The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation: an analysis of the efforts of a single tax colony to apply the ideas of Henry George

Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic)

Authors Beggs, George Henry, 1935-

Publisher The University of Arizona.

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Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565151 THE: EAJRHOPE SINGLE TAX CORPORATION: AN ANALYSIS

OF THE EFFORTS OF A SINGLE TAX' COLONY TO

APPLY THE IDEAS OF HENRY' GEORGE

by

Georgy Henry Beggs.

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the

DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

GRADUATE COLLEGE

I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by George Henry Beggs______

entitled The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation: An Analysis of the Efforts of a Single Tax Colony to Apply the Ideas of Henry George be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the

degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Dissertation Director Date

After inspection of the dissertation, the following members

of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and

recommend its acceptance:*

------f V.

O (s> G

______

*This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or re­ production of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder.

SIGNED cm m o# HENR Y BEGG5 The author selected this particular subject as a dissertation topic because of his strong interest in combating poverty9 his keen interest in a theorist who devoted his life in an effort to abolish poverty, and his opportunity to study an application of the theorist?s ideas. The author hoped to gain a better understanding of the problems involved in developing and administering programs designed to reduce economic and social distress.

I am especially indebted to Profes sor Currin. V. Shields, Head of the Department of Government at the University of Arizona, for his able guidance and criticism throughout this research project. I extend my deep appreciation to C. A. Gaston, Director of the .Fairhope Single

Tax Corporation, who gave generously of his time in innumerable ways during the two years this manuscript was under preparation. I owe much to Mrs. W. L„ Johnson of Lebanon, Georgia, who worked diligently and competently in typing the final draft and to M iss Francis , ' ' ' Garner of Mobile College who edited the manuscript. I am grateful to Derr ell C. Roberts, friend and associate, who helped me arrange my teaching schedule during the past two years in a manner that V enabled me to complete the study.

My greatest debt is to my wifes Rosemary* who not only aided in many ways in the preparation of this manuscript, but who' made it financially possible for me to do graduate work. For these reasons, this study is dedicated to her.

George H. Beggs

Marietta, Georgia

September, 1.966 TABLE OF CONTENTS

X o X J^T XX C / .‘rXO o o © o ' o ooooo o o © © © © © © . o.. © ooodo ©©©©©©eooooo X

llo HENRT HISTORISAR GQNTE3CX © © © 6

Q 2T ■ S JX13^3T X y X-jlXo©o©o©©o©©oo©©oo©o'oo©©©©©o©© © -6 Impact of California Experiences on. George1^

TkOUgllto@o©@@oo@o0©©0@00©@0@@©o©0o@o©@oo © X 0

Career as a Jon rnalx s t©©o©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©© © 14

TRe Anf^O^ © © © © © © © 6 © © © © © © © © © © © © © .© © o © © ©. © © © © © o © © © 13 The .Social Philosopher: His Purpose ©©©©.©© © © © © © © 21

The Habor C^anbiciateo ©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©o ©©©©©© © 26 The jSingXe Thx Movement and the hnpaet of His Thought on the P eriod © © © ©- © © © © © ©©©©©©©©©©© © 29

XXX O GHORvGRXS XHEQRYo o©do©©eo.©©©o©0oo©ooo©©o©©o0©o©©o 3 S

Hi a Metho d c>f determining the Pacts r a of

Econom ic Ci r o^vth o©@©@©© ©©©©©©©©© ©©o©©©©©© 38 Identification of T erm s .© © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 3 8 The Role of Land* Labor and CapitaX In P r oductiOn © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 3 9 The Laws of WeaXth D istribution ©. © © © © ©. © © © © © © .© © © © © 42

The Problem ©©©©o©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©© © 4 7 Extent of Monopoly in Land H oldings«© © © © © © © © © © © ©© 48 The Injuatices of Land M onopolization © © © © © © © © © © ©© 51

The Solution© ©©oo©©©©©©©'©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©© © 5 8 Justification and Advantages of Land Value

Taxation ©o©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©»©©©©©©©©©©© © bQ Mor e than X7axa11 on © © © © © © .©©©©© © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © b4

vi vii

IV, THE' FAIRHOPE SINGLE TAX CORPORATION 71

The First Colony o o o o o o o o p o e- e>. o © o © © o © © © 71

Origins of the .Fairhope .Single Tax Colony^ © o© o o © .o © © 72

The Purposes of the Faifhope ^ © O p © O © © B O O’ O O O 74 The Feghiity of the Fairhop e Singie Tax

Cpfporation© o© p o • O o O O 0 O' 0 0 © © OOOOOOOOOOOOO© 0 79 Relationship of the Single Tax Corporation to the Fairthope Community© © »© © © © © © © © © © © © © © © ©.© © © 81 L ocation o f Supr em e A uthority© » © © © 0 © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 82 TLOnt Raf o © © © © © © ,©••©. © © ©■ © © © © © © © © ©«©■ © © •©••© © ©^ © © © © © ©• © © •© © 90 P u b lic Sc ryr c.e s © © © o © © - © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 94 jA^dxxiinx s t ra tio n of iPol.i-c y © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 96 JSoa r o f ‘i’ru s te e s © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 99 Im port an ce of ^Public !F acilities© © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 101 The C orporation's: W harfs © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © »© © © 102 W at e r © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 103 S tr e e ts aiixd Roacls© © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 104 hndirect 1?r ogram s 0 © © © © © © © © © © ©■ © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 105 iC orp oratioh ,S:C r ip © © © © • © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 108 Administration of the -<5brpornti0n?s Public

a © o o © © p © © © © o © o .© © © © © © o © o © 110 Transfer of Public Facilities to the Municipality of FairRppe, @ , © ® © © © © © "© @ © © © © © © © © © © ©.«© © 112 Evaluation of the Corporation’s Public Facility

Operations © oo © o © © o oo o © oo 6 o o e o o o © o o o o o 114

The Impprtance of Public Services >o © a © © g © a goo o o o © a 115

Public Schools , ©a o. © © © ©. -o' o o1 © © © a" © © o o a o o o © @ o © © o © p.-o o © 116

The Organic School© o a a © © o © p o © © © © © o e © © © a © © © o © ©. a 118 Student -^lid.® .© © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © .©. © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © © 120

The Fairhope Library.© © a p a p a © © o o o a o o o o © o © o a a © o © © © 121

Parks and Beaches © a © © o © © © © ;© © : o o a a © o o © s o © a o o © © o a 123

© o e © o © © ©p © o © o © © o a © a a o a © a © © a o ooooooooo. a 124

Serine.© 0 © ^ o '© a © a > a a ©. o © © a a a © o o © a a © a © a a o 125 Evaluation of the Corporation's Public Services...... 126

V© ■ THE CORPORATION’5 SUCCESSES AND PROBLEMS. © ©© 130

i a. © -a a © o © o © 6 © © © © o © © © o o © © © o "o o © a © a 130

Neither Land Speculation or Slums a o o o © © s © o © a a © a 132 yiii

CHAPTER

Eairliope1 s Cultural Life o o <000 o o 134

The Racial Problem...... ope o o 00 00 135 Grass Roots' Democracy Has Not Occurred. . „ „ 138 The Problem of Futxire Leader ship. 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 140

The Word Has Not Spread.to O o o o O 6 0 0 O O 6 O P O O 6 6 O O O 141 Lack of Profes sional Aid. „...... 143

VI. -CCNCLWS1GN8.. . . . e o 0 o 6 o e o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a op o o o 145

Is the Faizhope Experiment a Meaningful 145 A Meaningful Application of George's Ideas? Agreement on the Prime Cause of Poyezty.... « .. . 145 Agreement on the Prim e Methbd. of Securing Their Goals...... e...... 147 Publte ^^^yne z sh.ip...... © ..,. . . ,©@.... . @@...... 148 JrhxhlteSezyieeg...... e...... 149 Does the Fairhope Experiment Offer any Grounds for Jadging Ihn Validity of George's Ideas ?.. 151 Constructive Land Usage and the Absence of

o p- e b o o o o o p o p e o p. a o © p © o i 151

Public Facilities and Services,to opo p. © o © © o © o 153 Fairhope Compared to 154 Public Apathy... .. @...... @...... © 157 Land Value Taxation as a Source of Income...... 158 The Reason for Poverty and the Solution to the Problem.@. 159 Future Value of the Fairhope Experiment...... 160

© © © O » 6 O © 6 O © © 6 © O O O O © © © O . ©. O O © © © p © © e 0 o o o © o 161

A . COMSTITUTTON OF FAIRHOPE SINGLE TAX

JP'C3R^i T^ I^5il©...... OB...... oo. 162

B. , SINGLE TAX PRINCIPLES THAT INSPIRED FAIRHOPE'S FOUNDERS...... 176

C. 1965 REPORT FAIRHOPE SINGLE TAX:

C^0Ri^^9f!^i*jfI^9f!. o . o .: o o e © . o o . a . o o e . . o o o . o e e o . o . o 183 AFraNrmGEs;»^ GaiAWwd

m APPLIGATIOH FOR LAND QF FAIEHOPE SJHGLE ABSTRACT

Henry George strove to answer the question, why, in the midst of interesting wealth does poverty persist ? In answering the question he concluded that the reason for the problem was that land, the source of all wealth and the field of all labor, was monopolized. Monopo- lization of owner ship in land results in an unjust distribution of wealth.

If a few people control the land which the many must use, the few can de­ mand the produce of the many in exchange for permission to use the land. It is the continuous increase in rent, which labor must pay for the use of the land, which prevents the many from sharing in the wealth they produce and which allows the few to monopolize the land and there­ fore the wealth.

George had a healthy respect for capital as a factor of product­ ion, but he was convinced that it was erroneous, to give capital prime importance in the production of wealth as the classical economists had.

Land with natural resources is indispensable„ Labor is absolutely necessary to produce the desired goods from nature. Capital; for

George, comes from the wealth produced by labor. It is then used by labor for the furthe r production of wealth. George stressed the idea of "unearned increment" that the value

of land increased because of social progress and population increase, with no contribution by the land owner„ Private profit from the natural benefits of land should be made public profit. George believed the best way to confiscate this wealth was through a tax on land value. The amount of the tax should be equal to- that value which attaches itself to land as a result of social progress and pbpul&tion growth. A tax on land value was more just than all other forms of taxation because it gave to the community that wealth created by the community and be­ cause all other forms of taxation penalized the industrious person.

George did not believe taxation alone would be sufficient to achieve his goals. Facilities providing public necessities should be publicly owned and administered. In addition, government should provide a wide range of public services.

The founders of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation agreed with

George completely. In 1903 the corporation persuaded the state of

Alabama to allow its members to apply a simulated system of land value taxation on corporation land. The corporation leases its land and charges its leasees an annual rent. From this rent the corporation pays all othe r forms of property taxes levied by state and local governments against the leasees. The difference between the amount of rent collec­ ted by the corporation and the amount of taxes paid for the leasees is xii used to provide corporation members and the entire community with public s ervices.

Does the Fairhope experiment offer any grounds for judging the validity of George's ideas ? The system of land value taxation used by the corporation has prevented the development of slums in Fairhope.

People of modest means have been able to lease land and build homes which they might not have been able to build if they had found it neces­ sary to raise the purchasing price of the land. There is no discernable land speculation in Fairhope. Though the Fairhope endeavor does not provide enough evidence to judge George's contention regarding the reason for poverty, the fact that slums have not developed in Fair­ hope seems to indicate that at least he may have suggested one effect­ ive way of Combating community blight. The corporation's develop­ ment and operation of its own water, road, and wharfage systems enabled the corporation and its lessees to survive economically during the early years of the corporation's history; this seems to strengthen

George's argument regarding the advantages of facilities providing public necessities being publicly owned and operated. C M F T m i

INTROSWTigif

In. the mid-twentieth century9 an increasing number of persons are showing a renewed interest in reducing dramatically the age-old problem of poverty* Though human distress is a universal problem, in the developing countries it reaches staggering proportions* ^

Even, in the. industrialized nations, considerable poverty still re- mains. Meaningful studies are appearing calling for a renewed attack on poverty, ^

A student of political science can hardly avoid a serious attempt to understand the reasons why poverty persists in the wealthy nations and why poverty is so wide spread in the developing countries. In 1962 this student’s interest in the problem was heightened when as a grad­ uate student he was introduced to the works of Henry George, who

1. Robert Maxwell (ed), ohJE.^nt: RdPbrf Of a Conference on. The United Nations Development Decade (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1962).

2. Leon H, Keyserling, Frogress or FWbrty: The XJ, S. at the Crossroads (Washington: Conference on Economic. Progress, 1964),

3. Michael Harrington, The Gther America: Poverty in the United States (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1962).

1 dmfoted Ms life in an attempt to understand and alleviate the problem of poWrty. TMs research project grew from the author1 s interest in the problems of combating poverty, his interest in Henry George's idjeas, and Ms umque opportumty to study a partial and enduring application of George's ideas in Fair hope, Alabama-

The purposes of this study are fourfold: first, the author wants to gain an understanding of the application of George's ideas by the

FairhOpe Single Tax Gorporatioh; hext, he wants to determine the extent of the application of George's ideas in the Fairhope endeavor; and finally, he wants to determine whether the Fairhope experiment offers any grounds for judging the validity of George's ideas-

The methods utilized by the author in. this research project are

MstOrieal, comparative, and analytical- The study is Mstorical in that the author tries to understand George in M storical context and to acquire a Mstorical knowledge of the Fairhope experiment- The project is comparative in that the author compares the purposes and practiceS of the Fairhope experiment with George's ideas- The study is analytical both in the sense that the author tries to appraise the extent to wMch

George's, ideas are applied in Fairhope and attempts to determine: whether the Fairhope experiment offers any grounds for judging the validity of George's ideas- Research techniques include content analysis and personal interviews» By content, analysis the author means a. systematic method of sorting and collecting information from written and spoken sources.

Personal interviews are used to obtain the beliefs, opinions^, goals, and recollections of certain individuals=

The scope of the project is limited to examining the ideas Of one political theorist, Henry George, and one partial application of his ideas by the Fair hope Single Tax Corporation in Fairhope. This pro­ ject is neither an attempt to develop a theory explaining the causes of poverty nor an attempt to develop an inclusive way of abolishing poyertyo Rather it is an effort to- learn from the ideas of one of the great social philosophers: and an account of the successes and failures ^ ' of his ideas as applied in; the Fairh,Ope experiment.

Meaningful land value taxation as a m ethod of financingSocial. reform is receiving increasing attention. At the present time public officials in California are conducting an extensive study of property taxes in their state and have tentatively concluded that the state is losing $800, 000, 00Q, 00 per year. ^ Another indication of current interest in land value taxation-is the fact that Mason Gaffney, Head of the .Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, and

4,o Christian Science Monitor, September 24, 1965, p, 14, colol .Jkpkhxix- B ecker, Prpfe.s,s.o-r of Ecotxam ics, Utriyergity of WigcQn,sin,.

are beginning in April, 19&6, a series of visits to Fairbope to study

the method of land value, taxation used by' the Fairhope Single Tax

Corporation. ^ Both of those men serve on the National Committee

on Taxation, ItosonrcoSndd.Sconomlo.Development, a private re­

search gr0*# fcompp^tM outstanding economists in the United States.

A renewed interest seems, to. bb developing in Henry George as

a political theorist. The University of Pennsylvania Press published in the spring of 1966 a new book on. George, written by Steyen Cord. &

The Lincoln Foundation of Phoenix, Arizona, has awarded a research

grant to Raymond Rodger s of the Unlyer sity of South Alabama to study the impact, of George' s ideas in the community of Fairhope. ? The

5.. Letter from Arthur Becker to C. A. Gaston, executive sec­ retary of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, March 3, 1966, (on file in the records of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation).

6. Steven. Cord, Henry George: Dreamer or Realist (Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania. Press, 1966.

7. Statement by Dr. Raymond Rodgers, personal interview, Mar ch 2, 1966. Robert Schalkenback Foundation and the Henry George School of Social

Science in New' York and Los Angeles report an increasing demand for 8 their literature.

The author hopes that this study will be timely and helpful in view of this growing interest in the current attack on poverty, in land value taxation as an additional means of financing social reform, and in the renewed interest in Henry George's ideas.

8. "LVT— Incentive Tax, "The Henry George News, XXV. No. 4 (April, 1966), p. 13. HENRY <3E©RdS IN HISTORICAL: CONTEXT

George Is Early Eife

George’s father, Richard So Ho George, grew up in New Bruns-' " I wick, New Jhr sey, and whs the son of a sea naptaino After a brief career at sea, Richard Getirge settled in Philadelphia earning his living by holding a clerical post in the 'WStpm'S hpua,'#. He supple­ mented his. income for a time by~-operating a sm all printing business publishing church boqk#. The elder George reared a family of eight childreno His third child, Henry George, was hern on the second day of September, 1839 o 2

The family enjoyed a decent standard of living, though.George’s, father was never able to provide his children with funds for higher education or luxuries of any kind. During the 1850* s when George

1. The author found it necessary to use secondary sour'ces in this chaptero The most helpful secondary source was Charles Alb.ro Barker1 s. pulitzer prize winning biography of Henry George (New York; Oxford University Press, 19.55)» The author relied upon primary sources for the material presented in all of the remaining chapters of this study,.

Anna George de Mi lie, Henry George, Citizen of the World (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1950), p„ 9° r would have been aware of the family1 s financial resources, his father's income amounted to about $1300 or $1400 annually, a sum which

3 compared well with the salaries of clergymen and teachers of the time.

Both George's homelife and the city of Philadelphia made a lasting impression on him. At home he grew up in a puritanical atmosphere imposed by his deeply religious parents. The home had a prayer room and the entire family participated in morning and evening prayer. 4 George was always to stress a moral dimension in his writing.

Philadelphia with its historical monuments and its claims on Amer­ ican heritage contributed to George's deep sense of patriotism and to 5 his keen concern for urban m asses.

After leaving the fairly comfortable, if puritanical, home of his parents, Henry George did experience some difficult and sobering years. He persuaded his father to let him leave school and go to work at the age of fourteen. He found a job wrapping packages and delivering sales articles for a local Philadelphia gift shop. His pay was two

3. Barker, op, cit. , pp. 8-9.

4. Henry George, Progress and Poverty (New York: The National Single Tax League, 1880), pp. 553-563.

5. Ibid. , pp. 542-543. 1 dollars- per week and he worked a ten-hour day. & He soon became restless with the low wages and long hours and changed jobs frequently,

^dweyer? he discovered all jobs Open to a poorly schooled individual w ere charactoriped by low pay and long hours. George decided to go to sea. He found the working conditions on the ship even more dif­ ficult than those in Philadelphia. His sea job carried him to South

America, Southeast Asia and to Australia. The frequent stops' of the ship along its route allowed George to observe some of the working conditions in other countries» He became convinced that much pover­ ty existed in all the countries he visited. ?

George returned home at the age of seventeen in June, 1856$ and his father found him a job in a printing house. He learned to set type and acquired a knowledge of writing skills and publishing which he was tduse the rest of his life. Though his skills increased and his reSpon- siM litiesin his job grew# he was still earning only two dollars per week. Deciding he had to earn more money if he was to- enjoy any of the material pleasures of life# he began to seek a higher paying job. He could not find one in Philadelphia. Through correspondence with a friend who had gone to Oregon, George decided he could earn a

6. de M ille, pp^ c jt. $ p. 10.

T. Ibid. , pp... 10-26. 9 better liying in California than lie could in Philadelphia, ^

##orgO' left Philade Iphia during the financial panic of 1858 which.. brought widegpread unemployment,, He worked his way to California on. a cargo ship and again experienced the difficult working conditions o f the unskilled* He arriyed in iSan,,Frati.'ciscd. on M ay 27, 1858; unable to find work there, he worked his way on a chooner to Victoria in the Canadian, goldfields => George experienced his toughest days as a single man during the next few month So After several months of cold, hunger, and fatigue, he borrowed enough money to get back to San

Franciscoc He was still unable to find work. As he was getting ready to work his, way back to Philadelphia, he found a job in a print” ing establishment for sixteen dollars per week. For the first time in his adult life, he was able to rent a decent room and eat healthful meal#. He took a.room in the. "What Cheer House Hotel" and began to read late each evening in the hotel library. 9

When George was twenty-one years of age, he had experienced poverty. He had Seen the sufferings of the poor. .Since he was ybung and had no family obligations, he had survived. However, he had seen theuganda of older m en trying .desperately to care for a family and he had witnessed their disappointment and bitterness in failure. He

8. Ibid.

9» Ibid., p. 26. 10 found, h im self unem ployed'for a brief period a few times during his early married life. These brief periods of being unable to care ade- 10 quately for his wife ahd children were his bitterest memories.

From the year 1870 until his death in 1897, he was able to earn a modest living for his family. ^

Impact Of Calif ornia Experiences On Geor ge * s Thought

George grew into adulthood in California during the 18501s and

ISdO's. During this period the state accomplished some of the most outstanding feats of s ocial and economic - deve 1 opment in. American history. It was also a period of exploding public problems and a period of intense policy debate. The questions of labor supply and wages, land settlement, land policy, land monopoly, exploitation of natural resources, protective tariffs, railroad monopolies, urban development, war debts, and the role Of government in settling these problems were debated endle'S'sly in the California press and by writers of the period. In addition to the California newspapers, Alta California, the Daily Times, and the Union, the major literary magazines Pioneer,

Hutchings, Illustrated California Magazine, and the Hesperian

• 10. Barker, op. cit., pp. 49*71.

11. Ibid. 11 devoted. rrXuch space to these policy debates. In addition to the news * papers and magazines of tW time, a number of books dealing with

California pr pblems wer# widely readc Among these were John S'0.

HitteiPs The Resources, of California Comprising Agriculture, Mining,

Qepgraphy, Climate, , Commerce,, etco and the Past and Future Deyel- opment of the State, published in 1863. with, many later editions; Titus

Fey CVonise's The Natural Wealth of California in 1868; and Bentham

Fabian* s The Agricultural Aands of California; A Guide to the Immigrant as to the Productions, Climate,, and Boil of Fyery County ..in the State in 1869o All of these promoted extensive discussions on the opportun- 12 ities and problems of the state«

According to Barker, the above authors all agrebd on at least one important points land, mpnopdlization was getting completely out of hand. They did not agree on the. methods of combating the evils of land monopoly. This, author has no desire to dwell on California history or on the land problem in California. However, for the pur­ poses of this study, it is. important to understand that by the time

Henry George entered the debate, Californians were already engaging heatedlyin a debate which included serious di scus Sion of land policy. ^

12. Ibid. , pp. 72-lid. It is important to note that, many of the land, policy debates

(^eprge; heard were particularly "western". Many large estates had their orfigins ^ Spanish and!! Meqdcam, grahtS to individuals and corporations which had transpired before the United States acquired the California territory ih the Treaty of Guadalupe HidalgOo Instead of an orderly process of breaking up the Mexican holdings by rapid sale, insecure titles: had: led td rnany IrregulaMtles bf mbaopbiisjiic is Spdenlatings squatting and evicting Of squatters, and tax evasions.

The selfish, and violent quarrels over landra ise d earlyin Ceorgels mind the possibility and the desirability of Some sort of public control of land to prevent speculation;

Railroad monopolies and publicly owned urban land were two specific, land policy issues debated during this period that profoundly influenced George’s thought. In addition to the huge land tracts held by individuals, the railroad's renei-Wd by an act Of the United States

Congress in 1862 large grants of land throughout the state of California.

14. Henry Steele Gommager (ed. ), "Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo," Document Number 171, Documents of American History (New York: Appletdn-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1958), pp. 313-315.

15. Barker, op. Cit., p. 8$.

16. Henry Steele Gommager (ed.), "Pacific Railroad Act, " Document Number 215, Documents pf American History (New Yorks Appleton-Gentury-Crofts, Inc., 1958), pp. 411-412. m

These land -grants gave the railroads a perpetual source of great wealth,

George heard much criticism of the Special privileges enjoyed by the. rail companie s<, Publicly owned nrhan land was also an important iSaneo The Spanish tradition of the king’s granting land to community settlements, as public property led to the question of whether San

Francisco- had been granted' a public domain. When the courts decided

San Fraheiace had indeed received hpublic grant of land, the question, arose as to what should be done with the propertyo The public domain included 17, 636 acreS:» California official's finally gave up to the de^ mand for "laisser faire" economics and sold all of the land except the small Golden Gate Park, For Henry George, the question of public ownership of land, as. well as public regulation of railroads,< became a r eal political issue:. -

. Public issues debated in California in the 1850’s and l860‘s would haye been intriguing for anyyoung man.w ith an in te r e st in. public affairs. For Henry George, who- wanted to carve a successful career as a journalist and author, California duringthis period offered Mm fertile ground for research and a challenging opportunity- to express, his ideas, - The ^California: setting .and hia exposure tomeaningful debate on tough public issues gave him an opportunity to plunge into

17,,- Barker, op, cit,, pp, 14 the debate with vigor,,

Career As A. Journalist

Henry George was introduced to the publishing business by his father, who taught him to set type® After reaching California and trying his luck for a brief’ perib'd At panning; gold, George soon fell back on his trade of type 'setting® His first job in a San Francisco printing house was in 1858 at sixteen dollars a weeko By I860 he had joined a typographical union, qualified as a journeyman printer* and had developed A skill which he used to earn a living for himself and his family for the first years of his adult lifeol§

George had difficulty finding permanent work in his trade during the i8601,s® He was not satisfied just to work as a printer« He decided he, wanted to become a writer. When he left his first job in the San

Francisco printing house in 1861 because of a quarrel with his superi­ ors, he and five other young printers purchased a small paper in San

Francisco which they renamed the Evening Journah As on many future occasions, George1# inability to own and operate a financially successful newspaper became apparent; the Evening Journal was soon

18. de Mille, op. elf., pp. 24-34. 15

.bankmpto Shortly thereafter George- found his- first important position as a reporter and editorialist with the Union in Sacram6nto0 ^

George then moved hip wife and their young son, Henry George,

Junior^ tblSacram^ht% While working for' the Union, George began to gather- informatidn. about" California problems and to acquire a keen # i- derstanding of the political propesse Again because of a quarrel with hip superiors, he lost his job on the. Union. However , he was develop­ ing his own style of writing and was beginning to -exhibit confidence in

.his writing ability» : He began submitting essays and letters to news­ papers and magazine So Several of these letters regarding laws relating to-working conditions of sailors and others urging working m en to think about political and social questions were printed in 1865* 'The: same year he. had his .first essay published by the Californian, a weekly maga­ zine to which .Mark Twain and Bret Harte were regular contributorS«

Though he was earning his. living by setting type sporadically, he was becoming quite confident that he could write' and that in time he could barn his living as S journalist, 20

After 1865 George- made rapid progress in hip career as a jour­ nalist® The death of Abraham Lincoln was an event, that gave his

If', Ibid,, pp, 37-38,

20, Ibid,, ppv-^-45,' . 16

career new impetus = .At the time ot Innepln's asSWW.nati#%, George

Was-a typesetter for' a San iFr^ancisco- papery the Alta Californiao Deeply

grieved by Mwplri'd death, George wrote and submitted a five hundred

word article to his paper in tribute to Lincoln<> The article was pub­

lished and George was on his way as a journalisto He was hired by the

.8an Francisco Times in 1866 as a full-time editorial writer. After ;! f ! I seyen I or of its Izirg.est competitor.

The q hronicle. Gddrger was -fairly well estab iish ed by• 1868 as a Calif- II I! 1 1 newspaper' :editer and was beginning to■ publish tl 1)

ATi’kt-i ^ A A 4 e »• ««<- y!3 on tne piipiic is siios ox& 1 0 Qxxy Q mo j >apxi ^ c - C : < i i.1 1 jl lie xy v

Monthly, October issue, 1868, a blistering iittack on. t:he monopolistic

t . „ » • Yl ’i 1 » y- i t * • i ri ■1 T'rr* • ^ *1 irrttpt practice^ of the jrailroads ed "What the Railroads Will f f 1 ‘ ‘ r r , % j f 2 X U ^ S o ^

to December, 1868, George accepted ei j ob with ;the San Francisco

T—Tz-x’-H—1 1 / x a r L r y y i &-‘Yy~{]r\ £ t a. w A e r e j e w . #-.caxejL a b b 4- g e i i u w ab - lu. b t y Jx XXIGIIIL), X✓X.oJ-iX^p XvJX UX1G

* * in the .Ass beiated Presso His duties took him tc) New York. 1 1 1 11 six month's' of strenuous effort, he wasi unable ei ther to acquire

ersMp''fbr- his paper in the Associated P reW ror to work out a

ictory arrangement with .Western. Unio n to use it:s. wire seryiceo

I I :ameI embittered over what he believec I to be the monopoly held

2h Ibido, ppo 48 -50« by the Associated Presa and Weathim. Union dyer' the wire seryiceso

He returned to California conyinced that evil mondpolie.s existed not

only in land ahd railroad's W t in, other yital . enterpiriho S including the

cdnmiUmn^tion. industry, ^

By 1868, George was able to move rather freely about in Calif­

ornia newspaper work. Feeling Secure in his trade, he began to take

a more direct role- in California politics. He had met California's:

Governor Henry H, Haight, who persuaded him in 1868 to take the

editorship- of a small Democratic paper, the Oakland Transcript, In,

1870, Governor Haight, deeply involved in a struggle against the Subsidy

policy of the Central Pacific Railroad andincreasingly impressed with

George, asked him to become editor of the chief Democratic party

paperj. The Sacramento Reporter, George was pleased and moved his

family to the state capitol in February, 1870,

As George participated fully in Haight1 s legislative program and

campaign for reeioction, he- became determined to conduct more ex- •

tensive- re search into public problems and to- publish his findings and

suggestions for sblying these problems', , Though, from this time on he

"was to deyote most of his time to writing his ideas* George was always to- keep one foot in the newspaper field, particularly during the single

tax movement and his own political activities in New Yorks

The' Author

George produced hi ^ fir St formal treatise, a lengthy brochure

entitled Our hand and hand Policy, during, the Haight campaign of 187,1,

T2#: brochure wag a plea for the cessation of careless land grahtso He­

el ted case after case m California -of private land holdings amounting

to one, two, three, and four hundred thousand acres. The'Northern

Pacific arid the Centra!-gouthb^ri Pacific Hallroad each Owried oyer two

million acreso This amounted to 25, 600 acres for each mile of track

constructed by the railroader This brochure, later published in,book

form, ij3 one of his clearest criticisms of the economic system as he

Saw it at that time, ^

Contrary to- the public -excitement generated by Ms writings a

decade later, Qur Hand and Land Policy, did not receive much atten­

tion, However,. seyprai Mstorlans in later periods kayW judged this

work to be the best -criticism of California, land holdings at that time by

a contemporary, ^5

24, Henry Gedrge,: Our Land, and Hgrid Pdljey (New York: The. National Single Tax League, 1871), pp= 36-75,

25, Barker, op, cit,, p, 149, After six more years, of newspaper work and study of public affairs, George, in' the yinter of 1877 -1878, decided to begin, work on a much longer .and detailed expression, of his views. He worked dili­ gently and tdlerat'sh' a# fdw W practical; after eighteen months he completed, inMarch l879', his second major work. Progress and jPoyprty, After some difficulty George persuaded D, Appleton and

Company to publish the manuscript which sold more than 5, 000, 000 c-opieh*:'^

Ghoarge’s next major literary effort grew out of his meeting

Michael Duyitt, a leader in the Irish dispute with England which raged throughout Georgels lifetimee Delighted to have first hand information, on the problem, George began to write a series of articles on Irish difilenltieso These articles led to the book, The Irish Land Question:

What It Inyolyes and How Alone It Can Be Settled. This work was later expanded and published as. jlhc Band Question, Etc. ^

In 1883, George contracted with Frank Lesslie' s illustrated news­ paper, Leslie's Weekly, to write a series' of articles called "Problems

\

26. Figure given by Henry George J r., in the Preface to the Fourth Edition of Progress -and Poverty (New York; The National Single Tax' League, 1905).

.27. Henry George, The. Land Question; Property In Land and the Condition of Labor (New York? Rpbert Schalkenbach Foundation, 20

of the TiiELe® ”28 Later the' same year George' arranged these 'articles' in, a particular order, add‘e.d several more essays, 'and published all of

them in his fourth major work entitled {Social Problem's.. Since this work was-- easier to read than any-of his other books, George often

recommended to beginners in political economy that they read it before they attempted Pr'dgress and Poverty. ^0 ' - - - " ' . " " ' ^ Soon after the release of Social Problem a, George- began work on his fifth major work. Protection or Free Trade, and published it in

1885» Though fMs work never attained the wide circulation of Progress and Poverty, George enjoyed writing the book and belieyed the work would eyentually be Widely accepted. Oyer 2, 000, 000 copies, of Pro­ tection or Free Trade were distributed in the first eight years after

Its publication, "31

Late in M s ear-eer George, wrotp two definitive works of Ms ideas.

He interpreted Pope heo XIIPs encyclical letter of May, 1891, as being

critical of these views. His lengthy reply to the encyclical took the

28= de Mille, op. cit. , p. 121.

29. Henry George, Socjal Problems(New York: Robert Schalken- b a ch Foundation, 1883)*

30, de Mille, op. cit., p. 122.

3L Ibid. , p. 213,. fo rm of 'a book entitled' The -Condition- of Labor®^ Herbert Spencer published in 189.1 a. work entitled Justice in which he -criticized George's ideas® George again believed he- should reply and the result was another work, _A Perplexed Philosopher® ^3

At the time of his death in 1897, George was working' on his. final major literary effort, The Science of Political Economy® His son,

Henry George, Junior, arranged.its publication the same year® 34

For a youngster who had wanted to become a competent and sue - cessful writer, the yolume of his published works alone attests to the fact that he had indeed succeeded® His becoming such a successful writer, after leaving school at the age of fourteen, makes his literary achievements even more remarkable®

The Social Philosopher; His Purpose

By the time George had become a successful author he had de­ cided he wanted desperately to contribute to the creation of a society

32. Henry George, The Condition of Labor (London; The Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, 1892).

33® Henry George, A Perplexed Philosopher (New York; The National Single Tax League, 1892)=

34. Henry George, The Science of Political Economy (New York; The National Single Tax League, 1897), 2 Yols® tn which involuntary pdyer'ty would be completely abolished,® Be eh" visioned a society in. which in the midst of abundance the fear of want would be gone; a society in which there would be work for all; a society in which every man would have a just share of the necessities^ -comforts, and luxuries of life; a society in which every per son could hope to de­ velop a ll of his: n atu ral ab ility« ^

George stated this purpose repeatedly in all of his major works.

He postulates his purpose with Clarity and force in his fir st major wWk,

Our hand and Land Policy. In this book, after a lengthy discussion of the evils of public land policy in his day, he closed with a final chap­ ter entitled ''What Our Land Policy Should Be" in which he spelled out the. type of society he believed should and could be created by proper land, policy. Be called for a land policy which would foster a redis­ tribution of wealth, improve the working conditions of the poor' and allow the many to have access to the necessities, cotnforts, and luxu­ ries of life.

In his secphd and most widely distributed work. Progress and

Poverty, George expanded his explanation of the purposes of his' philosophy. He dedicated the work. "To Those Who, Seeing The Tice- And. Misery That. Spring From The Unequal Distribution. Oi Wealth And

P'riyilege, Feel The- Possibility Of A Higher Social State And’ Would

Strive For Its Attainment,, "37 In.nddltion tn^^ in Progress and

Poverty the gpale he stated in ,Our Hand and Hapd. Pb^ny, Geprge ;at'-; tempted in a more specific manner to outline his desire to help men enjoy e sthetic value So He argued that until a drastically improved social order is attained, "Beauty will be imprisoned, and the good and true and beautiful which might, spring from human lives will be sm othered.

In The Hand Question, E tc.» George continued, to plea for an im ­ proved social order in his own country and for a just social order" for nil men, everyw^hereW hile he discussed in the first few chapters the social distress in Ireland, he argued that he was dealing with a universal prpblem. He believed the same" distress "exists eyery where and agitation for change will soon convplse the entire civilized w o rld ., The wide circulation of his works abroad indicates that his goals had a nniversal appeal.

37. George, Progress and Poverty, dedication page preceding the Preface. ’

38. Ibid. , W>

39. George, The Hand Question, E tc., p. 21. George, .sought in Social Problems to develop in more detail mhny

dimensions of his purposes discussed only briefly in his earlier works.

He had clear idea's of many specific social ills which had to be abolished

. to help create a hettei socidl order» Some of the social ills, that had to

be corrected, if men were going to be able to create a higher culture,

Wdre a jndicial proce ss bnly the wealthy could really afford, difficult

voting requirements, poor rehabilitation programs in penal institutions,

inadequate facilities for aiding the mentally retarded, alcholism, lack

of recreational facilities, the problem of attaining self-identity in an

increasingly mecha#oal ag% and fhe heed for labor to. develop new

sk ill s .40

In Protection or Pree Trade George reiterated his hope Of help­

ing to create a society of abundance for alio He argued protective .

tariffs had to be abolished throughout the civilized, world before all

people everywhere could share the benefits of modern civilization^

Though greater in . s ome countrie sthan in others, poverty was a world- 4:1 wide problem and had to be attacked on a worldwide scale.

George again made an eloquent, statement of his desire to im ­

prove the standard of living and the

40o George, Social Problems, pp-o 1-9; 129-139; 234-235.

41= George, Protection or Free Trade, pp. 207-269; 277 -2 9 0o his fifth work, The Condition of Labor, In this work he posed the

specter of children who because of poverty of their parents Were: "com­ pelled to toil when they ought to be at school or at play; entering ma­ turity with undernourished bodies, overstrained nerves, undeveloped minds; and who were foredoomed because of living under such condi-» tions not only to a life of suffering, but tp-urimeo11

A. Perplexed Philosopher also contains many strong statements

of the purpose of his social philosophy, While this work is essentially a bitter criticism of Herbert Spencer r s book Justice in which he dis­ agreed with George on the proper mUthpde of promoting land reform,

George stated again the purposes of his own philosophy, to help create ■ r ‘ a society which would be just for all.

In his final work. The .Science of Political Economy, George writes intensely in many passages of his desire to abolish involuntary pdvertyv Though it is a long rambling discourse, some of the clearest passages in the work are those dealing with the purpose of his phi-

-rloSophy, -u 4 4

42, George, Condition of Labor, p, 74,

43, George, A Perplexed Philosopher, pp, 218.-240,

44, George, The Science of Political ScoUpmy, Vol, I, pp, 11-19; 250-256:; 304-308, ' i 26

After study of all of George Js major works. One is

a little overwhelmed with the au.th©r'{s tofel sense of purpose^ Cine is

also encouraged to disc oyer a philosopher completely dedicated

throughout his adult life to the task of creating a noble .society..

I ' ' ' The Labor Candidate.

By the mid-18801 s organized labor was gaining strength'in the

United States and at least some labor elements wanted to become polit-

. ically actiyeo George, a long, time member Of labor unions, a

prominent writer on the conditions of labor, a. person with an inter­

national reputation and growing popularity at hpme., wa# a natural

candidate for labbr tp snppbrt in politics^

George first accepted the nomination as. the labor candidate for

mayor of Kew Tprk Gity; in July, 18®6, He required his supporter s, to

get petitions signed by at least 30, 000 registered voters before he

would publicly accept the nomination. This they did. Samuel Gompers,

the re spected and influential leader of the American Federation of

Labor who had opposed an active role for l a b o r for forty years,

reversed his position and became chairman of the Henry George Clubs

45. Samuel Eliot Moris on and Henry Steele Comma ger. The Growth of the .American Republic (New York:Oxford University Press, Vol. II, 19 3 07, pp. 153-173: ' 3tyU, Wy-egr Mew Toyk. Gityo The y^rious labor organizations consolidated, intd the United Labor Party to present a utiited campaign effort,^

Though George grasped a. firm hold on his campaign, and waged

a vigorous struggle, his opponents were strong and energetic too.

Abrams Hewitt was the candidate of powerful. Tammany Hall, Theo­

dore Roos'evelt was the Republican nominee. Not a single metropolitan

daily newspaper came out for George, He and his supporters depended

on building a grass roots movement. They developed a George Organi­

zation in twenty four districts, George was thrilled by the hard work of his supporters and received added encouragement when Sidney Webb, the outstanding British intellectual dropped by George's campaign

office. Prom this .m e^pg dp-ydiopie

Leader and The Irish W orld, George did well in the election. The

recorded vote on No%Oniher 2, 1886, was as follows: Hewitt, 90, 552;

George, 68,110 and Roosevelt .60, 435,^ The fact that a labor candi­

date receiyed seventy thousand votes was unprecedented, George and his supporters were elated and declared the first campaign was only

the beginning for an active and successful political role for labor in the United States'* political arena/ Several prominent newspapers including. The New York Sun, The New York World, The New York

Time &, The Boston Post, , The. Springfield Republican and the Macon

Telegraph, speculated on the growing possibility of Henry George^s popularity reaching presidential strength by 188.$® ^

Sutih was not to be the case®: Labor was unable to remain united after the 1886 campaign and Samuel Gompers, who had had misgivings about labor taking an active political role, again reversed himself and refused to participate in any effort to develop a politically oriented

National Labor Party® Without ■unified Support, George ran for state­ wide office for the position of New York Secretary of State in 1887 and did poorly, polling Y2,281 votes, only 4, 000 more than, he had receiyed for mayor two years earlier® George entered the New York mayprality race a second time in 1897» He died before this second. Campaign ended and both.his Pulitizer Prize winning biographer, Charles Barker, and his daughter, Anna de Mille, were convinced that George had become obsessed with a martyr complex and belieyed this second campaign

48, Ibid, , pp. 480-482

49, Ibid., p® 483, would kill Man.* They ar gue that he: did not expect to win at all but wanted to dramatize his cause. SB

The New York campaigns$ particularly the one in 1886, did illus­ trate the considerable popularity and influence of Henry George in his own country. It further demonstrated what many were to realize later; organized labor could haye an important political role in the United

States, The campaigns led directly to another dimension of the George story, the story of the single tax movement and the impact of his thought on the period.

The Single Tax MoyemOnt And The Impact Of His Thought On The

P erio d

The Single, tax movement developed slowly and late in George’s life. He did hot emphasize the phrase "The Single Tax" until the: eye of his New York campaigns. While it would be an over simplification to say George started using the phrase as a campaign slogan, one of the reasons he adopted the phrase was his need of a simple and succinct idea to present to the voters.. We are all, aware of the importance a key

50, Barker, Ibid,, pp, 588-619, and de Mille, op, cit,, pp, 2.3.5.-241,: ' " 30

campaign, phrase such as "The New Frontier” or "The Gneat Spciety"

can have in building public support for a candidate« George and his

supporter a found themselyes in need of such a slogan in 188.6®

In his writing, wliile GeOrge certainly sire ssed his impdrtahce of

land value taxation, he gave little attention to the idea of the single tax

as such® Though George did use the phrase "Single Tax" in Progress

or Poverty, it was always' without the definite article "the® " Not until

1887 did he use the phrase for organizational, publicity, and vote getting

purposes® When it did come into use, events beyond his control had

.more to do with the development of the single tax movement th^n any

of George's own efforts® This is one of the chief mis.understandings

Charles Barker tries to clarify in his biography of George® ^

Thomas Shearman, a New York corporation lawyer and strOhg

George supporter", not George, transformed the phrase "The Single

Tax" into a slogan® He did so in an address to the Constitution Club of

New York in January, 1887® He used the phrase as a rallying point.for

George supporters= Still the single tax movement did not pick up steam

for several months® Shearman wrote a series of articles "The Single

Tax Ideas!' wWnb wprn published: in Gotpber, 1889, in a little news ­

paper, The Standard, owned by George supporters® The phrase as a

51® Barker, op® pit®, pp® 508-55L rallying point for George supporters was a logical conclusion to

George’s ideas as they he gun. to gain support by the end of 1887 o^

George himself wrote an editorial in The Standard in December.,

1887» entitled "Socialism vso the Single Tax0 " This seems to have been the occasion when. George definitely adopted the term., "The Single

Tax® " He ihahe his fullest statement in support of the single tax idea in another editorial in The Standard on March. 2, 1889® George argued that the term did not embody nearly enough, of his thought, but that it did dispel the fear of those W&# tho-ught he wanted to divide the land®

Since he and his supporters had started using the term, his ideas were more readily accepted and he recognized that the term would be quite helpful in. the effort to publicize his ideas® He explained to an audi­ ence in San Francisco on. February 4S 189% that he had started calling himself a single-taxer only recently because the term had the enormous advantage of using a simple way to dramatize the important difference in land value taxation and other forms of taxation® In his fir st book,

Qur Hand and Hand Policy^ though he listed the advantages of land value

52® Ibid®, pp® 518-519®

53I Ibid®, p® 519®

54® Address in Metropblithn,Halls San Francisco, February 4S 1890, entitled "Justice The Object! Taxation the Means" and published as an additional chapter in Our Land and Land Policy® 32 taxation# he not Only tolerated other forms of taxation, but recommended

license taxing Over business establishments which society might want to dis courage * He spe cifically sugge sted such taxe s against e stablish­ ments selling liquor and operating gambling houses, ^

If the single tax movement had been slow; in coming, it soon be­

came an extremely rapidly developing movement. By the end of 1889#

The Standard listed 131 single tax organizations in the United States, ^

Hundreds of Henry George societies sprang up simultaneously with the single tax movement and indeed were part of the movement. Their purpose was to study and propagate the ideas of Henry George, ^7

In the next generation the single tax movement was to become worldwide in scope. Single tax organizations and Henry George socie­ ties were organized by the hundreds on all continents, George's ideas were at least partially adopted in the United States by (local governments)#

.England, Canada, Australia# New Zealand# Switzerland, Sweden, Den­ mark, Norway# Spain, Mexico# Argentina# Uruguay, and China, ^

55, George# Our Land and hand Policy# p, 112,

56. Ibid:,'# p, 521,

57= Joseph. Dana Miller ( e d . Single Tax Year Book (New York: Single Tax Review Publishing Company# 1917# pp, 1-18,

58, Ibid., pp. 26-325, The popularity of his ideas resulted in several speaking tours abroad for George stemming from the popularity of his books. The

Irish Land Question: What It Involves and How Alone It Can Be Settled, and Progress and Povertyo In response to speaking requests, George visited Ireland and England in 188L In England George and his family met and dined with the social r eformer John Bright and Joseph Chamber - lain, who later became Prime Ministero. Both of these men knew well

Progress and Poverty and the book on Irelando Their warm treatment increased his confidence that his ideas would be accepted eventually in

England*, He met Herbert Spencer and though they agreed on the need for land reform in lreland, they disagreed on method*, In Ireland he was received enthusiastically by audience; after audience; he was warmly greeted and praised by leaders of the. Irish land reform movement. He met and discussed his ideas with Davitfc, Parnell, Kelly, and Dillon, all leaders in the Irish struggle for reform, George urged them not to become discouraged but to try to* hold down the violent methods some of their supporters were adopting. The British officials, Frederick

Cavendish and Thomas Burke, were slain while he wag in Ireland,

George returned to the United States deeply moved by the Irish struggle and encouraged by his own popularity in both England and Ireland, ^

59, de Mills, op, clt,, pp, 98-108, George was to enjoy great popularity in the British Isles all of

his publishing li£e> In fact, during the period 1881-1890 he yisited, the

British Isles six times. While all of his visits were successful from

the number of enthusiastic audiences, probably his greatest triumph was

the extended speaking tour of 18,84 when he traveled throughout Scotland

and found his ideas greeted with, an enthusiastic fever that even he found

hard to under stand,

G e o r g e was also enormously popular in Australia and New Zealand,

After many requests, for a. speaking, tour, he finally, visited those coun-

trids in 1890,' In New Zealand, he was welcomed by Sir George Grey,

Grey, who had been governor of the colony four tim es and was an early

and. enthusiastic disciple of Georgels, had instituted a. colony-wide land .

tax in 1877, He gave a banquet in George*s honor in Auckland and made

a. speech of high praise to George proclaiming his faith in Progress and

P o v erty , -

George* s wife was born. in Awstralia and lived there until the age

of five, George had visited the country in his youth during his brief

life as a seaman. The Georges had long wanted to visit Australia and

since he had consistently received praise from that country for his 35

writings, the visit t° Australia was a memorable ome» For three and

a half full months he addressed one cheerful audience after another=

I^ eaL A n stralian gower'rttnbrits' in T ieto ria s M elbourne, and Sydney had a.dOfhed Ms ideas in part and he found thousands of supporters who wanted to try his. ideas in total, ^

Another indication of the worldwide acceptance of his ideas is the fact that most of Ge #rgels y^orks whr e not ohly: translate d into thero ­ mance languages, bat Progress and Poverty was translated into

Swedish, Bulgarian, Yiddish, and Chineseo ^ Further evidence of the acceptance of the idea is the tremendous: sale of his works° Pro- tectlon br Free Trade sold Over 2, 000, 000 copies. ^ With Progress and Poverty selling oyer 5, 000, 0Q0 copies, his followers can. safely

claim that few other books except the Bible has been so widely dis­ tr ib u te d .^

His arguments won the highest praise from, some of the great public figures of the periods Leo Tolstoy, "People do not argue with

i 5% Ibid. , pp. 178-179.

63. Barker, op. .clt°-W p. 627.

64. de Mille, opk bit. , 213.

65.' B arker, op. c i f . , 635. the teachings of George; they simply do not know it. He who becomes acquainted with it cannot but agree'W oodrow Wilson,, ''The country needs a new and sineb3?e^ in pqlittW# coherently^ distinctly and boldly uttered by men sure of their ground* The power of men like

Henry George seems to me to mean that"; John Dewey, "It would re­ quire less than the fingers of the two hands to enumerate those who* from Plato down, rank with Henry George among the world1 s social philosophers, George Bernard Shaw stated that, "My attention was first drawn to political economy as the science, of salvation by Henry

George's eloquence, and by his Progress and Poverty, which had an enohmous circulation, in the early eighties, and beyond all question had more to do with the soeiulisf reyiyal of that period in England than any other book* "67 Edward Reynolds Pease, secretary to the Fabian

Society during the. period, said, "From Henry George 1 think it may be taken that the. early Fabians learned to associate the. new gospel with

66, de Mille, op* cit,, p, 3,

67, George Bernard Shaw, 1 'Memorando on The History of Fabian Economic, " published as appendix I in the 1925 edition of Edward Rey­ nolds Pease* s The History Of The Fabian. Society (London: The Fabian Society and George Allen and Unwin, Ltd,, 1925), p. 273, the qld methodoWoyd Georgefs 1909 budget was based on Henry

Gearg§1 s idea of a tax .on.1’unearned increment* ”69

In appraising the impact of his thought beyond his tim es, his re­ form idea? ■were- engulfed by the pr ogressive movement in the United

States from 1890 to 1917= Many of the reforms he urged two decades earlier were similar to the reforms adopted during the progressive p e r i o d * 70 In the modern world, many of the ideas George champi­ oned, such as participation of governm ents in the1 prOdeS-d 'Of so cia l justice, d. desire for worldwide ..free' trade and the need for greater equality among peoples of the earth to have access to its resources, are now accepted as vital political goals* .Since George was one of the first to argue for these goals and to win universal acceptance and ac­ claim for these yiews, this author concludes that George had. a pro­ found. influence on the thought of hi S: time S and truly ranks as on'e of the world’s most influential social philosophers.

68* Pease, Ibid*, p» 2L

69= Wo Eo Lunt, History of England (New York: Harper and .Brothers, 19S6), p« 764, ' ‘

Mori son and Commager, opo cit=_, pp. SSd-SSd. GEORGE'S THEORY

His' Method Of Determining The Ractorg Of Economic Growth

For George, to help create the society he Envisioned, he had to answer the questions what are the factors of economic growth?

George, with his keen intellectual capacity, developed his own under­ standing of this question,, His ideas, he based on his observations of the economic system about him, his reading of other economic think- ers, and data gathered in research.

Identifj cati on Qf Terms

George argued that the three factors of produotion are land, labor, and capital. For George, the term "land" includes not only the

surface of the earth, but the whole material univer se that man can come in contact with or use. "Land" embraces all natural materials, forces, and opportunities. The term "labor" includes all human effort.,

"Capital" is all wealth used to produce more wealthb The fruits of 39

production are distributed to the landowner in the form of rent, to labor

as wages, and to capital as interests "Rent" is the payment which goes

to the land owners for the use of natural opportunities» Wages are the

reward for human efforts Interest is the return for the use of capital- *

.The Role Of Land, Ra%r , Wmt^l In. %pductiQu

Land — natural opportunities, or forces —is the basic and most important ingred!ent in.productiOne It is the reservoir from which man must draw the means of maintaining .his lif e and his die strds° Rrom land comes the material to which labor must be applied to produce goods

desired by man- Any endeavor in which labor and capital can engage

requires the use of land- ^

The prodaetlen.. of wealth is directly based on the use of land. If access tO' add ase: of land Ig easy, pr oduction is great and wealth is widely distributed- If land i s' not used in a pr oductiye' manner or if access to land is denied to those whb would use land creatively, produc­ 'd tiOn is small and wealth is narrowly distributed,

1= George, Progress and Royerty, p- 162.

2- George, Out hand and hand Policy, p. 75-.

3- G eorge, P r o g r e ss and P o v erty , p- 169-

4o George, Our Land and Land Policy, pp. 121-122- Next tQ land in importance as a factor in production is labor.

Jb9md in itself lias no .yalue; by; itself it is not productive. Because land becomes productive as a result of human labor, land aquires value.

When, the land owner Can command labor or the products Of labor, wealth production is possible. Natural resources found in the land can become useful to man The primary factor's of product­ ion are thus land ansi labor. ^ .

George heliereil:ca^iial-is:.an aid to labor in. producing the goods desired by man from natural resources. He■ argued that production fell into three modes: "%#aptlng, or changing'natural products: either in­ form or in place so as to fit them for the satisfaction of human siesirei

Growing, or utilizing the vital forces of nature, as by raising vege­ tables or animals; Exchanging in order to add to the total wealth. In each of these modes of production, capital facilitates production.

Whether in agricultural, industrial, or commercial production, the uae *7 of capital is a natural part of the pr eduction process.

Though capital increases the ability of labor to produce, it does not supply the materials which labor turns into wealth. The materials

,h. George, Protection or Free Trade, pp. 272-2,75.

6. George, Rrogress and Poverty, p. 186.

7. Ibid., p. 187. 41 of wealth are furnished by nature« Therefore, it is not correct to say there Could be no production of wealth without capital. Capital i§ an aid to the- production, of wealth. It is correct<, howeyCr, to say that there would be no production-of wealth without land or labor* ® "The capital- Q: 1st is. dn Inteximediary betweon the landlord and the laborer* ”

George adamantly inaigtod, that of the three factors of production- landj, labor and capital capital wag third in im portance * He had a healthy respect for capital as a factor lu production, but he was conr yinced that it w&s erroneous to .giye capital pyime importance in the pr oduction of wealth as the clas sical economists had* Land with, natu­ ral resour ces is indispensable,, Labor iS absolutely necessary to' pro« duce the. desired goods from nature* Capital, for George^ comes from the wealth produced by labor * It is then used by labor for the further production of wealth* "Capital is, as is. often, said, but stored up- labors it isbutaform of labor, a Subdiyision of the gneral term labor* "1®

. 8. Ibid* , pp* 80-81*

9* George, Protection or Free. Trade, p* 275*

1.0* George, Progregs and Poverty, pp* 163-164* 4 2

The .haws 0f Wealth Distribution

In agsigrdng the distributive flementg of rent to land, wages to

ihhor, and interest to capital, George developed his own under sfandihg

, of just what the concepts of reiit, wayss and interest encompa^sedo

Basic to hig explanation of what these concepts entail was his

idea of a margin of productivity. George argued that in any locality

some land would return to the labor and capital in developing them a

lower profit than other land. Some land would, be of little value because

of inaccessibility, Ipw fertility?. little mineral yalue, or other' limiting

character 1 stics<, But as the population increased this land would be

. drawn from idleheSs to use. It would cross Over the line of marginal

productivitywThis process increases the value of land. The increased

yalu# takes, the form Of rent charged by the land owner. The land owner

Wilt always Charger laborers abd capitalists:, as rent) the difference in

the amount of wealth they could have produced from the land before it

erdSSdd thp line of marginal productivity and the wealth they are able

id produce after it crosses: thp line of productivity. This process is, for 1 T George,, the law df rdati

Ho Ibido, pp. 170,-172. •43

Having warked far himself ,an under sta:ndin.g of a law of rent,

George argued that the proportion of wealth whicK goes for rent de#r- mines what proportion is left for wages and interest,12 He proceeded to- state his. n:nde.f standing of a law of w ages and a law of in tereat.

Wealth is essentially the jarodhdt of land and labor. The wages a particular amount of labor will yield depend on the natural resources

the land to which, lat^n allied® Wages, like r ents depend on the maygin of productivity Or the margin of cultivation, ^ As each Com­ munity grOws and idle land becomes productive, those who use the

superior land will be able to demand higher wages fOr their labor than those who work the poorer land, ^ Thus the law of wages: "Wagea diepend npidn the mahgin, ot ^roductions or upon the produce which labor can Obtain at the highest point of natural pr oductivenes s open to it without the payment;.of' renh:1*^ But as workers begin to exert labor on more valuable property and demand higher wages, the increase in wealth is nullified as wages because it must go to the land owner as rent, %

12, George, Progress and Poverty, p, 173,

13, Ibid,', pp, 201, 213,

M,' Ibid, , p, 213.

15, Ibid, , m 2 #

16, Ibid,, p, 2#6 , 44

law of interest, also depends on the margin of productiyityo

The rate of interest, will be determined by the retdre. te" capital from the pporest land to which capital ih applied. The rate depends on the: retwpa cap# land that does not demand rent. As. capi­ tal is applied to land which is more pycidactiye> interest will increaseo

But like the increase in wages, the increase ini n t e r e s t is nullified hecauSp: df the increase in rent.. He stated the law of .interest as follows! raThd relation betweee wages and interest i.s determined by the ayfhW e" power of incf ease which attaches to capital from its nse in rep^od&ction:medee-.- As rent arises} interest will fall as wages falh or will be determined by the margin of cultivation. Hence his algebraic, equation: "Produce - Sbeht i Wages + Interest; therefore

Produce — Rent = Wages; + Interesto "1^

Ih;dhnatruntihg: has ,lawp of distribution, George developed a theory of marginal productivity, and ff ©m this:thedry, he deducted his

InwiS of dietrlbntlom ■ He used this theory also to explain economic growth whfch, he argned, depended on the rapidity with which land is brought from idleness into the margin of productivity and is used

■ -I- ' t-.'. ,l1

.it,1 a s s . p. " ■ m -Tys,p

19o m & ;» Po 173o 45 constructively for agricultural, commercial or industrial purposes °

In appraising George's ideas on the factors Of production, it would seem that he was justified in stressing the role of land and labor as important factors in production,, Without discounting the rOle of capital as an important factor in production, it would be hard to over­ emphasize the importance of the natural resources of coal, iron, oil, and spile ^ While it is true that in the twentieth century we are rapidly- depleting our natural resources and are relying increasingly on the pro­ duction of synthetic products to meet our needs and desires in material goods, this was not the case in the nineteenth century,^ 2 |t would also be difficult to over stress the importance of labor and its ability to mass produce goods as a factor which made the industrial revolution possible. ^ George believed that though capital was important in industrial production, the factors of land and labor were the most important ingredients and that classical economists had over- stressed the importance of capital in production at the expense of land

20. Ibid,', po 2 2 0 .

21. Morison and Commager, op. cjt., pp. 123 -145.

22. Harrison Brown, ’'Technological DedudatiOn,m Man's Role In Changing the Face of the Earth, ed. W. Ij, Thomas, Jr. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956), pp. 1023-1032.

23. Morison and Commager, op. 'eft., pp. 146-173= and labor* ^ It seems to this author that George made a good case for the importance, of land and labor as factors of production* One can r:e^di%' bfcder^e almost any product in our economy and easily ascer­ tain the facts regarding the natural resources and labor required, to produce it. George?s argument was practical and verifiable *

In constructing his ideas about wealth distributions George; demdn'- strated intellectual creh^vi%^ His concept of . marginal productivity provided him with a way of explaining the factors governing distri" bution* He developed his argument about the factors, governing distri- bution* He developed his argument about the factors determining rent, w a g es3 and interest around his concept of marginal productivity* By doing SO; he developed and used a concept which was to become vital to later economic theory* While h<3 did not claim the marginal ideas as his owh, he did develop his own under standing and use of the idea* He admitted that: Hi car do, Fawcett, and John Stuart Mill had used the idea* However, Gedrge, used the concept extensively and decisive­ ly in Progress and Poverty* His.use of the concept in 1879 has led some historians to place him in the front ranks of those using a marginal type of economic analysis* T he P.r dblem

After woirking out his own tinder standing of the factors, govern­ ing prodycfien and. distritnltiojn in the. economy, George tarnod to; one:Of the. central purpose s of his social philosophy to- answer the question,

"Why, in. spite of increasing production, do wages tend to a minimum which will give but a bare liying ? In answering the question, he

Stated precisely-and emphatically what he believed to be the pause for persistent poyerty in the midst of growing wealth: "Poverty deepens as wealth increases, and wages: are forced down while productive pOwhr grows, because land, which is the source Of all wealth and the. field Of all labor, is monopolized..

George made his strongest case that monopolization in land holdings did indeed exist in Our hand and Land Policy. He present­ ed his most thorough discussion on the injustices of land monopoliza-

3 Q tipn in Progress and Poverty. To understand bis reasoning on the

27= George, Progress and Poverty, p. 17.

28. _ Ibid., p. 326.

29. George, Our Land and Land Policy, pp. 3-98. of private monopo-lization of land, it is necessary to examine his ease concerning the extent of land monopolization.

Extent Of Monopoly In Land Holdings

"While George argued that private monopqlization in land was a universal problem, he eonsttueted his case for justifying a remedy t* the pr eblem on -hi s' ob s ervations of the extent of the pr oblem in. the

United Stateso Based on statistics published by the United #ates

General Land Gfffce, George discovered that of the 447, 000, 00.0 acres of public land disposed Of by 1870, less than 100, 000, 000 had passed inte the hands of the people who worked the lands» An additional

203, 000, 000 acres had been granted to indirect owners but had not been delivered in 1870o Of 650, 000, 000 acres disposed of, George argued six^seyenthS of the land had not been placed in the hands of people who O 1 wanted to use it themselves, but in the hands of speculators. These lands went into the hands of a few individuals and corporations. Records of the United States Land Office showed that 73, 000, 000 acres went to

soldiers and sailors of the War bf 1812 and the Mexican War. The

Government sold this land at. an average of twenty fiye cents per aore»

Four million acres had been donated for the construction of wagon roads and another four million, for the constructibn.#f ;C#nah#<' The largest grants of public lands went to the railroads, the largest single grhnt of

58,000,000 going to the Northern Pacifico Three railways alone, the jMhrptern.Pacific,- the Southern Pacific, and the nnion Central and

Kansas, received 150, 000, 000 acreso This amounted to .25, 600 acres for each single: mile of tract. 33

After citing the above statistics bn national land holdings, Qeroge. relied on his knowledge of land monopoly in California to dramatize his case* .A#: i#..the nation as a whole, the.railroads, had received the largest grants ip. California totaling 20, 000, 000 acres. 34 This land had been: granted to the following railroads“ Western Pacific, Central

Pacific, Southern Pacific, California and Oregon, Texas Pacific, and the Stockton and Copperopplis. 35 Land in-California was not only monopolized by the railroads, but by other corporations bnd indivi­ duals as well. George listed in his argument a few of the outstanding easba bf land naonopoKzatibad Wm. S. Chapman of San Franbisco owned

350, 000 acres- An Ex-United States Surveyor-General, Beals,

32. Ibid., pp. 19-20.

33. .Ibid.., pb. ,2d-21.

34. Ibid., pp. 36-37.

35. Ibid., pp. 47:-48o possessed 3009 00Q aprfe^. .Miller and Luxg San Francisco butchers, had 450, 000. He dramatized the size of those two latter holdings by

Siting..©tie: had, to tr.ayel seyenty fiye m iles just, to cross the Beals1 s estate. Sneir=eliti.g bne:'the cattle esta.tes of the Miller and Lnx holdings, George found, one hundred and sixty m iles of fence. Bixby,

Flint and-Pompany, another San Francisco firm, owned 200, 000 acres.

George W. Roberts and Company held 120, 0Q0 acres. Isaac Fried- lander, a San Francisco grain merchant, owned 100, 000 acres. Others included Thrbckmprtoh bf M^adaeihb, 146, 000 acr^sj the Murphy fam- ily of Santa. Clara, ISO, 000- John Foster of Los Angeles, 120, 000;

Jy3el.StWtt^' b£ ZOO, 000| and Thomas Fowler of Fresno,

200, 000 acres. In addition to these holdings George claimed to haye a long list of owners of California lands, whose holdings ranged from > lOO, 0Q0 to 20, OOOacrea' and. an eyea.longer lis^t of holdings from

20, 000 to .5, 0 0 0 a c r e s. ^

George belieyed he had made a good case concerning the existence

Of land monopolization in California, and he belieyed a similar pattern of large land-holdings existed in most of the United States. The argu­ ment that much land was still available Oh.the frontiers did not satisfy

36. Ibid., pp.

Ibid.' 51

George. For individuals to benefit' from owning and working land, the

land had to be accessible and had to be near communities of produc­

tion with schools' and cultural programs readily available. This type

of land was held by the few and the many could not afford to purchase

i t . 38

The Injustices Of Land Monopolization

George began his argument on the injustices of the monopolize™

tiOn of land by stating his belief that there is a fundamental difference

between land and other things. The essential difference is that other

. than land things are brought into existence by human labor. They de­

pend on men. Land does not. It existed before man and does not re­

quire human labor to exist. It exists with its storehouse of raw mater­

ial from which all of man's material needs, must come in the same 39 amount regardless of man's labor.

Once a person is able to understand the fundamental d i f f e r e n c e

between land and other things, he begins to see the injustice of monopo-

lization in the ownership of land. The equal right of all men to the

38. Ibid., pp. 9-10 .

39. George, Progress and Poverty, pp. 335-336. use of land, is proclaimed by the fact of their existence« It is natural, not a man-made, righto Men are created by a Creator and have an equal right to the bounty he created for them in land and its resources«

It is a right decreed by the Creator who also decreed that no human action can set aside this right. It is a right that no man can grant be- ' cause no person has a greater claim on land than any other man. How can one claim to possess something that in fact belongs to all equally?

It is unjust for the few to benefit from claiming ownership to something which belongs to all. ^

If a system of ownership which deprives one generation of benefit which is their natural right is unjust, it is even more unjust to coming generations. Most children are born into a world in which they have already been denied their fundamental right of equal benefit from land.

Even if man is willing to part with his own rights, certainly he has no right to destroy the rights of the unborn.

From the fundamental injustice of the appropriation by a few men of land on which and from which all men must livOs springs all other injustices of society. These injustices, include condemnation of

40. Ibid., pp.: 336-337.

41. Ibid. , p. 338. ■ 53 the producer of wealthy the laborer, to poverty« This in turn fosters

slums along side the mansion^, and make it necessary for societies 42 to build prisons along with schools.

Monopolization of owner ship in land r e suits in an unjust distri­ bution of wealth. If a few people control the land which, the many must u#e, the few can demand the produce of the many in exchange for per­ mission to use the land. The few receive without producing and the many produce withbut receiving the benefits of their production. The few are able to be unjustly wealthy and the many gain a bare existence.

It is the continuous increase in rent, which labor must pay for the use

of land, which prevents the many from sharing in the wealth they pro­

duce and which, allow the few to monopolize the land and therefore the wealth,

GeOrge considered the process, of acquiring land titles totally unjust, even though the titles are recognized and. passed on from

generation to generation. In. California land titles went back to the

Mexicans, who took from the Spanish,, who in turn took from the Pope, who had granted, to the Spanish and Portuguese lands which he could not have owned, for they had not e y e n b e e ndiscovered. The titles

-4Zo Ib id ,,, pp-o 338-339,

43, Ibid,, pp, 339-340, 54- re sted upon cotiquesto. In the eastern,;pdri of the United State s land titles came from grants by the English kings; in Louisiana, from French kings; in Florida from Spanish kings» In England* from the Norman conqueror s. In the beginning,the lands were claimed by conquest? but conquistadors had no more right to the lands than anyone else. Gener­ ations since have paid the price of not:haying equal access to the land and its storehouses of production. ^

The injustices of private monopolization in land ownership come from denying to the .community the wealth which the community creates, l^ alth attuches itself td fhe iand- from the increase in population^ and therefore from the demand for land. The injustices did not come from denying to the community wealth coming from the improvements on

..the land. For those who argued that,improvements in time become indistingui sable from land its elf s George answered that this line of thought led to the conclusion that the individual right is lost in the common right. It is the common right of all that swallows-, Up; the , individual, not the individual engulfing the rights of the community. ^

In appraising George’s argument that there was a monopolization in the ownership Of land in his.time, the author believes that George

4 4 Ibid.

45 . Ib id ., p., 141. 55 presented sufficient evidence to warrant the conclusion that there was

certainly a great deal of monopolization in land ownership =, The mod­

ern historians Fred Ao Shannon and Paul Wallace Gate s, after an ex­ tensive examination of primary sources regarding landholding in

California during the period, say that George's statistics wore' ac­ curate and that his critique of land holdings in the United States during the nineteenth century was the best criticism by a contemporary. 46

Hubert Howe Bancroft1 s publications contain material on land holdings in California which indicate also that George * s statistics on California land holdings were accurate, ^7 Charles Barker believes the"above authors present the most reliable information yet compiled on land holdings in the United States during George-s tim e.^

George's argument that monopolisation in the ownership of land further enriched the already Wealthy and made it more difficult for the many to gain a greater share of the wealth also seems to have been well grounded. Other writers of the period present material which

46, Fred Albert Shannon, The Farmer' s Last Frontier (New York: Farr an and Rinehart, Inc. 1945), p. 389; Paul. Wallace Gates, "The Homestead Act in an Incongruous Land System, " American Historical Review XU, No. 4 (July, lf'36), p. 657.

47". Hubert Howe Bancroft, The Works of Hubert Howft Ban­ croft., Vol. XXTV (San Franciscos The History Company, 1890), pp. 372-373.; 534-592.

48. Barker, op. cit., p. 149. 56 indicates that George's assessment of the problem was cor recto. Ban­

croft also pheSeated a strong argument that the farm laborers^ the tenant farmers, and the squatters were cruelly exploited by the land­

owner s.,

Even today large landowner s dominate the pattern of rural land holdings in the United States and the agricultural wealth of the nation.

In 19 59s 3, 7 percent of all farms in the United States comprised 49 percent of all land arid their aye rage size was 4, 048 a.c.re.s= This-

3. 7 percent of the farms in the United States produced 78 percent of the agricultural products in the nation. America's 102, 000 Class I farms produced 31= 5 percent of all. crops and livestock. The farms were worth $220, 000 each and the annual value of their sales aver­ aged $94, 090. On the other end of the scale, 2. 9 million farms, had an average annual, sale of less thari.:$3900. In 1935 there were 6. 8 milMori; farm s in the United S tates. In 1963, th ere w ere 3. 5 m illion farms. Land bought, to enlarge farms accounted for 48 percent of all title changes in 1964. 59-

49= Bancroft, op. city, Vol. XXXVs pp. 396-412 =

50. United States Bureau of the: Census, United States Census of Agricultures 1959, Vol. II (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1962)=, pp. 1200-1211; United States D epartm ent of A griculture, Fact Book of United States Agriculture (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1965), pp. 5-7. 57

• The financial, benefits which currently accrue to the owner of

urban property are well known and have been the subject of many able

writer So ^l That there is still a great inequality in the distribution. Of

wealth in the United States has been thoroughly documented too * 52

While one might hesitate to conclude, as George did, that monopoli­

zation in the ownership of land is the basic cause of inequitable distri­

bution of wealth, it does seem that George called attention to one of

the factors which contributed to the inequitable distribution of wealth,

George's use of the concept of "unearned increment5' — that the value

of land increases because of social progress, and population growth re­

gardless of contribution by land owner — and his argument that the

community is entitled to the increased increment, seems logical, and ju st.

The great weakness in George's argument was the use of his

concept, of natural law. . He could hot prove than an Almighty had cre­

ated land and had d ecreedthe right of all men to equal use. and benefit

51, Go E . E lia s, Jr., Jam es G illqs, and Syend Riemer (edsv). Metropolis: Values In Conflict (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Pub­ lish in g Co. , 196.4), pp. 293-323.

52. See Michael Harrington, The Other American: Poverty in the United States (New Vorka The: Macmillan Company, 1962); Be on H. Keyserling. Progress or Poyerty (Washington: Conference on Economic Progress, 1.964). of the land. George knew his use of a concept of natural law would pre­ vent a sizable segment of the reading public from accepting his ideas; however, he believed the vast majority of mankind accepted some con­ cept of natural law and would not find his use of the idea offensive. ^3

The severity of his critics and at the game time the wide circulation of his. works, seem to .indicate that his judgment was correct.

The Solution

.After deciding that monopolization, in the ownership of land was the reason why poverty persisted in the midst of growing wealth, George considered nebzt the question of how one pould bring about, a. just and equitable distribution of. wealths . George1 s solution to the problem of inequitable wealth distribution was based directly on what he considered to be the cause of the problem. Private control and private profit from the nafural benefits of land must be replaced by public control and public profit from the natura! wealth, of land. ^ George summed up his

53= George, Progress and Poverty, op. cit., pp. 561-563.

54. George, Progress and Poverty, p. 326. 59

proposed solution in the statement, "We must, make- land common pro- -

p'erty, "$5 Land rent must be confiscated for public, benefit.

George believed the best way to- confiscate land rent was through

a tax on land. What did he include in the term rent? Rent is that value

which attaches itself to land regardless of human effort as a result of .

population growth and the resulting demand for land, 57

What about other forms of taxation? In Our Rand and Rand Policy,

George stated that all ferms of taxatien, other than land value taxation,

ahd those taxes which would discourage the development of enterprises

harmful to society, could be: swept S w a y . 58 The remaining restric-

tive taxes woulct pertain;thfFP1 Wag houses and similar enterprises« - 9 fn.’Progress and Poverty, George went much further than stating that

all taxes other fhah lah^.VSi^ might be Sw^pt a#ay%.' He argued

that all other taxes should be abolished. ^ Rate in his life a:s the .

5.5 o Ibid.

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid.

58. George, Our Rand and Rand Policy, p. 112.

59'. Ibid.

60. George, Progress, and Poverty, p;. 438. single tax movement got underway, George actively campaigned for the destruction of all taxes save a single tax on land values*

Jnstifigatlon And Advantage s. Of Land Value Taxation

In. justifying land value taxation as the best means of financing public services, George relied on his argument of the basic difference between, land and other things of value* Land was created by the

Almighty* It is fixed in amount* Value.attaches itself to land as a result of population growth and the resulting increase in demand for land. Since, the community by its growth, not the landowner creates, the value, the community is entitled to the wealth created* All Other value is created by human effort* Men are entitled to the wealth they derive from their creations, just as the community is entitled to its wealth* Other forms of taxation demand a portion of the profits indivi­ duals collect from their efforts* Land value taxation does not require a portion of profits earned* Land value taxation collects only the wealth which attaches itself, to land irregardless of labor's effort* It is, therefore, more just than any other form of taxation* ^

61* George's, speech, ".Justice the Object - Taxation the .Means', " lo c . cit. George argued that the advantages of using land value taxation would be many. First, he believed it would be much easier to substi­ tute public profit for private profit derived from land rent by ap­ propriation of rent rather than by confiscation Of land deeds and state administration of land« Burdensome administratiye procedures or complicated legi slation would not be necessary. It would leave the landowner s- in possession of their treasured land deeds, but the land would become virtually publicly owned. The landowners would really be the tenants, of all the people, No doubt there would be opposition, but George saw no reason to think opposition to a reasonable tax would be nearly as strong as would be the opposition to confiscation of land deeds and state administration, of land, ^

George argued that the amount of funds collected in his time' t° finance needed public educational, medical, recreational, and cultural programs was grossly inadequate, If land were taxed to the full annual value, the funds available for public services would be much, greater«

As land values increased, -and they would because of population growth, the people would have a growing public fund. All people would share the benefits, of this growing fund as it was used for the public good. ^ . Land value taxation would fee a stimulus to individual initi­ ative „ Under a system of land value taxation taking the full annual value of land, no one could afford to hold valuable, land he was not using.

Land which should fee in use would thus fee open to those who would use it.

A person Would not fee taxed for the improvements he made on his land; the industrious would fee encouraged. The profits he made by good use of the land would fee his. If an. individual found construction Of a factory on his land to fee more profitable than farming it, he would find it to his advantage to make the improveme'nt.

Through land value taxation, production would fee greatly stimu­ lated. The user of the land would strive for increased production feecause the land value tax would fee high enough to make inefficient

operations unprofitable. <2heap e.nterprises with low wages would have to fee upgraded. Idle land would fee put to use in agricultural* Indus - trial, and commercial enterprises. The number of new jobs created would fee unlimited. In order to stimulate production, wages would fee raised.

. Greater production, neW jpfeS, and higher wages would benefit the community in innumerable ways. Workers could afford more of the 63

necessities and luxuries of life. Tliey would have time for recreation

and esthetic pursuits. Parents could afford schooling for their child­

ren. Youth could look forward to a productive and rewarding life

rather than one of crime and de'gradatlon. ^

George believed the simplicity of his proposed method of taxa­

tio nwas a distinct advantage oyer other tax schemes« The single land

value tax would be easier to administer and to under stand than com­

plex systems'. George saw about him enormously complex tax schemes

including many different taxes and large numbers of loopholes. Only

by intensive study, could an individualrea lly nnderstand most tax

Schemes. Not only would the single land value tax be easier to under­

stand, but also the loopholes would not exist.

George believed tax schemes with multiple taxes and loopholes

encouraged dishonesty. Wealthy individuals used tax consultants to

find ways of avoiding tax payments. An individual would find cheating

difficult under a singid system of land value taxation. Indeed, if the

. people Understood that the tax collected rightfully belonged to the com­

munity, they would insist on integrity in the matter of taxation. ^9

67. Ibid., pp. 452-469.

68. Ibid. , pp^. 412-416.,:

69. Ibid., pp. 414-416. More Than Taxation

While George had. great faith in his tax proposals, he did not believe improved methods of collecting and spending taxes alone would be sufficient to guarantee to all equal benefits from production, George, was a strong advocate Of what we call today a mixed economy. There were certain resources and services sb vital to the well-being of so­ ciety that he. was not Willing to leave the development and management of these fhingd tb-private individuals^ Though he did not develop- the idea .in Progress and Poverty^ he. did assert forceably in this work the need for the state to own and operate railroad* mail* and tele­ graph facilities, ? ®

George- did develop Ms- argument for a mixed economy in Social

Problems* published after Progress and Poverty, He argued that it is only in the infancy of society that the functions: of government can be limited to providing for the common defense and protecting the weak from the strong. As society becomes more complex* more regulation is necessary to secure equal rights and liberty for all.

Government should prevent those serving the public through owning and operating an inn* transporting goods, engaging in a special trade- ,65 or profes.sion9 or in any othe% way prpviding a sie-ryice all might need, from discriminating against any one who might applyto such .com­ panies for customary seryice. Likewise, all businesses that involye monopolies are within the necessary province of governmpntal regu­ lation. Therefore, in addition to owning and operating the railroad and telegraph facilities, Qeorge argued for similar public ownership and administratiou of telephone, gas, water, heat, and electrical

.facilities and services. Ordinary roads, bridges, and canals should also be publicly owned and operated. He argued that he stressed the railroad problem only because it was the most formidable problem of the time. 71

The development of all other industries and therefore the strength of the entire economy and the. well-being of the whole society depend on the development of the monopolistic services. :A society cannot afford to leaye tW^ of such basic services to private sec™

'7 'Z tor s of its economy:.

While he argued for public ownership- and administration of those things yitPSl if- the well-being of society and by their nature menepollstle, George argued just as strongly for an economic system

71. George, gocial Problems, pp. 175-180.

72. Ibid., p p . 183-188. 66 which would enc ourage private enterprise in the pr 0#*Ctien. of the them - sands' of items people desired to make life more comfortable and enjoym able,' In the private sector of the economy, he advocated just as little governmental regulation as possible. ^

Beyond the regulation of economic factors, George enyisioned a dynamic role for government ip protecting equal rights of all citizens and in providing at public expense for public education, libraries, health, and recreation. Finally, government should encourage re§earch im s cience-and technology . . ^

George concluded his arguments with a theory of human progress.

Men tend to progress just as they come closer together. Through.their cooperation with each other they increase the mental power which, may be devoted to improvement.. Advances m&de by one generation through the process of schooling become the starting place for the next gen­ eration. Conversely, lack of cooperation leads to a degradation of society, ^®

George1 s deepest hope was that his ideas would contribute to the process of humhn progress. While he did not think bis proposals

7 3 , Ibid.

74,/ Ibid., pp. 189-190.

75., George, Progress and Poyerty, pp. 502-505. were a panacea, foir all of man* s social ills,, lie did beiieve his ideas would help man solve his public pypblpms better than any of the meth­ ods he saw in. use and better than any alternative proposal with which he was acquainted. If men would adopt his ideas and try his proposals, he was supremely confiderit that his theories would contribute to human p ro g ress.

George believed the best way to get his ideas adopted on a large scale was for his supporters through discussion, debate, publication, and political participation, first to get his ideas adopted by local gov­ ernments. Then after denrdnstratlng their feasibility on a local levels he believed the advocates of his ideas' should strive to have them adop­ ted on a national scale0

In appr.aislng Georg'F% suggestions for solving theproblem of persistent poverty in the midst of growingwealth,, it would seem that political experience sittCe his time has demonstrated the merit of many of his ideas. His m ajor contribution to theory was that he was one of the fir st of his time to sugge st extensive, use of governmental taxing authority as a way of financing needed public services. This sugges­ tion is, of course, taken as. commonplace today. Policies of a mixed

76., Ibid., p. 524.

77. George, Social. Problems, p. 174. economy,, with, extensive governmental regulation of the. economic sys­ tem, and large programs of public .services, have been thoroughly tested in. Britain and the Scandinavian countries.• The repeated poli^ ti-cal victories in these countries, of these public figures urging such programs in the last generation seem to indicate the peoples of

Britain and Scandinayia are fairly pleased with the results of a mixed economy, governmental regulation of. the economy, and public services rendered through governments '^ Though the United States has had little experience with public ownership of the means of production, since-19 3Z. it has had considerable experience with governmental re­ gulation of the factors of production and the elemente of distribution as well os public services rendered by governmentc:.?9 Political yjbgn tories of public figures from 1932 to 1966 advocating such policies and the sound defeat in If 64 of the only presidential candidate to urge reduction of these programs- since their adoption in the 1930's seem to- indicate, n large majority of the people in the United States: now believO governmental regulation of the economy and government

78o Wo' B» Bunt, History of England (New York? .Harper and Brothers, 1957), pp» 850-869; Wlarl H» Pegg, Contemporary Europe in World Focus .(New York? Henry Holt and Coo, 1956), ppe 380-393„ rendered public services, are necessary and proper responsibilities

of governm ents'

It does seem possible to conclude that George called attention to an enormous, source of possible public revenue which could be drawn from meaningful land value: taxation. If California, public officials are correct in their -claim that they are losing $800, 000, 000 annually from poor land value taxation^ it is certainly probably that the Amer­ ican. public could be collecting an additional several billion dollars annually in. badly needed public revenue to day „ ^

A serious weakness in George's argument for land yalue taxation was his failure to give any concrete suggestions as to how to go about determining the true annual value, of land. ' While One. would not expect a. rigid formula because of changing conditions and circumstances, it would have been helpful if. George had at least suggested some guide linepo:

The question whether the adoption of land value taxation and the abolition of all other forms of taxation, on a national scale would have resulted in a more, equitable distribution of wealth, greater production, and a better life for all, as George believed, remains conjectural.

80. Christian. Science Monitor, September 24, 1965, p.-34, col. 1. Such a proposal has never heen adopted on. a large enough scale to

V/arzant conclusions v^lth,. thp dlrnensldns Geozge .enyisiotied. Whether

George’s ideas will work on a small community leyel is the subject of the remaining portion of this study. THE EAJEHOFE SINQEE TAX GORPOKATIOH

TW Flr^t Colony

The first single tax colony in the world was established in Fair- h#p% Alabama,, in November, 1894» ^ The colony was organized a year earlier in the State of Iowa and moved to'Alabama in the winter of 1894. ^

The colony was ineorporated in 1904 under the laws passed by the state of Alabamao'^ The. colony still;exists today and to the colonistss the experiment has been and continnes, to be highly successful.

The Fairhtipe colony was founded during a. period when Ameri­ cans were being exposed to many progressive social ideas. The writings of Henry G e o r g e3 Edward Bellamy, Thor stein Veblen, Henry

1. The Fairhope Courier, December 1, 1894, p. 1, col. 1-2 = The Fairhope Courier was owned and published by the colony founder, E° B = ' Gaston. The paper serves as the best history of the colony until the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation began keeping formal, minutes of all of its transactions in 1899.

2.' Ibid.

3. Minutes of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, July 15, 1904. Hereafter, this source will be cited as Minutes. Adams5 and, Herbert Crqly we^e widely' distributed, 4 Indeed, the, founders of the Fairhope colony dehated the merits of the various ideas

O f each of these writers before deciding that George offered the best, and most practical plan. ^

Origins Of The Fairhope .Single Tax Colony

The colony whs founded by Ernest. B= Gaston of Jowa, the son

Of a Campellite minister. He grew up In Des Moines and attended the business- college at Drake University. He soon began buying land near the- University for speculation. He was shocked to disc Oyer the extent to which speculation in land contributed to an inequitable distribution of wealth in America. *

Ernest Gaston developed a deep social consciousness. He be­ lieved many of the world's problems might be better solyed through

4. Henry Steele Commager, The-American .Mind (New Haven: Yale Uniyersity Press, 1950), pp-. 80; 221; 233-46.

5. Letter from E. B. Gaston to A. K. Owen, founder of the: Topo Lo Bampo Colony of social reformers in Sinaloa, Province, Baja, California, Mexico. The letter is found in- the collection of E. B. Gaston'S personal correspondence held in the corporation;s file s .

$. Personal correspondence of E. B. Gaston during 1890-91, to a large number of individuals in which he expressed his own beliefs and goals; one. of the clearest statements Of his, beliefs is found in a letter to John McLeod, Dakota, Iowa, October 13, 1890, Corporation Files. ~ ' " ' " ’ was a strong individualist and he- found it ipiphSsibls to giye ;u|>- the. idea of. personal, liberty. He discovered the works of Henry George in. 1890° His study of George and his own experience in land speculation convinced him that if equal access to land were edteSiishedCj any efficient person, could then, go ahead and succeed to the extent his capacity would permit. The result would be. a m ore equitable and just distribution, of. wealth; at the same time:, individual, liberties, in place of being hindered, would be strengthened J by guaranteeing greater opportunity to the industrious person, 7

Gaston conceived the idea of founding the colony in 1893, By

September 1, l894> he had convinced a number tif other people to join him ,in the yenbur e. in.the same y ear he began publi shing a newspape r *

The- Fair'llppe Courier, and through the paper he urged others to join and Support his. plan. He sdcceeded in getting enough financial support fOr the colony to suryive its lean years., The colony became

SelfKsnpporting in 190:5, ^

7., L etter.from Gaston to-A, W, "Woodward, M inneapolia, .Minne­ sota, October 13, 1 8 9 0 , Corporation F iles°

8 , Minutes, July 15, 1905, The Purposes Of The P#irhope Colony

Gaston and his friends agreed in 1894 on the purposes of their

experimento The same goals are held by the colony today. _ The- pur­ poses were stated clearly in the colony's application for a corporate 9 charter from the state of Alabama, in 1903. The colonists wanted to demonstrate the utility and the advantages of a single system of land yalue taxation with the hope Of its general adoption by governments in the future. They wanted to establish a model community, free from all forms of private monopoly, in order to secure for the colony mem­ bers equality of opportunity. They planned to create a colony where an individual would receive just reward for his efforts and at the same time enjoy the. benefits of cooperation, in matters of general concern.

There was to be no private ownership of land within the corporation's jurisdiction. Instead the lands were to be leased to members at ah annually appraised rental. The amount would vary according to lo*- eation’apd natural qualities of different tracts of land. A, portion of the rent would be used to pay all other forms of state and local pro­ perty taxes and the remaining funds would go into the treasury of the

9, Declaration of Incorporation of Fairhope Single Tax Cor" poration. The original -copy of this document is part of the Corpo­ ration' s file s. It is also reproduced in the corporation1 s' MlnuteS, c%fpo3*aM^ be used for the e'Qmmo'n. benefit of its memberso The rbnt wouM be the total of all yalues attaching to the land which did not result from the efforts and expenditures of the le s see So The colony hoped to demonstrate that land, would be more acces sible and better utlbgedy under :a system of collecting the annual use. value of the land, than under other systems of land tenure« They also wanted strate that a giyen community could have more public facilities and services', "with less burden on private initiative, effort, and enter­ prise, if the comnaunity eelleeba and Usea the wealth which it creates and leaves to the individuals the yrealth which they create»

The state of Alabama pas sed a law on October 1, 1903 to allow the colonists to establish a corporation embodying the purposes stated aboveo The eoleny reeeiyect its charter: on August 10, 1904, in line with this law® W The charter authprige-s the colony to operate the sys­ tem of land tenure, described above, to develop, own, and operate en­ te r p r ise s f o r the benefits of its members and to establish a system

10o State of Alabama, Act 402, enacted on October 1, 1903, Acts Of Alabama (Montgomery, Alabama, The Brown Printing Company> State Printers and Binders, 1904), pp% 342^343.

llo Declaration of Inc or poration of Fairhope Single Tax Cor­ poration, Corporation1 s Files, op® cit® ' - 76

of public .service@o12 The corporation's purpose S are stated in its

constitution for its members, prospective members, and interested

individual So ^

Like George, the colony founders did not believe taxation alone

. would be sufficient to ensuire, .the deyelppmetit: of a society where there

would be a gr eater equality in the .distribution of wealth' George a r ­

gued in his Social Problems for a mixed economy with public owner­

ship of those enterprises which are by their nature monopplistico

George specifically called for public ownership and management of

roads, railroads, telegraphfacilities', mails, water, and power, ^

The colonists made clear in their constitution that as the Fair hope

Single Tax GorporatiOn became able to do so, they wanted the epr-

porationto assume the responsibility of developing and managing

transportatioh, roads, water> power, light, heat,, and irrigating

systems through common ownership of these facilities in order to

assure all members of the corporation equal opportunities to these

12 o Charter of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, signed by Charles Hall, Judge of Probate, Baldwin County, Alabama, August 10, 1904o Corporation Files.

13o The Constitution of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, (Fairhope, Alabama: The Fairhope Courier Inc0 , 1958), ppo 1-2« This source will hereafter be cited as Constitution.

14.»: G eorge, S o c ia l P r o b le m s, pp. 175-180=, 77

vital, service So The colonists were strongly opposed to any form of

private monopoly in enterprises providing services which, all members

of a .society had to- haye in order to attain minimum mate rial c omfort.

The constitution forbade the corporation from granting any private fran­

chise ipr gmfbliC necessities. They intended to make these vital needs

available to members in the JFairhope- community other than just mem­

bers of the Single Tax Corporation because they believed their ideas

would spread if others could enjoy the benefits of the corporation's

programs. Any profits coming from these cooperative efforts would

be used fbr the benefit of the entire community in the form of public

services.'*'5

The colonists argued, as George, did, that public ownership and management of enterprises which were by their nature monopolistic

would hot hsrm individual liberty. .Ahkinfinit# 'Anmber' of. enterprise s: would still be open to the industrious: per son. Indeed, individual

oppbytupifieS; wbuld be increased because all persons would have equal

access to the vital services which they heeded to develop any sort of

busines S activity. ^

15. Constitution, pp. 10-11.

,16.- Ib id ., p.. I 78

The colomst!3j as George had urged., intended for the corporation to- he v e r y active in the area of public services® The constitution pro­ vided for the establishment and maintenance at the expense of the corporation, of schools, libraries, public halls, natatoriums, parks, and bcache So These services were to be provided as soon as possible for the free use and enjoyment of corporation members.and their f ami lie s

Colony founders insisted adamantly that, they would tolerate no speculation in charges for the use of colony land* The lessee a would haye the right to sublease land they rented from the colony« While they could rent any of their improvements at whatever price they wantr ed, they would not be allowed to sublease the land itself charging a higher rate of rent than the corporation was charging them for the lands

The founders intended to collect as nearly as possible the full value of the land as rent and they believed to charge more than the full annual value would be speculatiom If a lessee subleased his land at a higher rent than he was paying the colony, then upon proof of such a fact, the co'rporation constitution stipulated that the corporation would increase the rent charged the first lessee to equal what the first lessee was

17 o • Ibido , p*.’ 11® charging the second lessee. The: corporation did not want to specu­ late themselves with land and they did. not want their lee sees to do so either. ^

hike George# the colony founders hsd nnieh naere in mind than merely ai.dmins.tering a specific system of taxation.. In a simulated manner, they wanted to demonstrate to government that if it would adopt programs for the entire ^ ommnnity sim ilar to the one s the cor - poratiqn used in its jurisdiction, the people would benefit rnueh.more from a common ownership of public necessities and would enjoy a much richer life as a result of the public services rendered. The foot of most social evils, private, speculation ip land, would be abolished. ^

The hegality Of The FMrWpe: $ingle Tax Corporation

The Fair hope Single. Tax Corporation is a nonprofit private cor­ poration organized under a 1903 Alabama law.: The law was passed to allow the corporation to operate according to the purpose of the corpo­ ration charter. The corporation was established to demonstrate the feasibility of the single tax theory. The corporation has no taxing authority. The colony, its lessees, and the lessees1 tenants are

IS. Ibid. , p . 10,

19. Ibid. 80

subject to the same national,, state, and local tax system as all other

r e si dents in the Fai rhope community o 20

The Fairhope colonists operate their yersi.on of a single tax sys­

tem through a system of land tenure designed to shift the burden of

some of the state and local taxes from capital and labor to land. The

colony's rents are used to pay all state and local taxes on the land and

on the improyements and personal property that may be held on the

land by lesseeso If a. lessee has a tax .statement greater than the

rent he pays the colony, then all of his rent payment is used to help

pay his tax statements All rent funds above the cost of corporation’ s

operations' go to pay for community improvement projects*

The corporation’s lands are leased for a period up to ninety-nine

. years, A leaser neyet gab#.pos.#a#@n.of, the' laad; though the improve­

ments on the land belong to him. If he decides to giye up the lease on 22 the land he is renting, then he has the right to sell his improyements,

The legality of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporations* operations

has been, challenged, Alexander J = Melyille, a. disillusioned lessee,

■ appealed to the Alabama courts in 1913 to dissolve the Fairhope Single

20 o. Ibid.., pp. 11-12.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.., p. 9. Tax Corporation., .Melyille; maintained that the corporation was not liying up to its legal commitments to the lessee So He requested the courts to dissplye the corporation and to: compel the corporation to return the rent collected from the lessees® In 1919 the action, reached the ..Alabama Supreme Court; it upheld the corporation declaring that the colony had not violated any laws of the state * Further, the court held that the corporation had, a prOper system of righting any alleged wrongs, suff-e'red by'its lessees. The legality of the corporation’s operations has not been challenged again. ^3

Relationship Of The. Single Tax Corporation To The Fair hope

The FairhOpe community was never a colony of single taxers aloneo From the beginning member s of the Fairhope Single Tax Cor - poration made up a minority of the people living in the commntiityo

As the community grew, the need for municipal inco:rporatlon became apparent to all. The community of Fairhope was incorporated in April,

19 08. Within the community, the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation owns

23. Fajrhope Single Tax Corporation v» Melville, 193 Alabama Reports 289. — twenty five percent of the land in the incorporated area and 3700 acres

of farm land in the surrounding countryside, ^4

The governing body of the new municipality was to be a mayor and five. aldef'W##- The single taxer e were and still are just one of the groups in the community participating in governing the community.

Though the. single taxers haye ndver dominated the political activities and ideas: of the community, they have always exercised considerable influence in the entire community,' Although no single taxer has held the office of maypT,. single taxers have been elected to the office of alderman Oh mahy Occasions, Often a. majority of the aldermen have been, single taxejrsy**®

Location Of Supreme- Authority

The single, taxers of Fairhope have a high respect for democracy.

They haye answered clparly the- question, where shall supreme author­ ity be located. The constitution of the Fairhope Single Tax Corpora­ tion places supreme authority equally in the membership,. Fhwch mem­ ber has a vote in determining corporation policy. In addition, the

.24, 19,65 Financial Report of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation (Fairhope, Alabama: Fairhope Courier Inc,, 1964), p, 3,

25 , F aul Fb andBlanche- R, Alyea, Fairhope, 1894-1954 (Univer- sity, Alabama: University of Alabama Fress, 1956), pp, 131-146, 83 . husband or wife of a member» upon, signing the constitution, is also

•considered a member and is entitled to vote in the governing of the corporationo Annual meetings of the entire membership of the cor­ poration are held for the purpose of determining corporation policy for the coming year and electing Officers, Each member must be pre­ sent at the annual corporate meetings for his vote to count on questions involving constitutional amendments» member s who cannot be present are allowed to use absentee ballots, When an important development occur s which was not anticipated by the annual meetings call meetings of the membership are held to.determine corporate policy regarding the new development,

The two most effective tools used by the membership to ensure its authority over corporation policy are the constitutional provisions of initiative and referendum. Upon petition of ten percent of the qual­ ified member ship, any act of the corporate administration, or any measure proposed by the petitioners, is: submitted bo a yote of the mem­ bership at the time set in the petition. The corporation9s constitution require s that when amendments to the constitution are proposed, thirty days* notice must be given. On other matters at least twenty four hours*

26. Constitution, op. cit,, pp. 3-4. notice is. required. Upon petition of twenty percent of the membership,

the question of the dismissal of any officer, however elected or ap­

pointed, is submitted to a vote of the membership. Nominations for

office may be made by petition of five percent of the "membership filed with the secretary ten ^eys before the election. ^7

All ele ctions and votes held by the cor por ate member ship ar e

supervised by the corporation's board of trustees. The trustees have

charge of all elections? canvass the Votes cast, and declare the results.

Secret ballots are used in all elections as required by the constitution, d#

The question Of who shall be a member of the corporation is also determined by the membership. To qualify for membership in the

corporation, an individual is required to purchase a certificate of mem­ bership for one hundred dollars and to perform satisfactorily on an

examination.of Henry George'S theories. The examination is made-up

and admini ster c d by a corporation member ship committee... After the

committee is satisfied with a candidate's perfo^naancc on the exam, his name 1# then subntitteh to a voib by- the memhership. Further, any

member against whom complaint of violation of the parpbhes of the

27. Ibid. , pp. 6-7.

28. Ibid., p'. 5. corporation, or invasion of the rights of its members, is preferred in

writing by ten percent of the membership and after full investigation,

may be expelled from the- corporation upon proof of guilt charges. The

inVestigation must be public and the accused is entitled to be represen­

ted by counsel. In the event a member is expelled, the corporation1 s

constitution reqhires that all money contributed by him to the corper-

ntinnbp retnrned tn Mtnby the cprppyatio^

Has the membership exercised its supreme authority? In the

early years of the porpWPfcipn!s iexistehce, the membership frequently

exercised it's authority to initiate policy, to reverse policies adopted by the'ddr per ate- admini str ation which wer e unpopular with the mem­ bership, to initiate' eieution of certain, officers, to remoye other

offieer-S,. and to amend the constitution. These were the years during

which the corporation was engaged in developing and administering

projects which provided fhe members with transportation, water, lights,

heat, power, telephone se-rvipe, and irrigation systems. The member­

ship initiated the policy which resulted in the corporation1 s developing

and administering a system of supplying water to the colony in 1899° ^

30. Ibid., p. 2.

31. Minutes-, dune Ms: 1899. The membership in a special election in 1901 overrode a policy of the executive council regarding the important question at that time' of the schedule of the steamers using the corporation's wharf So^ The membership forced a lowering of some rental charges in 1902o 33 The membership got the executive council to open its weekly meetings to the yiblie in 1994® 34 The executive council still follows this policy. The membership persuaded the colony officers to work out an arrangement with the Eastern Shore Telephone Company which would bring phone service to the colony in 1904, 35 The membership petitioned fo remove two officers and a trustee from office in September, 1905=, The peti­ tioners succeeded in removing Wl A. 'Baldwih.;as. Treauuner,vC^

Brown as Superintendent of Public Health, and Anna B= Hail as Trustee.

They elected "W. M. Call as the. new Treasurer, L, C. Yarnelle as the new Superintendent of Public Health and Joseph Bellangree as

, r . • Trustee. This removal and election of officers came about because

W majority of the membership believed the officers they removed were

32 o Ibid., August 7, 1901.

33. Ib id ., D ecem ber 17, 1902o hostile to the fundamental purposes of the corporation. 36 In, addition to being removed from office, according to the constitution they could have been expelled fr om the corporation. 37 . Though the member ship

exercised its supremh authority frequently during these early years, still most policies proposed by the corporation^ administrators were adopted by the membership. 38

While the membership took a fairly active part in determining

corporation policy during the early years, in recent year's policy decisions have been made- almost entirely by the corporation's leaders.

Beginning in 1915 and continuing through 1965, the minutes of the cor­ poration's annual meetings indicate almost unanimous approval by the membership of policies recommended by the leader shipo This author attended the annual, meetings on January 22, 1965, and in, January 17,

1 9 6 6 , and witnessed no opposition by the membership to leadership

proposals. 39 No policy adopted by the executive council in its weekly

. meetings, during 1964 and 1965 was opposed by the corporate membership.

36. Ibid., September 26, 1905.

3 7 • Oonstltution, opt cit., pv 2U

38.0. Minutes, 1899-1915° 88

These meetings are open to all members as well as the public and the minutes of the meeting yerify the fact that the meetings were attended only by the council members themselves° ^

This IndWof p#^ in policy formation seems to be primarily explained by the ageless problem of public apathy?

Why is the member ship apathetic toward corporate policy ? After px- tensiye interviews with members who .live in Fair hope, the author has concluded that the main reason for apathy is the high respect the mem­ bers have for' the corporation's leadership.^ . Ernest Gaston, who founded and directed the corporation and seryed as the executive secret tary until 1938, seems to have been highly capable and entirely honest.

The members interviewed and listed below who knew Ernest Gaston remembered the founder as an individual of the highest integrity.

C. A. Gaston, son of the founder, has directed the corporation since

40. Minutes, op. cit., 1964"196.5.

41. In interviews conducted by the author during 1965 the- follow­ ing members expressed complete confidence in the corporation's lead­ ership: Daphne B. Anderson, M. O. Berglin, Maryin Nichols, K. N. Brown, O. M. Rockwell, Robert M. Schneider, Lillian B. Totten, Elof Mo Tuyeson, -C. W. Arnold, Mildred Roberts, Helen Call, Bruce Evans Jar., Sam Hyson, Helen Dyson, and Dian Stitt. Excluding members of the Gastpn family, the individuals named above represent seyenty perfcrent of the corporate membership. The remaining thirty percent Hye outside- the .state of Alabama and haye not had any direct contact with colony affairs in recent years. l938o The member s listed below express great respect for Co A„ Qas-

ton .and, complete confidence in hi9 ability and deair e to direct corpor -

ation affairs in the begt interest of the membership*

The author found other reasons for apathy on the part of the mem­ berships C* A* Gaston serves the corporation in a full time Capacity

as executive secretary for a yery loyz salary. His salary and the

salary of a full time aide and two part time aides amounted to only

$12,125. 0 0 in l 9 hBo ■ Other member s stated that they simply could not give much time to the corporation without higher compensation than

C.'.A. Gaston now receiyes. Another reason is that the corporation's main function today is collecting rent and paying from the rent other forms of property taxation levied by state, county, dnd city govern­ ments against the lessees' improvOments on the land they lease from the

Corporation. The members interviewed believe C. A. GastonAnows^ more about how to determine the full, annual rent of the land than any­

one else in the .cprporWtiph. As long as Gaston will serve the corp­

oration in a. professional manner, virtually without compensation, and assume the difficult task of determining the full annual rent of the land, the other members of the: corporation seeiu quite willing, rather se lfish ly , fo r him t# do it*

42. 1965 ^Financial Statement of the Fairhope Single Tax Corpo­ ration, op. cit., p. 1 . The most difficult question of policy in the Fair hope Mingle Tax

Corporation, is the determination of the rent rate to he charged for using corporation lancL The difficulty comes from the fact that the corporation tries to determine the full annual value of the land. The corporation's constitution requires that the rent rate be equal to the full annual value of the land. 43 hike George, the members Of the corporation maintain, that,the community creates the value of the land and that the value is whatever the community believes it to be. 44 This requirement involve s a determination of %kat the full, annual value of land really is. Such a determination is quite difficult when .compared to the easy proce ss of arbitrarily setting a rate.

During the corporation's early years of existence from 1894 until

19.14, the members were unable to develop any satisfactory system, of determining the: full, annual value of land. #uring these early years the rent rate was simply set. to compare favorably with the rent charged for surrounding privately owned land. ^5 The colonists were aware this was not acheiving their stated goafOf collecting the full annual value of

43. Constitution, p. 9°

44. Ibid.

45. Minutes, January 16, 1899i February 6, 1899. 9 1 .

the lancL However, they argued that they would have to learn by trial

and error how to determine the full annual value of land, and they be­

lieved that they could, do so in a reasonable period of time.® ^6 The

rent charged was often challenged by the lessees during this period and

. the eorjjoratioh*: usually made the demanded adjustments^ ^7

In, M arch, 1914, the corporation adopted a detailed system of de­

termining rent rates which pleased the membership and is still in use

todayo The system adopted was proposed by a corporation member.

Wo Ac Somer so He proposed the use of two maps, one showing cor­

poration lands in the city of F'airhope and another showing the farm

land So He suggested holding ten or twelve meetings with the lease hold­

ers each yearo The meeting would include at least two lease holders

from each division of urban land and four from the rural landso

Through general discussions the lease holders wOuld determine by their

own judgment the value of the most valuable lot in. the city:o: Then a

center lot on each side of every block would be given a value in pro­

portion to the most valuable lot in towhe Then each lot on each block

46= Ibido , February 6, 1899 o

47V Ibid. , .December 23, 1901,

48 o Ibido s M arch 31, 19T4V would .be given a Value in proportion to the center lot on the block and to the most valuable lot in town. • The same method would be used for the farm lands. The value of the most valuable.- tract would be deter­ mined by the judgment of the lessees and from this?every other tract would be given a value. All lands on each of the maps would be giyen r a specific value. The rents charged for each lot or tract of land would amount to the full annual value, of the land.

After hearing Somers, present his plan in December, 1913, the

Corporation’s membership, requested him to apply bis system to the corporation's lands and determine the rent rates for 1914. By March,

1914, Somers had completed his first appraisal and the members had aeoepted his appraisals^ . In December, 1914, the corporation formally adopted, the Somers system as the proceedure it would follow in the future until a better system could be developed. ^

The -essential elements of the- Somers system are still used today in determining rent rates °f corpOratioh lands. The corporation* s appraisal committee, a subcommittee of the executive council and

49. Ibid.

"50. Ibid.

51. M inutes, D ecem ber 4, 1914. 93

chaired by the executive secretary, holds periodic meetings each year to- determine rentso The judgment of the council and the lessees de­ termines the amount of rent, to be charged for each piece of corporation

lando The corporation, membership has given appraisal officials most

of the r e sponsibility for exercising judgment in determining rent rate s.

As land values increase, appraisal officials raise the rent rates. An increase in rent depends on three factors: (1) change s in the ley el of

•demand for corporation lands; (2) increases in the value of some tracts and decreases in others; (3.) the amount of corporation land actually under lease, .Determining the value of the most valuable lot in town and the most valuable farm tract is the key decisione The value of all other lots and tracts is determined from the value of the most valuable tracts, the multipliers. The. value of the multiplier is not determined from some mathematical formula, but. from the collective judgment of the appraisal officials and those lessees willing to make their judgment known to the appraisal committee, ^

Gv Ao Gaston, who has the direct responsibility for determin­ ing the rent, is not pleased with the present methods he uses. He

52, This analysis of the present system of determining rent charged for the corporation's land is based on an extensive interview on January 17, 1966, with G». A, Gaston, the corporation's executive secretary, and who has had the dominant role in-determining the rate Since 1942. believes the tiorporatioen: sho^M em$il.c>y p3ro£eia@i@tial people with ex­ tensive experience ih laad value taxation to help the corporation im ­ prove their system of determining the.full annual rent of their land.

,He has employed Mason Gaffney $ Head of the Department of J^eOndndes at the Uniyer sity of Wisconsin and Arthur Becker , As gociate .Hyo- fegsor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, to visit Fair hope sey-pra! times during 196,6 to see if they can suggest ways of improving the; eorporation®s methods, of determining its rent rates. ^ Both of these individuals have had extensiye experience with land value tax­ ation and are active with the National Committee on Taxatibn, Re­ sources, and Economic Development, a private research organization..

Gaston hopes they will be of considerable help to the corporation and they have expressed a keen desire td tr yto-asdi^t<>

Public Services

The second most ins^brtant question of corporation policy is the determination of how the corporation is: to spend the money it has left

53. Letter from Mason Gaffney to G. A. Gaston dated December 9, 196:5> accepting the request to help the corporation improve its method of determining the full annual value of its: lands.

54. interview with C. A. dasfon onAannn'ry ^0, 1 9 6 6 , and a letter' Irom Mason Gaffney to C. A, Gaston dated January 8, 1966® oyer after operational expenses, George argues that the rent collected

.in the,form of taxation should be used to provide the public with ser­

vices,-^ The corporation's, constitution, stipulates- that all funds

collected by the corporation beyond operating expenses are to-be used

to provide: public services for the corporate membership, &

The author has found that with one exception the membership has

left decisions regarding public services to the corporate leaders. The

exception.is the strong interest of the membership in consistent and

continuing support for a private school ip Fair hope. The Marietta John-

son School of Organic Education, Se veral corpo.rati on member s. have

always had their children enrolled in this school and have had a v e s t e d

interest in the.corporation’s supporting the school. The:-Marietta;

Johnson ,School of Organic. TJducati-on is the m ost p ro g ressiv e school in.

the area and was for a long time the only progressive School in the

vicinity. Since the adoption O f many Of. its teaching methods in the:

public schools, in recent years some members haye questioned whether

the school should be continued. However, as recently as October 14,

55, G eorge, A % o b le m s ^ pp, 189-19*0, 1#65, the membership held a special election and yoted thirty one to eleven to continue supporting the school as long as it needed aid. 57

Regarding, other public service activities the colony is now en­ gaged ins the membership seems quite ydlling to leave the selection of these activities up to the corporation's leadership,,. The author ob>- served no opposition in the last two annual meetings held by the cor­ poration when the public service activities of the -corporation for the coming year were discussed..^ In interviews, with the corporation members 11 stod page 88 Of this study, the author found the members satisfied with the way the corporation' s funds for public, serviee vrere being used.. In addition, corporation minutes reveal no opposition to the way the corporate leaders have used the public service funds..

Administration of the corporation's policies is the responsibility of the permanent secretary, a full time position. The secretary has a full time assistant and two part time employees aiding him in his responsibilities.. •

57. .Minutes, October 21, If45.

58.0, The-author attended those two meetings held on January 2.7, 1965 and January 17, 1966, in the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation's Colony office in Fairhope-, Alabama..

r The .secretary performs, several -useful services foir the lesse:eS».

He invites them to bring their tax bills on. land and improvements to his

office-where he prepares their return statements in line 'withthe cor­

poration’s .constitution. The corporation is obligated, to pay all of the

state and local taxes assessed against leasee’s improvements unless the

hmount of assessm ent is. greater than the amount of rent charged the lessee by the corporation.: If the taxes:-assessed against the lessee1S improvements are greater than the rent he. pays the corporation, then

he must pay the difference. ^9 Very seldom does a lessee haye to pay

taxe s in addition to his rent. ^ If the le s see * s rent is Mgher than his

taxes, ihen the conStit^ provides that the. portion of his rent remain­

ing after the corporation pays his taxes will be placed in the corpora

ation’s. operations. Tho remaining portion is used to finance public ser­

vices for the corporation’s membership. ^ In addition to carrying out

the corporation’s Obligation to the lessees, the secretary actually

prepares the lessees' returns free Of charge. Since the corporation has

nine hundred leaseholders, this is a sizeable service for the secretary

59. Constitution, op. cit.

60. Tax Assessment statements on lessees-’ improvements, and tax payments records from 1940-1965, Corporation Files.

61 ^Constitution, op. cit. 98 and his small staff to offer free- of charge» For the pant several year$ the secretary has returned almost all of the tax returns for the cor­ poration's lesseeso 62

The secretary also prepares annual rent lists of each leaseholder along with the tax liabilities of the lease,holdero The secretary is in a position to evaluate the financial condition Of eanh leaseholder in re­ lationship- to the corporation and he is in a position to evaluate the fi­ nancial condition of the corporation at any time. These records are open to any member of the corporation at any time. &3

Administration is closely related to corporation policy. The founder of the colony, Ernest Gaston, was the corporation’s secretary" < until 1938. In addition to being the chrpOtatiOWs secretary Ernest

Gaston served on the executive pouncil and the appraisal committe throughout his long service to the corporation. The current secretary.

Go A. Gaston, also serves on the executive council and the appraisal committe e° The secretary has always be On in a position to develop

62. The extent of this seryice was confirmed for the author ‘when the permanent secretary, G. A. Gaston, allowed him to ex­ amine the duplicate copies of the returns filed in the colony office on January 20, 1966.

63. The author heard this policy discussed and reaffirmed during the annual meeting on January 17, 196 6 . procedures which are best suited in his judgment to carry out corpo- ration policies. At the same times, he has; been, in a position to see the need ter phliey changes® Through his membership, on the execu­ tive council, and the appraisal committee3. the secretary has usually been able to obtain policy changes® The present secretary says he believes one of the reasons his policy recommendations are readily accepted by the membership is a recognition on their part that he is in a position as administrator to see the need for change better than anyone else in the corporation® ^

The corporation's constitution gives the board of trustees authori ty to supervise all. affairs of the corporation. The trustees conduct all eieetiohSs canvass, tke votes cast, and declare the results® The board audits all accounts and submit^ an annual, report to the corporation membership advising it of the condition and need of the corporation's business in all departments® ^

64. Interview with C. A,. Gaston on December 12, 1.965®

6 5 » P ° 5 a . 100

Though, the giyes the board considerable supervisory authdrity, the real function of the board of trustees has always been auditing the corporation' s financial operations. ^ They do this by examining all cost and payment receipts of the corporation and exam­ ining the bank ahd saying s. statements 0£ the; corporation. They dip npt attempt to direct the corporation, but leave this responsibility to those officers elected for this purpose. ^ 8

Both the: lead er sMp1 and thp general tnembet'Phip- of the corpprp" ti,on are pleased with the present procedures the corporation follows in determining and administering policy. .However, G. A. Gaston, who now directs, the cprporstiph, is seventy yhArP of age. The corporation members are aware, of the problem in.finding a successor to the pre­ sent secretary. Heverthel'e'S'S'* they are not developing new leadership at this time. It is a problem they must meet in the near future.

6>t>. Interview with Helen Call, current Chairman of the Board of. Trustees, on January 17, 1966.

67. Ibid. .

6 8 . Interyiews with J. E. Gaston, President* Daphne B. Ander­ son, Vice-Presidents C. A. Gaston, Secretary, and M= G. Berglin, T reasu rer; January 16 and 17, 196.6. Importance Of Public Facilities

Just as Henry George had argued that it was essential to insti­

tute public owne r ship and admini strati on of those things which were by

their nature monopolistic, the founders of the Fairhope Single Tax

Corporation believed it essential to establish a system of public facili­

ties to provide its members with basic necessities. George argued for

public ownership and administration of roads, canalss railroads, tele­

graph facilities, water, power, gas, and heato,^ The constitution of

the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation forbids granting of private fran­ chises for supplying the public necessities of "water, light, heat, power,

transportation facilities,^ irrigating system s,etc.Q Farther, the

constitution states that the -corporation, shall as soon as possible erect

and maintain the necessary plants and provide such services, convert­

ing all revenues from these projects into the general treasury of the

corporation. In. order to determine to what extent the corporation

69. George, Social Problems, pp. 1 8 9 - 1 9 Q.

70. Constitution, op. cits, pp. 10-11. b

102 h a s : applied diedrge1 s ideas and fulfilled its own goals, it is necessary to examine t h e question pf what public facilities the corporation has provided for its member So

The Corporation Wharfs

In line with the ideas of George, its constitution and the desire of its members, the corporation began to provide the membership with public Necessities, immediately upon the: arrival Of the colonists in Fair - hope in 18.94o Boon after settling on the eastern shoresO f Mobile Bays the colonists realized that if they were going to survive economically they would have to make arrangements for bringing in supplies and ship­ ping their products to market areas. The land they purchased was in an undeveloped area. Of Baldwin County, Alabama, without roads or rail­ roads. Being located on the bay, they realized that: the most rapid way for them to establish trading routes with market areas would be to per­ suade the water traffic supplying the city of Mobile directly across the 72 bay to bring service to their settlement too.

72. The Fairhope Courier, July 1, 1896, p, 2, col. 2. The WSttW 4 W- hf a one thousand foot

wharf in 1895 and another shorter yyharf in 1905. 73 The wharfs had

docking facilities which would enable several boats to load and unload

simulatettou gly. Thig was the ^.r st ^ebo^e^&tlve effort of the colonists

and it enabled them to bring in supplies and ship out their products.

Tt hlso proved to be a highly successful Tentnre for the colonists for

several years. , Indeed, income from the wharfs was greater than the V4 income from land rent until 1906° For the colonists, the wharfage

service was anzepterp^isW whfeh was by its nature monopolistic and

lucrative. They were highly pleased that they had been able to develop

the enfefpri#e cooperatively and that the income went into their common

treasury rathef than into the' hands of a few individuals. ^

"Water

An adequate and sanitary supply of water was also .an, immediate

conpern qf the colonists. Again fhey believed supplying such a basic

public necessity should be a cooperatWa effqrt. Not only would a pri­

vate system bring wealth to a few at the expense of many, but since

73. The Fairhope Courier, September 1, 1895, p. 3 8 col.. 2; M inutes, February 17, 1906.

74. Minutes, Febrnary7, 1 9 0 7 . 1B4 their health depended ori. a reliable supply of safe w a t e r , this respon­ sibility should not be left to private individuals. The corporation should assume such yital responsibility,

By June, 1906, the .corporation had. drilled a deep well, installed a pump and lines and furnishing the corporation members with a supply of water. ^ As the community grew, the water works were expanded to meet the growing demstid. ^ ^ Though the corporation peyer realized a. financial surplus from the water system as it did from the w harfs5 the colonists were convinced it was a necessary cooperative effort. They were pleased that they could operate the system on a break-even basis and assure their members of a reliable and safe shpply of w ater. U

Streets And Roads

Development Of streets in the community and roads in the rural lands was of great importance to the corporation member s and to those outsidO the corporation leasing its lands. The corporation started con­ struction of streets and roads as spon as the members began to settle

76. Minutes, June 17, 1899.

77. Ibid.., June 11, Ifdh.

78. Ib id .March 18, 19Q7.

79. I b id ., A agn st 13, 1915. 105 and use it's land, ^ By 1907 the corporation had constructed a system pf roads thrdhgh its lands; it has always kept the roads in good i condition, ^

Indirect Programs

SeeauSe of the inadequate funds and a lack of skills, the corpora- iipnls.iea4etS found it necessary to provide the- membership with some 82 bKsie public necessities, through indirect programs, 1 The corpora­ tion arranged with Uelghbor^ utility corporations to provide the colonists with some necessities. The Pairhope Single Tax Corporation was careful to prpteet the interests of its members in such arrangements by striving to keep the costs of such services. as low as poss ible and by entering into cooperative management agreements in all of the indirect programs, providing public facilities to the member ship, ^

Thpse indirect projects were not nearly as successful as the public facilities directly owned and pp$rabW bp the corporation. As a result,

S&o Minutes, January 25, 1900,

.81, Ihi&', 1907-1966,

82, Ibid,, August 7, 1901«

83, Ibid, 106 tlw pigyam:®; WWg abandoned atter a short time. .However, one should examine these projects b e c a u s e they were a pant of the corporation's efforts to provide the membership with public necessitie.s=

Two indirect attempts by the corporation to provide its members with public 'necessities were, in transportation, facilities. First, in 1901 the corporation leaders decided to purchase a steamboat so they would have a means of traveling and moving their goods to Mobile more in line with, the per sonal desires of the corporation members than the ser’-

Vices provided by the other boats using the cprpmratidn's wharf. ^4 The corporation did not haye the funds for such a boat. Hence they formed

•a trusteeship, instead of a corporation, to avoid the expenses of in­ corporation and license taxes, and raised the money from outside sources® Joseph Fels, a wealthy Philadelphia soap manufacturer and philanthropist who was fp contribnte conslderhkle funds to the

colonists' experiments, largely financed the purchasing of theb o a t . 86

However, operating costs were too high for the limited demands of the corporation membershipi the operation lost money stea-dily for four years. The boat finally burned and sank in 1905. Joseph Fels

84. Ibid.

85. Ibid.

8-6.. Ibid. absorbed the loss and the adventure caused the colonists considerable

embarassmento '

The second attempt of the Corporation to provide its membership

with direct access to transportation, facilities was' the building of a link

of rail line from the Corppration1 s lands to the major railroad serving the area, the Lousiville and Nashyille, Railroad. The main reason for the effort was to increase the accessibility of corporation land» The

Colony'h director', E. E l Gaston, formed the People' s Railroad. Company in I9I 2 , and worked Out a series' of agreements with the f airhope Single

Tax Corporation which furnished the Railroad company with, cheap land for it s tn^cts*Gaston was unable, to raise adequate funds for con­

struction of the railroad; after' eleven years of futile effort, he aban- go doned the endeavor.

The third and final indirect project, a general store, did proye

succe.ssfoL Because: it wan-9® hll day fnip hcr oss the bay to Mobile>

B. Gaston believed th# corporation should operate a general store to make, food, household goods, and clbthing mCrh available to the

87. Ibid., November 29, 1905.

Shy Ibid. , A p ril 1, 1912.

If . Ibid. , Mar ch 5> 1923 . x 108

corporation, member a» ^0 Again he worked out an arrangement with the; yhdrhbpe%$ingie Thx Corporation so that it would not be directly

responsible for the general store o 91 The; corporation furnished the land for the store and Gaston Operated it as an independent corpora." tiopo ^ Gaston did not. believe merchandising to be a business which was by its nature monopolistic and encouraged others to enter the trade« ^3

Bo gave up: the business, when a number of similar stores had been established in the community'. ^ Corporation members believed op­ eration of the general store had been helpful because it had provided them with basic commodities until other retail businesses were develop­ ed in the -community o ^

Probably the m ost crucial common endeavor undertaken by the corporation members was the: way they chose to finance their projects.

90. Minutes, February 6* 1894.

91. Ibid. '

92. Ibid.

93. Ibid.

94. Ibid, ? January 23 s 1917. 109

Eo So Gaston, had .reeagnized the problem of zaising sufficient capital for the- colony proj ects from the time: he conceived of the idea of a colonyo He and those j oining him had written into the corporation’ s constitution a provision, that allowed the corporation to issue to its members an independent non-interest bearing medium of e5£changle=:90

Monetary certificate s we re sold for cash to corporation members and were redeemable at their face value® 97 In this way the corporation borrowed from its own member s and accepted the certificates for pay­ ment of rent, wliarfage duties, water payments, and purchases in the general store as well as payment for ocharges assessed by the corpora** tion for street and road improvements® 9& This method of raising money has always been regarded by the cor porati on member a themselves as the most important thing they dido.99 It allowed the corporation to sur- vive and it provided the members with the wharfage facilities, w ater supply, and roads necessary for them to make the lands they were leasing profitable®

96® Miuutes, .December 31, 1894,

9 7 ® Ibid®

98® Ibid. , January 9» 1899®

99® Ibid®

100® Ibid® m

Adraimstration QjE The Corporation^ Public Programs

0 ...

The corporation1 s constitution giyes the responsibility of ad- mini str ation of 9.U the affairs, of the corporation to the executive

-e-ontohil»^ The executiye council consist^ of the corporation presi­ dent and the. Snf>eninten^nts nf the: dhpnrtmenl^ of landp and highway s $ public service, industries, and public health, All of these officers are elected, Though the constitution places the administration of colony affairs formally in the hands of the expcutiye council, the affairs of the colony have always been, administered by the permanent secretary.

The constitution defines the secretary* s official duties as that of a clerk to the executiye council, go#ey##"* the secretary • has always been, the only full time and paid official Of the corporation,

The founder of the colony, E» B, Qaston, chose to take the po­

sition of permanent secretary and from this position he directed the

101, Constitution, Op, n it,, p, 5,

1#^. Ibid,, P„ 3L:

103, Ibid,

104, I b id ,, p, 4,

105, Minutes, 1894-196.6, Ill corporation.from its founding in 1894 until his death in l938„ The executive council nearly always neesptejf his recommendations on ahininistrative' matter se He supervised the public programs owned and. operated by the corporation. He always supervised closely the corporation* s wharfs, water system, and road programs, The secretary also directed the projects in which the corporation partici­ pated indirectly. He was president of the short-lived railroad advent ture, ^^- The secretary supervised the operation of the steamboat purchased and .operatedindirectly by the corporation, He always supervised the operation of the general store, The current sec­ retary, who has served in this capacity since 1942, has. always exer­ cised a decisive supervisory role oyer administration of the corpora- tion® s public programs,

1 0 7 ° Ibid,

108, Ibid, , A p ril 1, 1912,

109, Ib id ,, August 29, 1901, .

110, Ib id ,, January 23, 1917,

111, Ibldw 1942-1966, 1X2

Transfer Of Public Facilities To The Municipality Of Fairhope

After the Fairhope community incorporates! as; a municipality

and as. the Community grew* the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation turn­

ed over its public facilities to the municipal government. In 19 09> the

colony turned over its thirty nine acres of streets to the town without

i i o charge. Then in 1915 the colony gave its water system to the town, free of charge. ^ The colony conveyed its wharfs to the town in. 1932 for $1500.114

fn transferring fhesh' !ah(ls and facilities to the city, the corpo- ration mambprs weWpdt abandoning, thetr te basic necessi­ ties should be publicly owned. Indeed, the corporation has been able to insure public Ownership of public facilities. This hap occurred for the following reasons: first, when the corporation transferred the

streets to the town, they prohibited the: city from granting private

franchises of public facilities to corporations located on these streets;

second, these strWta.lnclpde all the streets in and near the downtown

area and those, individuals seeking a private franchise' haye found it too

112. Ib id ., .November 3', 1909®

113. Ib id ., A ugust 13, 1915.

114. Ib id ., January 6, 1933. 113 costly to esta'blish, such a. facility on the outskirts of town; and lay ad- ditional lines; filially, the heart of the business district and eighty liercetit vbf the residential dwellings are on corporation land ,and the corporation has been able to persuade the lessees of these urban lands to support its efforts to insure public ownership of those facilities»

The city of Fairhope owns and operates the water, power, gas, and dock facilitie s serving the Fairhope community, ■ As" long as public facilities in the community are publicly owned, the colonists are suc­ ceeding in their goal to prevent private monopoly in public facilities,,^

The Fairhope Single Tax ^tpbtatfon, transfer red its public fa­ cilities to the City of Fair hope because it found itself, as a nonprofit organization owning a limited amount of land from which it obtained its income, financially unable to expand its public facilities to meet the growing dem ands of the bu#ine#S: com m unity leasin g its lands.o ^

To have-continued providing these services to its members and the growing community, through its version of a single tax system, the corporation would have had to purchase an increasing amount of lando

115o The author reached these conclusions after interviews with Co Ao Gaston, the colony secretary, and Wo C= Macon, the mayor of . Fairhope, on January 17, 19b6o

116 o Minutes, January 6, 1933o 114

The corporation member s regretted not being able to continue their

public facility programs; however, they were convinced that they had

proved to themselves the advantages of public monopoly of theSe

facilitie So They were convinced that by a larger application of land

value taxation a government could raise adequate revenue to provide the public with necessities, at a reasonable costo^ .

Evaluation Of The Corporation's Public Facility Operations

After an examination, of the material presented in this chapter

the author believes the corporation*s providing wharfs, water» and

roads, was of critical importance to the lessees in the early years of the corporation's history. The lessees had to have safe water for the

physical survival of their families and their crops. They had to be

able to transport and ship their products to ShuyiVe ecOnomically.

While the corporation's efforts, tp provide its mernbers With such

facilities seem justified* it proved unwise to spend funds and time on

trying to build a railroad and operate a. steamboat. Thecorporation

might have been much better off if it had used this money and time in

securing more land for the corporation. By increasing its land

117. Ibid. holdings, the corporation would have increased its tax base. It might haye been able to provide its members with more public services than it ha S o

The Impprtan.ce Of Public Services.

George’s .main, contention as a political theorist was that govern­ ment should use its taxing power to promote the general welfare of its people, George believed public services should inchide educational, cultural, health, and recreational programs, ^ Like George, the colonists -&i'gnh that the purpose both of government and of any tax scheme should be to promote the general welfare. The main pur­ pose of the Fair hope Single Tax Corporation is to demonstrate that a

System of land value taxation is a better method of raising revenue to promote the general welfare than other tax schemes, The cPrpor>: ration’s constitution. stipulates that all funds beyond operating expenses 122 must be used to promote the general welfare of corporation members.

118, George, Progress and Poverty, pp, 32$,

ll9o Geprge, Social Problems, pp. 189-190,

120, Constitution, op. cit,, p. 1. 116

The corporation members did not belieyc the corporation should be required to proW.de .public soyylqos ydueb; were adequately' and rea­ sonably provided for by the state. Therefore the corporation wag always, willing to cooperate with gowernment in providing corporation member s ahd the- othSt (^tizOhs of the community With public services.,

All public s#ryice!S provided by the corporation were always, extended to the entire community, not just corporation members- Whenever the corporation found it necessary to levy a charge for a particular ser­ vice, member s, were charged half as mxlch as nonmember s=

Public Schools

When the corporation members began arriving in. Fairhope in

1895, they found the state of Alabama was. not providing public School­ ing in The colonists decided at once to begin efforts to pro­ vide their own members and all other residents of the area with edueatbmAl facilities, and by April, 1896, the corporation began pro­ viding these services'. The. corporation furnished the land and material for the school* and the corporation members provided the

123. Minutes* July 20, 19 03 . labor for construction of the school,. The. school operated both: hay and night classes, the night classes being held for the older children and

During the early'year.s of the school/s. existence, the state of

Alabam a did not. provide any funds for sch ools in the- FairhOpe eom ninnlr tyo By 1903, though, the state provided funds for four months of school- irigo The corporation operated the school eight months per year from 1896 until 190,8, neyer receiying from the state more than four m onths of Operating funds®

When the town of Fairhope was incorporated in 1908, the town immediately assumed, the responsibility for operating public schools in the area® The cOlony gaye the land and the building to the town in

19W® - It contributed funds to fhe town for operation of the public: school thr ough l914® Though the corporation stopped contributing to the operation of the SchOoi in I##,: it continued to aid the. public

125V The Fairhope C ouriet, A p ril .8, p> 1, coi® 3®

126® Minutes, July 20, 1.963® .schools in. other ways* The corporation gaye. to the towiiiii for a public high school and guaranteed $2500 toward construction costs in the eyent the community defeated the town’s'proposal .pf a three m ill tax to support the school„ In 1935, the corporation sold to the town for a nominal price ten acres of land; which enabled the high school to participate in the new agricultural programs for high schools sponsor­ ed by the national goyernm enh-^l The -corporation has given little

in the why O f direct aid to the public schools, since 1935o

The: O rganic School

The corporation's. major educational effort has not been, its support of public education, but its contributions to a highly creatiye private schools In 19IQ a Minnesota school teacher. Marletta Johhshn, selected Fairhope as an appropriate site to- build a school of organic education. Mrs. Johns on belieyed a. child's neryous system, too dell- cate to. be subject to formal primary work. .Such work should be post­ poned and in itg place should come activity that was self-prompted.'

This ia the basis of progressive education. In the organic school the

130. Ibid.:, June 16, 1924.

131. Iblfey A p r il.20, 1935. child is .left to maike creative use of his senses with, free use of mate rials o

There is no emphasis on grades and promotions because such emphasis

hills initiative and may be paralyzing in later life. The child is his. own.

disciplinarian. The faculty enjoys a high degree of etudent obedience,

but they declare,it edme's from student self-discipline.

The corporation hag always furnished the land and the buildings

for the school and has contributed an annual amount of money sufficient

to allow the school to break eyen iii its operating expenses. The annual,

contribution now*averages $3000. per year.

The school takes children from kindergarten through high school.

It is fully accredited and enjoys a national and international reputation.

Many promteeht AiW rlcau aud foreign, families haye sent their' children

to the Fairhope School of Organic Education.: Many wealthy individuals

have contributed to the financial operation of the school.. The school

takes pride that Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and John Dewey visited it years

ago and had m uch p raise for its programs..'*"^^

132.; Interviews on January 20, 1966, with Diane Stitt, one of the teacher^ in the school and Frances Stuart Hughes,- director of the school.

133. Minutes, Annual Financial Reports, 1952-il96:5.

134=- Interview on May 15, 1966 with Mr s. Frances Stuart Hughes., the school's director. tiaB: school has a declining enrollnxeiife, but it continue:S to turn out excellent students* Demand for the school seems to have dropped primarily because many of the school1 s practices have been adopted in public and private Schools all over the wprlcL Many of its graduates do exceptionally well in their pursuit of higher education.

For examples Paul Gaston, Professor of History at the University of

Virginia, Fulbrightscholar' and,y isitin g prefesser at JohnH o p k i n s

University in 1964, is a graduate of the Organic School, He believes the school conducts an exceptionally creative and stimulating program.

While there is declining demand for the school, the corporation mem­ bers voted on October 14, 1965, to continue supporting the school as long as the school needed and desired the corporation's support.

Student Aid

In addition to assisting educational endeavors in the manners discussed above, the corporation contributes to the education expenses of some of the community's college students by awarding several college scholarships to students each year. The scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis to students in both the public Fair hope

135. Interview on August 10, 1964 with Paul Gaston.

136. Minutes,, October Zl, 1965. High School hh

Twenty college students from a community bf 4, 5## people represent a considerable percentage of the students in the locality.

The Fairhope .Library

The Fairhbpe Single Tax ©orpbratibn. established in. 1899 the first public library in south Alabama. The library was possible at this 4ate hecauss of the interest of wealthy benefactor s in the

Fairhope Single Tax experiment. M rs. Marie Howard, the widow of a social reform er who had tried tor establish a social reform colony in

Mexico during the 1890*s, joined the corporation as a membeir in 1899»

She gaye the entire, collection of her late husband’s books, twelve hun­ dred volumes, -to the corporation as a first step in establishing a public library in Fairhope* Further, she allowed the corper'ation to use one room of her home as the library until, the corporation could afford to build a separate library facilities.:1'38

In its early years the library received several donations from

Joseph Fels, anotherbenefactor.From 1910 until 1964 the

137. Minutes, .January .17, 1966.

13'&. Minutes, June 18, 1900. 122 corporation furnished the land, the building and, except for the modest one dollar annual dues contributed by members of the library associ­ ation, all of the operating expenses for the; library. In addition to providing the land and the building, the corporation' s cost of oper­ ating thei'llWAry grew from a few dollar s in 1910 to- $250.0 annually by

I960. ^ The town of fair hope assumed responsibility for operating a public library in 1964. The corporation leased the land and the building to the town for eighty dollars per year. This amount is what the. corporation believes to be the annual value of the land on which the building is located. . It:^yo the city the entire library holdings of twenty thousand yolume'0«^ -

The corporation has indeed given the community a library of exceptional quality. This author has uspd the library for eighteen months andhas been highly impressed with the quality -of its holdings.:

The library contains hundreds of volumes concerning some of the most advanced social experiments in. the nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

140. Ibid., January 1, 1910; January 1, 1965.

141. Ibid., January.ZI* i960,

142. Ib id .:, J a n u a ry '2%. 1965. 123

P arks And

In accordance with its constitutional provisions to provide its members with recreational, facilities, the -corporation set aside in

1900 one hundred acres of its land as. woodland and beach front parks»

The beache s and park# cover a Od# .mile: strip-: of beach on Mobile Bay0

The corporation constructed bath houses and picnic areas and main­ tained parks and facilities for the free use of its members and for the: enjoyment of notimember.s at a nominal fee. The corporation members, voted to giye the parks and the beaches to the town of Fairhope in Oct­ ober, 1931o ThpSh lands were deededto Fairhope without charge but

With the provisions that, the municipality maintain and preserve the scenic beauty of the. area, permit the construction of no facility in the area which would take away from the natural beauty of the area. The park was to be permanently named "The Henry George Parko " The primary purpose of these provisions was to prevent commercializaiion of the area and to assure Fairhope residents access tp beach recreation.?^

The Henry George Park today is in the center of a lucrative resort area along the eastern shores of Mobile Bay. To the north in Montrose, a wealthy ;rW0dektlal. area, consisting of winter homes belonging to

144. Minute s, October 29, 1931 124 people wit#-live- most of the year in other parts of the nation, and to the south is %'int Clear, .Alabama, a wealthy resort area. Sinpe Fair- hope is a small community, it seems unlikely that the community could have afforded to purchase nearly the park area it received free from the corporation. The mayor of Fairhope says this beach, and park area is the townis most valuable asSpt in attracting new residents and visitors to Fairhope.

The corporation's constitution requires the corporation to furnish free burial space for its members. The corporation set aside a beautiful site for this purpose in 1900 and has maintained the site since.

Member s of the e.erporatien haye alwhys been granted free burial space.

Lessees, whp- are- not member s of the corporation have been granted

145. Claude BUjgge, Gulf States ,(Lithographed in Fairhope, A la ­ bama: Poser Printing Company, Inc. 1964), pp. 53-8.0; Hodding Carter and Anthony Ragusin,. Gulf Coast Country (New York: Due 11, Sloan and Pearce, 1951), pp. 199-227.

146. Interview'with W. C. Macon, Mayor of Fairhope, August 125 burial ^pace for a rbiaf for the Space until it is: us'edo

Other people in Fairhope haye been allowed to purchase burial space«

S eryice

The only unsuccessful attempt by the corporation to provide.its members with a public seryice was for free telephone service. In May,

19Q4s the corporation, entered into an arrangement with the Eastern

Shore Telephone Company to bring phone service to its members. The corporation purchased enough equipment ftUm the company to enable the: icx^pcration to operate a phone Seryice for its member s by using

Eastern's lines.. The corporation paid Eastern for the use of its' lines and began providing its members with, phone service in 1906 with the

:Sta#d goal Of providing the seryice free as soon as possible,

The phone service proved too costly for the corporation. Only a few members subscribed to the. service. The general membership yolced its belief on January 20, 1915 that the funds used to pr ovide phone service to only fourteen subscribers Should be used to proyide a service more beneficial, to the entire membership. Since the

147, Interview on January 18, 196:6, with Helen. Call, Chairman of the cemetery committee.

MS, Minutes* May 23, 1904, corporation leader ship was convinced it had made a mi stake in think­ ing the service would be of greater benefit than it had proved to be.

It wh s abandoned in 1915 ,

Qf The. Corporation' s Public . S eryices

It seems clear that corporation members and the entire commun­ ity haye benefited from th& OOrpOKhtlbii's school, lib rary, and r e c ­ reation programs. However, the corporation’s'leadership has in rec­ ent,years grown steadily more, conservatiye in its public services.

With the exception of its: support to the Organic School and its main- tainence of the cemetery, the corporation does not now provide its morhbers or- the community with any meaningful public service.

Ironically#the leadership has become more conservatiyeas the corporation has become more able than ever to provide public ser­ vices. The surplus fund, monies beyond operating expenses, has increased dramatically' since 1963. This fund, which the corporation's constitution stipulates must be usbd to providethe members with pub­ lic service, has increased from $8, 000 at the end of 1963 to $32, 000

149. Ib id ., January 20, 1915.

150. Interview March 15, 1966 with the corporation’s director, •C» A. Gaston. at the end of 1965° T h e increase results from the town assuming the costs of the Fairhope Public Library in 1964 and the increase in

j CO rent charged by the corporatipn for its lands°

Why has the corporation become more conservative on the ques­ tion of public services in. recent years? After intensive discussions with Go A° Gaston, the corporation director and the real maker Of cpnporatiOK policy, it appear ^ that the director is: unduly concerned

l .... about a possible increase in county property tax assessm ents and therefore an increase in the amount of taxes the corporation would have to pay for its lessee s° He seems to have developed this fear for two r easonso ©he, ther e is considerable talk in Alabama about the. need for serious revision upward in property taxes° Second, Paul 5° and .Blanche R° Alyea published in 1956 a book, highly respected in the area, .in which they suggest that the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation should keep a larger re serve fund on hand to as sure its financial stability in the event of an increase of property taxeso Gaston has

151° Minutes, Annual Financial Reports for 1963 and 1965, Jan­ uary 12, 1964, and January 17, 1966°

152°. Minutes, January 17, 1966°

153° M obile P r e ss .R eg ister,-A p ril 22, 196.6, P° 7A, col. 1° 128 taken the suggestion seriously because Paul Alyea has enjoyed Mgh respect in the state as a professor of Economics at the Univorsity of

Alabam a sin ce 1945„

This author is in uo position to dispute Professor Alyea*s con­ cern about the nS#d for a larger reserye fundo It does seem that the professor*s suggestion has frightened.Gastom The director has cited this suggestion several time s to the author when defending his refusal to prbyide more public services to the communitye ^ 5 .As a student of

Alabama politics, the author does argue that because of the influence of urban and rural landowners in the state, any meaningful tax revision seems; a long yhy O f f o ^ - A better method for the corporation to secure funds to meet such an increase in property taxes would be to make a greater effort to collect the true annual rent of corporation land. To withhold public services because of the possibility of a tax increase seems to be a shallow argument because there is always the possibility of a tax increase. The corporation always faced this possibility when

It was spending much, more on public services than it is to day0 While

155o Interview with Co Aa Gaston, March.l5s .1966s

156o See HalHe Farmer * s. The Legislative Process in Alabama (University of Alabama: Bureau of Public Administration, University of Alabama Press, 1949=..) one can understand the necessity of holding part of the surplus fund as a precaution against unforseen expenses, a large withholding of the funds seems to contradict the stated purposes of the corporation., Such a policy is clearly in conflict with George’s liberal ideas on the need for vigorous development of public service s« the corporation has. be@n, quite successful. The

lan

Toduy thp' corporation’ s, urban lands are valued at $2 9 1, 440. It# rural

.land# are- valued at $37, 840. Personal properties and improvements

on the land are valued at $2, 477, 660. The total assessed value of pro­

perty in the entire county is $4Y,.2#8, 960. The corporation's land and

the; imprbybmeuts on the land aue 5.25 per cent of the total county

assessment. In the City of Fairhope the total assessment of property

is $4, 706s 4(50» The total assessed value of corporation, laud in the

city and the improvements. on the land are $2, 267, 0 0 0 , 49. 09 percent

of the total assessed value of urban properties. State law requires

that the assessed value of property not exceed twenty percent of the

r e a l value. Therefore, the real Value of the corporation' s land is much

higher thap the above assessed'figures.1

1. These figures are based on the Property Tax Assessment 131

The corporation collected $.1887»46 in rent for its land in 1905, the: first year the corporation attempted to collect the full annual rent; its disbursements ednaledits reneipts^ In 1965, the corporation col­ lected $114, 010oII■ in.Ihnd rents and,. after all disbursements, had an operating surplus of $33, 402, 00 plus a re serve fund of $28,1140 46, for a total, surplus of $61,5 l 6 o 52^

It would seem that the corporation's wealth will continue to grow because of the increase in land values in a rapidly growing area. Just , fifteen mile s from Fairhope is the growing city of Mobile with apres**' ent population of 350, 000 people. The area between Mobile and Fair-• hope is already nearly a continuous, development of a residential and busine ss districts. ^

notification to the Fairhope Single Tax.Corporation from the Baldwin #ounty Board of Tax ^gnnlisution. Bay Minette, Alabama, December 1, 1965, Corporation Files. The statistics above are also found in the 1965 Financial Report of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. This report, is included in this study as "Appendix C. "

2.; Minutes, February 7, 1907.

3. Ibid., January 17, 1966.

4. Gulf States, _opo.. cit., pp. 54-80. 132

Heither' Land Speculatioa Or Slums

Like Georges the edrperhtieW # fednders ^w&ut&d tei de^lepNK community free of land speculatione, ^ There is not any discernable land speculation in. Fairhope® The Single Tax Corporation has not allowed speculation on its lands; and this. has held down land specu­ lation in the ethire cpmmmMty» Individuals wanting to rent or pur­ chase land in the community baife been unwilling to pay unreasonable prices to speculator &» They haye been able to detect inflated demands by comparing p-riyate derhandh for land' usage and the corporation8 s. charges for use of its lands. The corpbratien ppstS' its' rental charges in its Fairhope office and publishes: the Changes in the local paper.—

Henry George and the corporation founders worked to prevent the development of slums. ^ There are no slums in Fairhope. Con­ structive use Cnrpbrhtpld.ndp Seernp td explain the reason why slums have not developed in Fairhope. . Though the corporation owns only twenty five, percent of the urban land 5 that twenty five percent includes

'5.; George, Progress and Poverty, p» 326; Constitution op. cit., p . 1.

6 . ThbJPairW January 10, 1966, p, 3 col.2 ‘.

7. George, Progress, and Poyerty, pp. 452-469; Constitution, pp. cit., ppc 1#-11. the entire business district* Businessmen have preferred to lease land, from the corporation and construct their own improvements rather than pay purchasing price for pstiyatp land. Seventy five percent of th'd urban residential dwellings has been built on corporation land. Home owners have preferred to lease corporation land rather than purchase privately owned land. The vacant land in Fairhope today is privately owned. Businessmen and home owners have found it to their advantage to build quality constructions. on their leased lands, because if, they decide to sell their improvements, the cqrporation reserves the right th: inform the buyer of the true value of the improvements. Since most construction has occured on corporation lands, cheap buildings have not been constructed in Fairhope. &

The absence of dire poverty in the community does not mean living in Fairhope is expensive.:. Fairhope has been settled by people of. modest means. They have been attracted to Fairhope because they could lease land on which to build a home at reasonable cost. They never had to raise a purchasing price.. Rent for the largest residential

8 . The author reached these conclusions after observing land usage in the community and after being allowed by C. A. Gaston to be present during conversations in .December, 1964, and December, 1965 between Gaston and a large number of his lessees when these phrties reached agreement on rent and tax' questions for the coming yearw d^elBiig: lot

F airhope's Cultural Life:

FOr the corporation's founders, as for George, the ultimate, pur - pose of public policy should be to develop a society in which an indivi­ dual, can enjoy not only material comfort but also be able to pur sue his esthetic desires. Fair hope from its earliest days has enjoyed a rich cultural life. Mdst member s of the community attribute this largely to the single taxers. The, range interests apaong the: early citizens of the community is indicated by a listitig of. some of their activities in the

Fairhope Courier, on January 1, 1903. The newspaper listed among ethers: The Henry George Club; The Library Review Club; The F a ir­ hope School of Philosophy; The ProgresSive ,League, The Dancing

Assembly; The Village Improvement Association; The Woman's .Suffrage

Asspeiatieu;: The Fairhope Winter Assembly; The Fairhope Society of Arts- and Crafts; The Fairhope Dramatic Club; The Academy of Science and Art; The Henry George Athletic Club; The Fairhope- Library A ssoci­ ation; The A rbitration Society; and the- Fairhope Band*

Many Of the above organizations are still in existence. The Fair­ hope community strongly supports programs promoting art, drama, reading, and public discussion. A number of professional artists reside in 'Fairhope and displaytheir works in the community art gallery.

Since Fairhope is located on the ea,ster.n shores' of Mobile Bay, it is a beautiful setting for landscape painting.

The Racial Problem.

Though Fairhope has a rich cultural climate in many ways, the community still has some serious social problems. While many cor­ poration members are actively trying to solve the social problems in the community today, they delayed a long time in taking an active part in combating the most difficult social problem in the area, the racial problem, Sbbn-after arriving in-FMrhope, the corporation members decided to accept racial segregation as a way of life until a more

1 0 , The Fairhope Courier, January 1, 1903, p, 3> col, 3, 136

opportune time to advocate desegregation of the races= ^ They construc­

ted separate bath houses on their beaches for "white" and "colored"

people??/^ They decided not to. lease their lands to negroes*, 13 This

early acceptance of segregation they justified on the grounds that local

residents would not accept the corporation or its member s if the. cor-

ppratioin.refu:sed to

The corporation continued under the same leadership from the

time it took the position of supporting segregation until 19-42, Jkt that,

time, the' cuyhent ditectbr took over leadership of. the corporation, and

though he has not been able to get the corporation to take- a position

supporting the civil rights moyement, the corporation has dropped all

of its official policies supporting segregation.

As private citizens,, the -director and his wife, Margaret Gaston, haye been strong supportsr s of the civil rights movement, John 1ST,

BU - Thompson, a H arvard graduate and the: fir st and so far the only white minister of a negro church in the state of Alabama and President

; v . . .

11, .Minute s, July .24, 1899=

12= .Ibldo

13= Ibido

14= Ibid, 137 of the Human Relations Council of Mobile since 1963, has the highesi praise for the efforts of the director, his wife and other members of the corporation for the, support they haye given him in his fight to end segregation of the races in south Alabama, 1® Margaret Gaston has led several groups organised by Thompson which, have tested the area's

'Compliance with the, Halted States Civil Right a Act of 1964° ^

Though the corporation itself has given little support to the civil rights movement, the private activities of many of its members have r e suited in the COrpOrdtien's' haying a liberal image in the community regarding the racial problem® The corporafidn^s director is keenly embarassed because the organization in its corporate capacity has been, sileot on the race problem in recent year s and even supported segr egation of the races in its earlier year s. He intends to continue his private support of the civil rights movement and is pleased that the commvenity often accepts his private Statements as corporation p o licy . 17

15= Interview on October 10, 1964 with John IF. M, Thompsdn, .Pastor of the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, Mobile Alabama.

16* Ibid.

17. Interview on October 10, 1964, with C. A. Gaston. The schools, recreational areas, and, public facilities have been, d.e--

segregated since 9I 6 0 . Few negroes live in Fairhope and tension be­ tween the; races is not high,: The negroes;are largely 1 gnored by the white residents of the community = Though the Fairhope residents have many reasons to be proud of the community, it will not be a model community until the negro is accepted as a part of the social and cul­ tural life of the community.

-Grass Roots Democracy Has Mot Occurred

Henry George believed his ideas and methods would inspire a high leyel of participation in community affairs. George argued that m ost people, wanted to see social ills corrected.. He believed indi­ viduals would take part in community affair s if they were allowed to.

If the individual knew his rent waS to be used for the common good, he would have a keen interest in how the rent was used. The process, of collection and use of the rent *'would be under the supervision of public The founders of the cdyperhtioia helleved the g;e»eral ,odr membership would take an actiye part in corporation affairs. ^ The corporation's constitution gives to .each member an equal vote- in selecting the corporation's leadership and in determining corporation policy. Though the membership was fairly active in the first year s.

Of the corporation's existence, since 1915 only a few members haye taken an actiye part in corporation.;affair s. 2 1

Why has this lack of interest in corporate affairs developed?

Based on information gathered by this author and presented in the previous chapter of this study, this lack of ptokieipation in cor p ora- tion affairs Snems to- be. explained by the confidence the membership j has in the corporation director and the rather selfish.desire to- allow the director to bear the responsibilities of directing the corporation. as .long a# he is. willing to Jp.sp-,v. . _it

How could the general membership be persuaded to take an active p a rt,in corporate affairsf Possibly the answer lies in encouraging the membership to take a greater part in deciding what public services

19. Minutes, January 16, 1899=

2Q= Constitution, .op° cit=, p.. 3.

21= l#'nntes, 1894-1966= 140 the corporation should provide its members = Based on the interviews with corporate members as cited on page eighty-eight, it seems that the: membership is quite cognizant that the surplus fund is growing.'

While the membef b are content to- hold it in reserve if the director wants to, it seems possible that if he would actively Seek their advice on how the funds could be better used for the benefit of the member­ ship and the community, he could stimulate more interest by the mem­ bers in corporate affairs.

The Problem- Of Future Leadership

Most interested observers of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation who are awsLre that the corporation's director is now seynntyy e a r s of age are: quick to point opt the need for young and new leader ship = Is new leadership available? Several members of the corporation under­ stand the goals, methods, and problems of the corporationo These individuals declare they will be Willing to take a hand in directing the corporation whdneyer the circumstancea require them to. They are firm Supporters of the corporation's purposes and have no intention of allowing the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation to flounder beaause of a lack of capable le ader ship, ^

22o Conclusion reached by the author after interviews on 141

Though, friends of the corporation would like to see some immed­ iate guarantee that future leader ship will be assured, it seems that the question of future leadership will not be settled until an urgent peed ariseso' Those capable of leading the corporation prefer to- lea^e direction up to Gaston as long as he is able and willing to accept the r e sponsibility: Friends of the corporation can take heart in the assurance that the Fairhppe single taxers are a determined and capable lot and should be able to handle future problems as Well aS they kaye past problems. ^ ^

The Word Has Not Spread

George and. the Fair hope single taxers believed that by demon­ strating thS: soundness of their ideas and by explaining them, men would adeept the single tax as the be st method of using governmental authority to solve public problems» The Fairhope single taxers have had little success in creating interest in their goals or methods» Few people outside, of the Fairhope' community know of the single, tax experimpnto

January 16 and 1.7, 196 6 , with Go ,M» Rockwell, Marvin- Nichols, Robert Mo Schneider, Ko H« Brown and Mo: Ro Berglin. All of these people are currently serving as officers Of the corporationo

ZBo Ibido 1 42

Why has the word, failed to spread? Two major factors seem to

have cdnthihtited td the faiiare of the Fairhope single taxers to create

widespread interest in their experiment-. First, Henry George w&S in its early days unsure of the Fairhope experiment,,! George was afraid

private groups such as the-Fairhope Single Tax Corporation might be

oyercome by personal jealousies of individuals participating in Such

experimentso ^ He preferred to have his ideas adopted through

governmental actiono Gedrge:died ohly three years after the corpora­

tion's establishment. He did not live to see the success of the corpora­ tion nor to giye the experiment the publicity he might haye. Second,

the Fairhope single- taxers haye not been able to dispel the widely

held belief in surrounding communities that, theirp r ogram is quite

complex. A single tax administered by government as advocated by

■George is easier to-undenstund than the version applied by the Fair^ hope Single Tax Corporation.

At the present time, the corporation is making no effort to spread,

the word. The corporation members haye become resigned to the- fact

that the community is indifferent to- their ideas* An examination of the

.

24. George, Social Problems, p. 1.74 M 3

C:Q*p@aSffifcip;rt*s reicgriii indicates that it has never made a substantial effort to' popularize its programs,, The corporation, might do well to heed George’s adiye to speak, writes and argue without ceasing until 25 by reason and persuasion, its ideas, are understoodo h a c k Of Proiessional, Aid

While the decision to use a sy stem of land value taxation may have been, a decision the corporation'members had to make themselves, as the publip would have to make such a decision in the political arena, it does Seem that once the decision had been made, the corporation, would have sought professional aid in developing and administering its tape scheme. Corporation records show that it has not. The scheduled trips by M. Mason Gaffney and Arthur P. Becker of the Economics

Department, University Of Wisconsin, beginning in April, 1966, will be the first professional advice the corporation has sought. The corporation’s director hopes these people will he Ip him impy ove his

25„ Ib id ., pp. methods of determining the fy.ll annual rent of the corporatioii' s land

The corporation should make more Use of professlonaj adyice in the

future because the full annual ya-lye df land is eyer changing and is

difficult: to ^deteumin&^:

26. Interview pn February 22, 19.66, with C. A» Gaston,

UWgd%#ldh. .-#rhetd%. . . CONCLUSIONS

Is The. Fair hope Experiment .A. Applic&tloii Of

George's; Ideas ?

Ye s, the Fairhope experiment i n v o l v e s a sub stantial though, only

■a partial application of George's, ideas.! To.understand which of

George's ideas have been applied and which have not, it is necessary to review the goals and methods -suggested, by George, the goals ' V' stated by the Fairhope .Single Tax Corporation, and the methods used by the corporation to attain its goals.

Agreement On The Prime Cause Of Poverty

George believed the prime cause of poverty to be the private monopolization in land ownership and the speculative increase of land v a lu e s.' He believedland to be the most important factor in product­ ion. Land must be available before labor and capital can be adequately utilized. Because the amount of land is fixed, the value of land in­ creases with population growth and the corresponding increasing need for land*' George wanted to se# a society created virhere all people

would haye equal ac qO s-iS feo land and wher e the value which attache ;b it r

self to land as a result of community growth would be confiscated by

a single tax on land value and used by government to promote the

1 public goodo:

The-foundez:a of the Tairhope ;Sittgie- Tax Corporation agreed with

George that the prime- cause, of poverty was private monopolization in

land ownership and the- speculative i n c r e a s e of land values. ^ Both

reached their conclusion^ regarding the basic-cause of poverty from

their own per sonal observations of the economic practices about, them.

George reached, his- conclusion from observing the private, monopoli­

zation and speculation with land in California. ^ The colony founders

observed the same process in I o w a .4 The founders too, wanted to see

a SPCiCty 1 -®rcated; wherh; alhpeopip wopld have equal access to land and

■>,, ... ^

1.. George, Progress and Poverty, p.: 326.

2° . p» - i; #, V

3.. George, Our Band and Land Policy, pp. 36-74.’

4. Letter dated October 13', 1 8 9 0 , from E. B. G aston to John McLeod, Dakota, Iowa, Corporation Files- 147 where publicly created land valu.es would be collected and used to pro­ vide the people with more, public services? ®

Agreement On The Prime Method Of Securing Their Goals

GeOrge believed the most important single step toward creating the type of society he desired would be public adoption of a system of land value taxation 0 He wa-nted to see such a system adopted on a national scale in all countries, but he. belie yOd the movement would haye to begin on local government levels« &

Tho f o u U d e r s of the Fairhope Single Tax ‘Corporation believed the creation of the society they envisioned would require public adoption of a system of lurid value taxation. The founders of the colony were un­ willing to wait for public adoption of such a system and persuaded the

state of Alabama to allow the colonists to operate a simulated system of land yalue taxation® They hoped to demonstrate that, under a system of land tenure where the full annual yalue of land is collected, land, will be more acces sible and better utilized than under prevailing systems.

5. , Constitution, op? cit., pp. 8-11.

6o George, Social Problems, p. 124. Further', they wanted to demonstrate that a community can guarantee it.self funds needed for public services if it takes the income it creates fey its own growth and uses the income to promote the public' good. %h#

■.corppration. has pperited. its, sim u lated sy stem of land value taxation for seventy years. 'This-nepf^sfents a considerable egcperiment with land value taxation. 7

George did not believe a taxing system would be sufficient to assure creation of a just society. Facilities providing public necessi­ ties shpuld be publicly owned and administered. ® The Fairhope single taxers agreed, with. George on. the question of public ownership and admini stration, of facilities: supplying the public with basic necessitie s. 9

The Falrhppe .Single Tax Gprporation's' programs' have involved much more than operating a system of land, tenure based on cdllection of the full annual rent of land. The corporation developed and oper­ ated.its own. water system, road system, and wharfage system from

To Minutes, 1895-1965.

8 . George, Social F'roblems, pp. 188-189.

9 . Constitution, op. cit., pp. 10-11. 149 the time of its founding until the municipalization of the Fair hope com­ munity in, 1908. From 1908 until 1932, the corporation gradually trans­ ferred to the city free; of charge its public facilities. ^ The corpora­ tion has succesisfully prevented the city from granting private franchises 11 for supplying public necessities. The town now owns water, power, and gas facilities and supplies; the;' Community "with.these basic necessi­ ties. The corporation' s: efforts t# provide the community with public necessities from 1895-1932 and its cooperation with the town of Fair- hope in assuring -continued public ovner ship of all public: facilities in the community 1#: pr#'snnkS, % and sueces sful effort to keep public facilities out of private hands.

Public. Services

George insisted adamantly that the rent collected by the public be used for public seryices. He envisioned public services ranging from public health and schooling to public support of the arts and all fields of research.. 12

10. Minutes, 1908-1932.

11. Minutes, 1932-1966.

12. George, Social Problem^, pp. 171-193. 150

Public, services, seem to be the only area in which the corpora-^ tion has slighted its application of George1 s ideas,. While the Fairhope

Single Tax Corporation has made a considerable effort in supporting the community's schoehs and the library, it has, done little else in the way of public services. Certainly the corporation was. not wealthy enough to provide the wide range of services George advocated. How­ ever, it does seem the corporation could have made better use of its funds in the past and it COUld make better ms# of them today. The rail­ road, the steamboat, and. the telephone efforts cost the corporati on much in its earlier years. At that time the corporation seemed to have a greater need for better schools, water systems, and public health than for railroads, steamboats: W telephones. ^ Rather than hold the corporaiiemlS fund in reserye, as the corporation leaders are doing today, the corporation could be using these funds in a creative way. It could, for example, dramatically increase the number and the amount of scholarships it grants to college students.. It could aid the county in developing better cocational training centers through the area.

Indeed, because of the great importance George placed on public.

%% M in u tesj 1 8 9 ,5 - 1 9 2 0 . service, it would seem that if the; corporation is going to claim to be conducting an application of Georgexs ideas,, it should make a much greater effort to proyide its members with more public services.

Does The Fairhope Experirnerit Offer Any Grounds For Judging

The Validity Of. George* s Ideas?

Yes, the Fairhope experiment provides one with evidence, which seems to warrant tentative judgments about the validity of some of

George's ideas. A number of his ideas have been strengthened by the

Fairhope experiment. Others have not worked in the Fairhope endeavor=

Still others cannot be judged on the basis of the Fairhope experience,,

To draw conclusions about the validity of George's ideas manifest in the

Fairhope experiment, it is necessary to review the successes and fail­ u res of the. endeavor.

Constructive Land USage And The Absence Of Slum Development .

George argued vehemently that meaningful land value taxation would result in better usage of land and would prevent slum develop­ ment. He belieyed that Uhder a sy stem of land Value taxation one could not afford to hold idle. land. The landowner would have to improve his land or turn it over to someone who would. Slums would not develop because- slum dwellings earn too little rent to pay the tax

cm, the full annual value of the land. To make his impr ovements pr ofit­ able the land owner would have to construct quality improvements.

This is pteeipely what has occurpd in. the Fairhope community.

There are no poor quality business or residential dwellings on the lands belonging to the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation.. The corporation's lands include the entire businesg. district and eighty percent of the resi­ dential area. The remaining twenty percent of the residential area in the community is deeded property. It is largely vacant. The buildings wMch. are on the deeded land compare favorably with those on the cor­ poration's land. There are no slums in the community. ^

Why has a system of land tenure which collects the full annual value, of land in the form of rent resulted in better land usage in the J Fairhope community? The reason seems, to come from two of the

Fairhope: Single T a x Corporation's policies. First, the corporation has made a long and serious, effort to collect the true annual value of

.14. George, Fr^ pp.. 434-435; 452-469.

.1^6 The material, in this chapter is based on the anthor 's obser- yation of land usage in the entire Fairhope community from 1964-1966. Paul and Blanche Alyea recorded similar observations in their, Fair­ hope 1854-1954 op. cit., pp. 244-248. 153

land. There has been no inflation in rent rates. When rent rates have been

increased, the leasees have largely accepted the increases as just. The

rent has been low enough to make land accessible and high enough to

force good usage of the land. Second, the corporation always reserves

the right to tell anyone who purchases improvements from a lessee the

corporation's estimate of the true value of the improvements. The cor­

poration's director believes good land.usage has resulted because the

corporation has always strictly enforced the above policies. He be­

lieves that land value taxation forces good land usage but insists it

requires diligent and continuing effort to determine and collect the full

annual value of the land. ^

:. Public Facilities And Services

An examination of the history of the Fairhope Single Tax Corpo­

ration strongly'indicates that neither the corporation nor its lessees

would have survived economically had it not been for the corporation's

public utility programs. The wharfs, the roads, the water, and the

scrip were all essential corporate programs. After the community

began to grow, private groups offered to supply the area with public

16. Constitution op. c i t . , pp. 9=10; .interview on N ovem ber 8 , 1965, with C. A. Gaston. 154

necessities. However, in the crucial years when survival was at stake,

the: corporation provided its members and the other members O f the

community with the utilities necessary for Survival. George had argued

that public utilities were so vital for economic survival and growth that

they could not be left to private development. This was clearly the case

during the. early years of the Fairhope experiment.

Fairhope: Compared To Surrounding CommunitiOs

George argued that application of his theory would re Suit in a

community of greater wealth and that the quality of life would be im ­

proved through better public services» This has been the- ease in the

Fairhope story. Material published by the United States Census Bureau in 1963 and data gathered by the author from Baldwin County officials,

confirm the contention of Fairhope citizens that their community has

made more progress economically and Culturally than neighboring

communities. ^ -

In I960 the general educational, level O f Fairhope, the second

largest town in the county with a population of 4, 858, was 12. 2 years.

17. M inutes, 1895-19m .

18= The author was able to obtain detailed economic and social data only on the towns in the county with a population of 2500 and above. These towns' are Bay Minette, Fairhope and Foley. 155

Thig wat:3 3.1 years higher than the state level. It was 2„ 7 year s higher than Bay Miniette» the lar gest town in the county with a population o£

5,197 ° It was 2 year § higher. than Foley , the third largest town in the county with a population of 2, 8 8 9 . Fairhope- residents with a four year college education numbered 293, Bay MLnette 200, and Foley 63. Fair- hope h#d 413 residents with 1, to 3 .year S of college. Bay Minette 162, and Foley 116. Oyer the past seyen year s 43 percent of all high school graduates from Fairhope .h,ave gone on to attend a four year college,

38 percent from. Foley, and 30 percent from Bay Minette. The: per­ centage of high school graduates going on W acquire higher educational training including junior colleges, technical and trade- schools was 77 percent for Fairhope, 64 percent from Foley, and 45 percent from

Bay Minett e . ^

The average family income: of Fairhope residents is much higher than that for residents 'of Bay Minette. and Foley.1' In i 9 6 0 the family

I9 . United States Bureau of the Census. United State s’Census of Population; I960, Vol. I, Characteristics of the-,Population. Part 2', Alabama ..(Washington: Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 2-12, 194-196.; figures furnished by the principals of the Fairhope, Bay Minette and Foley .Highs chopls. median income of Fairhope residents was $5S 392s Bay Minette $4$ 355, and Foley $4, 239*/ Fairhope. families with an income below $3000 num­ bered 106 pntpf atb tal pf lj 25S fami lie s, Bay Minette 201 out of 1, 270 families, and Foley 112 of 735 fam ilies,20

Property yalues are much higher in Fairhope than in. other com­ munities in the county. For purposes of tax assessments the county is divided into 15 beats equal in size. The three areas with the highest property yahieare Fairhope, Bay Minette,. and Foley. In 196.5 Fair­ hope 's ahSesemehts were $2, 0.89, 02 0, for homeste ads a $3,99 2s 940 for real estate, and $422, 420 for personal property, Fairhepe's-assess­ ments totaled $&,, 540, 380, Bay .Minette's assessm ents were

$1,174, 900 for homest'eWS; $2, 623,420 for real estate, and

$.671, 640 for personal property. Bay Mlnette's assessments totaled

$5,169, 960, Foley assessments were $1, 646, 220 for homesteads,

$2, 820,700 for real estate, and $509, 940 for personal property,

Foley's assessments totaled $4 , 9 7 0 , 800.21

2 0 , United States. Bureau of the Census, Ibid,, pp. 194-196.

21, These, figures Were given to the author by Dennis Howell, Baldwin County Tax Collector, from the county tax rpnords on May 19, 1966. 157

r The. only area in which Fnirhope trails another community is in

population and she trails only slightly in this area* Population growth

rateS for the three communities since 1930 are as follows: Bay Minette,

1, 545 in 1930, 1,763 in 1940, 3, 732 in 1950, and S, 197 in I960; Fair- hope, 1, 549 in 1930, 1, 645 in 1940, 3,354 in 1959, and4 , 858 in 196.0;

Foldy, 791 in 1930, 864 in 1940, 1, 301 in 1950, and 2, 889 in I 9 6 0 , 22

Public Apafhy

George believed that most people would take an active part in

public affair s if they were allowed to and if they had confidence in

their system of collecting and using public revenue. ^3 This has not

been the case in the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. Though the

members haye been allowed to vote and though they have understood

their system of collecting and using public revenue:, they haye been

reluctant to take part in determining corporatep o l i c y .24 At least in

this case, public apathy was a more difficult problem than George

22. United States Bnreati "of the Census, op., cits., pp° 2-12.

23. Ibid., p. 416.

24. Minutes, 1893-1965. 158 seemed to believe. However, the apathy is explained in part by confi­ dence in. the corporate leadership and the absence of grievances and conflict.

Land Value Taxation As A Source Of Income

One of George1 s major contentions was that land value taxation would provide the community with an adequate and guaranteed s ource 25 of income for its public programs. The Fairhope experiment is not large enough to judge the validity of this argument. The Fairhope experiment does indicate, however, that land value taxation can be a valuable source of public revenue. Rent collected by the corporation from its lessees has been greater than all of the other forms of taxa­ tion levied on the lessees 1 improvements and personal properties by the city, county, and state since 1908. The corporation has Shown a surplus since that time and by Wiser management during its early years

Z 6 the surplus cohld have been larger. By using the system of land yalue taxation utilized by the corporation, these governmental units

25. George, Progress and Poverty, p. 418.

26. Minutes, 1908-1965. could have- collected more taxes than they actually- have«. The public revenue of the local governments' would have been greater by the amount of surplus, collected by the corporation.

The Reason For' Poverty And The 'Solution To The Problem

George argued that private monopolisation, in the ownership of land which allowed, the landowners to collect rent for nsp of land while

the land yah#:W 9 - S eommunity-crented was the prime reason for pov­ erty. To prey-ent poverty, he argued that private monopoly in the

Ownership' and speculation of land m ust be abolished by confiscating the full annual value of land through taxation. 28 . The Fairhope experiment does not provide one with .sufficient evidence to judge the

Validity of this argument. The. idea would haye to be tested on a much larger scale. However, the Fairhope experiment does seem to offer some grounds for Concluding that in this given community, where equal access to-land has been assured and where land speculation has been prevented, no diseernablecrniditistos of poverty have developed.

Though: the- 'Fairhope en^b&VOr doe s notprovide enoughevidence to judge Qe-oyge^s contention regarding the reason for poverty^, the fact that; slums have not developed in Fair hope seems to indicate that at least he may have suggested one effective method of combating commun­ ity blight

Future Value Of The Fairliope F%periment

The future value of the Fairhope experiment will probably depend on whether the corporation's experience prove s helpful to public and private groups now urging adoption, not of a single tax, but of mean- - ingful land value taxation as an additional way of raising public revenue.

This is precisely why two members of the National Committee on Tax­ ation, Resources and Economic Development, Mason Gaffney and

Arthur Becker from the Economics Department of the University of

Wisconsin, began, a study of the Pair hope Single Tax Corporation's experiences, in April, 1946. ^

. 2 9 . Letter on March 3 , 1966 from Arthur Becker to G. A. Gaston, Corporation Files. 161 t2m(SRT&JTffl8 OF

FAIEHeEPM mMGLm TAX COKPORATION

FAlRHOPEj ALABAMA

'^Xgatil^eA 3-js Fairhope Industrial Association

at Des Moines^ Iowa, February, 1894

Founded Fairhope, Alabama

January, 1895

Fairhope Courier P rint, 1958

FAIRHOPE SINGLE TAX CORPORATION

1932

PREAMBLE

Belieying that the economic conditions under which we now live and labor are unnatural and unjust, in violation of natural rights, at war with the nobler impulse s of humanity and opposed to its highe st development; and believing that it is possible by intelligent association,

under existing laws, to free ourselves, from, the greater part ofthe ev ils

Of which we complain, we, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do

associate our selves together and mutually pledge ourselves to the prin­

ciples set forth in the following constitution:

A M x m im X ^ SAME.

the name of this .organisation, shall be FAIRHOPE SINGLE. TAX

A im ;:cM ^: j i p i i E m s B

Its purpose Shall be to establish and conduct a model community

or colony, free, from all forms of private monopoly, and to secure to

its members therein, equality of opportunity, the full reward of indi­

vidual efforts and the benefits of cooperation in matters of general

cOncertto

A r t i c l e in - m e m b e r s h i p

Sec. 1. Any per son over the age of eighteen, year s whose appli­

cation shall be approved by the Executive Council and who shall con­

tribute. to the Corporation one hundred dollars, shall be a member of

. the Corporation; proyided that on petition of ten percent of the qualified member ship filed with the secretary within thirty day s after action on

any application by the Executive Council, such application shall be sub­

mitted to a vote of that memberships

Sec. 2. The husband or wife of a member shall, upon signing the

CdnstitMtion, also be considered a member and entitled to vote in the

government of the Corporation, while such relation exists in fact; but

only while such member remains in good standing.

Sec. 3. Any member against whom complaint of violation of the

spirit and purpose of the Corporation, or invasion of the rights Of its members, is preferred in writing by ten percent Of the membership, may be expelled by the Executive Council, after full investigation of

the charges pref erred. Such investigation shall be public, and the

accused shall be entitled to be. represented by counsel.

Sec. 4. In case of the expulsion of a member the Corporation

shall return to him ih; lawful money of the United States, the amount

contributed by him fo the Corporation.

Sec. 5. Certificates of membership shall be transferable only

on the books of the Qerperatibn, to persons acceptable as members.

Ak t TG&E XT - SUPREME AUTHORITY

See. 1. Supreme authority shall be vested equally in the member­

ships to be exercised through initiative and referendum as hereinafter

provided. Sec. 2. Each member .not in arrears to the- Corporation shall be entitled to one vote, and one only; at all elections involving changes in this constitution; but on elections of officers and questions concern­ ing local administratiQn of affairss only those shall be entitled to vote who are in person on.the Corporation grounds on the day Of election and who are not in arrears.

ARTICLE Y - OFFICERS:

Sec. 1. The officers of the Corporation shall be: a president, a

Vice -presideht, a secretary, a treasurer; who shall be superintendent of Finance and l#surance, three, trustees, and a superintendent of each of the following departments. Land andH i g h w a y s , Public Service,

Industries, and Public Health. -

S ec. 2 . The superintendents of the departments shall constitute the Executive Council of the Corporation.

Sec. 3. The president and yice-president and secretary shall se r v e for ternhs Of one year. The trustees shall serve for terms of three years ^ one being elected each year. The superintendents of departments shall serve for terms of two years the first named three being elected shall serve for terms of two years.- the firs t named threp being elected on the odd numbered years and the last named two on even numbered year s. SeCo 4o The president shall hte' the chief executive officer of the

Qorperatioa, shall preside oyer the meetings of the Executive Council and have the deciding vote in case of a tie. He shall countersign all warrants drawn upon the funds of the Corporation under authority of the

BXecutive Council, and perform such other duties as may herein or hereafter be provided.

o - Sec. S. The vice-president shall; in ease of the death, absence or inability of the president, perform hi s. duties.

Sec. 6 . The secretary shall have charge of the records of the

Corporation, act as clerk of the Executive Council, draw and attest all warrants upon the treasurer authorized by the Executive Council, have charge of the correspondence relating to membership, and pra ~- pare annually, and at other times when requested by the board of trustees, full statements of the condition of the Corporation in its various departments.

S ec. 7 . The treasurer shall be the custodian of the funds of the

Corporation, shall prepare and issue, under the direction of the Ex­ ecutive Council, the Corporation* s non-interest -bearing obligations hereinafter provided for; and shall haye general charge of the financial affairs of the Corporation, including the. collection of revenues and department of insurance. He shall give good and sufficient bond for the faithful accounting of all mOnie s coming into his hands. Sec. 8 . The trustees shall haye general oversight of.all affairs of the Corporation, shall have charge of all elections, canvass the votes cast and declare the result thereofs shall act. as committee to audit all accounts and review all reports of officers and employeess and shall annually and at other times in their discretion, submit reports advising the members of "the condi tionayd needs of the Corporation1 s business in all departments. They shall have aeceSis to the books and accounts of all officers and employees at all times. They shall receive compen­ sation only for time s actively employed and shall hold no other office, either by election, or appointment.

See. 9» The Superintendents of departments provided for in Sec. 2 of this article shall have special supervision of the affairs of the Gorpo-> ration in their respective departments and may.employ such assistance as they deem necessary. They shall present to the Executive Council annually, and at such other times as .requested by it, reports of the eondltionof the 'Corporation^ business in their departments, and suggest such changes therein as will in their judgment best promote the interests Of the Corporation.

Sec. 10. The EnecutiiFe Council shall hayegeneral charge of the administration of the affairs of the Corporation, and to that: end may make such rules and regulations not inconsistent with its laws as they may deem necessary; may select and employ such agents and assistants 168 not otherwise provided for as they may deem necessary to conduct the

Corporation’s business} shall fix the compensation of all Officers and employees Qf the Corporation, which compensation shall not howeyer3 exceed the earnings of like ability and energy in productive industry within its limits | shall make an annual appraisal of the rental value of all land held for lease by the corporation; and shall perform all other duties necessary to the carrying out of the principles and pur - posed herein set forth,

ARTICLE VI - INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM

Sec, 1, Upon petition of ten. percent of the qualified member ship any act of the Executive Council, legislative or administrative, or any measure proposed by the petitioners, shall be .submitted to a vote of that membership at the time set in said petition; provided that where amendments to this constitution are proposes, thirty days’ notice must be. given, and on other matters at least twenty-four hours’ notice.

Sec. 2 . No measure of general legislation passed by the Execu- tive Council shall be in.force until thirty days have elapsed after its passage without the filing of. a petition for its submission to the mem­ bership; provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the imme#.ate taking effect of any order of the Executive

Council necessary to the execution Of measures already in force. Sfeeo 3o Upon, petition of twenty percent of the membership en­ titled to vote upon election of officers3 the question of the dismissal

of any offleer, however elected, or; appointed, must to submitted to a. popular yote«

Sec, 1, The regular annual election shall be held on the first

Thuf sday' of Pebruary' of each year,

jSeo, 2 . Special elections, may be held at any time, at the dis­

cretion of the Executive Council, or on petition of ten percent of the membership, provided, that the notice provided in Article YI be given.

Sec® 3:® At all-elections printed official ballots shall be prepared, under the, direction of the board Of trustees, on which Shall appear in full any measure to be voted upon and the names of all candidates who may be placed in nomination in the manner hereinafter prOyidfd®

jSpc*. 4® Nominations for office may be made by petition of five percent of the membership filed with the secretary ten days before

. the election .

Sec, 5. The name of any officer whose term Of office expires at

any election shall appear On the official ballot as a candidate for re-electibn unless he shall become disqualified to fill the position,

Or his declination in writing be filed with the secretary ten days before said election. Sec. 6. All voting shall be by secret ballot.

Sec. 7. The affirmative votes of three-fourths: of the members shall be necessary to amend or repeal any part of this:^ccmsfti^tiPn.;

Providing that notice of every such election shall be Sent by registered mail with return card, to every non-resident member at his last given place of Sddrns^j and if the postoffice reports inability to deliver mail to any such member and no ballot shall be received from him at said election he shall not be counted as a member in determining the res—: suit thereof.

S ec. 8 . In the election of officers or on the passage of any mea­ sure not conflicting 'with this' constitution, the decision of a majority of those vetting shall be final.

Sec. 9. Should no candidate for an office receive a majority of the votes cast at any election, the trustees shall order a Second elec­ tion to be held two weeks thereafter for such officer, but only the names of the three candidates receiving the: highest number of votes shall appear on the official ballot at said second election. If at the second. election no candidate receives a majority, a third election shall be held two weeks thereafter; but only the two names receiving the highest number of votes at said election shall appear on the official, ballot. TXn - l a n d

HAp® L There shall b0 no ind.iyid.ual ownership of land within the jurisdiction of the Corporation, but the Corporation shall hold as trn#t## for its entire membership, the title to all lands upon which its community shall be maintained®

Seco .2® Its lands' shall be equitably divided and leased to members at ah annually .appraised rental which shall equalize the varying advan­ tages of location and natural qualities, of different tracts and convert into the treasury of the Corporation for the common benefit of its members, all values attaching to such lands, not arising from the effertaau d iee%#d#?:

Jec®.. 3® Land leases, shall convey full and absQlute right to the use and control of lands So leased and to the owner ship and disposi*" tion of all improvementamade or products produced thereon as long as the lessee shall pay the annually appraised rentals provided in the foregoing section, and may be terminated by the lessee after six

.months notice'in writing to the Corporation and the payments of all rent due. thereon®

Sec® -4® Leaseholds shall be assignable but only to members of the Corporation. ch alignments m ## be filed for record in the office of the Secretary, and the person to whom the same is ass igned ther eby becomes the tenant of the Corporation. Sec. ,5o . The- Corporation shall have a prior lien on all property held by any lessee Upon lands of the Corporation for all arrearages of rento

Seco 6,0 If any lessee shall exact or attempt to extract from another a greater value for the use of land, exclusive Of improve— ments, than the rent paid by Mm to the Corporation, the Executive

Council shall immediately, upon proof of such fact, increasw t&a rental charge againstsu ch land to the amount so charged or sought to be chargedo

iSeCo To Nothing shall be constructed to- invalidate the Corpora­ tion1 s right of eminent domain. In all leases of land the 'corporation shall reserve the right to resume the pOSpepslon of the same for public purposes, on payment of all damage sustained by the lessee thereby, to be determined by the appraisers, one, to be chosen by the board of trustee, one by the leasee and the third by these two.

ABTICCEIX - FINANCIAL

Sec. L To provide its members with a safe, adequate and inde­ pendent medium for effecting exchanges of property and services, the

Corporation may issue its nomlnterest-bear'ing obligations which

Shall: be receivable by it at their face value in full payment of all its dem ands. 173

Sedo 2» These obligations may be issued for all expenses of the

public service, but up more shall be issued for such public service

during any year than the estimated rWWMp ayM l^lp during said year

for such purposeo

AHTTCM X PUBLIC UTILITIES

hT# pri^aie: fr#mc:hipe for thp bdpplying of its member s with such

public necessities as; wa-ter, light, heat, power, transportation facili­ ties, irrigating systems, et., shall ever be granted by the Corpora­ tion, but it shall as soon as practicable, erect and maintain the ,n$-c#s>-

sary plants, and perferm such services, converting all revenues there from into the general treasury of the Corporation.'

AmTiCLE %i -

Recognizing insurance as a proper department of public busiwas, the Corporation will provide for the insurance of its members and their property when desired at approximate cost of service.

ARTICLE XII PARKS, LIBRARIES, ETC.

Ample provision shall be made in platting the lands of the corpo­

ration for land for parks and all other public purposes, and as rapidly

,dS.may be, lands thus intended shall be improved, and beautified,, and schools, libraries3 public halls, 'natatoriurus., etc., established and

maintained at the expense: Of the Corporation for the free use and

ehjoy-rnhnt of the members and their fam ilies.

ARTICLE XIII - NO TAXATION

No taxes o;r chargbb -of .any kind other than heretofore provided

for shall be levied by the corporation upon the property or persons

of its members.

A^RTIOLE XIV w J^ Y htE N T OF TAXES

Sec. 1. • All taxes assessed against the Corporation shall be paid

from the Corporation Treasury.

Sec. 2.. Receipts- fori taxes paid, by an lesaee to atate> county,

town, or school district, upon his improvements- and personal pro?

perty held upon any leasehold, {mttoeya. and credits-excepted) shall

be applicable upori the rent of such leasehold; provided that: the cor­

poration shall not be bound to accept such tax receipts to a greater

amount for any year than the rent for that year on the ground on which

such impr ovements and personal property are held.

ARTICLE XV MAY DEAL WITH NON-MEMBERS

Lahdb net desired for use by member s may be leased to non-member ss and any geryices which the: Corporation, may undertake to perform for: its members may be performed also for .non-members, at the discretion of the Executive Council, on such terms as it may provide»

AETICLE: XVI - INDIVIDUAL- .FREEDOM

The natural rights of its members to absolute freedom in pro­ duction, exchange:, associations, beliefs, and wor ship, shall never be abrogated or impaired by the Corporation, and the only limit to the exercise of the will of individuals shall be the equal rights of all others.

AKTICDL X VU - NO INDEB TEDNESS

No bonds or mortgages, or interest-bearing indebtedness of any kind shall eyer be giyen or assumed by the corporation. )

APFEHDI2C B

SINGLE TAX PRINCIPLES W AT

INSPIRED EAIRHOPE’S POUNDERS

Published By

Fairhope- Single Tax Corporation

Fairhope» Aldbama

Fair hope Courier Print, 1958

W E #NOLE TAX

ThW foundors p£ Fairhope single;, taxers who came to Baldwin

County in NOyember, 1894, In. February of that year, priqr to coming

South, they had incorporated in Des Moines, Iowa a a the Fairhope In­ dustrial AauheiatIbn, Ten years later, after fayorable legislation had been adopted by the Alabama legislature, they were reincorporated as the Fairhope' Single Tax Corporation.

The constitution of both corporations contained the following article: "Purpose, Its purpose shall be to establish and conduct a model community or colony, free from all forms of priyate monopoly,

176 177 and to secure to its members therein equality of opportunity, the full reward of individual efforts, and the benefits of co-operation in mat" ter s of general c oncerm w

To accomplish this pnfpoSe they adopted the principles of the

Single tax as stated and explained by Henry George in his great book.

Progress and Poverty» The single tax is not a complex intricate plan that ean. be under stood only by advanced students of economic s and goyernmental controls.

The Single tax is based upon the obvious conclusion that all men are common heirs to the earth upon which they rmist live, and from which, by their labor, they must extract everything that ministers to their continued existencetod the satisfaction of their ever expanding ambitions and desires« It recognizes the natural right of every man to be the sole owner of that which Ms labor has brought forth, subject only to his individual desire, our existing tax laws to the c o n tra ry notwithstanding.

Since much of that which, results from man's labor on the land cannot be separated frOm the land upon which it is produced, it follows, that to have for himself the full ownership of that wMch he had pro­ duced he musf have exclusive title to the land involved In the produc'- tion, To prevent such exclusive title from constituting a demal of. the equal rights of all otherSe the single tax requires the holder of 17 a such, title to pay into a common fund, for the equal benefit of all, an annual rental (single tax) equal to the value of the special privilege of exclusive titlo tq the lando

This value is .not measured by such use or mi sue as the holder may makp of the land he holds« Rather it is measured by the market value set by those who want land tO' use at its fullest productive capac- ityV This makes it unprofitable to hold land out of use or for inferior use So Con sequently, if the principle of single tax were applied by government, as its public revenue policy, poorly or wastefully used land would have to be put to its most productiye use to make its hold­ ing profitable» Since the holding of land, put to no productive use would be a total loss to the holder, all such land would become freely avail­ able to provide employment to labor and capital with which to meet the eyer" eX^Jhudiug needs of a p ro g ressiv e and am bitious people«

The greatest common need of men liying in a social, organization is governmento Since the rental value of land reflects, in large part, the value of the seryibW performed by gpve-rnmhut, the amount de ­ rived from that source: should be sufficient to pay the full cost of an honest and efficient governmental administration. With the expense of government paid from the common fund resulting from its collec­ tion of the community created rental value of land no other tax would be needed® Almost all of the revenue upon, which government now relies, is

#er'ivW from taxes that increase the cost of production and the. price at which goods can be profitably sold. The demand for goods and services is limited by the volume of purchasing pOwer available to consumers. Purchasing power dervies from three source s. The first is wages paid to labor, without which nothing of value can be produced. The second is interest paid to capital, the use of which is essential to maxirnum prodac^W'' Tide third is rent paid for the use of land, without Which there can be no employment of labor or capital. The drain on natural purchasing power resulting from tax

Inflated prices of all goods and direct excise taxes on many; and its further reduction as a result of income taxes, leaves the consumer with insufficient funds to purchase the goods with which the market has been Supplied,

There must follow a curtailment in the volume of production,

©pportunities for employment decrease, further diminishing pur­ chasing pOwer, and the w hole e:Conom.ic structure is crippled. Man­ ufacturers cannot adequately maintain their productive equipment and pay interest on invested capital out of the returns from the re - duced production, JdsttibutorS' cannot dispose of stocks that are con­ stantly diminishing in value. Tax income of government, dependent in large part on production and distribution, is decreased and the country finds itself in the grips of a recession or a fullfledged de­ p ressio n .

While government may not be considered to be a direct and active force in the production of goods, it is a most valuable aid*

The volume of production resulting from the functions of labor and capital is greatly increased by the functions of government. With­ out government to- provide lire and police protection, for property, public highways, essential to the transportation of goods and the maintenance of communication, and sanitation to guard and protect the health of the people,. Both the efficiency and the incentive of labor and capital would be greatly reduced.

Few will question the rights of labor and capital to receive

^eporticathte shares of their joint pnodu^ Bader the single ta x - the goyernment, not. the land holder, is intitled to-that portion, that is now paid to the so-called "owners” of land, as rent. Owner ship is a term that can be properly applied only to those things that come into existence as. a result of man's labor applied to land. Land, by its nature, and by reason of man' s necessity to use it must be treated as common property so far as rent is concerned, if justice: is to pre­ v a il. .. \ With land, in all its essential aspects, becoming common pr operty hy the Institution of the single tax, the primary cause Of unemployments and of employment at less than full wages would be remoyedo Were government to levy upon the title holder s e>£ land, and demand payment, of the full rental value of the land so held, the demand for labor and capital to bring the land to its highe st productive capacity would insure continuous full, employment,,

Many of the social ills suffered today may be traced to the lack of full ‘employment:* It is the lack of opportunity for gainful. employment that results, in much of the minor and major crime in which school and college age youth become involve do The same lack mdy reasonably be assumed to be responsible fer much of the adult crimeo There is, we believe, gbod reason to expect the in­ crease in wages re suiting from the demand for full employment, would haye the effect of returning, many presently employed mothers to the care of their children and management of the home, restoring it to full effectiveness as a highly valued socialinstitutipno

D nfortunately the financial means of Fair hope's founders did not permit them to secure their demonstration, land that insured the highest return to labor. Also unfortunate is the fact that they could not purchase a, solid block of sufficient area to embrace the entire cemmupaty that has come to exist as. a re suit of their initia- five. While it would be impossible, on a limited scale, to secure all the benefits to be reasonably expected from a general application 182 of the principles of the single tax, these- defects must be conceded to make the Fair hope demonstration less effective" than it might otherwise have been. However few will argue that Fair hope has not been benefitted and is not now benefitting from the application of single tax principles to the land the Fairhope Single Tax Corpo­ ration owns.

Co A , Gaston, S ecretary APPENDIX C

1965 mEPOmP FAIRHOPE SINGLE TAX CGRPGRATIGN

Fairhopbg Alabaxaa.

Fairhdpe Courier Print, 1966

FINANCIAL ST>

Rent -o 0 © ® o o 0 e o. . o $ 114, 0 10o 11 Taxes paid for Lessees:

o o o 0@ q o o o 665 0 7 8 General Property .. $52, 747. 63

o o o . o 0 436»00 Car and Truck 7,13:1.

A bsent F e e s . '= » o 102«-6.0 P o ll Taxes O © 0 0 O O 46.42, ?s 2 4 o00 Corporation Land and Property Taxes . .. 12, 973. S8 Inye stment 360.00 City Busines s funds and L icen se e o o o o. o. 1 5 0 .0 0 : S 0.S 4 Income Taxe S . 4 ,1 1 2 .2 4 p i 5 , 56.6.73 Social Security on. Hand, Taxes e o o ©o oo ©o © o o 318.43.

1, 1965 .. 35,624.39 r. S .- O O O 0 ‘ O it> © © 6 © O 1 2 ,6 8 3 .0 1 $139,211.32 Office and Business

.lE3Cp pn* S p 6 o, 0 O' O, e O 0 6 2, 538. 88 Lands and 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 8 ,495.66

Maintenance 00 Organic School 3 ,2 9 5 .4 6 Civic Contributions. 150. 00 Tb Land Fund o © 0 o 0 200. 00 200. 00 Education Committee 327.95

Refunds OOOO 0 o 1 38. 54 $105,869.26 on Hand, D ecem ber 31, 1965 3 2 ,4 0 2 . 06 $139,211. 32 183 184

REPORT

Madam President and fellow, members- Our total receipts for

1965 show only a slight increase dvW 19.64» Such increase is wholly due, to increased collections of delinquent rent and interest paid on isneh delinquent accounts.

Rent collections were $99 5» 01 greater than in 1964 and interest collections $187. 59 greater, reflecting the considerable increase in the collection of delinquent rent accounts. While the number of lessees with delinquent accounts remained at 2.6 a's for 1964 the amount owed was reduced from $3, 682. 08 in 1964 to $2,189° 64 at the end of 1965.

Uncollected 1965 rent charges amounted to $1, 845° 02 and rent owed few prior year s to the remaining $344° 62° At the end of the year there

■W&^e: 877 lessees holding 1054 leaseholds andas noted only 26 had un­ paid rent accounts, at the end of the year and the number of leaseholds

on which rent was owed decreased from 30 in 1964 to 27 in 1965°

Total rent charges, for 1965 amounted- to $113;, 071° 72° Since there were no increases in. the rates on which the rent is calculated and no additional lands made available # r lease 1965 rent charges., amounted to little more than in. 1964° Rent charges were distributed as follows: 185

City lands $100, 756* 74 and Country lands $12, 314, 98, The hoped for establishment of a detailed basis upon which to appraise rental values was not accomplished in 1965 and the rents for 1966 are fixed on the same basis as for 1965. It now appears there may be prospect of getting something done this year.

TRANSACTIONS

There being no additional lands made available for lease and no surrenders of presently leased land, land transactions were con- fied to lessees* transfers and assents to mortgage.

LESSEES* TRANSFERS

There were 79 transfers approved 10 less than for the previous year. All but 8 concerned City land. Residence leaseholds account for 63, all but 4 being in the City. In 4 cases the same leasehold was transferred twice, once as a result of repossession by the original transferor. Transfers; within the family involved 5. There were 7 bhsiness property transfers. The remaining 9 were such as were without building improvements = These transfers resulted in the removal of 55 names from the lessees’ roll and the addition of 57 new name s. There were 45 assents to mortgageo Local lending institutions

accounted for 27„ Of the remaining18a 2 were to insurance companies^

<3 to: mortgage inve stment companies 'with 3 of them insured by the

Veterans Administration and 2 by: the Federal Housing Administration,

1 was to an out of town bank, 1 to an out of town savings and loan asso­

ciation, 1 to an em ployees8 credit, mhon arid 5 worn to individuals, 2

being second mortgages accepted by transferors in part payment for

the sale of their improvements»

ASSESSE.D VALUATIONS

7 new buildings, a ll residducnswere placed on the assessment

roll in 19650 However 2 were on sites from which the builder's old

home had been remove do Other removals, increases and decreases

on 67 additional lessees’ building improvements resulted in a net

increase of $25, 0400 00o The 1965 assessed value of the Colony, its

lessees- and their tenants, as shown on the county assessor’s records

amounted to $2, 477, 660, 00, 5c 25% of Baldwin County’s total real and

personal property assessed values, exclusive of public utility and oil

le a se valuations, as com pared with 5c 40% for 1964c In the City of

Fair hope such assessed value s amounted to $2,262, 000c 00, 49c 09% of the City’s total assessed value of real and personal property^ ex­ clusive of the assessed value of public utilities8 as compared with

52% in 1964.

ly m w A Y S

We did not succeed in getting any additional streets paved in

1965. The only substantial item in the lands and highways depart­ ment was the installation of a drainage sewer line running north from the north side of Fairhope Aye° at the low point 300 feet east of Brown

St. to Simpson St. and on to discharge into the gully. Some planning has been done for new streets and extensions but no decision has been reached for when construction will be started. The city has been asked to include in this year’s paving program the paving of Pomelo

Street between Pecan Street and Fig Street and paying Pecan Street east from ChurchStreeto flight of way- deeds were given to Baldwin

County where Colony land bordered the section line between sections

22 and 27 and between sections 27 and 34 and it is anticipated that the county will include those roads in an early improvement program. c

HIHSEIVES

No additional sums were placed in the reserve account in 1965=

At the end of the year our reserves consisted of $8S 000= 00 in Baldwin 188

County Sayings and Loan Association Sayings Certificates,, the laud fund sayings account of $6, 330. 26 in 1st National Bank of Fairhope and

$13* 784o 20 in 1st National Bank of Fairhope Savings Certificates* for a total of $28,114o.46=

EDUCATION

The education committee, did not provide for an essay contest in If 6.5o The regular ten lesson course in Henry George'® s Progress and Poverty, was conducted by committee member ClaudeWo A rnold for the eight O rganic High gehobl geniorSo No- provision was made for Public High School seniors to take the course.

An evening class Was: provided for adults, 15 enrolled and 8 completed the course. Announcement of the course was made by advertisements in the Fairhope Courier. The. course was under the leadership of Committeeman Arnold who presided at the first two and the last two classes, two were presided over by Lucier Rockwell and two by Reuben Rockwell, both with much, past experience in the

conduct of Henry George classes and two by Sam Dyson,

Essay contest winning awardees still in. colleges are 1963 winner Phil Dyson and 1964 winner Alice Smart. Upon their enroll­ ment for the 1965-66 term , Phil at the University of the South aS a junior and Alice at Auburn University as a sophmore each received 189 an additional $100®.00 payment from the Colony1 s education fund®

Other award witining participants iri essay contests who are pursuing college educations are: 1962, Curtis "Mike” Arnold, now enrolled as a freshman at Bay Minette Junior College, having first completed a hitch in. the U® S® Nayy, Graham Timbes at the Gniver» sity of Alabama and Fran McKinney at the. Univer sity of South Ala­ bama; 1963, Sally Lege and Nancy Brown at Huntingdon .College, James

Mo Ottinger at Blackburn College and Allan Hoffman at Memphis State

University® o

1960 essay contest winner, Joy Brumby, now Mrs® Charles L®

Glicksburg, has her' B® A® degree from Alabama College, is teaching history and 'English. at Miami Beach Junior High School and is a gra­ duate student at the University of Miami, attending night classes and summer sessions working, for an M® A® degree in history®: Karen

Horne, the 1961 winner and a Grinnell College graduate is now with the Peace Corps in the Central American Republic of Honduras^

m h m b u r s h i p

Miss Ulan Stitt, whose application for membership was reported last year completed her payments in April and was issued her mem­ bership certificate® The only application for membership receiyed in 1965 was from Mrs® Mildred W® Roberts, widow of Capt® E® J® Roberts whose death we reported lest yeuro Her application was re­

ported to the executive council and referred to the membership com­ mittee on March 4, but Mrs„ Roberts died unexpectedly within the

month before there was time for the committee to reporto Word

was received from California a relative of J® Francis Lemon report­

ing that he had died there in July. A yery much regretted loss from

our lecal membership roll Occurred when long time member# Mrs*,

Lillian B„ Totten sold her home here and moved to Winter Park,

Florida $0; be near her daughters, Mrso Judson Gray and Mr8*,%John

G*, B ishop .,Jro.

COMMENTS

RENTS; It will be noted that the excess of receipts over expen­

ditures amounted to le ss than $10, 000e 00«, As has been stated in the

past there is considerable, evidence that we are collecting, much less

than the full rental value of the land from our lessees. Now it appears

there is prospect of securing as si stance from two professors of eco­

nomics who have, for several years, together with associates from

many universities and colleges, devoted much, time to a study of land

value taxation as a source of public revenue. The volume of rent

presently collected does. not provide a balance after necessary ex­

penses and taxes have been paid, to provide many of our lessees with first class public improve.ments such, as well drained curbed and

guttered streets and sidewalks.

RESERVES• Many town-s people and some members and lessees

have criticized the Colony for not giving more generous support to

various civic endeavors. The size of our invested reservess currently

$28,114.46 and the cash On hand at the end of the year, $33,402. 06 does

not appear to be excessive, if even adequate when possible demands, are

considered. The law of the State of Alabama states that: real and per­

sonal property, subject to taxation, shall be assessed at 60% of its

fair and reasonable cash value. At the present time assessed values

in. Baldwin County are reckoned to be approximately 20% instead of

6®%. Should such assessed values in Baldwin County be increased

to 30% as was proposed a-, few years ago by the State Tax Commission

it would take all of the cash balance we closed the. year with to pay

1964 taxes. Also if the City should institute an extensive street im - ,

provement project affecting Colony land with the cost to be charged

to the benefitted land it might draw heayily on pur small fund of in»

vested reserves.

0 EEICERS and com m ittees:

In 1965 your eprporation was officered: by the following: Presi­

dent, Jo E. Gaston, Sr; Vice President, Daphne B= Anderson; Secretary, C. A, Gaston; Treasurer and Superintendent of Finance.

Mo Do Berglin; Superintendent Of Lands and Highways, Marvin Nichols;

Superintendent of Public Service, JL, H, Brovpa; Superintendent of In­ dustries, Go M«, Rockwell and Superintendent of Public Health, Sam

.BySon.and Trustees, Robert Mo Schneider, Lillian Be. Totten and Elof

Mo Tuvesom \ Council committees were as follows: MEMBERSHIP, Marvin

Nichols and Go M« Rockwell, Sam By son, .alternate; EDIT CATION,

Go Wo Arnold, Go Mo Rockwell and Robert M» Schneider; CEMETERY,

Helen Cali and Go Ao Gaston, Representing the Colony on the Organic

School Managing Board were R» Ho Brown, Co A, Gaston and Jo E:=

Gaston, Sr. APPLICATION, FOR LAND

OF

f Ai r h o p s h n ^ s t A i : c o r p o e A t io n

• Fairhope, Ala0, ...... 196

To the Executive Council

- Fairhope Single Tax Corporation

Is the undersigned, hereby make- application for lease of

upon the terms arid conditions set forth in the leases given by you, and the further stipulations set forth in this application, which are hereby made a part of my lease contract as fully as if printed in the leaseo

I m ake this application with..the full knowledge that I will be re­ quired to pay your Corporation, the full rental value of the land exclu­ sive of m y impppvem pnts thene:on» I understandthat the rental value will, increase as demand for the land incr'ease's, whatever the cause; that said value will be determinedby the Corporation in the manner s^t fbirth, in its ayxi ^.eWSe contracts: that the corporation will pay all taxes on the land, will accept from the lessees on rent, receipts for taxes paid to state, county, town, or school district, on improvements and personal property (moneys and credits excepted) held, upon leaseholds but not to an amount greater for any year than the rent for such year on the land on which such improvements and personal property are held; and that the balance will be spent for the public good as provided in its constitution.

I further particularly state that 1 understand the purpose of the

Single Tax Corporation to be to prevent anyone profiting from the holding of its lands, other than by the bona fide use of the same, and respectihg this purpose, of which l am beneficiary, in the Corporation making land available to me without any purchase price and recogniz­ ing further that it is to my interest that what is commonly knoWn as

"land speculation1’ shall be kept out of the "Single Tax Colony" con­ ducted by the Corporation, so that rents assessed against me shall not be affected by an. axidffciai demand, foa- land for- use, but for resale at a profit, I agree that I will neither ask nor accept a "bonus" for transfer of annriimproyed leaseho and that the proved attempt to do so shall be cause for forfeiture of my lease to such unimproved

Iand| nor will I charge: an excessive price, out of any fair relation to the value of my improvements for transfer of an improved leasehold; and, recognizing that in the transfer of an improved leasehold there are necessarily two factors of value, one the improvements which are m y property and the other the land upon which the same stand, which is not my property but the property of the Corporation, I agree to advise the. Corporation, before a transfer Of an improved leasehold sbaXhhe effective, of the exact consideration for the transaction and that the. Corporation, if it believes the; consideration to include in fact a profit for the transfer- of the land which belongs to it, shall be entitled, to examine me and the prospective purchaser as to the ele­ ments of value in. the conside ration, and if Satisfied that the consider­ ation is in part for the possession of the. land above the value of the iniproye®eht:S»: may refuse approval of the transfer; in which event

I shall be entitled to call for an appaisal of the value of my improve­ ments by three disinterested persons, myself and the. Corporation each choosing one out of three persons named by the. other and the third being SCiected by thOr two-; and tbe Corporation shall be required to approve the transfer at such consideration as the arbitrators shall find to-be the real value of my property, if accepted by me; it being under stood and agrpecL thate v eryfO'ctor of value attaching to the premises proposed to be transferred due to-my efforts or expendi­ tures, or in any way to my initiative which is; transferable, such as the good will of a going business, the exercise of taste in planning improvements or in making of. grounds attractive, or the element of time and care in growing an orchard or shade trees, or making land more productive by improved methods of farming, or increment of value due to increasing cost of building, shall be held to inure to me

\ - ' as fully as tangible structures upon the land; the purpose being to protect the User and improver of land in the full ownership; and right of transference Of everything due to him, but to preserve to the Cor­ poration all value due to demand for the land exclusive of improve- mentso

I have read your constitution and pledge m yself that while I hold lease of Fdirhope land I will not oppose the full application of the prin­ ciple s set forth therein.

Respectfully your So Tm§ MABM THIS ...... DAY OF

19______s BY A i m BETWEEN FAIEHOPE SINGLE TAX GOEPOBA-

TIGN* GE*" EAIKHGEE,.; BALDWIN COUNTY, ALABAMA,AND,

OE ...... L ■„ mEEElNAETEm DESIGNATED

,AS TEE LESSEES

• . WITNES|ETHf TEAT TEE EAIB EALEHOEE SUfGLE TAX 'GOE-

PORATION: EOT AND IN CONSIDERATION OF THE ANNUAL RENTALS

A n d c o v e n a n t s hereinafter m e n t i o n e d ,: h a s t h is d a y l e a s e d t o A n d s a i d l e s s e e t a k e n p o s s e s s i o n o f t h e f o l l o w i n g d e s ­ c r ib e d PORTION OF LAND TO WIT

SECTION , TOWNSHIP;6 SOUTH, RANGE 2EAST, BALDWIN

GOUNT Y ALABAMA,' FOR THE TERM OF NINETY-NINE YEARS FROM

THIS d a t e SUBJECT t o t h e g o n d i t i o n s h e r e i n s t a t e d A n d t h e

REPRESENTATIONS, AND AGREEMENTS OF THE LESSEE IN HIS APPLICATION FOR s a i d LAND HERETO ATTACHED AND A PART

OF THIS LEASE CONTRACT AS FELLY AS IF PRINTED HEREIN.'

(1) The Said lessee, his heirs, or successors. Shall pay to the

Said Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, its successors or assigns, in equal payments, on the first days of January and July of each year, the annual rental value of said land, exclusiye of his improvements thereon, to be determined by the said Corporation through its Execu­ tive Council or Board of Directors,, under its avowed principle of so fixing the rentals of its lands, as to equalize- the varying advantage of location and natural qualities of different tracts and convert into the treasury of the Corporation for the common benefit of its lessees, all

Values attaching to such lands, exclusive of improvements thereom

And.the said lessee, for himself and his heirs, hereby expresSly agrees that the said annual rent shall be determined by the said Cor* poration upon the principle just stated, and shall be expended by said

Corporation, subject to the conditions hereinafter states«

(2) The land herein Lased shall be used, for such purposes only as may not be. physically or morally offensive to a majority of the re­ sident members of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, and the lessee shall be subject tn such nea^onable .sanitary regulations as may be imposed by the Executive Council or Superintendent of Public Health (3) In consideration of the agreement of said lessee to pay the

rentals herein provided for, the Fair hope Single Tax Corporation will

pay all taxes upon the land leased and will accept from the lesSee on

rent receipts of the County Tax Collector or Clerk of Town of Fairhope,

for taxes paid to State, Comity, School District, or Town, upon the improvements and personal property (moneys and. cr'edits excepted) held by lessee upon the land herein leased; or, if all rent due be paid, will giye him a certificate in amount equal to such acceptable tax re­

ceipts remaining* receivable from bearer at face value on. rent, or in discharge: of any indebtedness to the Corporations; provided that

said lessee will appoint whomsoever may be designated by the Corpo­

ration as his agent to return his property for taxation inhere permitted by law so to do; that in no event Shall the Corporation be bound to accept tax receipts on more than a fair assessed valuation of the property, on the basis required by lawy or to a greater amount for any year than the rent for that year on the land on which such improve- ments and personal property are he Ids

(4) And the Said Fairhope Single Tax Corporation further agrees in consideration of the covenants of the said lessee herewith evidenced, that no part of the rents paid by him upon the land herewith leased

shall be appropriated a s d i#d en d st@ #s members of any other persons, but that all shall be administered as a trust fund for the equal benefit

of those leasing its lands. .(5) And the said Corporation still further agreeSs that in the distribution of the benefits which its purpose is to secure for resi­ dents upon its lands, no distinction shall be made between individuals, whether members of the corporation or not, but that with the excep­ tion of the right of members as participants in the government of the

Corporation, all shall be treated with strict equalityo

(6) It is agreed by the parties hereto, that time is of the essence of this contracts A ll rents not paid within ninety days of the time the same becomes due, shall be subject to interest at eight percent per annum 'until phiti; and the lessor shall have a prior lien on all improye - ments upon, the land herein leased, to secure the payment of the rent and for the payment of all other indebtedness of any description what­ soever, by the les see to the less or f If the land leased be unimpr oved, or in the judgment of the Corporation the improvements thereon are not of sufficient value to secure the payment of the rent and the cost of collecting the same, then, in such event, all rights under this lease shall be subject to forfeiture without notice, after the rents shall have been due and unpaid for ninety days; and the improvements, if any, shall revert.to the lessora Upon failure to pay the 'rents, or any portion thereof, for six months after the same become due, the lessor is hereby authorized to sell at public sale the iniprevSments on any leasehold, for satisfaction of the amount due, after first given ten days1 notice by one publication in some paper published at Fairhope-,

Alabama, at the cost of such publication and the making of such sale to be paid with the rent out of the proceeds of such sale, and the remainder, if any, to be returned to the lessee or such other person as may be authorized to receive the same* The lessor, its agent or attorney, may conduct such sale; and the party so conducting the sale is authorized to make, in the. name of the lessee, proper con­ veyance of the property so sold. The lessee hereby waives all right of exemption of any pr operty as against the collection of any debt due under this contracts The sale of the improvement's under legal process shall work a forfeiture of all rights under this lease,

(7) The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation agrees that in case of its dissolution, either by voluntary act of its members or otherwise, and the division of its assets, among its memberS, the said lessee, if a member, shall be entitled to hay# the land herein described and leased - or so much of it as he may designate r included in his portion, at its actual value at the- time, exclusive of improvements thereon, and if it exceed in value such portion, to purchase the excess at such valuation,, If not 4 member, the lessee may at such time acquire title: to the land herein leased by paying to the Corporation its actual yalue exclusive of improvements upon it. z m

(8i The Fair hope Single: Tax Corporation believe s its title to the land herein leased to be good, and 'will use every proper means in its power to maintain the same; but it is distinctly under stood that the Corporation, acting only with the benevolent purpose to secure land and administer it for the benefit of those who may depire its u se shall.net he held liable for any losses resulting from defects in its title o

,(9} The right isreserv edby , the Fair hope Single Tax Corpora­ tion. to resume possession of all or any portion of the land herein de­ scribed, for public purposes only, on payment of the appraised value ' of the improvements thereon®

(10) Should it become necessary to determine the, value of said land, or of the impr ovements thereon, in c omplianc e with the pro-' visions of clauses 3, 7, or 9, of this lease, the same shall be deter­ mined by three disinterested persons, to> be selected as follows: the

Corporation and the Lessee each choosing one of three persons named by the Other and the third to he selected by the two. Should any Lessee fail to name hie arbitrator s within thirty days after written notice by registered m ail to :<$©-;S O ,. the. Corporation m ay nam e an arbitrator for him .

(11) This lease is assignable only to members of the FairhOpe

Single Tax Corporation, or to persons acceptable to it. The original 203 lease miist be returned to the Corporation with any proposed transfer

endbr%ed thereon ands if approved, a new lease will, be issued to the transferee,

(12) Surface- rights only are hereby leased. All mineral rights are reserved by lessor,

(13) This lease, may be terminated by the lessee after .S ix months notice in writing to the Corporation and the payment of all rent due to the end of such six months period, A lessee having filed the required notice of desire to surrenders may dispose of any improvements there- on, (subject to the Cwpbratiohia lien for rent) but if not so disposed of, the land shall come to the Corporation, together with any improvements remaining thereon, withoutany claim of the snrreudering lessee; On account of such improvements* and the Corporation may decline to accept a partial surrender of a; leasehold where the portion surren­ dered or retained, would not, in,its opinion, be deslreable to other lesseeSo

i n w it n e s s , wimmgmE:,; t h e p a r t i e s h e r e u n t © h a v e

SET THElm HANDS IN DHPLlCATE THIS DAY

© r ...... 19 BY ©AD®®, EX o' c o u n c i l

...... , ...... 19 ...... FAIRHOPE SINGLE

TAX ceRPWEATTON

P resid en t

L e sse e Secretary SEiLtllSTEp BIBLIOGRAPHY

I, ' PRIMARY SOURCES

Ao BOOKS

George, Henry, Our Land and Land Policy, New York: The National Single Tax League^, 1871°

... Progress and Poverty<> New York: The National Sihgle Tax League, 1880,

.... .»• The Land Que:.stipn-o New York: Robert Schalkerbach F oundation, 188L

______, Social Problerns, New York: Robert Schalkerbach Foundation,, 1883,

______e Protection or Free Tradeo New York: Double day Page and Company? 1886,

, , .. o-• The Condition of Labor. London: The Henry George Foundation of G reat B ritain, 1892»

o A, Perplexed Philosopher a New York: The National Single Tax League, 1892. '

...... , ... . The Law of Human Progress. New York: Joseph Fels International Commig sion, 1897.

The Science of Political Economy. 2 Vols. New York: The National Single Tax League., 1897.

204 Bo DOCUMENTS

Baldmn County Board of Equalization., Tax Assessm ent Statement So Fair hope 9 Alabama: Corporation Files, 1940-196 50

Coaitnagor, Henry Steele» .(edo )» Doouments of American History, New York: Appleton. - Century ~ Crofta$ Incorporated, 1958=

Fairhope Single Tax Corporation,, Annual Financial ReportSo Fair- hope, Alabama: Corporation Files, 1952-1966o

______o Constitution of the. Fairhope Sing lb Tax Corporation, Fairhope, Alabama: The Fairhope Courier, Incorporated, 1958*

o. Declaration of Incorporation of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Fairhope, Alabama: Corporation Files, 1904c

o- Minute s. of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Fair­ hope, Alabama: Corporation Files, 1899"1966»

Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Vc M elyille, 193'Alabama Re­ ports 2 89 o

State of Alabaman Act 402, Acta of Alabarrid, 19Q3o Montgomery: Brown Printing Company, 1904c

_ o Charter of the- Fairhope Single Tax Corporation Bald­ w in County, Alabama: Corporation F ile s , 1904c

United State s Bureau of the. Census« United States Census of Agriculture: 1959= Vol. Ho Washington;: Government Fringing O ffice, 1962c

______o United States Census of Population: I960, Vol. I, Part. 2, Alabamac Washington: Government Printing Office, 1963c

United States Department of Agriculture c Fact Book of United States Agricultureo Washington: Government Printing Office, 206

II. SECONDARY SOURCES

a .: BOOKS.

Alyea9 Patti E. ,s and Blanche R. Fairhope? 1894-1954, The Story of A Single Tax Colony. University, Alabama: University of Alabama Press;,' l f 5 4 o ' '

Bagge, Claude. Gulf States. Litlidgraphed in Fairhope, Alabama: Poser Printing Company, Inc or por ate d, 1964.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of California. Vol. XXIV of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft. 36 vols. San Francisco: The History Company, 1890.

Barker, Charles Albro. Henry George. New York: Oxford Uniyer

Brown, Harrison, Man* s Role In Changing The Face Of The Earth. Edited by W. L. Thomas Jr., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956.

Carter, Hodding, and Anthony RagUsin. Gulf Coast Country. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1951.

Cotnmager, Henry Steele. The American Mind. New Hayen: Yale Uniyersity Press, 1950.

Cord, Steveru Henry George: Dreamer or Realist. PhiladeIphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1966. dSMille, Anna George. Henry George, Citizen Of the World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1950.

Elias, 0. E. Junior, James Gillies, and Svend Riemer. (eds.). Metropolis: Values in Conflict. Belmont, California: W ads - worth Publishing Company, 1964. Farmer, Hallie* The Legislative Process in Alabama» University, Alabama: Bureau of Public Administration. University of Alabama. Press, 1949 0

George, Henry Junior. The Life of Henry Georges First and Second Periods. Hew York: Double day Page and Company, 19Q0.

’ .. o The Life of Henry Gebrge: Third Period. New York: Doubleday Page and Company, 1904.

Harrington, Michael. The Other America: Poverty in the United States. New York: The. MacMillan Company, 1962.

Keyserling, Leon H. Progress on Poverty: The U. S. at the Cross­ roads. Washington: Conference on Economic Progress, 1964.

Lunt, Wo E. History of England. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957 ■ ' - " ' :

Maxwell, Robert, (ed.). Wsr on Want: Report of a Conference on the United Nations. Development Decade. New York: The Mac­ Millan Company, 1962.

Miller, Joseph Dana. (ed. ). Single Tax Year Book. New York: Single Tax Review Publishing Company, 1.917.

MOfiSon, Samuel Eliot, and Henry Steele Commanger. The Growth of the American Republic. Vol. II New York: Oxford Uniyersity Press, 1930.

Pegg, Carl H. Contemporary Europe in World Focus. New York: Henry Holt and C.omParLY, 1956.

Pollock, Walter William, and Karl. W. Scholz. The Science and Practice of Urban Land Valuation. Philadelphia: The Manu­ facturers' Appraisal Company, 1926.

Shannon, Fred Albert. The Farmers Last Frontier. New York: Farren and Rinehart, Incorporated, 1945. B* PERIODICALS

Gates, Paul Wallace, "The Homestead Act in an Incongruous Land System ,American Historial Reylew, Vol. 41, No, 4 (Tuly,

"LVT -^Incentive Tax," The HemT ;Odor Me News,: Vol, 29 (April 1, l f ), p, 13,

III, NLWf PAPEBS

Christian Science Monitor, January 1, 196#- A p ril 15, 1966,

The Fairhope Ceprldr;, September 1, 1894 - April 23, I 9 6 6 ,

Mxftlle.Pres)8 Jane 10, 1964 “-.April 22, I9 6 6 ,

IV, OTHBH SOURCES

Letter from Arthur Becker to C, A. Gaston, March 3, 1 . 9 6 6 , CorporatiorL Pile s,

Letters from E, B, Gaston to A, K, Owen, March 31, 1891; John .McLeod, October 13, 1890; and A, W, Woodward, October 12, 189% Corporation F ile S,

Letter from Mason Gaffney to- C, A, Gaston, December 9$ 1965, Corporation Files,