Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1174 .

Pencil notes on a pamphlet by Emil 0. Jorgensen, “What is Holding Back the Single Tax Movement? — An Open Letter to Mr. Joseph Dana Miller, Editor of Land & Freedom, New York”

April 17, 1935

Where private labor using private capital (that is, materials and the facilities for working upon them) needs the cooperation of public labor and public capital the public authority takes private capital, by taxation or otherwise, and puts these materials and facilities into the hands of public servants to perform their public services.

These public services delivered by the government to its territory through the public rights of way greatly increases the productivity of the private labor and capital which has access to these government services_{. /Sentence? check original/} A portion of this increased production is rendered up to the owners of territory along and between the rights of way in exchange for access to and use of the public services. This portion of increased production so rendered up to land title holders is called rent. This rent is the value, year by year, of the public services. A portion of the rent goes for the wages of public servants. The remaining portion which remains with land title holders is ideally their interest on their investments of capital in the public services.

This interest, capitalized, is the ideally proper selling price of land. It is right that land owners should receive this interest because all the public capital is taken

/Is the remainder of this with the originals? Look for it there./