Henry George’s Disciple Draws a Crowd in Seattle
Louis F. Post, a leading advocate for the single-tax movement, captivated a Seattle audience with a lecture on land value and tax reform.
The story, cleaned up
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The Seattle theater was filled last night with an audience which, at intervals, was moved to enthusiasm by a lecture from Louis F. Post, the great advocate of the single tax system. The title of the lecture was 'Land and its Uses: What it is and How it is Homsteaded.' The answer to the implied question is, of course, the application of the single tax. Mr. Post talks to his audience, not at them, surprising them by apt and unexpected contrasts and illustrations, and running in his explanatory anecdotes with a fluency and dry humor which maintained interest until the last word. Throughout the entire address he never supported hypocrisy, winked at dishonesty, or tolerated any breaches of redress for wrongs except by peaceable and logical means. The lecture was illustrated by diagrams of a moral character, and Mr. Post may congratulate himself upon having made more stir in the community than any previous lecturer except Henry Watterson, with the difference that in one case it was curiosity to see the man, and last night it was to listen to the lecture.
“Throughout the entire address he never supported hypocrisy, winked at dishonesty, or tolerated any breaches of redress for wrongs except by peaceable and logical means.”
The single tax movement—a proposal to tax land values rather than improvements—was a major economic debate in the late 19th century. Today, as Seattle grapples with land-use density and tax policy, these arguments over who owns the ground and how we fund the city remain remarkably relevant.
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