Wealth and Want:Bengough's Primer, Lessons 25 to 36

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Bengough's Primer: Lessons 25 to 36

LESSON XXV — Coats For Boots ... Fair Square Trade ... Both Make Gain

See the Man with the Coat.

Did he make the Coat?

Yes, he did. It is his Forte to make Coats. And see the Man with the Boots. He made the Boots, and he gives all his Time to that Line of work.

What do the Men mean to do now?

They have come to Trade. The Coat Man wants Boots, and the Boot Man wants a Coat, so when they Trade their Goods both will Gain by it. They give Goods for Goods or Work for Work. And then they go and make like Trade with the Men who make Bread, and Hats, and Shirts, and Stoves, and all things else that they Need. But they do not Have to do it just in this Way. They sell their Boots and Coats for Coin of the State, and with this Coin they buy what they Need. But, of course, the Coin stands for Work that has been done.

Woodcut: Two thin well-dressed men with their neighboring shops behind them. One is a tailor, and he holds out to the other a coat. The second is a cobbler, and he holds out to the tailor a pair of boots.

fruits of one's labor

LESSON XXVI — Land Lord Gets ... Coats And Boots ... But Gives Nought

Here we have the same two Men once more. And a Fat Man is with them. Each gives him Goods. One gives him a Coat, which he has Made, and one gives him a Pair of Boots.

This is a fair Trade, too, is it Not? Does the Fat man give Goods?

No, I do not see that he Does. He holds no goods in his Hands. He has them spread as if to Get and not to Give.

Then why do the Men give him their Goods?

Ah! he gives them Coin, that is it?

No, he does Not. He has not Paid them a Cent for these Things.

Then I give it up.

It is quite plain, my Child. He owns the Land, and he just gives them Leave to make Coats and Boots on it. That is all he gives.

Is he not Good? He owns a Lot in the Town on which they have their Shops.

Woodcut: the same two men, but this time, between the tailor and the cobbler is a large man who is taking the coat from one and the boots from the other.

LESSON XXVII — Man Owns Spring ... Folks Want Drink ... Have To Pay

But if that Fat Man owns the Land, should we not Praise him that he lets the Men who make Coats and Shoes live on it, so they may Work, and should they not be Glad to Pay him for its Use?

Yes, they should, If he does "Own" it. But that is the Point. The Law lets him Own it, but did God mean Land to be so dealt with? See the Cut up at the top of this Page. Is it not the Same sort of Thing? Here is a Man who owns a Pool in the wide, hot Plain, and he has a barb wire Fence round it. The poor Folks are Dry and Faint with their Long March, and come to the Pool to Drink. They must Drink or Die. But he will not let them Drink if they do not give him a great Share of the Goods they have brought so far, or a lot of Gold. Is he not just like the man who owns Land so as to live on Rent?

Woodcut: In the background are two pyramids. On the right are a laden camel and two men, both on their knees in a praying position. On the left is a man with exotic looking clothes. Behind him is a small fenced area bearing a sign: "Water $15 per Gallon."

"Thou Shalt Not Steal."

LESSON XXVIII — Want The Earth ... You May Own ... It By Law

Here is the World. It is a big Ball, is it not?

Yes, it is Big. Do you Want the Earth?

Yes, but may I Have it?

So far as the Law goes, Yes, you May. The Law, you know, lets you "Own" a Lot. If you may thus own One Lot, you may own Two, and if Two then Ten, and the Law Draws no Line to Say where the Thing must End. You may Own the whole Globe, So far as the Law goes. And Oh, what a heap of Rent you could get if you did own it! All Men would have to Pay you or Get Off your Land. They would have no Right to Live but by your Will, though God gave them the Right to Life. We want to Mend this Law, so that no Man shall Own Land who does not Pay each Year its Fair Worth as bare Land to the Till of the State.

Woodcut: A well-dressed fat man, standing on the top portion of a globe. On either side of him are signs: "Lots to Rent" and "Trespassers will be Prosecuted According to Law."

land different from capital

LESSON XXIX — God Made Land ... Man Must Use ... Not For Spec.

If a Man may not Own Land, how is he to Live, since all he Needs for his Life is got out of Land ?

A Man does not Need to Own Land; it will Serve all his Ends quite well if he may have the safe Use of Land, and be left in Peace with no Fear that any shall come to Turn him Off. To Own Land and to Use Land are by no means the same Thing. Do you see the Dog in the Cut? Well, he Owns the Hay, to make Gain out of it. And the Ox wants to Use the Hay. Now, just as Hay was Meant to be Used by Oxen and not to be Held by Dogs, so Land was made to be Used by Men and not Held by Drones. Now, if the Rent of the Land is put in the State Till, then no one would Hold Land who did not mean to Use it. There would be no Spec. in it as there is now

Woodcut: a dark scene, in a stable. On the left is an ox, labeled "Labor." On the right is a manger, and in it, a menacing dog whose flank is labeled "Speculator."

LESSON XXX — Not The Land ... But Its Worth ... Would We Tax

Do you see this Man? He does not Look as if he were Rich, does he? And you can see that he Works hard. Yet this Man owns a big piece of Land. He owns a Farm; a great, wide Farm. And now look at the Man with the Plug Hat. You can see he is a Rich Man by his Style, and his Hands are Soft and White. He does no Work to Speak of. Yet the Land he owns is but a Small Lot. Now, does it Look as though to own Land was the sure Way to get Rich?

Ah, I see your Point. It is not the Land that Tells the Tale, but the Worth of the Land -- its Worth in Rent each Year. The Town Lot which the Rich Man owns is Small but its Rent each year is Ten Times that of the Big Farm. It is the Rent that we would Tax, not the Space, and this Town Man would pay Ten Times more than the Farm Man.

Woodcut: In the background, a couple of piles of hay. On the left, a farmer with a pitchfork in hand. On the right, a fat man in a tophat, looking off in another direction, puffing on a cigar, arms folded, waiting.

land value,

land price,

ownership,

urban land value relative to rural,

land value taxation,

location, location, location

LESSON XXXI — How Would Plan ... Of One Tax ... Help Farm Man

Here is the Man who Works that Farm. He comes to us and says, "Yes, I am Poor; I can but make Ends meet these Days if my Health is good and my Crops fair. Now, how would this One-tax plan of a Tax on Land Rent help me?"

We will Tell him. It would help You this way: the Tax on your Farm would not be High, for the Rent of your Land each Year is not a great Sum. You pay that out of what you Earn, and then you keep the Rest. The Tax on your Barn, House, and so on, is Gone. Store goods would be Low, for there would be Free Trade, and you could Sell your Grain for at least as Good a Price as you now get. The Tax weight would fall on the Town Lots which are of High Worth, where it Ought to fall. You would Gain in this, that you would be Free of much Tax weight you now Bear.

Woodcut: the same farmer in the middle of a field. Shocks of corn or piles of hay in the background. A hayrake on the ground in the foreground. The farmer is bent over, carrying on his back five large white bales each labeled "Tax."

lvt and agriculture

urban land value relative to rural

untaxing buildings

trade

LESSON XXXII — Help Toil Much ... And His Friend ... Squelch Land Lord

Here we have Three Men, and one of them is Hurt. He is, in fact, Laid out Flat, for a big Stone is on him.

Yes, it fell on Him and he is No More. You see his Name on his Hat. That is how the One Tax would Work. It would Squelch the Man who just Lives on Land Rent. But it would not Hurt the two Men who now Dance with Glee, as you see. Their Names are on them, too. They Hold land but to Use it, and when they Pay the State for its Use, they Keep all they Earn; no part of it has to go for a Tax of any Sort. What they make is their Own; but the Land is the State's, and it is Right they should Pay for its Use. Do not cry for the Man that is Down. The Man who Just Lives on Rent is of no more use to the World than the Flea or Bed Bug.

woodcut: two dancing figures, next to a huge rock, from under which a human face and two hands stick out. The man on the left is labled "Labor," the one on the right "Capital." The rock is labeled "Single Tax on Land Values," and the figure under the rock has lost his hat, which bears the label "Landlord."

LESSON XXXIII — Three In One ... This Tax Plan ... Would Help Two

But what Man is this?

This is the Plain Man we meet Day by Day, like You or Me. He Works with Head or Hand, and so he is a La-bor-er; he has put Cash in some Line of Trade, and so we Call him a Cap-i-tal-ist; and he Holds Land as well, and thus is a Land Lord. Thus you see he is a Three-in-one Man.

Most of us in this Day are such, and so it is Well to Know that the One Tax on Land Rent would Help and Aid us in Two of our Three Parts, much more than it would Hurt us in the Third. It would be a great Good to All who Work with their Hands, Heads, or Means, for it would let them Keep all they Earn, which they may Not do as the Law now is, but it would be Sure Death to the Man who does No Work, but just Lives on the Toil of those who do.

Woodcut: A man with three faces. The one facing to our left is looking at a document that says "Labor with Hand or Head" and "Capital invested in some line of business" and the one facing to our right is looking at a document saying "Landlord owning land for use or speculation."

labor

capital

land

fruits of one's labor

theft

property rights

rentier

LESSON XXXIV — Cop With Club ... Steals For State ... Tax On Goods

See the Cop with the Club! What is he at?

He is at his right Work.

What! Is it, then, his Work to Rob this Man of the Bread he has made?

A Part of it — Yes. The Man who makes Bread has to give up some Loaves each year to the State in the shape of Tax, just as the Man who makes Shoes, and he who makes Coats, and so on, have each got to Give Up some of the Things they have Made. The Cop stands for the Law that takes these Goods.

But why does the Cop have to do so?

For this cause: As you see in the Cut, the Land Lord has Gone Off with the Fund from Land Rent which would have been all the State needs; and now the Law must send the Cop to Rob in this Way to make up for the Loss of the Fund. Is it not a Queer way to do?

Woodcut: Three figures: A police officer with his hand on the neck of a baker selling breadloafs from a basket. In the background, another man is making off with a huge bag labeled "$ Land Value"

LESSON XXXV — Load Poor Toil ... Make Up Fund ... Land Lord Takes

Who is this Man with the great Load on his Back?

That is Toil. This means that the Plan of the State now is to put the Tax Load on those who Work, and the Things they make by their Work. Some of this Tax is Straight, and you See and Know how much it is; and Some of it is Put On in a Shape that you can not well See and Count.

But why does the State pile the Tax on Toil when there is a Fund which Springs out of the Land?

See, it goes in to the Fat Man's Hat, though he does not Work. Is not this what God meant as a Fund to help the State?

It is, but Man is so Wise, he thinks he Knows more than God, so he lets that Fund go to the Man who Owns the Earth, and in its Stead he Piles the Tax on to poor Toil.

But the State is a Firm Friend of Toil, is it not?

Oh, yes. As you will See.

Woodcut: Two figures. On the left, a laborer, bent over. On his shirt is the word "Toil." On his back are three huge bales, labeled, "Tariff Taxes," "Taxes on Labor" and "Taxes on Labor Products." On the right, another man, smiling, standing straight. On his back is a single bale labled "Land Tax." A spring labeled "Land Rent" is spraying $ into his hat.

rent as provisioning for all

wealth concentration

ownership,

LESSON XXXVI — State High Wall ... Keeps Out Goods ... Lets In Men

What is this?

It is a High Wall. It is built by the Wise State all round the Bounds of the Land to Keep Out Cheap Goods that Foes might want to Send in.

But if the Wall keeps out Cheap Goods, the like Goods our own Men make will be Dear, will they not?

Yes, they May, but you see we will Keep our Cash in our own Land, so we can Buy even if they are Dear. And more, they will not be Dear long, for lots of Works will be set up, and the Price will soon Fall to a Fair Rate.

And poor Toil, will soon get Rich, will he not?

So they Say. But see! there is a Hole in the Wall, and All who Please may come in to Beat down Toil in his Wage. Toil must buy Dear Goods, but Work for a Cheap Wage. That is what it Means, but Toil Votes for the Wall!

Woodcut: The scene is within a high wall, labeled "Tariff Wall." On the right is a two-person booth with three signs. Above one "Cheap Labor Market;" above the other "Dear Living Market" and below them both, "'The Tariff Protects the Working Man'." On the left, there is a hole in the wall, through which people are crawling, and walking over to the booths.

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