Prohibition, High License, Local Option, and the Guttenburg System are all ways of dealing with the liquor traffic.
Prohibition has been of many different degrees in various places in the United States. A complete National prohibition measure has now been passed by Congress, and is before the States for ratification.
High License is intended to decrease the number of places where liquor is sold by placing a tax on them so large that it will be impossible for many of them to pay it.
Local Option, which allows communities of various sizes to decide for themselves whether the sale of liquor shall be licensed or not, has been fought step by step by the liquor trade.
The Scandinavian or Guttenburg System of controlling the liquor business, in general, provides for eliminating all private profit from the business, but there are many variations of details in different places in carrying out the system. The Scandinavian idea is that if the money profit is done away with the business will take care of itself. A few licenses are given for short periods to companies formed for manufacturing wines and liquors, and 5 per cent. interest is allowed on the capital invested. All remaining profits go to the State. The government has the right to withdraw the license without compensation. Retail shops are open only from eight in the morning until seven-thirty in the evening; they are closed on holidays, and from one on Saturday until eight A.M. on Monday. Bartenders are under the civil service and are given bonuses for selling soft drinks.
The Single Tax is a proposal to place the entire burden of taxation on land alone, without regard for the value of its improvements. Land which is not improved, and is entirely non-productive, often increases in value with the growth of population and the improvements made on neighboring property, without any effort on the part of the owner, or any service rendered by him in return. Improvements on property increase the taxes on that property, while the owner of the unimproved property escapes the same increase as long as his land remains unimproved. In other words, the improvements which add to public prosperity are made to pay an increase which the stagnant property escapes. The proposal of the single-taxers is that the “unearned increment” on such land should go into the public treasury.
The House of Governors originated when President Roosevelt, in 1908, invited the Governors of all the States to meet in Washington to confer over important matters. Several times since then this “House of Governors” has met together to discuss questions of mutual interest which are important to the welfare of the several States.
Proportional Representation would give representation in Congress to each party, in proportion to its membership in the State. At present the representation of each party is based on its comparative strength in each congressional district. The division of the State into congressional districts is made by the State Legislature. The political party in control of the Legislature may divide the State in such a way that it may be able to elect an unfair number of representatives. It may put counties, or assembly districts which have a large majority of voters belonging to the opposite party, in one congressional district, and economize its own voting strength by spreading it over as many congressional districts as possible, where it can be sure of electing its candidates by small majorities. This is known as “gerrymandering.” In New York State, instead of the division of the State into congressional districts being based fairly on population, districts have been created by the party in control of the Legislature which contain more than twice as many voters as some other districts.[12] It is said that proportional representation would also tend to make Congressmen so elected work for the service of the State as a whole instead of for one local district.
Workmen’s Compensation Laws are designed to provide for the compensation of employees when they are injured at their work. More working-men are injured in the industries of the United States, in proportion to the number employed, than in any other country in the world. To let the working-man and his family alone bear the burden of injury or death is recognized as an injustice. For such an injured person, or his family, to be obliged to sue through the courts is usually a long and expensive process. Years may be consumed in such litigation, and meanwhile the family may be without the support of the breadwinner. Compensation laws require employers, regardless of fault, to pay injured workmen certain amounts for injuries resulting from accidents, without the workmen being obliged to go to court and sue for damages.
The State Federation of Labor is working to have all compensation insurance placed in the State fund, to eliminate direct settlement of damages between the workers and the employer, and to have all occupational diseases included in the provision of the law.