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TWEXTY-NIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



certain industries. They proceed on the principle that those things 

 which are used by all the people in common, like the postoffice. should 

 be owned and operated by all the people in common, so New Zealand 

 has gone not only into the business of postoffices, but also into that of 

 government banks, life and fire insurance, and of railroads, and the 

 cities own their own water works, they own their telegraph and tele- 

 phone systems, and thus revenue comes in from these public utilities 

 which the people themselves own, and thus taxation has been reduced 

 to a very small fraction of what we pay in this country. The direct 

 taxes which the people have to pay to support the government are very 

 small. They proceed on the principle that on the amount of land a 

 man requires he should no more pay a tax than he does for the sun- 

 shine, or for the air which he breathes, and if he only owns $2,500 

 worth of land he pays no tax whatever. He needs that much for the 

 support of himself and his family. When he goes beyond that, he is 

 carrying on a business for profit. He has more land then he needs, and 

 in consideration of the profits which he enjoys he is required to pay a 

 tax to the government which protects him in the enjoyment of that 

 property. The tax is small at first and increases as his estate increases. 

 The larger his holdings, the higher his rate of taxation, and it auto- 

 matically fixes a limit to this question of land monopoly. There is a 

 point beyond which no man can go. That is one branch of their tax 

 system. Another branch is this: Up to the limit of $1,500 a year 

 a man pays no tax on his income, on the theory that he needs that 

 much to be able to live and support his family; but when his income 

 exceeds $1,500, then his taxation begins and goes on with an ever- 

 increasing ratio, the higher his income, the higher the rate of taxation; 

 and in that little country of New Zealand, that experiment station of 

 the world, this system has succeeded so admirably that in the period of 

 ten years the number of people who own homes there has increased 50 

 per cent. It is a wonderful success, and I think it is a system of tax- 

 ation we should have everywhere. 



MR. BERWICK. I want to tell you that Germany made a revenue 

 last year — a profit last year — of 53,000,000 marks from her postal sys- 

 tem, and carried packages of 110 pounds anywhere in Germany or 

 Austro-Hungary, as much as 1500 miles, for 60 cents. Great Britain 

 carried 90,300,000 packages at the rate of 25 cents for an 11-pound 

 package, and made a profit of $22,500,000. Quite an alleviation of tax- 

 ation. That is all I Avish to say this morning. 



MR. SPRAGUE. I would say that I am entirely in accord with the 

 views of my friend from Santa Barbara. These are not merely specu- 

 lations, but are in the line of ascertainable facts. It is possible for 

 the State of California to work out these theories here, not all at 



