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C Surely with fifteen millions of cultivable acres unreclaimed, and scarcely a bit of cultivated land doing its utmost, there is yet plenty of room for food without encroaching on the Beautiful. We will not plough up the Parks, but keep them as the holiday-grounds of the People; and when the noble and gentle owners, disgusted at the sight of happy faces, give up their mansions, we will make them the homes of the aged and infirm, and use the banqueting-halls as lecture-rooms,

RHYMES AND REASONS AGAINST LANDLORDISM.

The world shall never know their names,

Nor Fame recount their deeds;

They had no high heroic aims,

Nor strain'd at lofty meeds:

They were but men of common mould,

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Yet royal crowns they wore:
What though their trials be untold?
God's Martyrs are the Poor.

They toil'd, they died,-Oblivion trod
Above the dust of Slaves:
Yet reach'd they hero-souls to God
From out the lowliest graves.
And yet a glorious shrine we'll raise
Their buried memories o'er,
Where reverent ages long shall praise
The scarce-remember'd Poor.

COURAGE.

From the martyr-dust before thee,
From the pinnacles of Fame,
From the heavens bending o'er thee,
Aye the Voices are the same;
'Courage! we too have borne trial;'
'Courage! if thou would'st aspire;'

'Courage! Fate hath no denial,-
'Through her ordeal of fire.'

Courage,-valour active-hearted:

Like a charmed sword, to be

Never from the hero parted

Even in last extremity.

Sword that well can shield its master,

Sword to lead the battle's front,

Keen to rive the worst disaster,

Strong to ward despairing brunt.

Patience, for the sick man's wearing,
For the spirit-broken slave:

Knightly weapon's noble daring,

Though his threshold be a grave.
Courage: neither fierce nor tardy,

Lightning-swift if storm must be,

4 Royal means real. Royalty is reality. True old Chaucer uses the words as synonimous.

• See the derivation of the word: cœur-agir.

Bold indeed, but not fool-hardy:
Feeling God's sure hand on thee.

Voices from the Martyr Ages,

Voices from the Heights of Fame,
Heaven and Earth-God's open pages,
Ever speak to thee the same.
Lone and worn and disappointed,
Wounded, dying, night and day,
Art thou one of Faith's Anointed,
Thou shalt echo what they say.

REPUBLICAN MEASURES.

6.-TAXATION.

'You have told us of measures for the organization of Labour and Credit; you have spoken of reform in the administration of Justice, of a costly system of Education, and of Religious Worship. But our great evil is the excessive burthen of Taxation. Unrelived from that, what power have we?'

I purpose here to consider the question of Taxation.

The net revenue of the Country, taking an average of the three last years, amounts to about fifty millions.

This fifty millions is applied much in the following manner. numbers.

Interest of Debt (called National)
Army, Navy, and Ordnance

Civil Service

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£28,000,000
£15,500,000

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This sum is raised as under :-

Profit of Post Office and Crown Lands ... £1,000,000

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The thirty two millions of Customs and Excise are paid by the wholesale dealer. They are so much capital invested chargeable with interest, with not less than forty per cent, it is calculated, by the time the indirect tax is paid by the consumer. The globe puts down the total cost to consumers of beer and spirits at four times the original amount of the tax.

Instead of this complicated, indirect, and burthensome system, I propose one single direct impost, in the shape of a land-tax: one equal rent-charge for every cultivable acre of the Nation's Land. I propose also to reduce the cost of our war-establishment by at least two-thirds. The saving to be effected by the two

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Saving in Collection d

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£3,500,000

Interest of Customs and Excise

£13,000,000

Reduction of Army, Navy, and Ordnance

£10,500,000

£27,000,000

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So reducing the amount of taxation from sixty-six millions to thirty-nine. which, setting aside the Interest of the Debt, the public service requires [only £11,000,000

Add provision for infirm and aged

Total ...

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£4,000,000

£15,000,000

That is to say the whole cost of the public service, even under the present extravagant arrangements, and including an ample provision for the infirm and aged, might be met by a rent-charge of five shillings an acre, on the sixty-millions of cultivable land belonging to the Nation.

There remain the two important items of the DEBT and EDUCATION. The interest of the Debt should no longer be collected as a yearly-tax upon the Community. Let the State take possession of the Railways (the public

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An uniform charge, because the main difference in value of the land is the result of individual labour. The tax would be the Nation's rent. See Organization of Labour on the Land, page 121.

In the Republic every man would learn the use of arms. Every man would possess arms, and be liable to be called out in case of invasion. With this national guard, our unjust possessions given up to their rightful owners, and our colonies left to support themselves when they could, we should need scarcely any standing army; the ordance department might be proportionably reduced; and even the navy bear some considerable retrenchment were it only in the items of retiring Admirals, Captain's not sea worthy, unused stores and dockyard experiments.

The advantage of directness. The Income of Property Tax is collected at a cost of less than £400,000. The Laud Tax could be collected for the same amount, or less. Saving all the present poor-rates. The able-bodied, having ready access to the Land and to Credit, would no longer be a burthen to the community. See organization of Land and Credit, pages 121, and 154.

As the present Acts of Parliament empower the State to do. The State would pay a fair price for all justifiable outlay. Nothing of course, for money merely squandered; but for all bonafide work. Here is a rough statement of the position of the Railways.

Number of miles of railways, Jan: 1, 1851

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about 3600, £200,000,000,

£55,000.

£8,000.

£27,000.

Money squandered, not to be considered in purchase, at least £100,000,000. That is to say there is about one hundred millions on account of Railways; to be paid back to the speculators. Put this in the shape of an Annuity terminable at a certain number of years; and apply the remaining profits to the payment in the same manner to clearing off the National Debt. The profits of Railways are capable of immence increase by

roads) and the Mines; and out of the profits accruing from them pay, not the eternal interest, but in terminable annuities the principal of the Debt.

There are in England and Wales some 22,000 miles of turnpike-roads, upon which the rails are not yet laid. Some 50,000, railway and common road, in Great Britain and Ireland; which, if all railway, might be worked at a daily profit of £2 a mile (the present daily profit on 1160 miles in New-York and New-England), and so yield a revenue of £36,500,000 a year. I have no data for calculating the likely profits of Mines.

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But the laying down the rails on the turnpike-roads must be paid for. the Southern and Western States of America the lines are altogether constructed at a cost of £4000 a mile. £3000 a mile (the roads here being almost ready to our hand) for 46,000 miles is a total of £138,000,000. To meet that, provide for the next ten years £57,000,000 a year, by a rent-charge of nineteen shillings, upon every acre of cultivable land.

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The nation would still save ten millions a year (the present burthen being actually £67,000,000),—besides Poor-rates, high-way rates, and tolls. This also is making no allowance for the profits of the railways during the ten years. I believe, during that time the railways would pay their own cost, reducing our real taxa. tion for ten years to an average of £43,000,000 a year. At the end of ten years our taxation might be reduced to £15,000,000, and the whole burthen of the Debt provided for by the rails. Again, I make no account of the Mines: setting their profits against any possible exaggeration of railway capabilities. The real extent of my proposition is a saving of £240,000,000, besides poor-rates, etc., during the next ten years; and a further saving of £1000,000,000 in the following twenty years; the nation at the expiration of thirty years to be out of debt.

The cost of Education would, of course, be immense. The maintenance and instruction of the whole population during the years between infancy and maturity. But is not that a charge now? On the closest ground of economy, will not this maintenance and education cost less under arrangement for numbers, than when, as now, provided for by individuals? Can you calculate the cost of this Nation's Youth under the present circumstances of inefficiency and isolation? Be sure it exceeds the necessary cost of a comprehensive arrangement. One need not care to add this to the statement of general taxation.

alteration of the present expensive system of management-long trains, heavy engines, and numerous servants,-and allowing also for reduction of fares to one penny a mile for first class, and one halfpenny a mile for second class passengers.

Let it not be said that it would be unjust to interfere with present proprietors. The injustice is in not interfering, in permitting private speculators to monopolize the public wealth, to possess the high roads of the country.

Adding nine millions a year to the present interest would pay off the whole Debt in thirty years. But, considering how often the creditors have been paid already, continuing the present payments for thirty years more would be a very handsome composition,

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