"MR. WITHY."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1837, 25 August 1913, Page 4

"MR. WITHY."

i SiiyrJ ha tio '.been away from homo, tiid so missed' seeing the lettor under the, ibove-quotod. '.heading, and also Mr Jidward • N;-.. Liffi tfon's. letter. on "Political Economy and;'the Single Tax," 'in your ssuo-of-tho sllh;inst. ; ;; I''paps'with the smile it deserves—a imilo.of minglo d amusement and scorn— Wairuna V-' protest against your iulorting any let tors from Mr. Withy ;'' ind. 'M for his i itatomo'nt,. "Ho has evidently nevor ret id any- economics, and ivhat ho writes.it I: merely nonsonse," tiie attempt at argui. ag it out which follows that assertion only goes to show that ;he statement is time, not of mo, but of himself. Indeed,} Sir, liis, letter is so deliciously, t abs\ird ;that I am .almost! in-. Bline.d -to*'suspect you havo boon" some wifcked.single-taxer. ■ : "AVraii-una'': , that,; "though taaiilrind'.iLpcds land,, ;aa individual .man does/not;!!:,-. ": Ho-is cs/idtmtly prepared to admit .that cvorjV: individual savage l needs land; but; hd< -arctics, •- "Wo aro' not savage ; : tlforefbre 'it is enough "if' mio in ten has-land,-, andy produces ' ;meat,, graiff, and. tiio like. Tost havo no uso for laiidj .they a jake clothes, or build'-hquses; or arejd Dcfor'si-pr ; clergy--jaelliwi. --i;,., ,V, J.

Really, this is too fatuity I;: :If "Wai'ever ;"read '.aiiy know that r e'cqiißmy:' .tKo'.ttc'nn' ;"larf(l? %mbracea.''tfe; ;%nolo': -oft'this' I>lanStf, on'\v^ich,t?Jonfl.Dj ; aUrcan;..live,aad move.and. liavo hjs. being, -and' which is absolutely and..his-. pnly,'storo.iof raw - materials.!--iff The •nineteritih«|. 1 .usiifo'r the land" can KV'e"ndwher<i'.M't : 'flttC''the'']aiid',. iVo L ' >vhm'o tat, on this planet. "They make ; clothes;; t»r build liousqs, .'.qr.are. doctors, or clergymen::"" .:l;Yes.; atiid t-hp. factory, or in -is,.'-.built 'on - of materials takon fromVfihe?i land,, and. everything they uso»cja-wniakii)g the clotliak" comes ■ froni thefclaTidi - Th»y~ therffelves, their hSdiog,""at : ''Sll' events, como; ! .-fri)p <$i&_ constantly sustainect'from ? fficr lahdyKaai at the last return ;to-.thp faii'd'. '' Tho'liouscq,. Bom<j 'oi'them'.buil(l,',.and ,tl}e Jibiuse&'lihey;' all hVoyri , -,are'vbniit,.op'.' : t'h'e land,.out of. materials derived;frpm th.Q, teaid...... And the Same: applies .to the doctor's surgery '• -and church..or missio:p"hall!'tliat--the -olergymail'iJabours in. Yetj.'forsoothy'they'*'have no nse'fcir land:" •*•" ; I SvoulH f adviso M , provided .)yej,toivpl roiind his;,head and;dasqmo. hard l . Ho ; \vill ■find itrrhard^.at 'if/ lie trios,.', and. tries.■/again,: : .,,and;;yci!, .:,again,.. .. no should'.bo;abla to realise-witiliouta-surgi--cal 6peration" that tho > difference botweeri ;the'..farmer'and .the- worker ia noiT'tllat 'tie'-fdrmef '-'liVeM-'ahd works" on tho land whjle.the..to.)yn,.'n , orker does •riot, but that the 1 ' farmer"'" livos and iworks- on/land which, acre if or- acre) ■ has. 'a comparatively smitft; value,. while "r ho •town'-wqrkar lives, rad-.wpjiks.on .land.of • 'great..-.Vjalu'e. i.TJio.;bigg?r'ithe.town,or i-city-'he'rlives'/aiid! works>iiiftho -bigger i'the -land'value: : aero' o£ land"- oh: [Lambton Quay, Wellington,' " is. worth • jse'veral r;SQtfare ~ in;; fclje v back-, •' J Bd|,w;WaOTin_a"; opines'...that" -I ain : ami ''blindly?groping, after:. ~., , is that every nian"ihafc'it:.'right to work'." I would prefei''' to. say; that/'it is" ever/- man's iintjr.H® • OT>rk, T "fof- tKo". Creator has so arranged matters .that if any-man does j not U^s'by.'his;'owft..labour. he can only live M robbjn'g 1 or; by, sponging on his fellov?SJ r : Th^it/is doubtless why St. id :'.;' fMiy- man will- not work j neitlfcT'ilet. hiH^'iat;, I '' or'w.dr<ffi to that' effect, itod tlhe Creator, halving • made - it tKo: dd.ty"o£" mail to work and having made ;i{ v absolutely impossible!. for. any man'to ;iivo"and' work" anywfliere but on this planef/,- and being "no respecter of: .it. ig surely... •Mio manifest intension i'of tho Creator that all men shall- enjojt equal.-rights.,of access to the* 'they .citiuiot' possibly 5 fulfil the.duty to work' that Ho has Said' upon them. ■ And;."\Vai.riana" proceeds to say that ; "a'man, has .iust as much right to a pieco of land: as,.She lias to a bag of sugar'or a iriotor-car. That is, if hewants, one lie must earn 1 tlio money and 'buy it!" That is to say, "Wairuna" recognises no difference between!, tho lanid, tlio planet, made, .by the Creator f-bi all. His cliildren of men, tod a' bag of sugar or a motor-car, or taytfiihg else made by man and rightly belonging to'tlio man who made it. - And: "Wairuna'' concludes his letter (with: the folio'iving gem:—"lf he (Mr. '"Withy)' could go and read economics iinder.tho nearest professor for a, few month's, he would soon find out that all. these yoarg-lio has just) been bjuntioring' alon gin ignorance!" 'As to which/. I ca;i only say that if' 11Waianina',!:!or anybody else can find a proifessbr;of political economy in New Zealand anywlWe else who will venture [to. upliold " Wairuna's" position as iagainst that, taken, up in my letter in of July 28, I am prepared )to dejiato tho issuo with that professor sni aiiy and eve.vy centre of Now. Zealand.';,!

And! the samo applies to Mr., Liffijton'sflettor, v/hicth, in its way, is aiimosfS'ias amusing as the other.. I did •riot '.'evolve tho prdnciDlo 'that mankind ,can joake a living only by labour, and ;onlyt|#i and from the land.' It is wot a-J"principle," it is an absolute fact 'thatllao. amount of sopliisticat-Jon can upsei.! 'And, since it is a fact, if all' •men"ijave equal rights, to- mate a livijng (which Mr.Liffirton does not venture .to deny) 'they must necessarily have cqutil;:rightsr to the use of the earth. ■•This 'does mot "meant that when a man jftas .it :farm ho has no right to it be•teauso!'other people want it," but it does, "•meafyithat if the land ho is usmgj/as'V •farnt! ! (or even holding unused) lias'Sia-:} ' tural'Vor communiVry-created ady antages jgrealrer than those afforded by tho land •to Which any other'man who ,wishes to. ,go farming has free< access, '- •'into:the public coffers for th&hmefit'i'ofi •all ilio annual valine qf , *'iuch:/gtMter advantages. This i tis 'jjiutandis'," to t'ko?m&-wlip; jis using mining or towir or iaivy > ogaer land or ' (holding it idle. ;;v- vf.%. ; 1 Obviously it is no answer to my claim that'H all men hav-9 equal-rights to the ■use .of the earth" tk> assert thait. "while •*here->aro hundreds of millions'of acres unusecl and unoccupied in the world, the /alleged right of msrn is not interfered IwitlTj'J It is no answer. It is, indeed, |Sa sheer absurdity, cmd so is Mr. Liffi.,ton's.' jpretonco that jJlr. Fowlds and I /■'.'mako diametrically opposite . stato--4 Tho alleged opposition exists, '$fat-all, onlv in Mr. Liffiton's imaginiitioii'.t Why doesn't he quote my words, "4nstt|iid o£.skating_ove.r.the very thin ico it' 'Mr.' Withy says" (in'fcrentia'lly) ? : ,I did'not say that it is "a square deal to take from the hard worker and force share with the more or loss physically incapable." What I said was that •"to secure to tllei'jjublic the earnings of. ,ltho public," aud:';to the individual the •Earnings of thcr,'individual is a square -deal." I thought my meaning .was so •clear.that even schoolboy, let alono a graTCn man, could not mis-: take it. Surely ,■ it is ; obvious enough . that'it means 'to reserve '«•-•. v- to cach individual tho earnings of each individual." But Mr. LifHton holds that "the ptiblic, as a public, do not earn anything." 'Let Mr. .Liffiton ascertain the value of tho vacant allotment in Charlotte Street, right opposite tho Parliament llouso, an eyesore and a disgrace to our capital city" (I mean this stricture to apply to , the; vacant site, not to the Parliament House). AVhy has that vacant site any value? It has a vfiry considerable -value —and that value has been made by the public, not by any individual ,who may own it. Being made by the public, that value is earned by the public,-and: rightlj!...MongSLto :tiei;pub-.'

lie. This is truo of the site valuoof all land. And nil tlio single tax means is that the public shall stop stealing private earnings, and shall tako public earnings, and public earnings alone, for public purposes. In fact, it means, except in form, t'ho abolition of all taxation. In form a tax, tho singlo tax in essence is not a tax. It does not tako from any man even as much as one penny piece of his earnings.—I am, etc., ARTHUR AVITHY. Genoral secretary, N.Z. Land Values League.

P.S.—ln case you should take to heart "Wairuna's" "protest against your inserting any letters from Sir. Withy." I have made a copy of this letter, and shall make uso of' it elsewhere. —A.W. Goldio's Brao, Wellington. "August 15, 1013.

[We much begrudge the amount of space- occupied by our correspondent's letter, and unless lie can manage in future to' compress his views into more reasonable compass, wo- shall certainly follow "Wairuna's" advice.]