to pay a price for the use of land, and his share in production declines accordingly.

Assuming as fundamental axioms that what a man produces by his labor is inalienably his own, and that what nature freely gives is the common heritage of all mankind, to be enjoyed by all in common, Henry George concluded that the existing system of taxation is radically unjust, since it takes a part of the product of each man's industry, in the shape of excise, customs, and general property taxes; while it leaves in the hands of private individuals the unearned increment,' or rent, of land, as well as royalties for the use of mines, and other forms of income, from natural resources. Accordingly, he proposed to abolish all forms of taxes except such as fell upon natural sources of income; and upon the latter sources of income, taxation should be SO heavy as to take practically the whole for the public treasury. This involved making a careful distinction between that part of the value of land which is due to improvements made by industry, and that part which is due to nature or to the growth of society, and between the two corresponding forms of income. This distinction was already familiar in economics, and the income from the land, as distinguished from the income from improvements,

was generally known to economists as 'pure rent.' The single tax thus involved the confiscation of rent; and since the value of land, apart from the value of improvements thereon, is the capitalization of rent, the single tax involved practically the confiscation of all land. Since they regard private ownership of land as inherently unjust, the single taxers view with equanimity the wholesale confiscation of landed property; and they reject utterly any plan for compensation of landowners, holding that present possession of unearned income does not create a perpetual title to it.

Such a scheme of taxation, the single taxers hold, would equalize opportunity and abolish all poverty not due to personal inefficiency. It would give a great impetus to production, since labor and capital would be freed from the onerous taxes now resting upon them. It would throw upon the market the areas of land now held for speculative purposes, since no man could pay such heavy taxes on land which he did not use. Thus farms and building sites would be obtainable by any one who wished to use them.

The opponents of the single tax deny the truth of the al

leged axioms that the products of labor are inalienably the laborer's, and that the free gifts of nature belong inalienably to all mankind. They emphasize the fact that property in all its forms is a social product, created for reasons of social expediency. Apart from social institutions, it is impossible even to say what the product of labor, under modern complex conditions of industry, actually is. Each person is entitled to what he is assured of by contracts, express or implied, under the authority of the state. The income from land is assured to the owner of the land in the same way that wages are assured to the laborer. The two forms of income rest upon the same ethical and legal foundation.

To confiscate the land of the small farmer, purchased with the product of labor or won by the hardships of pioneer life, in order to free the vast masses of personal property from taxation, would be, it is argued, a monstrous injustice. Confiscation of the land value would destroy the value of all mortgages secured by land; and this would mean the ruin of the savings banks, which invest heavily in this form of security.

Opponents of the single tax further deny that industry as a whole would be stimulated by the redistribution of the burden of taxation. Absolute ownership of land is required to encourage improvements on the land. Το transform all freeholders into virtual tenants of the state, with rentals arbitrarily fixed by state officials, would be to remove all incentive from the small farmer, and accelerate the movement from country to city. The impossibility of gains accruing from the rise in value of land would check speculative building in the large cities, and aggravate the evils of urban overcrowding.

Further objections are made by students of finance. Public revenues derived from rentals of land would be inelastic in the extreme; they would bear no relation to the varying needs of government. They would be wholly inadequate in sparsely settled communities, and unduly productive in well-developed regions. With such a revenue system, no progress could be made toward the much-needed separation of federal, state, and local revenues. The revenues would necessarily be collected by one central authority and distributed by that authority to the other governmental agencies, with consequent annihilation of state and local autonomy. Moreover, taxes levied for other than fiscal purposes, as protective duties and

taxes upon spirituous liquors, would fail to harmonize with a revenue system based upon land taxes.

In the lapse of time since the publication of Henry George's Progress and Poverty (1879), the single tax agitation has undergone important changes. Single taxers of to-day emphasize especially the need of levying heavier taxes upon urban land, and upon the franchises that naturally increase in value with urban development. It is admitted by many who refuse to accept the extreme views of the school that justice and expediency favor such taxation of urban land as will appropriate to the growing needs of local government the rapid increase in rent of land. As a step in this direction, single taxers advocate the separation of taxes upon land as such and taxes upon buildings, etc., with a view to increasing eventually the rate of taxation upon the former. A plan for reaching the increase in land values has been elaborated by the eminent German economist, Professor Adolph Wagner, and was adopted by the tax committee of the city of Berlin in a report prepared for the city council in 1905. The plan contemplates the imposition of a tax upon the transfer of land, amounting to from one to twenty-five per cent. of the increment in value since the last transfer. In the German colony of Kiao-chau a transfer tax absorbing 333 per cent. of the increased value of land is levied. In America and England, where the single tax agitation has been conducted with the greatest vigor, no positive results have as yet been attained, although many men eminent in politics have given a qualified adherence to the plan. See GEORGE, HENRY. Consult George, Progress and Poverty (1879); Single Tax Discussion,' Proceedings of the American Social Science Association (1890); Shearman, Natural Taxation (1898); Howe, The City (1905).

Sing Sing. See OSSINING.

Singular Points. In general the portion of a curve close to any point lies on one side of the tangent at that point. Figs. 1, 2, 3 may be imagined to represent portions of a curve, the straight fines representing the tangent at the point considered in Figs. 2 and 3, which may meet the curve in an even (2) or an odd (3) number of coincident points at the place of contact, in the latter case crossing as well as touching the curve. In general the tangent meets the curve in only two coincident points at the place of contact, as it is the limiting position of the secant (Fig. 1) through two points on the curve which

closely connected with the theory of equal roots of an equation.

Multiple Point is one through which more than one branch of a curve passes. A double point occurs when there are only two branches, and therefore two tangents. If these are real there is a node or crunode (4); if imaginary, a conjugate point or acnode; if coincident, a cusp (5). To investigate, transfer the origin to the singular point, whereupon the branches and their tangents may be easily found.

Sinhalese, or SINGHALESE, inhabitants of Ceylon, comprising about two-thirds the population of the island. Though of mixed blood, they are essentially of the white race, and their language belongs to the Aryan family. In customs and general appearance, they have changed little in more than 2,000 years. They are

Buddhists.

Sinigaglia. See SENIGALLIA.
Sinister. See HERALDRY.

S.nkholes. Because of the solubility of certain rocks, as limestone, surface waters, in passing through them, often remove material unevenly, forming pipes, caverns, and sinkholes." The usual origin is connected with the caving of underground caverns. As a result a pitter surface form is produced without outlet except the subterranean one. Natural bridges result from the preservation of portions of the roof of such collapsed caverns. Sinkholes are occasionally large and numerous enough to become prominent topographic features.

Sinking Fund. In public finance, a sum annually appro

233

priated for the payment of the public debt. The term first became current in English finance in 1716, when such of the revenues as were pledged to the payment of interest and principal of specific obligations were grouped into four funds, one of which, consisting of the surplus of pledged revenues above interest payments, was called the sinking fund, and was applied to the payment of principal. The sums thus applied varied from year to year, but increased automatically as the annual interest charges diminished. In 1772 Dr. Price published An Appeal to the Public on the Subject of the National Debt, in which he argued that a sinking fund consisting of a small annual appropriation, devoted to the purchase of public stock, the interest on which should be regularly applied to further purchases of public stock, would in the lapse of time extinguish the whole debt, which had at that time become a serious burden upon the nation. An essential feature of the scheme was the inviolability, even in time of war, of the fund this created. In 1786 the scheme was adopted by Pitt, who placed a fund of £1,000,000 under the control of a special board of commissioners, to be invested in public stock. A yearly payment of £1,000.000 was to be added to the sinking fund, together with the interest on stocks purchased. In the war with France the government was compelled to borrow heavily for current expenses; payments to the sinking fund could be made only through loans, and the rate of interest at which the loans were raised almost invariably exceeded the rate on the debt which the sinking fund was intended to cancel. The fatuity of an inviolable sinking fund was not exposed until 1829, when the plan was abandoned. In 1830 a plan was adopted for setting aside annually at least £3,000,000 for the repayment of the debt; but constantly recurring shortage of revenues prevented the carrying out of the plan. In 1875 a new sinking fund was created. A specific sum, larger than the interest of the public debt, was to be set aside each year. It was to be a part of the regular budget, and deficiencies in the sinking fund were to be treated as deficiencies in ordinary expenditure. This fund, known as the new sinking fund,' is still maintained. In 1904 the sum thus applied to debt extinction was £1,464,087.

In the United States the first federal sinking fund was created in 1790, the surplus for the year from import and tonnage duties being set aside for debt redemp

Sinov

In

tion. The sum was small, and though increased in 1792 by other funds, with the provision for retention by the fund of interest on government obligations purchased, the net results were trifling. By a law of 1802 the annual fund applicable to interest payment and reduction of debt was increased to $7,300,000. the succeeding years the fund was further increased, and the process of debt repayment was rapid. Sinking fund provisions were employed in connection with the loans occasioned by the War of 1812 and the Civil War. In neither case was the sinking fund taken seriously by the financiers. When a surplus revenue appeared, as was usually the case, it was applied to debt payment; when revenues fell short, no attention was paid to the sinking fund. The chief importance of the sinking fund in American financial history is that it has served to popularize the view that provisions looking to repayment should be made upon the creation of a loan.

Sinking funds are not uncommon in local finance; they may be required by state authority to check the tendency of municipalities toward reckless financiering.

Terminable annuities are akin in principle to inviolable sinking funds. Instead of paying interest alone, a government may pay a somewhat larger sum annually, payments to cease, say, in fifty years; such payments are in reality composed of two distinguishable parts: interest, and part payment of principal. The disadvantages of terminable annuities are the same as those of an inviolable sinking fund, viz., the government may in time of crisis be compelled to borrow at a high rate to make payments on the principal of a debt bearing a low rate.

Sinking funds are not uncommonly maintained by private corporations. When such funds have for their purpose the replacement of equipment deteriorating in process of operation, their maintenance is a mark of sound financial policy. As in public finance, they are, on occasion, maintained through the proceeds of fresh loans. Consult Sargent, Apology for Sinking Funds (1868); Ross, Sinking Funds (1892).

Sinon, in ancient Greek and Roman legend, a cousin of Odys

seus,

whom he accompanied to the siege of Troy. Having allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Trojans, he persuaded them to bring the wooden horse into the citadel. Then at midnight he let out the Greek warriors which were within it. His name has

thus become proverbial for a treacherous spy.

Sinope (Turk. Sinob), tn., Asia Minor, on a promontory on coast of Black Sea, in about 34° 10′ E. Pop. 8,000. Anciently it was the chief of the Greek colonies on the shores of the Euxine, and was founded before 700 B.C. by settlers from Miletus. It prospered greatly, and in the 5th century B.C. came into friendly relations with Athens. In 183 B.C. it was captured by the king of Pontus. It was the birthplace and chief residence of Mithridates the Great. Shortly before the death of Julius Cæsar it became a Roman colony, and continued to be a place of importance throughout the whole period of the Roman and Byzantine empires. Early in the middle ages it was included in the empire of Trebizond, and was taken by the Turks in 1470. In the bay (Nov. 30, 1853) a Turkish squadron was destroyed by the Russian fleet.

Sinter, the loose, porous, usually friable deposit left on the evaporation of calcareous or silicious waters. Of the two principal kinds of sinter, calcsinter, or travertine, is the more common. Silicious sinter is practically confined to a few districts, where volcanoes are now or have been recently in operation. The best-known localities are the Yellowstone Park, Iceland, and New Zealand.

Silicious sinter varies considerably in color. The sinter terraces of Lake Rotomahana, in New Zealand, which were destroyed by the eruption of Tarawera in 1886, were famed for their gorgeous coloring. Around geysers a basin-shaped mass of sinter is usually found, the orifice of the boiling spring being in the centre. Where the springs are hot but not boiling, the terrace form is more common. All of these forms are wonderfully developed in the Yellowstone Park, and constitute some of its most attractive features. Silicious sinter is really a porous form of opal, and dead stumps of tree permeated by the heated mineral waters have been partly converted into wood opal or petrified by impregnation with silica in solution.

Sinuessa, a Roman colony in Latium, ancient Italy, founded in 296 B.C., about 6 m. N. of the mouth of the Volturnus. It suffered greatly in the second Punic War. The most important ruins are an aqueduct and fragments of a truimphal arch. Near Sinuessa were hot springs, much frequented in ancient times.

Sinus, in pathology, a narrow channel leading from an abscess cavity to the surface of the body or limb, formerly called 'issue.' The treatment of a sinus

an

is by treatment of the abscess. In anatomy the term sinus is used for various cavities in bones (as the nasal sinuses in the frontal bone behind the eyebrows), and also used for irregular channels for the transmission of venous blood in the brain.

Siout. See ASSIUT.

Sioux City, city, Ia., co. seat of Woodbury co., 89 m. N.N.W. of Omaha, Neb., on the Missouri R., and on the Chi., Burl. and Quin., Chi., Mil. and St. P., the Ill. Cent., the Chi. and N. W., the Great N. and the Chi., St. P., Minneap. and Omaha R. Rs. It is an important manufacturing and commercial city, with flour mills, foundries, machine shops, saddlery and harness manufactories, a brewery, and two large meat-packing plants connected with a thriving live-stock industry. Products of other establishments include electrical supplies, pumps, windmills, pottery, brick and tile, cement, planing - mill products, soap, linseed oil, confectionery, pickles, etc.

The cen

sus of manufactures in 1905 returned 106 industrial establishments, with $5,888,592 capital, and an output valued at $14,760,751. Sioux City is the seat of Morningside College (M. E.) and of the Sioux City College of Medicine. Other institutions of note are the public library, the Samaritan Hospital, St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, and the German Lutheran Hospital. Among the features of interest are the government building, two bridges spanning the Missouri R., the Floyd Monument, the Cathedral of the Epiphany (R. C.), Riverside Park, and West Side Park. Sioux City was settled in 1849, and in its early years was of importance as a trading and military post. The city was laid out in 1854 and incorporated three years later. Pop. (1910) 47,828.

Sioux Falls, city, S. Dak., co. seat of Minnehaha co., in S.E. part of state near E. boundary, on the Big Sioux R., and on the Chi., Mil. and St. P., the Chi., Rock I. and Pac., the Gt. N.. the Ill. Cent., the Chi., St. P., Minn, and Omaha R. Rs. It is an important manufacturing place. Its manufactories, supplied with splendid water power from Big Sioux Falls, produce windmills, machinery, wagons and carriages, large quantities of flour, brooms, boilers, agricultural implements, creamery supplies, sheet iron products, etc. There are also bottling works. The 1905 census of manufactures returned 61 industrial establishments with a combined capital of $1,748,022 and products valued at $1,897,790. The quarrying of building stone is the leading industry of the

district, but cattle-raising and farming are also engaged in. Here are situated Sioux Falls College (Bapt.), All Saints' School, a state school for deaf mutes, and a Lutheran normal school. Other features of interest are a public library, children's home, the Dakato Penitentiary, and the U. S. Government building. The scenery at the falls of the river, which are about 100 ft. in height, is of picturesque beauty. The place was settled in 1867, incorporated as a village in 1877, and chartered as a city in 1883. Pop. (1910) 14,094.

Sioux Indians, one of the large groups of North American Indians, constituting a distinct stock of languages. At the time of their discovery they held practically all of the territory drained by the Missouri, the upper Mississippi, and the Red River of the North. However, they were never confederated in the strict sense of the word, and many of the tribes were constantly at war with each other. The main divisions were the Dakota, Assiniboine, Crow, Mandan, Omaha, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Ponca, Osage, and Missouri. Of these the Dakota, who are the Sioux of common parlance, were by far the largest, numbering in 1900 approximately 30,000. About 1800 the Dakota and the Assiniboine were found wandering on the plains, living in tents and chasing the buffalo, while the other divisions resided for a part of the year in permanent villages of earth-covered lodges, and cultivated maize. The latter, however, had at that time formed the habit of spending several months wandering in the plains, chasing the buffalo and living in tents. It is now generally believed that all parts of the Siouan stock were formerly agriculturists, residing in permanent villages, gradually becoming roving Indians after the introduction of horses. While it is evident that the various Siouan tribes sprang from one parent stock, they were so differentiated at the time of the discovery of America that the term Siouan expresses linguistic relations rather than ethnological attributes. The original home of the stock is assumed to have been near the south Atlantic coast.

For the ethnology of the Siouan peoples see DAKOTA, ASSINIBOINES, MANDAN, OMAHA, CROW, and OSAGE. For migrations and languages see J. Mooney's The Siouan Tribes of the East (1894); and J. O. Dorsey's The Cegiha Language (1892).

Sioux Quartzite, a pre- Cambrian quartzite of considerable extent in adjacent parts of Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota. The rock is perfectly indurated, and therefore extremely hard and

Siphnos

durable. It varies in color from light pink to a very deep red and takes a beautiful polish. It is used to a limited extent for building purposes, but the difficulty of working the stone makes it unusually expensive.

Siphnos, isl., Greece, one of the Cyclades, in the Egean Sea, lies N.E. of Melos. Area, 29 sq. m. Pop. 4,000. It was colonized at an early date by Ionians from Athens, and its people attained much wealth from its gold and silver mines. They fought for the Greeks at Salamis (480 B.C.), and subsequently were included in the Athenian confederacy. In ancient days, as now, the island was noted for its pottery.

Siphon, a bent tube with one limb longer than the other, by means of which a liquid can be drawn off to a lower level over the side of a vessel or other point higher than the upper surface of the liquid. When the tube is filled with liquid, the atmospheric pressure on the surface tends to force the liquid up the tube to an extent that is more or less opposed by the downward pressure of the column of liquid up to the bend. In the other limb the atmospheric pressure of the column of liquid;

Siphon.

pressure of the column of liquid; but if this is longer than the column on the other side, there will be a corresponding unbalanced downward pressure, and the water will flow in that direction, unless the height of the upper level to the bend is such that the pressure of the column of liquid is greater than the atmospheric pressure can support, when a vacuum forms at the bend instead. In order to start syphons conveniently, they are sometimes made with an additional tube joined near the end of the lower

limb, so that by temporarily crossing the lower end of the syphon the liquid can be sucked over without the risk of getting it into the mouth. Siphonophora.

ZOA.

See HYDRO

235

Sipontum, anc. Italian city, on Adriatic coast, just s. of promontory of Garganus. It was taken by Alexander, king of Epirus, about 330 B.C., and in 194 it became a Roman colony. In the middle ages malaria caused it to decay, and in 1250 Manfred, king of Naples, removed its inhabitants to Manfredonia, 14 m. farther N. The ancient cathedral of Sta. Maria still marks the site.

Sippara. See SEPHARVAIM and BABYLONIA.

Sipunculus, a genus of Gephyrea, of which a common species is S. nudus, found in the North Sea, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. It reaches a length of from six to eight inches, and is found in sand.

Siquijor, pueb., Negros Oriental prov., Philippines, 35 m. s.w. of Tagbilaran, on isl. of same name. Pop. (1903) 12,116. The island produces a fine quality of tobacco, and also hemp, cacao, rice, maize, etc. Area, 126 sq. m. Pop. (1903) 46,023, all civilized.

Sir, a complimentary form of address, used in society among equals, and by inferiors toward superiors. It is derived from the Latin senior, through the successive French forms seigneur, sieur, sire. In England it is applied to baronets and knights and formerly to members of the clergy.

Sirach. See ECCLESIASTICUS. Sirajganj, tn., Pabna dist., Bengal, on 1. bk. of the Brahmaputra, 70 m. N.W. of Dacca; has jute trade. Pop. (1901) 23,114.

Siraj-ud-Daula, or SURAJAH DOWLAH, a nawab of Bengal, put to death (1757) by the British for having caused the tragedy of the Black Hole of Calcutta (1756). He was defeated by Clive at Plassey (1757).

Sirdar, a word meaning 'head man,' or 'chief.' It is in use among most Mohammedan nations in the sense of a commanderin-chief. It is the title given to the British commander of the Egyptian forces.

Sir-daria. See SYR DARIA.

Sir Donald, peak of the Selkirk Mts., in British Columbia, Canada. Alt. 10,640 ft. At its base is situated the station of 'Glacier' on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Its form is a steep pyramid. See GLACIER.

Siren, a peculiar form of whistle, the sounds from which are produced by the passage of air or steam through two discs pierced with holes, one disc fixed, the other revolving freely parallel with it. Sirens of various types have been invented by Seebeck, Cagniard de la Tour, Dové, and Helmholtz. See FOG SIGNALS.

Siren, a genus of tailed amphibians, including only one spe

Sirius

cies, the mud-eel (S. lacertina) of the southeastern parts of the United States. It reaches a length of about two and a half feet, and is found in ditches and ponds, where it burrows in the mud.

Siren.

The tail is large and fringed, the hind limbs entirely absent, while the weak fore limbs have only four fingers. Like Proteus and the axolotl, Siren retains the exIt ternal gills throughout life. has three pairs of these organs.

Sirenia, or SEA-COWS, a small order of marine mammals which includes only the dugong, the manatee, and the recently exterminated Rhvtina. The sea-cows resemble the Cetacea in the absence of hind limbs and the conversion of the fore limbs into flippers; but they are vegetable feeders, and are found in relatively The bones are shallow water.

very massive; the head is not disproportionately large; the mam

Sirenia.

mæ are thoracic in position; there are traces of nails on the digits; the cheek teeth when present are adapted for crushing. Possibly the Sirenia have been derived from a primitive ungulate stock, though there is no clear evidence of this.

Sirens, in ancient Greek mythology, were fabulous beings of the female sex, who by their songs lured to destruction any who heard them. They were one of the dangers encountered by Odysseus; but being forewarned by Circe, he closed the ears of his sailors with wax, and had himself bound to the mast, before passing their coasts. The Argonauts also passed them, but Orpheus overcame the power of their song with his own. After that they were changed into rocks.

Sirhind, dist. in the N.E. of the Punjab, India, between the Sutlej and the Jumna; is irrigated by a canal system which consists of 538 m. of main canal and 4,639 m. of distributaries.

Sirius (a Canis Majoris), a lus trous white star of 1.6 photo

(On the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway.)

possessing half the attractive power of its primary, gives only 2yboo of its light. Their period of revolution is fifty-one years.

Sirmium, under the ancient Roman empire, an important town in S.E. of Lower Pannonia, on the Savsu R., though the exact site is not known. In the Dacian wars it was used as a military arsenal; it became the chief city in Pannonia, and (6th century A.D.) was captured by the Avars.

Sirocco, or SCIROCCO, the hot, moist southerly wind experienced

on the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and blowing over Malta, Sicily, and Italy, sometimes extending as far as the Black Sea. The temperature accompanying it is very great, a reading ot 110° F. having been recorded in Sicily. In S. Italy and Greece it is parching hot and dry; but farther north it becomes moist and cloudy, its high temper

The ruins of old Sirsa lie to the S.W. of the modern city, founded in 1837. It exports grain. Pop. (1901) 15,800.

Siskin, or GOLDFINCH (Carduelis spinus), a small finch, which is distributed over Europe and parts of Asia, and breeds in the northern parts of Great Britain and in Ireland. The male is prettily colored black and yellow, has a sweet song, and in habits resembles the goldfinch. Siskins are often kept in confinement. The American siskin (Spinus tristis) is the goldfinch, the English term siskin not being used here except with reference to a northern relative, the pinesiskin, occasionally visiting the Northern states in midwinter.

Sismondi, JEAN CHARLES I ÉONARD DE (1773-1842), French historian, born at Geneva, who, on the outbreak of the French Revolution, emoved to a farm near Lucca in Italy. There he