64 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for it. 
MORE ABOUT THE SINGLE TAX. 
Daring the last political campaign in this State the 
Democratic party adopted some very radical free trade 
views in its platform, and the Sentinel of Indianapolis, the 
leading and ablest paper of that party, made a very ag¬ 
gressive fight on that line. On account of some of its ut¬ 
terances the Journal, of the same town, a very able protec¬ 
tion paper, charged the Democrats with having adopted 
Henry George’s single tax theories, and proceeded to ar¬ 
gue against them. One of its articles purported to be a 
synopsis of an article in the Forum by a Dr. Rathgen, 
claiming that these theories had long had a practical ap¬ 
plication in the laws of Japan. 
I sent the article from the Journal to Chas. E. Garst, a 
Christian missionary who has been living in that empire 
for the past seven years, and who is a gentleman perfectly 
competent to deal with the question. I inclose his com¬ 
ments, as I think they are quite suitable for The Rural’s 
department of Farm Politics. WILLIAM o. FOLEY. 
Decatur County, Indiana. 
Japan’s Land Tax. 
Dr. Rathgen is quoted as saying that nearly all the tax 
of Japan is raised on land values, and it is thought from 
this statement the single tax Idea came from Japan, and 
that this empire is proof positive that the single tax 
theory is wrong. Let us examine the matter briefly. The 
statistics show that about 85 per cent of the taxes of the 
country for the year 1875 were on land values ; but not as 
understood by the single taxers, because only a little over 
one-tenth of the land is in use Most of it is in rice fields 
and it is taxed, not at its value in its natural state, but as 
it is improved. The application of the “ single tax ” to 
Japan would put the eight-tenths of unused land to the 
best use it is capable of, but now it is simply held as gov¬ 
ernment land. It can be bought, but the price is too high 
and it will be highly taxed if improved. Again, city 
property is absurdly low. I rented a house and put up a 
shed for my cow ; the tax collector came around and said 
the taxes would have to be raised, as the land from a 
garden had become a building location ; in consequence I 
had to take the shed down and put it up in a different 
place. These laws discourage improvements. 
When the system of government was changed from the 
feudal to the present style, the people bought the land, and 
the barons and soldier class were pensioned; hence taxes 
are enormously high. This is a grave violation of the 
single tax idea. Though Japan is estimated to have a 
population of about 31,000,000, in area it is a little smaller 
than the single State of California; yet it supports an army 
and navy, together with a royal family with innumerable 
satraps, etc. The people are taxed nearly into their 
graves, still the country is largely a howling wilderness. 
This country needs the single tax for its regeneration. 
I preach the gospel, but when people are hungry all the 
time it is difficult for them to listen. They believe in 
what in Japanese would be called “ Heso moto no shian,” 
which means, “The thoughts cluster at the base of the 
navel.” They have the home market, but all are poor to¬ 
gether, and it is of no use to them. The minds of the 
people are darkened by idolatry, and the poor farmer is 
ground into the dirt. He cannot eat the eggs his one or 
two hens lay; he can scarcely eat any of the rice he raises ; 
he knows less than the ass or he would kick. Tell us not 
that Japan has the single tax. She taxes industry. She has 
had perfect protection for hundreds of years, and she is to¬ 
day, with many unused national resources, the poorest of 
nations. 
The single tax, as the New York Times says, rests on 
irrefragible logic. It brings one great branch of learning 
into harmony with the Sermon on the Mount. It is as 
much a moral and religious question as the freeing of the 
slaves was or as the temperance question is to-day. To 
resist it is, to my mind, to resist an ordinance of God. Yet 
the people do not study. If they would study “ Progress 
and Poverty,” they would get a clear view of the doctrine. 
Happy will be the day for the farmer when the single tax 
goes into effect. The above will show that Japan is not 
under the single tax. I could write more about the labor 
problem in this country; but I desist. The wild land of 
this empire is of great value. It would be better to let 
the people use it than to leave it to the fox and wolf— 
would it not ? CHAS. E. GARST. 
Shonai, Japan. _ 
MINISTERS AND POLITICS. 
The Rural asks farmers (page 879 in last year’s issue) 
to express an opinion on the question whether it is a min¬ 
ister’s right to instruct his people to vote for or against 
certain men or measures, and whether it would be a peril¬ 
ous blunder for him to do so. 
There ought not to be two opinions on the first point. 
In view of his position as an educated citizen, and as the 
chosen and trusted interpreter of God’s law, whose chief 
function it is to give light to his people through all ways 
that are dark to them, he is under the highest obligation 
to give instruction on all questions that affect their wel¬ 
fare. Superior intelligence and clear discernment of the 
moral bearings of social, economic and political questions 
create obligation. The greatest of all preachers declared 
that he was in debt to all men, to “Greeks and barbar¬ 
ians,” because he had been put in possession of truths of 
the highest import, hitherto denied to others. It is the 
business of the minister tq discern clearer light, and 
higher ideals, and nobler things than others, and to insist 
on lifting up human conduct, and carrying the commun¬ 
ity up along the line of all that is desirable and admirable. 
Nobody disputes the right of men of other professions to 
harangue the people, and seek to mold their opinions on 
public questions. Certainly no one ever protests against 
such a right. But why is this the right of one class of 
educated men, and not that of another? The notion seems 
to obtain that it derogates from a clergyman’s dignity and 
sanctity to have anything to do with politics, especially to 
attend primaries, and to have his say as to who shall be 
nominated for office. My view is that ministers who so 
think are either pitiable prudes or arrant cowards, proba¬ 
bly both. Such men must have a hard time of it apolo¬ 
gizing for their Master for having mingled so much with 
very plain people, and discoursed upon all sorts of inter¬ 
esting public topics. Doubtless they are to be regarded as 
greatly His superiors in moral discernment and ethical 
propriety, “ The pulpit is too sacred a place,” is it; the 
minister is “ too sacred a person,” I suppose, to talk poli¬ 
tics? The man who talks, or allows others to talk, in this 
way is guilty of a gross affectation. The most sanctified 
man on this planet is the man who believes himself called 
to undertake every sort and any sort of humble service 
that will benefit his fellow-men. 
But Is it a perilous blunder ? On this point we must 
discriminate. The papers reported the other day that a 
soldier in Belgium, acting as a sentry in a public park, 
refused the Queen permission to pass the gate without the 
countersign, knowing her to be the Queen. In the judg¬ 
ment of his fellows, this was a blunder. Not so in the 
judgment of the Queen who afterwards presented him 
with a purse, nor was it a blunder in the judgment of his 
commander, who granted him a furlough and promotion. 
In view of a clergyman’s obligations to his Master, it is 
never a blunder for him to do his duty. But, in a certain 
sense, he is also a servant of his people, and his people 
are mostly bitter bigots in politics, and the longest-lived 
and most ineradicable prejudice they have is the prejudice 
against ministers “ meddling with politics.” I have seen 
an old-time Horace Greeley Whig turn pale with wrath, 
and aca9t-iron Hunker Democrat gnash his teeth, because 
the pulpit timidly ventured, on Fast Day, to give a little 
advice on some burning public question. 
Of course, this prejudice is somewhat less profound in 
this, the tail end of the nineteenth century. But still, in 
most of our country parishes to-day, it would cost a 
preacher the respect of many of his flock, if not his posi¬ 
tion, to open his mouth with advice on the matter of voting. 
Dr. Talmage can do it, because his popularity can carry 
him through anything and he is a recognized “ free lance.” 
The great preachers of all denominations can do it, be¬ 
cause they never risk their bread and butter, whatever 
they do. Nevertheless, the ordinary “ country parson ” 
had better abstain, unless he carries in his breast pocket a 
loud call to a new field. But this is a low, commercial 
view of the matter, which ought never to obtain. 
Middlesex County, Mass. F. w. towle. 
NO FAVORS ASKED OF ANY “’CRAT.” 
I can’t help writing a few lines to express my disgust at 
the great amount of cringing helplessness displayed by 
some of the farmers throughout the country. I want it 
distinctly understood that there is one man, with only a 
50-acre farm and on that a mortgage which has not been 
reduced any in the last two years, who asks no odds of au¬ 
tocrat, plutocrat, democrat or any other “ ’crat,” to help 
him out of the rut. If I am not man enough to work my¬ 
self out I will drop back into the tail of the procession, 
where I belong. Does the average grumbler ever think of 
the countless number of now well-to-do farmers who scored 
their first success as such through the accommodation of 
some grasping money lender, who took his chances with 
the poor but honest farmer, and in the end received his 
simple interest according to contract; while the farmer, 
by nerve, push and energy made from two to ten times as 
much ? I assert that there are thousands of men who hold 
Western mortgages to-day which are long past due, who 
would grasp at the chance to lose all the interest due pro¬ 
vided they could get their money instead of the land. I 
get short of funds at times and am very thankful that 
there are some men who, years ago, saved their money 
when I was careless and spent mine foolishly, and who are 
willing to lend me what I want as long as I am willing to 
pay them the principal and the interest I agree to pay. I 
know by bitter experience that the terms are sometimes 
hard ; but I am ashamed of the American in this broad, 
free land who, while he earned only $1.00 has spent $1.10, 
and now, like a whey calf, is standing at the bar of Con¬ 
gress bleating piteously for some one to relieve him of his 
self-imposed burden. The idea that Mr. Brown, Mr. Jones 
and myself can send Mr. Smith to Congress and that he 
with a few other Smiths can make laws that will enable 
us to hoe our corn and potatoes at less expense than we 
now do 1 I see the need of reform and want a change as 
badly as any of my neighbor farmers; but my experience 
has been that it doesn’t do much good to try to reform 
anybody but myself, and the only way I can succeed in 
reforming myself financially is by getting up a little ear¬ 
lier in the morning and working a little harder through 
the day, smoking fewer cigars (I quit whisky and beer 15 
years ago), and taking better care of my stock. 
I notice that those of my acquaintances who find the 
most fault with the times have plenty of time to hunt, but 
no time to repair buildings or fences, and plenty of money 
for tobacco, but no money for agricultural papers. What 
if Jay Gould did make $3,000,000 in one week ; if I under¬ 
stand the matter he squeezed it out of his brother bond¬ 
holders, and I know of no law that would prevent me from 
selling my farm and investing the proceeds in railroad 
bonds if I thought I could make more money in that way. 
The fact is we have become a nation of squeezers. When 
IAN. 24 
• 
I f?o to town with a load of produce I squeeze the last cent 
I can out of the market, and, in turn, step into the 
“ press ” when I reinvest the proceeds of my load. In all 
of my transactions I aim to make no misstatements or to 
deceive any one, and am careful to do just as I agree to, 
no matter what the outcome; but I am very careful about 
what I agree to do. Although I have made no money in 
the last two years, I do not expect to leave my farm; but if 
I do, I will be very thankful to Jay Gould if he will give 
me a place to work on one of his railroads, and I will 
promise him that after I have learned the business 
sufficiently well to be able to do my work without break¬ 
ing more every month than I earn, I will not go on a strike 
and say to him : “ I was not smart enough to make a 
living on my own account and can’t very well live now 
without you ; but unless you run your business to suit 
me, I will do you all the harm I can.” w. B. GREEN. 
St. Lawrence County, N. Y. 
COMBINE IN A FIGHT AGAINST RAILROADS. 
My opinion about th» Sub-Treasury scheme of the Farm¬ 
ers’ Alliance is that it is supreme folly. The whole sub¬ 
ject of finance or money is summed up in gold and silver 
and paper money of equal value, convertible into coin at 
the will of the holder. All else is but “ leather and 
prunella,” and unworthy of discussion. 
The real causes of all our woes are the railroad robbers, 
aud it is a crime and folly to waste time on any other. 
The government of the Union should at once resume the 
right of eminent domain over the Inter-State highways, 
including the railroads, and run them for the benefit of the 
whole people, farmers included. 
A Story.— My nephews, the Messrs. Watsons of Frank¬ 
fort, Kentucky, were intelligent millers. Having moved 
into a wider field, they bought, fitted up anew, and ran a 
flouriug-mill two hours by rail from Chicago, and did a fine 
business; but the railroad robbers charged them as much 
for freight on these few miles, as they charged millers in 
the cheap wheat region of Minneapolis, more than a 
thousand miles away, on their flour to Chicago. My 
nephews were thus robbed and ruinedl They then went 
to Minneapolis and organized anew; but soon the robbers 
broke down a flourishing trade they had with the South, 
by taking all the profits. In despair they looked out in 
vain for some means of escape, and at last they are now in 
Jersey City on the Hudson, aud propose to use only water 
carriage in their business. The only remedy is for the 
nation to condemn (as it did the lands for the railroad beds,) 
the inter State railways, and pay a fair price for them ; 
and run them as the post office is run; and this is done, I 
believe, to a greater or less extent by nearly every nation 
in Europe. Then the Secretary of the new Department of 
Commerce having charge of the traffic on railroads, turn¬ 
pikes, canals, rivers and oceans, as well as the telegraph 
service, etc., could kill all the combines, trusts, adultera¬ 
tions of medicines, food, clothing, etc., and do all this in an 
hour by refusing to carry any such goods at all. The State 
railroads also could thus be compelled to act fairly by the 
people of the States. 
The Way To Do It. —Let the Farmers’ Alliance, 
Wheels, Granges, etc., who are now wandering about like 
blind Sampsons, drop all their idiocy and make the rail¬ 
road robbers the sole objects of destruction. Organized in 
every Congressional District in the Union, let them make 
no new party; but send their committees to the Demo¬ 
cratic and Republican candidates with this question only : 
“ Will you in good faith vote to transfer the ownership of 
the railroads to the government ?” If they do this, they 
can in one election year elect a House to do their will, and 
by paying close attention to the selection of proper mem¬ 
bers for the various State legislatures, they can soon 
obtain control of the Senate also. In all other respects 
each voter can stand with his party. Who ever before 
hear 1 of a nation without highways, of a nation in which 
all the main roads were in the hands of banditti, of a 
nation all whose means of transportation were at the 
mercy of those whose policy is public robbery and spolia¬ 
tion, while the militia of the various States, aided by hire¬ 
ling thugs and cut-throats, stand ready to enforce their 
Irresponsible exactions ? Let us have a “government of 
the people’’—not of Jay Goulds !—“ by the people’’—not 
by usurpers 1—and “ for the people ’’—not for robbers ! 
Madison County, Ky. cassius marcellus clay. 
GETTING MONEY TO THE PEOPLE. 
In the editorial columns in The Rural of December 20, 
1890, there is a reference to the Sub-Treasury scheme pro¬ 
posed by the Farmers’ Alliance It has been a matter of 
surprise to me that in looking about for some means of relief 
for the farming interest—and relief from some source is 
imperatively demanded—no one has suggested what seems 
to me a practicable, ready and prompt means of relief. We 
need more money as a people. The farmer needs more 
money than is accessible to him. We are told that 
we have the finest and safest banking system in the world, 
which is,no doubt, true; but at the same time it is one of 
the most expensive ever devised. While the plan of mak¬ 
ing United States bonds the basis of the issue of national 
banks makes the issue secure, we should remember that in 
order to exclude competition, all banks whose issues are 
not based on U. S. bonds, are taxed 10 per cent per annum 
on the amount of their issues, so that State banks of issue 
are taxed out of existence. Has not the time come when 
the national banks have ceased to need this protection, 
however wise and statesmanlike this provision was 
when first enacted ? If this provision in the law regarding 
national banks were repealed, the farmers of the land 
could offer a security not only as good as United States 
bonds, but better. Bank stock secured by deeds of trust 
on farming lands worth three times the value of the 
stock would give us a currency as good as the United 
