of the United States has been located at different times at
the following places: At Philadelphia from September 5, 1774, until
December, 1776; at Baltimore from December 20, 1776, to March, 1777; at
Philadelphia from March 4, 1777, to September, 1777; at Lancaster, Pa.,
from September 27, 1777, to September 30, 1777; at York, Pa., from
September 30, 1777, to July, 1778; at Philadelphia from July 2, 1778,
to June 30, 1783; at Princeton, N.J., June 30, 1783, to November 20,
1783; Annapolis, Md., November 26, 1783, to November 30, 1784; Trenton,
from November, 1784, to January, 1785; New York from January 11, 1785,
to 1790; then the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia, where
it remained until 1800, since which time it has been in Washington.

THE SINGLE TAX.

This idea was first formulated by Mr. Henry George in 1879, and has
grown steadily in favor. Single tax men assert as a fundamental
principle that all men are equally entitled to the use of the earth;
therefore, no one should be allowed to hold valuable land without
paying to the community the value of the privilege. They hold that this
is the only rightful source of public revenue, and they would therefore
abolish all taxation--local, State and National--except a tax upon the
rental value of land exclusive of its improvements, the revenue thus
raised to be divided among local, State and general governments, as the
revenue from certain direct taxes is now divided between local and
State governments.

The single tax would not fall on all land, but only on valuable land,
and on that in proportion to its value. It would thus be a tax, not on
use or improvements, but on ownership of land, taking what would
otherwise go to the landlord as owner.

In accordance with the principle that all men are equally entitled to
the use of the earth, they would solve the transportation problem by
public ownership and control of all highways, including the roadbeds of
railroads, leaving their use equally free to all.

The single tax system would, they claim, dispense with a hoard of
tax-gatherers, simplify government, and greatly reduce its cost; give
us with all the world that absolute free trade which now exists between
the States of the Union; abolish all taxes on private uses of money;
take the weight of taxation from agricultural districts, where land has
little or no value apart from improvements, and put it upon valuable
land, such as city lots and mineral depo