JUSTICE OF THE SINGLE TAX 
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the absence of artificial discord. We speak paradoxi 
cally of the socialisation of ground rent as though it 
were something to be artificially done. How can we 
socialise that which by its very nature socialises itself, 
and can never be naturally anything but socialised? 
A Puzzling Question and a Simple Answer 
What are the obstacles that to-day so impede a 
thorough consideration of the basic economic principle 
of the single tax by pulpit, press, and legislator? 
The answer to this apparently puzzling question is 
after all a simple one: 
First is the notion that the single tax contemplates 
public ownership of land, which is not true; second, 
the impression that it would disturb present land 
titles, which is not true; third, the charge that it would 
take for the community what belongs to the individual, 
which is not true; fourth, the poisoning misappre 
hension that, right or wrong, it would amount to-day 
to taxing into the public treasury practically the whole 
rental value of one species of property. 
All men are agreed as to the ethics of the single tax, 
that the earth was made for all men and not for a few. 
This is what Mr. George calls an instinct, an intuition 
of the human mind, a primary perception of the human 
reason. If we were to-day starting anew, the single 
tax would be manifestly wise as a method of taxation; 
if it could to-day be put in operation without injustice 
to any one, it would still be a manifestly wise plan of 
taxation. Can it be done? 
The single taxer is firmly of the opinion that it is 
no part of God’s economy that justice to one man can 
work injustice to another; that for every alleged