The Single Tax Movement in the United States . By Arthur Nichols Young . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1916. Pp. x, 340.)

This book is unique, for, so far as the reviewer knows, it is the only one which deals exclusively with the Georgian single tax which was not written by a single taxer. The assumption of the reviewer that Professor Young is not a single taxer is based upon the lack of any bias in the book either for or against the single tax. The average single taxer is such an enthusiastic believer in his cause that whether speaking or writing he confesses his faith in no unmistakable terms; no Bertillon methods are required in his identification. Though he may not be a single taxer, Professor Young's treatment of his subject is so sympathetic and fair as to please the single taxer and not to antagonize the irreclaimable anti.

It is the lot of but few men to be the inspiration of an important popular movement. Henry George was such a man, and it is not surprising therefore that nearly the first half of Professor Young's book is devoted almost entirely to the life and labors of the great leader. The opening chapter of the book deals with the single tax idea before George's time, and though Professor Young concludes that George had been anticipated in all essential points by a number of writers, he credits George with having arrived at the ideas independently. The following chapter gives a description of California in the period of 1858-1878, in order that the reader may have the economic and political background for George's philosophy. The activities of George are then followed in detail from the appearance of Progress and Poverty in 1879 to his sudden death in the midst of the New York mayoralty campaign of 1897. Intimate stories and anecdotes about George hitherto unpublished add to the readable character of these biographical chapters.

The second half of the book is devoted to a descriptions of single tax experiments in the United States, and of the various attempts to get the single tax adopted. This part of the book is especially valuable because it assembles data and information which anyone interested in the single tax has had difficulty in obtaining.

Some of his readers may disagree with Professor Young in the influence which he accords to Henry George and single taxers in the recent popularization of political economy. Changing economic conditions, such as the disappearance of free land, the growth of trusts, and the rise of prices, and the socialist movement are perhaps more influential than the single tax agitation. At the same time, the single tax is not to be unduly minimized, and in giving us an adequate and readable history of the movement Professor Young has done a most useful piece of work.

E. T. Miller .  The University of Texas.

How to cite:
Miller, E. T., "The Single Tax Movement in the United States", Volume 021, Number 1, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 99 - 100. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v021/n1/review_33.html
[Accessed Tue Mar 16 15:39:31 CDT 2010]