I’ve not yet begun to watch the Ken Burns PBS series on Prohibition, other than a few snippets I’ve caught at odd times. (I look forward to watching the programs in order and in quiet.) But in the first segment, I did hear the name Frances Willard and something that made me google her name along with that of Henry George, on the chance that there was some connection. And I did find some interesting things.

Frances Willard, whose name we associate with the Womans Christian Temperance Union, was apparently also a Single Taxer. She saw the Single Tax as the way to end poverty, which she saw as a key cause of inebriation.

A few quotes:

“We used to say intemperance was the cause of poverty; now we have completed the circle of truth by saying poverty causes intemperance, and that the underpaid, undersheltered, wage-earning teetotaler deserves a thousand times more credit than the teetotaler who is well paid, well fed and well sheltered.

“In the slums they drink to forget; we would make life something they would gladly remember; so would you. Our objects are the same; let us clasp hands in the unity of spirit and the bond of peace.”

source: NYT, 1895-06-20

from What Frances E. Willard Said:

May God crown with success the three great movements of our time which are fast passing out of the hands of philanthropists and into those of statesmen, viz., the temperance, the woman, and the labor questions, all of which are equal fractions of that one mighty whole — the human question.

and

The labor question is our question. Prostrate and crushed under the mountains of injustice that are piled upon the poor, lies the degraded woman to whom financial independence, equal pay for equal work, has often proved the lifting lever to a rehabilitated life.

quoted in “Land and Freedom” (volume 33):

‘I SEE in Henry George’s proposal an effort to establish a principle which, when established, will do more to lift humanity from the slough of poverty, crime and misery than all else; and in this I recognize it as one of the greatest forces working for temperance and morality.

from Miss Willard’s address to the national WCTU convention in Baltimore, 1896:

In her address to the National W. C. T. U. convention held at Baltimore last week, Miss Willard said: – We can no longer ignore the fact that, as the Scripture saith, ’the destruction of the poor is their poverty.’ White ribbon women must be the sworn foes of monopoly, of landlordism, and every other form of class legislation. For one, I believe that the land belongs to the people, and while the farmer’s domain should not be interfered with, since he turns it to a beneficent use, a propaganda of education should have devised whereby the single tax and the issue of all money by the Government itself should become two of the central planks in the platform of the party of the future.

Speaking at another meeting Miss Willard: – Poverty is disease; it is disintegration; it has no right to be; and when men and women wake out of sleep, and see themselves as the criminals they are, nothing in the world will be so sure of actual extermination as the cursed thing called poverty – the cradle of crime, the father of filth, the mother of misery. In the past we have comforted ourselves with looking upon it as the effect of wrong-doing, but have now aroused ourselves to the study of its cause. We are determined to burn to its last infectious atom the stench of the slums, and the temptation to lead a bad life with which poverty haunts the dream of boyhood, handicaps the purposes of youth, and enthralls the life of manhood.

For myself, twenty-one years of study and observation have convinced me that poverty is a prime cause of intemperance, and that misery is the mother, and hereditary appetite the father, of the drink hallucination.

We once said that intemperance was the cause of poverty; now we have completed the circle of truth by saying poverty causes intemperance, and the underpaid, underfed, undersheltered, wage-earning teetotaler deserves a thousand times more credit than the teetotaler who is well paid, well fed, and well cared for.

Ten years ago I could not have said it honestly; five years ago I could not have said it helpfully; but now I ceaselessly declare that I believe it to be the right and duty of the white-ribbon women to help abolish poverty in the larger sense of that great phrase.

This simple change in taxation would also force land at present held out of use for speculative profit into use, and thus prevent the monopolist from becoming rich at the expense of the public. The value which attaches to the land on which any community lives, is created by that community from year to year, not by any individual, and is thus the legitimate fund from which all public revenue should come.”

from an Australian newspaper, 1898, LTE, quoting Frances Willard:

“I believe the present economic condition of the country, the misery of millions of our people, the vast number of the unemployed, call for reforms which, if they could be brought about, would vastly diminish the tendency to drink, and that one of those reforms of far-reaching and unspeakable beneficence is the single tax, as set forth by its great apostle Henry George.”

and finally, from the Oxford Observer, a two-parter from July, 1897:

The Oxford Observer. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY JULY 17th. 1897

AN UP-TO-DATE CATECHISM.By Miss Frances E.Willard.

Who made the earth? God.

For whom was it made? For the use and sustenance of all his children, each one of whom has an equal right to its enjoyment.

How do we know that each has this equal right? Without the use of the earth no human being can exist. As each has an equal right to existence, it follows that each has an equal right to the earth.

Some persons claim to ‘own’ land. Where did they get their titles to it? All such titles in this country were derived from foreign kings or queens who claimed to own “America.”

How did these foreign governments get this alleged right? Through open violence or fraud.

Have the people of one generation any right to give away or sell that which was made for all generations? No; the earth belongs to the living; the dead have no right therein.: (Thomas Jefferson.)

If any man claims to “own” land, has he a moral title to it? No; and it makes no difference whether he has purchased or inherited it, his title cannot be better than his from whom he derived. it.

To whom does the land of this country belong? To all the people of this country and to unborn generations.

It is necessary that each should have an equal portion of land in order that the rights, of all may be secured? No; that would be impracticable and unnecessary. The same end may be accomplished by taking the rent of land for public expenses.

To be continued.

Oxford Observer, Volume VIII, 24 July 1897

An Up-to-Date Catechism by Miss Frances E. Willard

As the value of land is produced by the community it should go to the community.

Can this be done without disturbing existing social institutions? Yes; by abolishing other forms of taxation and increasing the tax on land values.

How would this system compare with our present system of taxation? It would decrease the cost and simply the functions of Government. A tax on land values is the ideal system of taxation. – (New York Times)

You would, then, remove all taxation from buildins and improvements? Yes; the more improvements we have the better for the community. Our present system of taxation checks production; a tax on land values would stimulate production by abolishing the tax on improvements.

How would the placing of all taxation upon land values affect the farmer? It would reduce his taxes very largely. The farmer is the worst taxed workingman in the country; he not only pays largely through indirect taxation on everything he consumes, but he is also heavily taxed on improvements. A tax on land values would be very large in the cities, or where land values are high, and the tax on agricultural land would be very small.

How would it affect the house owner? He would gain greatly, for the greater part of tax which he now pays is based upon the value of his house which is usually much greater than the value of the land. Of this, as well as of all indirect taxation, he would be relieved.

Would the placing of all taxation upon land values improve the condition of these who work? Yes. If land were taxed to its full rental value no one could afford to hold valuable land idle; the holder must either use it himself or allow others to use it. This would create a great demand for labour, and all wages would rise.

How would it affect the temperance question? Through abolition of poverty it would solve the temperance question; poverty and the vice which springs from poverty, are the great causes of intemperance.

This catechism was published along with something of Henry George’s by the Darlington Single Tax League in the 1920s. Google Books has a page for it, but does not provide the text.

For some other Single Tax catechisms, check out thesingletax.com, the shorter pieces.