is willing to admit that the world cannot get on without work, but he desires that the servant and his lord should be on terms of perfect equality. He will allow that, so far as personal comfort is concerned, it is far easier for a shop-girl who gets $5 per week for standing behind a counter all day and paying her own board, to take service in a family at the same wages where the labor will be much less and where she will be comfortably lodged and abundantly fed. But when this offer is made to her he counsels her to reply: “No, thanks, life is not worth so much. Shop for me if I drop at it.” He should further recommend her to take refuge in her Bible and derive comfort from the text, “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” And then he goes on to compare the character of the shop-keeping firm with that of a householder. “The firm may be driving and pitiless, but its attitude toward clerk and shop-girl is a human and democratic one with regard to the matter in question.” Why so? Because in the shop the girl is not called “Mary” but “Miss Jones,” and is called a sales lady! He would doubtless have Miss Jones sit at the family table of the householder, but there is no evidence that Miss Jones will be invited to the table of the shopkeeper. Again, in the household it would be a degradation to Miss Jones to be expected to say “Miss” to her employer’s daughter. I do not know from what standpoint Mr. Cranford is writing. Has he ever been a servant himself? I have. I have been a servant and a master, and therefore can speak without prejudice of either condition.

In many respects society is like a ship. Whether we choose to recognize it or not, it has its grades like those on shipboard, and it must have its discipline. In this world we may all be said to have “signed the articles,” that is, we have virtually put ourselves under bonds to conform to usage, and there is no debasement in that. When I was a sailor before the mast I endeavored to do my duty, and one part of it was to be obedient and respectful to my superiors, the captain and his officers. I always “put the handle to their names,” and they never put any handle to mine. If on either side continued on p. 8 →

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SECRETARY BLAINE’S POLICY.

It goes against the grain to disagree with THE STANDARD, but your acceptance of Secretary Blaine’s new policy—even though perhaps in a half sarcastic vein—as making toward our ends, really ought not to pass unchallenged. Reciprocity is not free trade—not even a mon grel imitation of it. It concedes in full the vicious principle of governmental interference, assuming to tell us how and where we shall exchange the products of our industry. Equally, with avowed protectionism, it involves all the blundering of sincere socialists in trying to adjust and balance natural advantages by legislation rather than by natural law, and admits all the trickery of insincere protectionists in the creation of artificial advantages. We may even suspect, and not without reason, that this latest move is only a device of the cunning Secretary of State to throw a tub to the whale and direct the growing sentiment in favor of commercial freedom into a dicker for delusive favors that will in no way injure the monopolies which have been established upon our protective tariff system.

For it is not merely in the oretical^sic consistency that Reciprocity—granting freedom to trade only where Congress and the State Department graciously permit—differs from real Free Trade, which simply tells the Government to keep its hands off and refrain from its pernicious meddling with business. The countries.with^sic whom reciprocity is sought furnish but few of the goods whose production is “protected” in this country and their free admission will no more break down the power of protected monopoly than did the abolition of tea and coffee duties. Nor will the proposed treaties avail much to expand our export trade, let us say of machinery,

p. 8, col. 2 while we enhance the price of iron by imposing a duty behind which owners of American iron mines are enabled to exact a higher price for their ores. If we want Brazilian or Canadian products we must still export our breadstuffs to Europe to get the credit with which to pay for them. Even the object lesson may be of little value, if we may judge from the small effect in the way of broadening popular ideas, that has been produced by the freedom of trade that we have enjoyed for a century within our own boundaries. Had it not been for this our people would have long since demanded Free Trade with all the world, and reciprocity may easily serve only to blind them to the extent of their continued slavery and reconcile them to its continuance—because they are not so badly off as they might be.

What misleads here so often is a failure to apprehend the true benefit to be secured by opening our ports. It is not so much that we will buy goods cheaper from abroad as that we will buy them cheaper at home. That domestic owners of natural sources of material, subjected to the competitive influence of foreigu^sic goods, will be compelled to abate some of the extra economic rent that they now collect in the increased prices of their product, and that the lowering of prices thereby will stimulate home industries by adding to the power of domestic consumption. Hardly a single Brazilian product can be cited that will help to this result and but little from Canada, barring lumber and coal: yet Reciprocity, as mapped out by the paternal hand of our rulers at Washington, offers us these phantasms and denies us the competition of English and Belgian iron, of British cotton goods and tin plates, of Chilian copper. It is such bread as this that we want, and not the stones of Para rubber or furs from Hudson Bay.

New York, February 11. E. J. SHRIVER.

THE DEMOCRATS AND THE THIRD PARTY IN KANSAS.

WINFIELD, KAnsas^sic, February 2, 1891.—I have read with interest some editorials in THE STANDARD on the subject of third parties. Now that our campaign in Kansas has finally closed with the defeat of Senator Ingalls, a little campaign history, although it might be called ancient history, may interest you. It has been a most peculiar campaign. The People’s party was christened in this county, Cowley, in 1889. Dissatisfaction inside the Republican party was made manifest in 1886 by an attempt to throw off the domination of a boss and a county ring. Without going into details, which are local and probably not interesting to you, suffice it to say that the ill feeling engendered in that campaign culminated in 1889. After the Republican County Convention was held, a bolt of very large dimensions was apparent. A convention was called, to which everybody opposed to the Republican management was invited, without regard to previous party ties. This was a true People’s movement: Democrats, Union Labor, disgusted Republicans, all took a part. Also for the first time the Alliance began to show its hand in a campaign.

The Republicans went into the campaign with the assurance of men who had carried the county by two thousand the year before. There was steady and persistent effort on the part of the long suffering Democrats and Union Labor people. There was the feeling of the bolters that at last the time had come to get even with the gang. Election night the returns showed the entire disappearance of the Republican majority and the election of the People’s ticket by eight hundred majority. Then the men who had carried the county began to look at each other and ask: “Why cannot we carry the State?” It was known that there were large numbers of dissatisfied Republicans in the State who were not ready to vote the Democratic ticket. Generally the Democrats treated the new party kindly. Mr. Clover was nominated for Congress in the Third District, with the implied promise of the Democrats to support him because of his Free Trade views. A State Convention was held and the results were not satisfactory to Democrats. The Democrats next held a State Convention, nominated a ticket, and we now have a Republican Governor. Of the seven Congressional districts four had no Democratic candidates at election time. The other three had each a three-cornered fight, and two Republican Congressmen were elected from the three districts, leaving John Davis as the only opposition Congressman elected in a three-cornered fight.

To sum up, the Democratic and People’s party have demonstrated that joined together they are invincible. Separated they each possess sufficient strength to defeat the other, but neither one has sufficient strength to defeat the Republican party alone. Whenever the People’s party would allow it the Democrats helped. When stepped on too hard they kicked. Very little satisfied them; just a touch of very ordinary common politeness, which they did not get in all cases.

What shape the campaign will take in 1892 it is impossible to forecast now. High Protection is dead in Kansas. Single Tax ideas prevail to some extent and the change toward Free Trade among the Alliance is a radical one. This has been another peculiarity of the campaign. The Alliance leaders insisted that the tariff was a side continued on p. 9 →

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THE SINGLE TAX IN SCOTLAND.

GLASGOW, January 27, 1891.—The Henry George Institute has had, up to date, a very successful season, notwithstanding the fact that very many of our Glasgow churches and evangelistic societies—stimulated, no doubt, by the example and success of the Institute—have taken to the discussion of “Social Problems” at “special Sunday evening services.” They are as yet principally engaged in pointing to the social disease, but this is a decided step forward in the right direction, for the next thing to the removal of an evil is to be sure that there is one to remove. The churches—God forgive them—have too long emulated the example of the “Priest and the Levite,” and passed by on the other side, leaving suffering humanity to suffer on—a bleeding victim of as cruel and unchristianlike a social condition as is possible to conceive of. But there is hope for the churches even at the eleventh hour, and if they will only abandon the religion of creed and embrace the religion of conduct they will ultimately achieve as prominent and pleasing a place in the history of mankind as the “Good Samaritan” himself.

We are glad to see by THE STANDARD that Mr. George is improving. His illness has been taken much notice of by the Scotch press generally, and has excited a great deal of sympathy throughout all reforming circles. Since his—Mr. George’s—last visit here on his way home from Australia we have been enabled to do much good work. Petition sheets have been issued by the Scottish Land Restoration Federation, praying Parliament “to relieve industry of the burden of taxation and to raise all taxes for national and local purposes by a Single Tax upon the value of all land, whether used cr^sic let, or held idle by the holder.” They have met with a magnificent reception, being readily signed at all our public meetings, especially at Liberal Associations. Three new Single Tax associations have been formed: two in country towns and one in the St. Rollox Division of Glasgow. They are all actively engaged in prosecuting a vigorous and most successful campaign.

There is also a big demand for Single Tax men as lecturers at Liberal associations. Irish national leagues, literary associations, etc. A gentleman who lately visited Scotland has expressed bimself^sic regarding our position in the following manner: “You Scotch Single Tax men hold the field here. Wherever I go I find Single Tax men to the front, no matter under whose auspices”—and there are many such agencies here—“a lecture is being delivered, if there is an opportunity for criticism at all the Single Tax advocate is sure to be there, with his clear, convincing and irrefutable arguments. I always knew you had a good footing here, but I never imagined that yoa^sic had so thoroughly permeated Scotch political and social thought with your principles.” Such testimony from a stranger who made it his business, during a visit which lasted about two months, to visit all the centres of discussion on political and social subjects, speaks for itself.

We are looking forward to engaging in an outdoor propaganda campaign during the coming Summer months. If we had tracts and pamphlets for distribution we could dispose of any quantity to great advantage.

JOHN PAUL.

OFFICIAL ACTION IN GLASGOW.

At a meeting of the Glasgow Police Commissioners held on Monday, January 19, a report was received from the special committee appointed to consider the incidence of local taxation. The report had been prepared by a sub-committee consisting of Peter Burt, Samuel Chisholm and J. P. M’Phun, but it was accepted by the whole committee, and was as follows:

Your sub-committee having considered the remit to them, expressed their approval of the principle of making land values a basis of taxation, and indicate the following as a method by which this principle might be carried out, viz.: That all proprietors, when making the statutory return to the assessor under the Lands Valuation Acts, should, in addition to the details at present required, also furnish, in two separate columns, the following additional information:—(1) The number of square yards of ground of which he is the proprietor; and (2) the annual value of such ground, calculated at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum upon what he may fix as the price thereof, as between a willing seller and a willing buyer. In the event of the assessor being dissatisfied with the value as so stated, he shall have power to increase the same, having regard to the nature and situation of the particular subject—the proprietor to have a right of appeal against the assessor’s valuation. After the valuation roll is made up, the proprietors shall then be assessed pro rata for all local rates and taxes payable by them upon the said annual value, as ascertained and entered in the valuation roll in manner before indicated, instead of upon the annual rental of the property as at present. Thereafter, when the proprietor comes to pay the feu-duty or ground annual (if any) applicable to the ground, he shall be entitled to deduct therefrom the same proportion of the local rates and taxes paid by him as the said feu-duty or ground annual bears to the total assessable annual value as entered in the valuation roll.

The special committee in making this report recommended that a copy of it should be sent to all assessing bodies in Scotland with a

p. 9, col. 2

request that they co-operate with the Police Commissioners of Glasgow in petitioning Parliament in favor of legislation on the lines indicated in the report. By request of one of the members the discussion of the subject was delayed for a fortnight.

EQUALIZATION OF TAXATION.

Mr. E. J. Shriver, in THE STANDARD of January 21, discusses the question of the equalization of taxation, raised in my letter “A Challenge,” published in THE STANDARD of December 31, 1890. I find fault with his article, inasmuch as he designates the method proposed by me as a “snap-shot assessment,” without clearly stating what my plan is. Illinois cities are much embarrassed by the operation of the constitutional and statute laws of the State, which require that all assessments shall be at full cash value, and that cities shall not incur indebtedness of more than 5 per cent., or tax annually more than 2 per cent. of assessments. The assessors disobey the law, and only list at one-quarter or one-fifth of value, and therefore cities are in many cases unable to raise sufficient revenue for their actual necessities. My plan only modified the present Illinois method by substituting as a starting point for equalizing boards population instead of assessments. Thus, if a county had 25,000 population and the State 1,000,000, that county’s fraction of the entire State tax to be raised would be 25000-1000000^sic, but this would be only the first scale for equalizing boards to work from; they would then proceed to raise and lower the numerators of the fractions, as in their judgment the distribution of wealth would justify, the same as they do now, and from the very nature of things the result of the distribution would be substantially the same as under the present system. Assessments would immediately bound upward, for assessors would have no motive for keeping them down, and would only endeavor to make an equitable distribution between the individuals of their respective districts, and cities would be relieved from their present disagreeable condition of poverty.

The objections to my plan are that State and county boards of equalization would have to be retained, and it would give local governments an opportunity for extravagance and large expenditures that they do not now possess. Mr. Shriver, in substance, proposes to distribute taxes between subdivisions, in the ratio of taxes actually paid by them in the previous year. The element of competition, which is the factor that must be eliminated, would still remain, for the smaller the amount raised in any year the less would be the State and county quota in the following. Cities would endeavor to raise money by other means than direct taxation. The temptation would be strong to hide their real revenues, by an increase of licenses and of the rates of water works, gas, electric and other public plants, and falsify the returns by those methods so familiar in the days of the income tax.

Rockford, Ill.

H. N. STARR.

VICTORY.

He who, believing, strongly lays his hand Unto the work that waits for him to do, Though men should cavil, measures prove untrue, Friends write their trusted promises in sand, And failure mock him with its threatening brand, Still in the end he, fearless, shall pursue Till crack o’ doom, will find a power which few Or none, with cause less righteous, may command.

For conquest is not built on the defeat Of any man whose aim is human good. Who fights for justice has already won Before no show of loss shall he retreat. However crossed, maligned, misunderstood, He knows but triumph in the work well done.

A. L. M.

IS THE McKINLEY ACT UNCONSTITUTIONAL?

Another large importing firm has followed in the wake of Marshall. Fields & Co^sic., of Chicago. H. H. Sternback & Co., of this city, have brought suit in the United States Circuit Court of this city to recover certain duties paid by them on an importation of colored cotton goods, which arrived here on October 7 last. The ground of contention is the same as that made by the Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis firms—first, that the former tariff act was not and never has been repealed by the alleged tariff act of 1890 or any other act; second, that the bill passed by the Senate and House was not the same one that President Harrison signed, and that the bill which passed these houses never has been either signed or approved by the President: third, that the act is unconstitutional by reason of its third section, under which the President was empowered to continue, suspend, and impose duties, a power which, it was asserted by counsel, is vested in Congress alone, and cannot be delegated to the President: fourth, that the section allowing bounties on sugar and other commodities renders the whole act null and void. Judge Lacombe heard the case and has reserved his decision.

NOTES AND QUERIES.

A story that comes from Chicago has a moral in it as long as the average man’s arm. A bank went down in 1872 or ’73—couldn’t meet its obligations. A receiver took charge of its affairs. Among the assets was a deed to a lot of land, at that time considered worthless. Seventeen or eighteen years pass, during which bank stockholders and others had credited what the bank owed them to profit and loss. Suddenly, in the year of our Lord 1891, month of February, the receiver is astonished to receive an offer of $1,000,000 for this one time “worthless” land. He accepts the offer too quick, goes over the old accounts, and declares a dividend of one hundred and seventy-one per cent. to the creditors of the busted bank. There is much joy over this happy event. There is a moral in this which the initiated can easily see.

* * * *

John D. Blakeney, who had been nominated by the Democrats of Binghamton for Assessor, was defeated by his Republican opponent. The Democrats elected their mayor, but some of them evidently voted against Mr. Blakeney because he was a Single Taxer.

* * * *

Here is news that will interest consumers of sugar—and in that class is included nearly every human being in the United States. Granulated sugar has been selling for a long time at about 6½ cents a pound, wholesale. Last Wednesday, according to the New York Herald, 200,000 barrels were placed by the sugar trusts among the wholesale trade at 4½ cents for March delivery and 4⅝ cents for April. This means that—to those people who buy their sugar by the quarter’s worth—that next month they will get about four and a half pounds of sugar for a quarter where they now get only three and a half pounds. The Government bounty of 1¾ cents on sugar goes into effect July 1, and the reduction on its price is in anticipation of that event.

* * * *

A petition has been presented to the Massachusetts Legislature praying for a liberal bounty upon the head of every woodchuck killed in that State.

* * * *

Mayor Pingree, of Detroit, Mich., is a brave man. The railroad property of his city is exempt from taxation, and he has made up his mind that if he can bring it about they shall pay taxes. The railroads hold property in Detroit valued at least at $35,000,000. Mr. Pingree sent a communication to the City Council at its last meeting, asking them to call a public meeting, at which he would open a campaign which would have for its object the placing of the exempted railroad property on the tax list. He will have a hard fight on his hands. The railroad people will mass against him, but he will have a strong backing—the people. The struggle will be watched with keen interest by tax reformers all over the Union. Meantime our Single Tax friends in Michigan will stand in the breach with Mayor Pingree.

* * * *

The Stove Mounters Union of Quincy has issued a call to the unions of the trade throughout North America to come together and organize an international union. All correspondence regarding the matter is to be addressed to H. P. Oberling, 521 South Tenth street, Quincy, Ill.

* * * *

A young man from Texas went out West to secure possession of some of that “free land,” said to be so abundant out there. He gave up the search and returned home. The thing that immediately caused him to abandon his quest was the discovery of a boarded-up shanty, built by some claimant, bearing the following inscription:

Fore mile from a naybor. Sixteen mile from a post-ofis. Twenty-five mile foom^sic a raleroad. A hundred and atey from timber. Two hundred and fifty feet from water. There’s no place like home. We’ve gone East to spend the summer with my wife’s folks.

* * * *

How much good the opening of new public land does for actual settlers is illustrated by a story which comes from Wisconsin. On the Saturday preceding Christmas large tracts of valuable pine lands were thrown open to settlers by the Government. A line of claimants stood in the cold for forty-eight hours, and had their meals brought to them, while they postponed sleep, in order to secure title. The militia was called out to preserve order. After the rush was over stories were told to prove that officials gave their friends and relatives the preference in the allotment of lands. Now it is claimed that, upon tracts where the pine is most plentiful, there are anywhere from a dozen to twenty claimants, and that the squatters are generally the employees of wealthy lumbermen, who are working upon salary and who in some cases are going to get a small bonus for securing a title to the pine from which the bosses will get the lion’s share of the profit. There are thirty to forty former employees of ex-Congressman McCord, who have become squatters. Nearly one hundred employes of Brown Brothers are occupying similar positions. McCord’s brother, from Chippewa

p. 10, col. 2 Falls, is credited with a crew of half a hundred title earners. Most of these men are single people, who can make their home upon their claims and at the same time continue in the employ of the speculators, who will eventually market the land.

* * * *

It is said that there are 80,000 unemployed men in Chicago. Destitution, and even actual starvation, have been so common that they have forced themselves upon public attention.

* * * *

There are many people fond of asserting that the Indians once owned this country. This is true if white men now own it, but it is not true to those who deny the title of men to land that they will not use. In the course of the article on Indian questions Rev. A. H. Quint, D. D., a regular contributor to the Congregationalist, thus deals with this question:

Nor do I for a moment admit that the Indians once owned this whole country. It is absurd. Careful estimates have placed the number of Indians within our present limits when the whites came here at less than 300,000 men, women and children. To say that these had the exclusive right to more than 3,000,000 square miles is ridiculous. They had a fair title to what they occupied and no more. Occasionally chasing a deer or a squirrel through the forests, or hunting another Indian for his scalp, gave them no more title to those forests than catching codfish in the Atlantic gave an ocean title to the fishing skippers. The world had a right to unused lands. When Sir Edmund Andros said that a title acquired from the Indians of unoccupied lands, nominally conveyed to sharp whites, was no better than the scratch of a bear’s paw, he was very near the truth.

How much better than the scratch of a bear’s paw is the title of white men to lands that they do not occupy or use, and which they prevent anybody else from occupying or using? Perhaps Dr. Quint would like to discuss this question in the columns of the Congregationalist.

* * * *

The Commercial Advertiser says that Charles A. Dana is one of a pack of “mangy curs” who are snapping at Mr. Cleveland’s heels. So long as their disease is mange and not hydrophobia they will not hurt Mr. Cleveland.

* * * *

The miners of Clearfield and Centre Counties, Pennsylvania, expect to go on strike on March 5, as the agreement made last year with their employees^sic expires on that date, and they think it will not be renewed. If they go on strike they intend to make it hot for any other miners who take their places. The men now at work are arming themselves, and they have given notice that they will deal out leaden pills to any persons who come fooling round the mines if a strike is ordered.

* * * *

Half a million dollars in presents at the Shepard-Schiefflin^sic wedding! Two million dollars in presents at the Astor-Willing wedding! And yet we are told that “willful waste makes woful want!” Half a million on one side, privation and suffering on the other. Two millions on one side, destitution, death and worse on the other. This is a great world, my masters!

* * * *

Some idea of how they assess lands out West may be gathered from the following: In Saline County, Nebraska, the total amount of real estate mortgages is $2,187,000. The assessed valuation of all the real estate in the county, mortgaged and not mortgaged, is only $1,660,000. Assuming the mortgages to equal 50 per cent. of the value of property mortgaged, and that one-third of the property is not mortgaged, we would have a true valuation for the county of $6,540,000. This is a very low estimate. The assessed valuation, if this is correct, is therefore, only 25 per cent. of the true value.

* * * *

Rioting was going on nearly all last week at the highly protected Clark Thread Mills, at Kearny, N. J. The militia was called out, and the majesty of the law otherwise invoked. The working men and women, for whom the late protective bill was, presumably, made law, will lose their strike and go back to work at reduced wages.

* * * *

The Boston Globe desires to remind the people of the United States that twenty-seven foreigners own an area of land in this country larger than the whole of Ireland; that our Government has given 175,000,000 acres of land to railroad corporations; that a land syndicate in Texas got 3,000,000 acres of land for building the State capitol at Austin; and that, as a consequence, our national domain is not as “boundless” as it was.

* * * *

Enthusiastic Single Taxer—I am glad you see the truth of my arguments at last! I am glad you see that the tariff is a tax, that protection is robbery, that the poor bear the burden of taxation! I am glad you see how our abominable laws grind the faces of the poor! Thank God that at last you see the iujustice^sic.

Young Averidge—Oh! nonsense! The poor are all right. There ain’t any poor. Besides, if a man’s poor it’s his own fault.

E. S. T.—Then what has turned you against the McKinley Bill?

Y. A.—Ten cent cigars are fifteen cents.

CURRENT THOUGHT.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

LAND NATIONALIZATION IN EUROPE.

At the annual meeting of the Swiss Land Nationalization Society, which took place recently, Herr Michael Flurscheim was elected vice-president. The meeting was a large one, and showed the great progress of the ideas advocated by the Nationalizers which are, however, very different from those of Single Tax men. A resolution and statement of principles was unanimously passed, declaring the necessity of the transfer of the land from private owners to the State, and advocating, first, a new registration of the ground value of each separate plot of land; secondly, the transfer of all land mortgages to the State in exchange for State bonds bearing 2½ per cent. interest; and, finally, the imposition of a yearly rent, periodically revisable for the use of water power which, to Switzerland, is what coal deposits are to other countries. Many of the cantons already own land in common, and the ideas of the Nationalizers find a ready acceptance. Of the 115 members of the Grand Council of Basle twenty-five are declared Nationalizers.

The Dutch Land Nationalization League is making considerable progress in Friesland. All the leaders of the Frisian “people’s party” have joined the League, and the Dutch Universal Suffrage League has adopted its principles. On the 1st June, 1891, the elections will be held for the Dutch House of Commons, and Nationalization candidates are standing for all the Frisian districts. The president of the League, Mr. Mansholt, a large farmer in Groningen, will be run as a candidate, and Mr. Stoffel, the leading advocate of the ideas, has himself been chosen as the candidate for the district of Dolkum^sic, and says that it will be a warm contest, wholly on the principle of Land Nationalization.

The Dutch League advocates compensation to landlords on the ground, as we understand it, that all capitalists should be treated alike, whether they have invested their capital in land or in any other legally recognized form of wealth. The League believes, with Mr. Flürscheim, that the system of private property in land is the primary cause of interest, and that an excellent bargain can therefore be made in buying out landlords by giving them government bonds at a low rate of interest, subject to conversion to lower rates, as interest falls.

In England the Land Nationalization Society propose to build a lecture van for travelling lecturers. A fund is being raised for the purpose. D’Arcy W. Reeve, who has been an ardent supporter of the principles of the society, has been elected vice-president, while Alfred Russell Wallace^sic is still president.

ENOUGH MONEY BUT NOT ENOUGH WEALTH.

Mr. Thomas G. Shearman recently gave a lecture on “Money” before the Brooklyn Single Tax Club and the Woman’s Single Tax Club of the same city, one portion of which is thus reported by the Brooklyn Eagle:

Money is a subject which always has a very lively interest. It has been the source of endless controversy and quarreling. It is both blessed and cursed: it is the most indispensable instrument of civilization. Money is the thing which everybody wants and which he don’t want. Every sensible man wants to spend money as soon as he gets it. A man who keeps any great amount of money is a fool. I counted my wealth just before addressing you and I find that I am not the owner of more in the whole world than $20. Mr. Russell Sage, who possesses, or is said to possess, property worth $40,000,000, is said never to have more at one time than $5 in money. The men of wealth are the poorest in proportion to their wealth, so far as the actual amount of money they have at any time. As people increase in wealth their anxiety to get rid of their money increases. This is because money is only a tool, a means to an end. If we hold the money it brings to us no income whatever. Money, to go to the root, is anything that will serve as an instrument of exchange, currently accepted. At times nations have nothing but substitutes for gold, silver or copper as money, and like our own country, in war times, have to resort to paper currency. If there is no money no man will engage in production on a large scale and no one will anticipate the market. Thus, there is no production except to supply immediate needs. The advantage of a gold and silver currency is that it cannot be increased without some human agency being employed, and they cannot be produced without any amount of human labor, which gives them large value. They are also practically indestructible. Gold can be put through a thousand different processes without perceptible loss. Silver is liable to slightly more

p. 13, col. 2 > loss in changing form. It has the advantage of paper currency in that it cannot be indefinitely increased without actually existent values to correspond. So long as the limit of the issue of greenbacks is observed it will keep its value and be redeemable. Banking currency is closely related to money, with the difference that while banks can be sued in the courts of law to compel them to redeem their paper, the Government cannot. The credit of the Government is one of the poorest kinds in the world that you can enforce, and yet you hear on every side the question if bankers’ credit is so good, why should not that of the country with its unlimited wealth be much better? Does not the Government, it is asked, own everything? No. No form of government in this country which should seek by direct means to make the people pay even so much as one-fifth of their wealth to it could stand. It is true that in some countries the people pay more than that, but they do not know it. We boast of our record in this country that we have never repudiated, but it is the most absolute rubbish. Nobody ever got a penny for the Continental currency. Money should be as good as you can possibly make it, and then everybody will want it. There must be one uniform kind of currency. As to the amount of money, our farmer friends out West seem to have two opinions. Some of them think we ought to have about three thousand million dollars, or $50 per capita of the population: others that the total wealth of the country ought to be equaled in money or that we ought to have sixty thousand millions. If we need more money than we have on the same basis as that of the other countries of the world, the supply and demand of commerce will regulate it. That we have enough of gold and silver already is shown by the fact of the large quantities of “dead gold” and silver in our treasuries. What we lack is the wealth, not money. What we want is about the amount of money necessary for for each [American?] family for a week in advance. Allowing $50 a month for the [average?] family, which would be more than ample, we should have $650,000,000. Now we have already over $1,000,000,000 of currency. The recent money stringency was not due to lack of currency. It was due to lack of confidence and because the money was hoarded. If we all go to hoarding the currency there will never be enough. We must have money that shall be so good that everybody shall be willing and anxious to have it.

PERSONAL.

The London Star, of January 28, says that Michael Davitt has “been confined to his bed during the last eight days at Land League Cottage, Ballybrack, near Dublin, with a severe attack of bronchitis. His intention on leaving England was to visit the west of Ireland to investigate the amount of distress there prevailing. Good intentions paved the way to sickness, but the journey is only postponed until the great patriot is better. Mr. Davitt’s family has been singularly unfortunate in their attempt to reside in England. Before Christmas his three children were all seriously ill from croup and bronchitis, nor did Mrs. Davitt escape the maladies prevalent at their Richmond home. The cold which has laid the head of the family low also was contracted in England.”

* * *

Len W. Hoch, of Adrian, Mich., addressed the Farmers’ Alliance at Pentecost on February 7. He spoke on the Single Tax, which he had been invited to present to the Alliance. Mr. Hoch writes: “Contrasting this time with a year ago, I find we are making wonderful progress.”

* * *

D. Webster Groh, of Boston, had a letter in the Boston Globe recently, in which he showed the revenues of the Government are being diverted, by protection, into the pockets of monopolists.

* * *

Friend Brokaw is supposed to be putting in all his time “missionerizing” among the people of South Dakota; but he seems to have spare moments, which he utilizes by tackling editors. He has, to use a Westernism, just “locked horns” with the editor of the Sioux Falls Journal, of course, on the Single Tax. So far, three letters from Brokaw have appeared in that paper. The editor runs hard and dodges well, but Brokaw will lasso him yet. The Dakota Ruralist, published at Huron, S. D., of January 31, also contains a letter from Brokaw, on “Why Do We Pay Taxes?” The editor says “it is interesting.”

* * *

The Toronto Canada News says that Major Edwards, the Single Taxer, of Kingston, has stripped for the fray in Kingston. He has resigned all offices, even to his command in the British army, and intends to devote himself solely to making his Single Tax campaign burn^sic.

* * *

Congressman-elect Jerry Simpson the other day told the Kansas City Times that the story that he does not wear socks is “a big lie and a vile slander.” “I wear,” he said, “as good socks as any other gentleman in Kansas. My wife is a careful little body, and she insists upon keeping me supplied with socks that would do even for a ‘Prince Hal,’ and she don’t let any holes get in ‘em, either. She knits the ’hoses’ herself.” The Memphis Appeal says it is time to stop making fun of Mr. Simpson. “He may not have worn socks during his campaign,” says the Appeal, but there is no doubt^sic that he has brains. He has proposed that if the Democrats of the South Dakota Legislature will vote for the Alliance senatorial candidate in that State, the three Alliance members of the Illinois Legislature shall vote for Palmer. If this scheme carries the Republicans will lose two members of the Senate. The merit of the proposition lies in the fact that the Alliance candidate in South Dakota already has more votes than any other one candidate. The Alliance members of the Illinois Legislature are said to take kindly to the proposition.”

* * *

His friends will be glad to hear that Captain W. H. Mathews, Superintendent of the Cuildren’s Aid Society on East Forty-fourth street, is able to be about again. He has been confined to his rooms by an attack of bronchitis for the past six weeks.

SINGLE TAX NEWS.

SINGLE TAX LETTER WRITERS.

The list of new Democratic members of the next House of Representatives is concluded this week. No more important work can be done than to take this opportune time to fully inform them what the Single Tax means, and why we believe it to be the only rational system of taxation:

Hon. D. A. Boody, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Hon. W. J. Coombs, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Hon. John R. Fellows, New York, N.Y.; Hon. John DeWitt Warner, New York, N. Y.; Hon. Henry Bacon, Goshen, N. Y.: Hon. I. N. Cox, Ellenville, N. Y.; Hon. H. W. Bentley, Boonville, N. Y.; Hon. G. Van Horn, Cooperstown, N. Y.: Hon. H. H. Rockwell, Elmira, N. Y.; Hon. H. S. Greenleaf, Rochester, N. Y.; Hon. D. N. Lockwood, Buffalo, N. Y.; Hon. T. L. Bunting, Hamburg, N. Y.; Hon. W. A. B. Brayeh^sic, Washington, N. C.; Hon. B. F. Grady, Albertson, N. C.; Hon. A. H. A. Williams, Oxford, N. C.: Hon. S. B. Alexander, Charlotte, N. C.; Hon. W. T. Crawford, Waynesville, N. C.; Hon. G. W. Houk, Dayton, Ohio; Hon. M. K. Gatz^sic, Troy, Ohio; Hon. F. C. Layton, Wapakoneta, Ohio; Hon. D. D. Donovan, Leipsic, Ohio; Hon. D. D. Hare, Upper Sandusky, Ohio; Hon. J. M. Pattison, Milford, Ohio; Hon. Irvine Dungan, Newark, Ohio; Hon. M. D. Harter, Mansfield, Ohio; Hon. J. G. Warwick, Masillon^sic, Ohio: Hon. A. G. Pearson, Woodsfield, Ohio; Hon. William McAleer, Philadelphia, Pa.; Hon^sic. E. N. Hallowell, Abington, Pa.; Hon. L. M. Amerman, Scranton, Pa.; Hon. S. P. Wolverton, Sunbury, Pa.; Hon. F. E. Beltzhoover, Carlisle, Pa.; Hon. E. P. Gillespie, Greenville, Pa.. Hon. G. F. Kribbs, Clarion, Pa.; Hon. Oscar Lapham, Providence, R. I.; Hon W. H. Brawley^sic, Charleston, S. C.; Hon. George Johnstone, Newberry, S. C.; Hon. George W. Shell, Lawrens^sic, S. C.; Hon. E. T. Stackhouse, Little Rock, S. C.; Hon. William Elliot, Beaufort, S. C.; Hon. C. Snodgrass, Sparta, Tenn.; Hon. N. N. Cox, Franklin, Tenn.; Hon. Josiah Patterson, Memphis, Tenn.; Hon. John B. Long, Palestine, Texas; Hon. J. W. Bailey, Sherman, Texas: Hon. William A. Jones, Warsaw, Va.; Hon. J. W. Lawson, Smithfield, Va.: Hon. Joseph P. Epes, Nottoway Court House, Va.; Hon. John O. Pendleton, Wheeling, West Va.; Hon. J. A. Copehart^sic, Mount Pleasant, West Va.; Hon. Clinton Babbitt, Beloit, Wis.; Hon. Allan R. Bushnell, Lancaster, Wis.; Hon. John L. Mitchell, Milwaukee, Wis.; Hon. Lucas M. Miller, Oskosh^sic, Wis.: Hon. Frank M. Coburn, La Crosse, Wis.; Hon. Thomas Lynch, Antigo, Wis.

Letter writers desiring to enclose tract Extra No. 36 (which contains sample pages. circulars^sic and subscription blanks of “Protection or Free Trade?”) in their letters can have them free in any quantity, or they will be sent to any list of names furnished. The mailing of the first hundred thousand will begin about March 1, but subscriptions will be accepted at 10 cents a copy till the entire half million is printed. W. J. Atkinson, 42 University place, New York.

BROKAW STILL “MISSIONERIZING” IN SOUTH DAKOTA.

BALTIC, S. D., February 9.—After transacting business in Sioux Falls Saturday, January 31, I rode home with E. J. Tracy—six miles southwest. I was advertised to speak in the Whittier school house, Wayne township, but a severe storm prevented my filling the appointment.

Sunday afternoon Mr. Tracy took me to Ellis, where we heard a local preacher, and I went home with H. W. Smith, a prominent Alliance man. Monday I was taken to Mr. Connolly’s, and in the evening walked to Mr. Collins’—a mile farther. But it was too cold for a meeting that night, and so I had to skip that neighborhood. I spent the evening reading from George’s works to the three families represented.

Tuesday, February 3, the younger Collins took me into Wellington Township, where we found that scarlet fever in that district would not permit a meeting. He then took me to Humboldt, and we put up seventeen miles from where we started, after facing a keen northwest wind. That night we attended a Quaker “protracted” meeting in a country school house, and at its close I announced that I would lecture in the store at Humboldt the next night. I also distributed some copies of George’s article in the Christian Advocate, and got into quite a discussion with one of the preachers; the other one seemed to favor the Single Tax idea.

Wednesday night was milder, and I talked to a good-sized crowd of farmers in the store at Humboldt. Mr. Sanborn, with whom I stopped, said that the after-talk indicated that most of them were convinced that it was a good thing, and some of the best farmers in the neighborhood ordered copies of “Protection or Free Trade?” The ladies present seemed to be much interested, and the “school marm” signed the petition.

Thursday, February 5, Mr. Sanborn took me north. I had sent word from Sioux Falls that I would be at Clear Lake school house the 5th. Arrived there we found nothing was known of it, so I told the teacher to announce that I would speak in the Grand Meadow school house that night. We then drove to the home of the man I had written to, but found no one there. We then went to the Grand Meadow school house, and requested the teacher to announce the meeting, and proceeded to the next farm. As no one could know of the meeting until the children got home from school—and most of them walked home after 5 P. M., various distances—I did not expect a crowd. But the room was about half filled, and, as everywhere, books werd^sic ordered and the petition signed.

Friday morning S. O. Heujum came after me and took me into Buffalo township. There the alliance had arranged for me to speak in a school house near the Lake county line in the afternoon. The building was well filled, and the frequent applause indicated that the subject was appreciated. Among those present was Mrs. [U.?] H. Harth, secretary of the local alliance and a Single Tax woman (her address is Chester, S. D.—Miss Bachman, please note), and a couple of “vacant land” anarchists. So that I was in a wide awake community. That night I stopped with John Harth, and as the young folks had a dance at their house that night also I sat up and took part in an all-round discussion until near 1 A. M.

Saturday A. J. Erickson took me to Baltic, over 20 miles. I got there just in time for the local alliance meeting. They began with an open session, and invited a number of outsiders in, and then called on me to explain the Single Tax. For about an hour I consumed their time in a brief statement of the subject and in answering questions. One farmer came to me with a circular containing a blank order for the new edition of “Protection

p. 17, col. 2 or Free Trade?” and said J. W. Skepper, of Dell Rapids, had given it to him, and he handed me 50 cents for five copies. Among those present was J. E. Colton, of Taopi. I learned that since I spoke in the Colton school house they have had a debate on the Single Tax: J. E. defended it and his brother opposed. Friday night it was debated in the Baltic school house.

To-day I go to Sioux Falls with the intention of remaining there a week or two doing personal work. While in Sioux Falls a week ago I was introduced to the editor of the Argus-Leader by Mr. Tracy, and gave him a copy of our national platform, which he promised to publish. He also asked me for communications.

Since leaving Watertown I have obtained orders for 167 copies of “Protection or Free Trade?” from almost as many men. In the same time I have obtained 300 signatures to the petition, making 1,475 I have gathered since I came to South Dakota, February 19, 1889, 57 of which I herewith enclose.

I have received a letter from J. W. Hyde, of Ola, Brule County, saying that the resolution I quoted from the Ruralist was passed by Local Alliance No. 71, not by the county alliance. The error was a typographical one in the Ruralist. He says: “We are in the midst of about the most drouth-stricken region there is in the State, and money is just simply out of the question.” He says they get now and then a stray copy of THE STANDARD, but have got their knowledge of the Single Tax from Mr. George’s books, and continues: “He is a wonderful writer, and then he has reason and common sense, and that is what counts. What a cause to work for—restoring man’s heritage! That is good enough to have for our religion. Let us all turn preachers.”

I wish to thank friends in all parts of the country for papers containing Single Tax news. As my mail is forwarded to me and I get it in batches, occasionally, I can only tell who papers are from^sic by judging from the title and contents.

Have just received a letter from my brother, Rev. S. P. Brokaw, who moved from South Dakota to Pioneer, Clark County, Washington, last September, in which he says: “I know about ten men in this county who are getting infected with the Single Tax and real Free Trade, who never heard of these things before I came here. I know one who was a Single Taxer before.”

Saturday night a genuine blizzard struck us, and all day Sunday it “whooped ’er up,” snowing and blowing in approved Dakota fashion. This morning it is clear and cold.

W. E. RROWKAW^sic.

NEW YORK CITY.

Rev. Dr. John W. Kramer spoke before the Manhattan Single Tax Club last Sunday evening on “Is It Right?—the Ethics of the Land Question.” His address is printed elsewhere.

To-morrow evening (Thursday) Robert W. Hanington will appear before the club and in their presence make a crayon drawing which he will present to the club. The rest of the evening will be given up to social features, for which the agitation committee have prepared a programme. Ladies are especially invited.

Fred. C. Keller,—On^sic Saturday, February 21st, at 8 p. m., Mr. Thos. G. Gilligan will address the Metropolitan Single Tax Association, his subject being “How to Increase Wages.”

H. J. Wingardner, Harlem.—Nineteen petitions. I am stirring up all old comrades up here to renewed action in the cause.

George Eggleston.—Inclosed find $3 toward expenses of the national committee.

BROOKLYN.

G. W. Thompson, February 15, 1891.—Events happen fast and one has great difficulty to keep pace with them and hitch on where advantage shows itself. The problem in Brooklyn is not to find somethingto^sic do but to choose which is the best.

About two weeks ago Dr. Meredith, of the Tompkins avenue Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in the city in an evening discourse found himself forced to speak of the land question. The lesson referred to Ahab’s tempting Naboth to sell him his vineyard. Naboth refused because of the Mosaic law and Ahab only obtained it by following the advice of Jezebel and having Naboth stoned to death. Amongst other things he said: “The Jews couldn’t sell their lands because they had no title. It belonged to the Lord. I would like to see where the Lord ever parted with His title to a foot of land. You may fill your deposit vaults with deeds as long as this church but God owns your land just the same. Three-quarters of the reform which men are struggling for is right here in Leviticus, etc.” He has had a glimpse of the truth, but wants more light as yet. Here is a good chance of effective work by a broadside from the “letter-writing corps.” He foolishly, and probably from lack of information, said in qualifying the above that he “didn’t want any nation owning any land that I have anything to do with. We shall solve our problem by going straight back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy.”

Last Wednesday night we were favored by an excellent discourse on “Money,” by Thomas G. Shearman. The principal points he made were: That money is a very unimportant factor in economies. The evils that are attributed to lack of money are due to entirely different things. It is not money that people want, but the material products of labor, i. e., wealth Tightness of the money market is due, not to want of money, but to insecurity of investments and lack of confidence. The Free Coinage bill did not interest the speaker much, as he thought the same result will, sooner or later, be reached under the present coinage laws. The prospects were that if free coinage becomes enacted and found imperative in removing the evils its advocates declare it to be remedy for^sic, the people would probably rise and demand an almost unlimited issue of paper money. The address was well received and largely applauded throughout.

A remarkable address was delivered this morning at the Central Congregational Church, one of the largest in the city, to an audience of fully fifteen hundred, by Rev. A. N. Bradford, of Montclair, N. J., who filled the church by exchange, the regular pastor, Rev. J. H. F. Behrends, being absent. The speaker struck right out, arguing for altruism in national continued on p. 18 →

NEW YORK STATE.

E. C. Cooley, Dunkirk.—You do not hear from me often, but I am working right along just the same.

S. T., Buffalo.—The Economic Congress met last Thursday evening, February 12, to listen to a discussion on taxation. Mr. Frank M. Loomis spoke against the Single Tax, and Mr. W. S. Rann for it. E. L. Parker said that the income tax should be the Single Tax, and Adolph Strasser, President of the Cigarmakers’ International Union, gave it as his opinion that taxation had nothing to do with the solution of the social problem. To his mind, mutual organization to obtain for labor the value of its services was the only true panacea. Strasser is the same old chuckle-head he was ten years ago, when he declared that cigarmakers had no use for land; what they wanted was tobacco.

S. M. Gay, West New Brighton, Staten Island.—Seven petitions, secured by my brother. It happens that his business just now takes him among a new set of men, and I hope the harvest of signatures will be rich.

A. F. Waldbillig, Albany.—Four petitions. The one marked No. 1 is from a young man having a glimpse of the cat. He told me of a club in his town buying up land and lakes. This club bought recently the two finest lakes in the township, and the people are deprived of their fishing ground. I gave him six STANDARDS to circulate.

Edward Ruge, Dunkirk.—I find that some of the Democrats I talk to are afraid to sign the petition. The reason is, probably, that I am not a good hand at explaining the Single Tax.

T. W. Edkins, Ilion.—Enclosed find $3 for national committee.

MAINE.

S. T., Portland.—Although the Single Taxers of Maine are few and very quiet, there is some thinking going on all over the State. The people are tired of the “bloody shirt” and are now ready for the issue of the day; but as yet these issues have not been properly presented to them. Many of our farmers think that “protection” is all that keeps them from starvation, and as for “Free Trade”—well, it must not be spoken out loud! I believe the time is now at hand when a vigorous educational campaign would be productive of far-reaching results.

The first thing we desire to accomplish is ballot reform. Two years ago the Australian ballot received the hearty support of many of our best people, but it was defeated by the politicians, on the ground that it was something new. This year the battle is on in full earnest. The Governor and some of the leading politicians favor the genuine Ballot Reform bill, but the opposition is resorting to its usual tactics, and the result of the battle is still in doubt.

The subject of taxation is also receiving much attention from the Legislature and the people. Our Tax Commissioners, after a year’s laborious research and study, have come to the conclusion that our present “tax-everything system” is all right and only needs better enforcement; hence they recommend the adoption of the inquisitorial listing system. Unfortunately the people of Maine have never been instructed in the doctrines of the Single Tax. They are disgusted with our present tax system, but they know nothing of any better system. Our press is silent on the Single Tax question.

Notwithstanding our glorious motto, Dirigo, Maine will follow, not lead. But the dawn is coming!

MASSACHUSETTS.

S. T., Boston.—An organization known as the Prospect Progressive Union has been formed in Cambridge, its membership including President Eliot and many others of the [Harvard?] faculty, as well as some [townspeople?]. The object of the union is chiefly educational. The present headquarters is in the Prospect House, on Main street, where there was a discussion of the Single Tax on February 10.

James E. Conneil, Cambridgeport.—Forty petitions. When I read in THE STANDARD of the splendid work that is being done I wish it was possible for me to help in a more practical manner, but I can only pray to the Lord to bless the seed I scatter here and there.

J. N. Ryder, Wakefield.—One petition. I find that most of the people about here are strong partisans. They think that social conditions would be all right if we could only keep out the cheap foreigners, especially the Canucks.

J. N. Ryder, Wakefield.—Three petitions. Every little helps, you know. If I could talk as well as some of your contributors I think I could get more.

NEW JERSEY.

Mr. P. Flynn, Camden.—Twenty-one petitions. I am still on deck, standing by the bow-chaser, known to the deck hands as the Single Tax Petition. I have not been able to make as many vessels heave-too^sic as I expected to when I last wrote, but I will keep up the good fight and stand by my gun. We have started the Equal Freedom Society and I am the secretary. We are taking good care of the Single Tax. The society meets

p. 18, col. 2 every Sunday afternoon at Reed’s Hall, northwest corner of Third and Federal streets.

John T. Abbott, Passaic.—Four petitions. The iniquity of the personal tax has been shown up here recently, men who are worth thousands paying less than men who are worth hundreds. So it ought to open people’e^sic eyes, and I hope to get more petitions signed.

R. Chamberlain, Port Morris.—Nine petitions. I had very little trouble getting them signed, although the signers are Protectionists.

Frank W. White, Newark.—Ninety-eight petitions. They represent almost every trade and calling, and many departments of our city government, such as Board of Education, Tax Department, Comptroller’s office and several members of the Police Department. One evening I went to Local Union No. 119, Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and secured the signatures of all but five of the members present. What I have done every other Single Tax man in the city can do, for I have lost no time from my business; have simply carried some blanks in my pocket, and when I got into a conversation with an acquaintance I simply stuck one under his nose, and rarely failed to get him to sign.

PENNSYLVANIA.

C. Estella Bachman, Mauch Chunk.—Five petitions. Our Women’s Enrollment Committee has received another splendid worker in Mrs. Blackman of Kansas. I have been writing and sending Single Tax literature to her, and she is already making converts. She writes:

I regard Kansas as a good field for Single Tax labor; our people are so thoroughly aroused, and so discontented with the present all for the rich, nothing for the poor, state of affairs that they eagerly grasp at anything which promises relief. * * * This discontent among us explains (at least to me), the rapid growth and large following of the Farmers’ Alliance; and wouldn’t it be grand if we could convert the farmers’ wives to the Single Tax? The conversion of the men would soon follow.

She is scattering most of the papers and tracts I have sent her “among farmers in different directions, with the request to read and pass on.” I send her another lot of our tracts by this mail. Herself and family are Free Traders. I have also received an enthusiastic letter from a Single Tax lady in Nebraska. Judge she will soon be a good helper in our work. We receive kind notes, and a number of papers, etc., from Single Tax men also. We do not care to have a strictly formal organizatton^sic till the next National Single Tax conference; then it will be plenty of time to decide which is best, to join in the National League or have a women’s league. Now we are only trying to do all we can to rouse women to understand and work for the Single Tax. I hope to have one active woman in every State on the committee, some time. “We are seven” now. Many women send in their names, and that is all; others pitch in and work. I enjoy hearing from the latter.

“Uncle Tom,” Bryn Mawr.—Twenty-two petitions. One is a master carpenter and builder, Republican, who said that we should at least get 6,000,000 signers; he signed to keep up the excitement. Two is a dealer in hardware, Republican; signed to get rid of me. Three is a tenant farmer who just now is betwixt and between, Four^sic is an insurance agent, Republican. The remainder are coachmen, gardeners, bricklayers, carpenters, engineers, etc. As we only have 98,0 0^sic signers out of a population of sixty-three millions, it seems reasonal^sic to believe that many, very many, Single Taxers are satisfied with eating a square meal, lighting their segars or pipes and complacently sitting down to read in THF STANDARD^sic what this, that and the other fellow has to report. Having done this they blissfully again retire to their holes to hibernate another season. If these lazy bones do not get together and do their duty they may only blame themselves if they eventually will have to graze with the goats.

“Uncle Tom’s” Wife, Bryn Mawr.—Four petitions. One a grocer, two a butcher and three and four dealers in dry goods. One and three refused to sign last year, but since then have concluded that the S. T. is the thing.

FLORIDA.

H. J. Simonton, Dade City.—Four petitions. One of the signers is the president of St. Leo College. I would like to get a true copy of the Australian ballot law. I can get one Representative to introduce it, and perhaps have it passed.

TEXAS.

G. E. Hubbard, El Paso.—I enclose $1.50—January subscription toward the expense of the National Committee.

James Charlton, Houston.—A number of Single Taxers have taken stock in an evening paper, with primal idea of having an organ to spread our doctrines rather than for the lucre there is to be made in such an enterprise. We are holding weekly meetings for which we have had a regular programme.

Patrick Egan, Paige.—Ten petitions. All railroad hands.

OHIO.

Philip Flood, Elyria.—Thirty-two petitions, of which I secured twenty-two and Mr. Hubbard, of Oberlin, secured ten. I do not experience very much trouble in securing signers.

INDIANA.

T. J. Hudson, Indianapolis.—Twenty-one petitions. I see by THE STANDARD of the 11th inst. we have 98,253. Let us have THE STANDARD of the 25th report 100,000. The only reason why I do not send more is because I haven’t the time to go out and get them. Anybody will sign now. People are getting tired of the present system and invite investigation in hope of something better.

ILLINOIS.

Warren Worth Bailey, Chicago, February 13.—Last night’s meeting was a very gratifying success in every particular, the presence of Mr. Louis F. Post and George Horton, the poet, adding to the interest that was naturally aroused by the fact that Mr. Edward Osgood Brown was down for the principal speech. Mr. Brown is always well received by the club, and last night he treated us to an address that was in every way worthy of his reputation and of the esteem in which we hold him. He spoke of “The Abolition of continued on p. 19 →

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IOWA.

James A. Ford, Sioux City.—Twenty-five petitions. I will get more when I have the time to spare.

A. Skliba, Boone.—One petition. The work goes rather slow here just now.

W. F. Wakeling, Brazil.—I enclose seventy-five cents toward expenses of National Committee, paid as follows: James Helmes, James Campbell and myself, twenty-five cents each.

MISSOURI.

L. P. Custer, St. Louis.—I send one dollar toward expenses of the National Committee.

MICHIGAN.

William Perkins, Saginaw (East Side).—Four petitions. The people here seem to be a little on the inquiry of late as to why this is thusly, that is, why times are so hard, particularly among the laboring class. Many business men here are in sympathy with our movement, but we are sadly in need of some to propound our ideas, so as to infuse some life; but I live in hope to see Single Tax the future system of taxation, just the same, and the quicker the better.

Ferdinand Amos, West Detroit.—Twenty-four petitions.

L. W. Hoch, Adrian.—Professor E. G. Walker, for a number of years county superintendant^sic of schools, called on me the other day and signed the petition. I have ordered for him, at his request, all of Henry George’s works.

MINNESOTA.

C. H. Buell, Minneapolis.—Thirty-three petitions. Our constitutional amendment bill is on general orders the Wennepin^sic delegation will give it a strong support. There are also a good many others who will give it their hearty approval. I talked to-day with Representative Bjorge, a leading Scandinavian and Farmers’ Alliance man in the house. He was elected on a platform demand of the taxation of land according to its value for use without regard to the improvements thereon. He was chairman of the committee that drafted that platform, and favors the Single Tax. We can tell better later as to the fate of the bill, but the prospect now is fair that it will go through the house. Some days ago I was invited to address the students of the Caton Business College here, and a brighter audience I have seldom talked to. They asked many questions and seemed very much interested in the Single Tax. Mr. Caton is a Single Taxer, and many of his

p. 19, col. 2 students have a strong leaning that way. The last Saturday in March I am to speak twice at Wendon in the south part of the State, afternoon to the farmers, evening to the townspeople.

E. Herrmann, St. Paul.—At a meeting of the Lyceum, held on Sunday, February 8, after listening to General Sanborn’s arguments in favor of his charter bill, resolutions were passed against the bill, and among the resolutions were two in the direction of the Single Tax, as follows:

Resolved, That we favor such a system of taxation as will not discriminate in favor of vacant lands as against improved lands in the city.

Resolved, That we favor the Walsh bill for a constitutional amendment to permit municipalities to exempt personal property and improvements from taxes by a majority vote of the citizens.

The outlook for the Walsh bill is not very promising just now, but I believe before it will come to the final passage our legislators will be so thoroughly convinced that the people are unanimons^sic in their demand that they will not have the courage to resist this growing public opinion.

CANADA.

R. T., S. T., Toronto^sic,—The Evening News of this city is on the Single Tax platform to stay. After some preliminary skirmishing in the shape of occasional short but straight Single Tax articles it has settled down to solid work. Every day this week has appeared a column or more of Single Tax matter, the principal part of which is a series of connected articles which are evidently compiled from “The Case Plainly Stated,” but are so arranged that each article is to some extent complete in itself. Toronto Single Tax men are jubilant now that they have the powerful aid of one of the city dailies. I had the pleasure of an interview with the editor of the News lately, and he tells me it is the intention of that journal to push the Single Tax in the municipal affairs of Toronto, where he thinks it is much wanted.

“PROTECTION OR FREE TRADE?” FOR TEN CENTS.

Every Democrat and every tariff reformer should feel vitally interested in seeing that this edition does not fall short of a million copies.

Every reformer and every Democrat of any prominence to whom the matter has been suggested has heartily approved it, not, of course, as a party measure, but as a necessary supplement to the campaign of education of whose first fruits we tested last November. No one need feel the slightest hesitation in appealing to any Democrat or to any real tariff reformer for subscriptions to this edition.

A. B. Farquhar, York, Pa.—Enclosed is $250 for 2,500 copies. Pennsylvania is the great battle-ground; it is the Keystone State. If one hundred thousand “Protection or Free Trade?” could be circulated wisely in this State during ’91, we would have no trouble about the ’92 elections.

L. W. Hoch, Adrian, Mich.—You had better increase my order to five thousand of the first hundred thousand. I still feel confident that we can make our orders fifty thousand. Michigan must be flooded, even it it takes^sic three months of my time. Enclosed $12.70 for 127 copies; please credit to H. P. W. Kinnery; he will devote considerable time to canvassing, and I feel that he will get away with all I cannot place.

A. C. Fyfe, Grand Rapids, Mich.—Find enclosed money for 89 copies. Will try to get all I can, though I have very little time to spare. Have been stirring up local politicians and look for good results and an order.

Puddefort Sheet Metal Works, Detroit, Mich.—Enclosed is $10 for 100 copies.

L. L. Sloss, Pearsall, Texas.—Put me down down^sic for 25 copies and send blanks.

Howard M. Holmes, Detroit, Mich.—Enclosed $2 is for 20 copies. Will endeavor to induce others to subscribe.

Billy Radcliffe, S. T., Youngstown, Ohio.—Bad weather. Grippe and business have kept me in since last letter; but all I meet with go down. I don’t find many who want a quantity, but all seem anxious to get one copy. One prominent Democrat said if the County Committee thought well of it he’d take his share. Poor man; still believes in a little protection. I told him he’d better hustle or the people would run over him. The time is fast coming when they will laugh at any one who talks tariff reform.

W. A. McKendrick, Brockton, Mass.—Will forward money for 100 books first week in March. Order enclosed.

Nelson Markle, Detroit, Mich.—Enclosed is $7 for 70 copies. I got them almost all from men working in this shop; will send more soon.

C. B. Fillebrown, Boston, Mass., writes that this subscription for 5,000 copies was made so that every news stand and book store in and around Boston would be certain to have the book on sale as soon as published. Some orders have already been received from the book trade elsewhere, but much larger orders can be obtained from this source, if you will take the trouble to call on your booksellers and invite their attention to the fact that popular interest in this edition is already so great that within a few weeks 50,000 books have been subscribed for. In fact, it looks as if all of the first hundred thousand will be paid for before March 1, when we hope to begin the work of mailing them. Extra Tract No. 36 will be mailed free to any list of names you send to W. J. Atkinson, Secretary Hand-to-Hand Club, 42 University place, New York.

MICHIGAN SUBSCRIPTIONS.

In order to give all an opportunity to compete for the prize offered by L. W. Hoch for the largest list of subscriptions sent in from Michigan, he has decided to extend the time to April 30th. As the subscriptions received each week will be printed in THE STANDARD please send in your orders and cash weekly. The list stands: George Robins, Jackson City, 1 copy; F. Conn, St. Johns, 20 copies; Edward Leedom, Montague, 30 copies; Howard M. Holmes, Detroit, 20 copies; Nelson Markle, Detroit, 70 copies; A. C. Fyfe, Grand Rapids, 89 copies; P. G. Wood, Undine, 70 copies; J. F. Dunnebach, Detroit, 100 copies; Puddefort Sheet Metal Works, 100 copies; Geo. Lemke, Menominee, 500 copies; L. W. Hoch, Adrian, 5,000 copies. Tract extra, No. 36, containing sample pages of “Protection or Free Trade?” Press notices, subscription blanks and an appeal for subscriptions will be mailed free of charge to any list of names furnished of those likely to subscribe on application to W. J. Atkinson, 42 University Place, New York.

A DINNER A LA EDWARD ATKINSON.

Boston Courier.

The modern recipes for making dinners are framed upon the supposition that you are to obtain the materials of manufacture for nothing. They should be written in this form: Go to the market and beg a beef bone from the butcher: steal a couple of parsnips and half a dozen potatoes from the peddler’s cart; get your grocer to trust you for half a pound of rice; borrow from your neighbor a cupful of flour; from another neighbor a hod of coal; put your bone into a quart of water and let it stew slowly; slice your potatoes and parsnips; get an onion somewhere and slice it also; put them in with the bone. Stew two hours and add your flour. Simmer twenty minutes and serve. This dinner will supply a father and mother and sixteen children, according to the modern cook-book. Cost, one match to light fire

A CASE OF DIVIDE AND CONQUER.

New York Weekly.

Ignoramus- How is the work of civilizing and Christianizing Africa progressing? Cultivated Friend—Very nicely. The European powers have finally succeeded in dividing the land among them without a war.

EQUALIZING WAGES.

Paris Figaro.

A deputation of working women presents a memorial setting forth that the women working as hard as the men ought to have the same salary.

“You are right,” responds the employer. “After Monday the men shall be paid no higher wages than yours.”

p. 20, col. 2

IN PROTECTIONIST PENNSYLVANIA.

New York Press.

A most extraordinary and astonishing development in respect to women’s work is found in the fact that five hundred girls and women are employed in the foundries of Pittsburg, doing work for $4 and $5 a week, for which men were formerly paid from $14 to $16 a week. This is something new. The labor they perform, putting heads on nails and bolts, is something which taxes the muscles of strong men. This woman question needs investigation.

VERY LITTLE CONSIDERATION, INDEED.

Boston Globe.

“A bill for the benefit of beggars and thieves,” is what Captain John Codman says should be the title of the shipping subsidy bill. But that would hardly do for a title, because it would fit too many of the bills which the Republican Congress has enacted and is trying to enact. A bill that is not for the benefit of wealthy beggars and thieves gets very little consideration from the statesmen now in power.

THE LAW AND THE ROBBER.

Boston Globe.

“The McKinley bill was not popular in the last election and the majority of the people do not believe in it now,” says Speaker Barrett. Yet it is a law, and is robbing the people every day. If the Republican leaders in Congress respected the wishes of “a majority of the people” they would repeal it. But they don’t. “The public be ——.”

p. 20, col. 3

SINGLE TAX LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES.

The Single Tax Library.

(Entered at Post Office, New York, as second-class mail matter.)

A Set of Tracts (exclusive of Books), from Nos. 1 to 36, will be sent for 40 cents. The price will increase with the addition of new Tracts.

Cents. 1. A Syllabus of Progress and Poverty. Louis F. Post. 8 pages …….. 3 2. Out of print. 3. First Principles. Henry George. 4 pages …….. 2 4. The Right to the Use of the Earth. Herbert Spencer. 4 pages…….. 2 5. Farmers and the Single Tax. Thomas G. Shearman. 8 Pages …….. 3 6. The Canons of Taxation. Henry George. 4 pages …….. 2 7. A Lawyer’s Reply to Criticisms. Samuel B. Clark. 16 pages…….. 4 8. Out of print 9. The Single Tax. Thomas G. Shearman. 8 pages. …….. 3 10. The American Farmer. Henry George. 4 pages…….. 2 11. Unemployed Labor. Henry George. 4 pages …….. 2 12 The Case Plairly Stated. H. F. Ring. 8 pages…….. 3 13. Social Problems 312 pages. 12mo. Paper…….. 35 14 Objections to the Land Tax. Thomas G. Shearman. 4 pages …….. 2 15. Land Taxation. A Conversation Between David Dudley Field and Henry George. 4 pages …….. 2 16. How to Increase Profits. A. J. Steers. 2 pages …….. 1 17. The New Political Economy. E. O. Brown. 4 pages …….. 2 18 Thy Kingdom Come. Henry George. 4 pages. … …….. 2 19. The Functions of Government Henry George. 8 pages …….. 3 20. The Menace of Plutocracy. Thomas G. Shearman. 8 pages…….. 3 21. Tenement House Morality. J. O. S. Huntington. 4 pages…….. 2 22, 23, 24, out of print. 25. Taxing Land Values. Henry George. 8 pages…….. 3 26 Henry George’s Mistakes. Thomas G. Shearman. 8 pages …….. 3 27. The Democratic Principle. Henry George 8 pages …….. 3 28. Progress and Poverty. Henry George. 512 pages …….. 35 29 Out of print. 30. Property in Land. Henry George. 77 pages …….. 15 31 and 32, out of print. 32. Out of print 34. Single Tax Platform. By Henry George. 2 pages…….. 1 35. Justice the Object—Taxation the Means. Henry George. 8 pages…….. 3 36. Out of print.

TARIFF TRACTS.

A Set of Tariff Tracts will be sent to any address for 10 cents.

57. Protection as a Universal Need. Henry George. 4 pages.
58. The Tariff Question. Henry George. 4 pages.
59. Protection and Wages. Henry George. 8 pages.
60. The Common Sense of the Tariff Question Thomas G. Shearman 8 pages
61. Protection the Friend of Labor? Thomas G. Shearman 8 pages. 75 A Short Tariff History. Thomas G. Shearman. 2 pages. 67 Plain Talk to Protectionists. Thomas G. Shearman. 4 pages.

Address THE STANDARD, 42 University Place, New York City.

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THE SINGLE TAX PLATFORM.

ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE SINGLE TAX LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES AT COOPER UNION, NEW YORK, SEPT. 3, 1890.

We assert as our fundamental principle the self-evident truth enunciated in the Declaration of American Independence, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.

We hold that all men are equally entitled to the use and enjoyment of what God has created and of what is gained by the general growth and improvement of the community of which they are a part. Therefore, no one should be permitted to hold natural opportunities without a fair return to all for any special privilege thus accorded to him, and that value which the growth and improvement of the community attach to land should be taken for the use of the community.

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p. 22, col. 2

[Advertisement] Henry George & Co., Publishers

HENRY GEORGE & CO.,

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THE STANDARD

A WEEKLY REVIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY, BY WM. T. CROASDALE, AT NO. 42 UNIVERSITY PLACE.

[Entered at the post office in New York as second-class matter.]

VOL. IX., No. 8. WHOLE No. 217. | NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1891. | ONE YEAR, $3.[00?] FOUR MOS., $1.[00?]

THE STANDARD.

LEGAL NOTICES.

IN PURSUANCE OF AN ORDER MADE BY HON. ROGER A. PRYOR, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of New York, on the 2d day of February, 1892^sic, notice is hereby given to all creditors and persons having claims against Elisha T. Weymouth, lately doing business at No. 5 Howard street, in the City and County of New York, that they are required to present their claims with the vouchers therefor duly verified, to the subscriber, the duly appointed assignee of the said Elisha T. Weymouth, for the benefit of creditors, at his office, No. 234 Broadway, New York City, on or before the 28th day of April, 1891.

Dated New York, February 13th, 1891.

FRANK E HIPPLE, Assignee.

H. B. WHITBECK, Attorney for Assignee, 234 Broadway, New York.

IN PURSUANCE OF AN ORDER MADE BY THE HON. ROGER A. PRYOR, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, on the 12th day of Februnry^sic, 1891, notice is hereby given to all the creditors and persons having claims against Edward H. Ammidown, lately doing business in the City of New York, that they are required to present their claims with the vouchers therefor duly verified, to the subscriber, the duly appointed assignee of the said Edward H. Ammidown, for the benefit of his creditors, at his place of transacting business, No. 58 Worth street, in the City of New York, on or before the 1st day of May, 1891.

New York, February 14th, 1891.

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RECRUIT SUBSCRIPTION BOOKS AT THE OLD PRICES.

For the convenience of persons wishing to send THE STANDARD ON TRIAL TO THEIR FRIENDS, we have prepared recruit subscription booke^sic. They are handsomely bound in heavy alligator paper, and sold at prices regulated by the number of blanks in each book.

These blanks are each an order on THE STANDARD to SEND THE PAPER to the person designated, and they save all trouble of remittance, as they are paid for in advance. As soon as one of the blanks reaches our business office a postal card is sent to the person designated, informing him tha^sic at the request of the sender THE STANDARD will be sent to him FOR FOUR WEEKS, beginning with the next issue, and that in case he does not wish to continue it IT WILL BE S.OPPED AT THE END OF THAT TIME. This attracts more attention to it than is given to a sample copy sent out directly from the office.

EVERY ACTIVE WORKER FOR THE SINGLE TAX should have in his pocket a recruit subscription book, in order that he may be able to tear out the bl nks and order the paper sent to anyone with whom he has been having an argument on the subject. If our friends will USE THE STUBS IN THE BOOKS and keep a record of those to whom they order the paper seut they will be able to follow the matter up and probably make converts.

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