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.... .... r x EDITED %.% EBo !l ' ■ THOS. E. W.XSON =| 0 > <P u n Vol. 11. No. 37. A LESSON IN ECONOMICS. r / f “X r X // liw\ (I / // X x i if H?» F " R \ limllKA sfinnCK'<ly oTriiN. 0 Tr iiN. \, Si l/lli/ \ /Ltf* T PROinR^W/ll ' liih. <T"Vx V i) ' ' (" 1 'x Gr Ax.”*? a DRAWN BY GORDON NYE. WHERE GENUINE DEMOCRACY RULES In 1887 New Zealand was an al most unknown British colony in the far southern seas. With an area about twice that of Georgia, or Illinois, it had a scant population of about 700,000 people composed entirely of English, Irish and Scotch stock except about 40,000 Maoris, the native race. It was cursed with land monopoly, coal mo nopoly, shipping monopoly, money monopoly. It had the largest per capita debt in the world. Fortunate ly this great debt had been mainly created for productive works such as railroads, telegraphs, etc. Roughly speaking one-half the land was choice, fertile soil, the remainder was rough land heavily timbered and un tillable mountains. - The policy of the country had been controlled by the exploiters and some of the railroad lines had been unwise ly built at the demand of large land owners. Atlanta, Ga., Thursday, OctoK 1907. The railroads had been built by Government because private capital would not venture, and this proved to be a good thing. In 1887 the out look was gloomy. Sixteen hundred persons owned eighteen million acres of land, or over 11,000 acres per cap ita. Eleven men owned land worth twenty-four millions of dollars, one hundred and seven men owned land of the value of thirty-five millions of dollars. One, John Ballance, a philosophic statesman, came into power on a re form platform with a majority of parliament at his back. By 1891 they were able to get at the land monopolists. It was done by the old and constitutional method of taxa tion. Graduated income taxes, grad uated inheritance taxes, graduated land taxes —these were the weapons used. The rate of taxation was mod erate. Liberal exemptions were al lowed, in incomes $1,500 was exempt. In lands all improvements and mort gages up to a certain amount were deducted and after that a further de duction of $2,500, but even with these big exemptions and a low rate the graduated tax got next to the big land owners; the fellows who owned 30,000, 50,000, 100,000 acres found themselves in a bad way. Then the Government stepped in and bought these big holdings and subdivided them so that the people could get a chance. The Government paid good prices for these lands and when sub divided would sell to no man as it wanted no more land monopoly, but in lieu of freeholds leased these lands on easy terms for 999 years. Leases were transferable after approval by the government and improvements were the property of the tenant, but no fee in the land could be established and future land monopoly was estop-jj ped. Then the money ring was at I tacked. Government borrowed money* Price Five Cents. at 3 1-2 and 4 per cent and lent out again to the people at 5 per cent on 36 1-2 years’ time. Under this system a borrower of SSOO would pay sls every 6 months for 30 years and a final payment of s9* at the end of 36 1-2 years and his debt was dis charged. He could anticipate pay ments at any time in whole or in part. It is almost needless to state that they have state telegraphs, state telephones, postal savings banks, a parcels post, state insurance advances to settlers, old age pensions and a multitude of things our space will not permit us to mention. In 1893 Ballance died in the midst of his labors, and was succeeded as Premier by Richard Seddon, who had been the Minister of Public Works, and who had started life'as a miner. John McKenzie, a Scotch farmer, be- I came Minister of Public Works. Sed- (Continued on Page Four.)