United States Secret Service. The Single Tax. 99 THE following statement of the single tax principle was written by Henry George, Sr.: We assert as our fundamental principle the self-evident truth enunciated in the Declaration of American Independence, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain Inalienable rights. We hold that all men are equally entitled to the use and enjoyment of what God has created and of what is gained by the general growth and improvement of the community of which they are a part. Therefore, no one should be permitted to hold natural opportunities without a fair return to all for any special privilege thus accorded to him, and that value which the growth and Improvement of the community attaches to land should be taken for the use of the community; that each is entitled to all that his labor produces; therefore, no tax should be levied on the products of labor. To carry out these principles, we are in favor of raising all public revenues for national, State, county, and municipal purposes by a single tax upon land values, irrespective of improvements, and of the abolition of all other forms of direct and indirect taxation. Since in all our States we now levy some tax on the value of land, the single tax can be Instituted by the simple and easy way of abolishing, one after another, all other taxes now levied and commensurately increasing the tax on land values until we draw upon that one source for all expenses of government, the revenue being divided between local government, State government, and the general goveru as the revenue from direct taxes is now divided between the local and State governments, or by a unect assessment being made by the general government upon the States and paid by them from revenues collected in this manner. The single tax we propose is not a tax on land, and therefore would not fall on the use of land and become a tax on labor. It is a tax not on land, but on the value of land. Thus it would not fall on all land, but only on valuable land, and on that not in proportion to the use made of it, but in proportion to its value-the premium which the user of land must pay to the owner, either in purchase money or rent, for permission to use valuable land. It would thus be a tax not on the use and improvement of land, but on the ownership of land, taking what would other wise go to the owner as owner, and not as user. In assessments under the single tax all values created by individual use or improvement would be excluded, and the only value taken into consideration would be the value attaching to the bare land by reason of neighborhood, etc., to be determined by impartial periodical assessments. Thus the farmer would have no more taxes to pay than the speculator who held a similar plece of land idle, and the man who on a city lot erected a valuable building would be taxed no more than the man who held a similar lot vacant. The single tax in short would call upon men to contribute to the public revenues not in proportion to what they produce or accumulate, but in proportion to the value of the natural opportunities they hold. It would compel them to ray just as much for holding land idle as for putting it to Its fullest use. The single tax, therefore, would 1st. Take the weight of taxation off the agricultural districts, where land has little or no value Irrespective of Improvements, and put it on towns and cities, where bare land rises to a value of millions of dollars per acre. 2d. Dispense with a multiplicity of taxes and a horde of tax-gatherers, simplify government, and greatly reduce its cost. 3d. Do away with the fraud, corruption, and gross inequality inseparable from our present methods of taxation, which allow the rich to escape while they grind the poor. Land cannot be hid or carried off, and its value can be ascertained with greater ease and certainty than any other. 4th. Give us with all the world as perfect freedom of trade as now exists between the States of the Union, thus enabling our people to share through free exchanges in all the advantages which nature has given to other countries, or which the pecullar skill of other peoples has enabled them to attain. It would destroy the trusts, monoplles, and corruptions which are the outgrowths of the tariff. It would do away with the fines and penalties now levied on any one who Improves a farm, erects a house, bullds a machine, or in any way adds to the general stock of wealth. It would leave every one free to apply labor or expend capital in production or exchange without fine or rest iction, and would leave to each the full product of his exertion. 5th. It would, on the other hand, by taking for public use that value which attaches to land by reason of the growth and Improvement of the community, make the holding of land unprofitable to the mere owner and profitable only to the user. It would thus make it impossible for speculators and monopolists to hold natural opportunities unused or only half used, and would throw open to labor the limitable field of employment which the earth offers to man. It would thus solve the labor problem, do away with involuntary poverty, raise wages in all occupations to the full earnings of labor, make overproduction impossible until all human wants are satisfied, render labor-saving inventions a blessing to all, and cause such an enormous production and such an equitable distribution of wealth as would give to all comfort, leisure, and participation in the advantages of an advancing civilization, in securing to each individual equal right to the use of the earth. It is also a proper function of society to maintain and control all public ways for the transportation of persons and property, and the transmission of intelligence; and also to maintain and control all public ways in cities for faralshing water, gas, and all other things that necessarily require the use of such common ways. The American Peace and Arbitration League. THE corporate purposes of the organization favor universal peace by conciliation and arbitration, through a permanent international court, arbitration treaties between all nations, and adequate armament for national security. Honorary Presidents-Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, and Theodore Roosevelt. President-Henry Clews. Treasurer-J. Van Vechten Olcott. General Secretary-Andrew B. Humphrey. Headquarters, 31 Nassau Street, New York City. United States Secret Service. THE Secret Service Division of the Treasury Department is under the direction of Wm. J. Flynn, chief of the division. The service 18 principally engaged in detecting and prosecuting makers and dealers in counterfelt paper money and coin. Detalls are also furnished for the protection of the President of the United States. The arrests of counterfeiters number about 400 annually; other arrests are for bribery, Impersonating United States Government officers, perjury, and violating sections of the United States Revised Statutes relating to foreign and domestic obligations and coins. 100 Progress of the United States. Progress of the United States IN AREA, POPULATION AND MATERIAL INDUSTRIES. (Compiled from a statement prepared by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce.) ! 2.105,102,516 i 3,124,746,000 1 14,090,863 a Figures of 1913 are somewhat preliminary and subject to revision. b Exclusive of Alaska and islands belonging to the United States. c Census figures, relating to Continental United States; the figures for 1913 represent an estimate. d Census figures erty. 1904. 1800 to 1850, outstanding principal of the public debt, January 1. h Figures for the years 1800 to 1850 include the total public debt. 1912. Gold and silver can not be stated separately prior to 1876. From 1862 to 1875, inclusive, gold and silver were hot in circulation, except on e True valuation of real and personal propthe Pacific coast, where it is estimated that the average specie circulation was about $25,000,000, and this estimate is continued for the three following years under the head of gold. After that period gold was available for circulation. k As the result of a special investigation by the Director of the Mint, a reduction of $135,000,000 was made in the estimate of gold coin in circulation on July 1, 1907, as compared with the basis of previous years, and on September 1, 1910, a reduction of $9.700000 was made in the estimate of subsidiary silver. Includes notes of Bank of United States; Statebank notes; demand notes of 1862 and 1863: fractional currency, 1870; Treasury notes of 1890, 1900 to date; and currency certificates, act of June 8, 1872-1900. Includes value of buildings, $3,556,639,496. The Twelfth Census was the first to collect statistics of buildings on farms. n Includes value of buildings, 86,325,451,528. o 1910. p Data of the Department of Agriculture, representing wealth production on farms. q Exclusive of neighborhood industries and hand trades, included in years previous to 1905. "Ordinary receipts" include receipts from customs, internal revenue, direct tax, public lands, and miscellaneous," but do not include receipts from loans, premiums, Treasury notes, or revenues of Post-Office Department. Ordinary disbursements" include disbursements for War, Navy, Indians, pensions, payments for interest, and miscellaneous," but do not include payments for premiums, principal of public debt, s Includes corporation tax, $34,948,871 in 1913. or disbursements for postal service paid from revenues thereof. u Imports for consumption after 1850. v Domestic exports only after 1860. w Includes canal boats and barges prior to 1880. x Figures relate to the Western Union only and after 1900 do not include messages sent over leased wires or under railroad contracts. y 1800 to 1850, inclusive, from census of 1880; from 1880 to 1900, inclusive, from Rowell's Newspaper Directory; after 1900, from Ayer's American Newspaper Annual. Figures for 1913 include outlying possessions. z Includes salaries for teachers and principals only. 1850, total alien passengers arrived; 1850, 15 months ending December 31; after 1850, fiscal years ending June 30. †1911. United States Geographic Board. Chairman, Henry Gannett, Geological Survey, Department of the Interior; Secretary, Charles S. By executive order of August 10, 1906, the official title of the United States Board on Geographic Enternational Congress on Hygiene and Demography. THE object of the congress is to extend the knowledge and improve the practice of hyglene, public health and vital statistics in the countries which participate. Naturally, these benefits accrue in largest measure to the country which is for the time being the host of the congress. The work of the congress falls into two branches: First, an exhibition of the recent progress and the present condition of the public health movement in the co-operating countries: and secondly, a series of scientific meetings at which leading scholars of both hemispheres will report upon and discuss current questions of fundamental importance in the various fields. For the latter purpose the congress has been divided into nine sections as stated below. Each section holds daily meetings durIng the week of the congress and may propose resolutions regarding matters of practice or lines of desirable investigations. Such resolutions are referred without debate to the Permanent International Commission and come later before the closing session of the full congress. American administrative work for public health is mainly in the hands of the State and city governments. The participation of these governments in the projected exhibition has been requested by Congress through the adoption of a joint resolution inviting the Governors of each of the States to appoint State committees, of not less than five members each, to co-operate with the Committee on Organization. Arrangements of this part of the congress have been placed in charge of Dr. J. W. Schereschewsky, of the United States Public Health Service. The official languages for papers and discussions are English, French and German, but probably a majority of the participants will speak in English. The cordial co-operation, both of AmerIcan representatives of State and city health work and of private organizations and Individuals, la confidently anticipated. Any person engaged in the study or practice of hygiene or demography may become a member of the congress, but the Committee on Organization reserves the right to withhold the privileges of membership in particular cases. The fee for membership is five dollars. Each member will receive a report of the transactions of the congress and of the protocol to be published after the adjournment of the congress. The Permanent International Commission of the Congresses of Hygiene and Demography is made up of the representatives of twenty-one nations. The President is Dr. Max Rubner, Director of the Institute of Hyglene, Berlin, Germany; the Vice-President, Mr. S. N. D. North, late Director of the United States Census Bureau, and the Secretary-General, Dr. Johannes Nietner, of Berlin, Germany. The representatives of the United States on the Commission are, besides Mr. North, Dr. Rupert Blue, Surgeon-General of the Public Health Service; Dr. Hermann Biggs, of the New York City Dept. of Health, and Lleut.-Col. Walter D. McCaw, Surgeon-General's Library, Washington, D.C. The Fourteenth International Congress was held at Berlin in 1907, and the Fifteenth at Washington, D. C., September, 1912. The decision as to the time and place of meeting of the Sixteenth Congress was left to the Permanent International Commission. The United States Census. THE Constitution requires that a census of the United States shall be taken decennially. The First Census was taken in 1790 under the supervision of the President; subsequent censuses, to and including that of 1840, were taken under the supervision of the Secretary of State. In 1849 the supervision of the census was transferred to the newly organized Department of the Interior, and continued under the control of that department until the passage of the act of 1903, creating the Department of Commerce and Labor; by this act the Census Bureau was transferred to the new department. Congress, by act approved March 6, 1902, made the Census Bureau a permanent bureau of the Government. The work of the Census Bureau is divided into two main branches, namely, the decennial census and special statistical Inquiries, the latter mostly made in the intervals between the decennial consuses. The Thirteenth Decennial Census was taken as of date April 15, 1910. It covered the three main subjects(1) population, (2) agriculture, and (3) manufactures, mines and quarries. The results of this census are now being compiled and published, and have been used wherever available for the tables of the present ALMANAC. The aggregate cost of the census of 1910 when completed will be over $15,000,000. Of this amount $6,500,000 represents the cost of collecting the data through the employment of over 70,000 paid enumerators, besides supervisors, clerks, and special agents. The balance is the cost of tabulating and publishing the result. A more detailed account of the census of 1910 is given in the 1911 issue of THE WORLD ALMANAC. The permanent work of the Census Bureau is provided for by the act of Congress approved March 6, 1902, and amendments thereto. These acts authorize and direct the Bureau to make statistical inquiries regarding the insane, feeble-minded, deaf and dumb, and blind; crime, pauperism and benevolence; deaths and births in the areas maintaining registration system; social and financial statistics of cities; wealth, debt and taxation; religious bodies; electric light and power, telephones and telegraphs, and street railways; transportation by water; cotton production, cotton consumed, imported, exported, and cotton on hand, and active cotton spindles: statistics of tobacco; and production of forest products. The statisties of deaths (which now cover a little over half of the country) of cities, and of production of cotton and forest products, are secured annually; the other statistics mentioned are taken usually at Intervals of five or ten years, not, however, at the same time as the regular decennial censuses. The act of 1902 also provides for a census of manufactures in the fifth year Intervening between the decennial censuses. and the new Thirteenth Census act further provides for a census of agriculture in 1915. The Director of the Census is appointed by the President of the United States and receives a salary of $6,000 per annum. The present Director 18 William J. Harris of Georgia. The permanent office organization includes a chief clerk, William L. Austin: four chief statisticians: for Population, William C. Hunt; for Manufactures, William M. Steuart; for Finance and Municipal Statistics, Le Grand Powers; for Vital Statistics, Cressy L. Wilbur; a geographer, Charles S. Sloane, and eight chiefs of division. The entire number of employés in the Bureau at Washington is now about 640; in addition there are about 700 special agents employed Intermittently in the Southern States for the collection of cotton statistics. The number of employés in Washington was greatly increased during the decennial census; on November 1, 1910, it was 3,565, in addition to field employés. White House Rules. THE following rules have been arranged for the conduct of business at the Executive Offices during the Winter of 1913-14: The Cabinet will meet on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11 A. M. until 1 P. M. Senators and Representatives having business to transact will be received from 10.30 A. M. to 12 M., excenting on Cabinet days. In view of the pressure of business at the Executive Offices during the Congressional session It would greatly facilitate matters if Senators and Members could telephone for an appointment before calling, as many will have first made appointments In this way, and those calling without appointments are therefore necessarily delayed in seeing the President. The East Room will be open dally, Sundays excepted for the Inspection of visitors, between the hours of 10 A M. and 2 P. M. JOSEPH P. TUMULTY, Secretary to the President. United States Customs Duties. 103 A TABLE OF LEADING ARTICLES IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES OR (The following table covers only the articles of principal importance Imported.) Cast Iron pipe, andirons, plates. stove plates, hollow ware. Aluminum, and alloys of any kind in which it is the chief component, in crude form.... 12c. gross 7c. Ib. Watch movements and watch cases, clocks and parts thereof.. Graduated rate 30 p.c. ad val. 5 p.c. ad val. 8c. gross 25 p.c. ad val. 15 p.c. ad val. 120 p.c. ad val. 10 p.c. ad val. 10 p.c. ad val. Graduated rate 2c. lb. Sugar candy, valued more than 15c. per pound. 15 p.c. ad val. polariscope 95- grees polari- 65c. Ib. 20 p.c. ad val. 50 p.c. ad val. Sugar candy and all confectionery, n.s.p.f., valued at 15c. per 4c. lb. and 15 p.c. pound or less.... ad val. scope 71-100 of 1 c. lb. 2c. Ib. |