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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
correspondence ensued on my request to
T hi s
Dr David Starr Jordan the President of Stanford
,
.
University that he would give me his opinion and
,
’
comments on Henry George s l etter to the Pope on
the condition of labor
.
I t may be remembered that w hen t h e Rev Dr
.
.
M cG l y n n , of New York , became a convert to the
Single Ta x he was silenced by order of the Pope,
,
and eventually excommunicated for contempt o f
his authority
The Pope then addressed an
.
en
cyclical letter to his clergy, setting f orth the
principles involved in the labor problem as he saw
them
To this Henry George replied in an open
.
l etter
‘
which wa s placed in the hands of the Pope
himself
His Holiness apparently perceived that
.
inj ustice had been done, and he ordered the
O
pening of Dr M c G
.
l y nn
’
s
re
case with the result
,
that he was restored to his duties in Ne w York ,
the order of silence was withdrawn and he was
,
ful ly restored to the bosom of the Church
.
Dr Jordan promptly complied with my reques t,
.
a nd
in
hi s
vie ws
se
ndi ng him my arg uments in oppo sition to
,
I
req ues ted
hi
s
permission to publi sh
the correspondence , with such further comments
as he might choose to make
.
Dr Jordan s answer is characteristic of the wise
’
.
“I
and open minded man he i s :
-
notes
.
have made many
Publish what seems to you not trifling or
irrelevant and sign them (J ) and add as many
more as you please and sign them ( S ) The whole
,
.
will be instructive and set folks thinking
is all we college men are for
That
.
”
.
That , too is all that Single T axers are for , and
,
it i s for the publi c to determine what is right
For convenience
appendi x
th e
.
notes have b een put in
an
.
J H STALLARD , M
.
.
L ON D ON ,
The Bungalow , Menlo Park
San Mateo
Co
.
,
Cal
,
May ,
18 9 9
.
.
B
.
,
Er c
'
.
,
Era
.
L ETTER $ RO M
DR D AVID STA RR JO RD AN
,
.
Pre s i dent L e l a nd S ta nf o rd, J r
.
DR
.
J
H
.
.
Uni v ers i ty
,
.
STA L L A R D
There are many brilliant and many true things
in Mr George s book , and on the basis of His
’
.
Holiness assumption Mr George gives him a very
’
.
complete as well as a very courteous answer
But as
a
“
wh ole,
neither this nor any other o f
George s writings appeal s to me
’
se e ms faulty
.
.
.
His whole basis
He assumes that certain forms of
property relation have a divine or sacred right
This assumption entering into his premises
a
ppears in his conc l usions
which are thus
,
garded as proved according to his logic
,
every w ord of such premises because
,
them as based on mere figures of speech
no such thing as a
r
e
p i
“right
”
,
,
.
I
.
I
.
re
re
deny
regard
There is
except as we find e x
m e nta l l y that a certain line of action makes
for more and better life among m e n
“
.
As regards
”
the law of equal ac cess to land among men , suc h
a law is a mere figment a mere metaphor
,
trees have not equal access
.
.
The
While the present
way of paying running expenses of government is
very crude and faulty , and while a single ta x
would have several advantages , it has also its
draw b acks and a land tax is no more God given
-
,
than a b eer ta x
Mr
.
G
.
eorge w as a devoted man had f ull faith in
,
the sacredness of his mission , and he uses divine
m etaphors j ust as preachers do
.
The methods of
science seem wholly unknown to him and he fall s
,
b ack on his imaginary ethi cs whenever any one
hi m
asks
how
he
would go to work to make land
—
pu b lic property whether
,
for example by buyin g
,
it or b y seizing it or by alone taxing ownership
,
.
out of existence , and as to how any of these
methods could be made to work
a
divine
right
.
Property is not
It is a creation of so cial agree
.
ment and the relation best for society is
,
if we can find it out
“
right
”
.
If, as Dr Warner says ,
.
putting air in privat e
hands would yield a better supply on j uster terms
,
there is no divine reason why we should not turn
th e
atmosphere over to an air company
”
.
’
Take George s work squeeze out every meta
,
phor, cut out all this stu ff from the French dream
ers of the last century about the rights of man to
one thing or another and put it all into straight
,
English
.
You woul d have considerable practical
sense about various men and things drawn from
h is
o w n extensive observations ; b ut the argument
from divine right and the purposes of nature
6
ha s
not a straw s weight , namely : that men have
’
a
nat u ral right to ac cess to land ; therefore all taxes
,
must by divine
I
a
uthority b e laid on l and rentals
am not obj ecting to the idea of the public
.
u se
of land rentals , b ut to the divine or metaphysica l
argument in its favor
must b e this : It
.
The only true argument
h a s b een
i ts
tried , it works , and
results on individual and social development
a re
better than those obtained thro u gh other forms o f
land tenure and o f taxation
either, but
I
.
I
do not believe this ,
am reasonably open to convi ction
.
Argu m ent from purpose intention or divine
.
ness is a mere quibble of words
fit
.
D A VI D S TA R R J OR DA N
.
AN S WER O $
DR J H
.
.
.
STA L L ARD
T h e B u ng a l o w, M en l o P a rk , C a l
DE A R DR
I
,
.
JO R DA N
.
have to thank you for your prompt reply to my
request for your
O
’
pinion of Henry George s
dress to the Pope on the condition of labor
ad
.
You are a prince among educators the head of
,
—
the most liberal university in the world a n insti
tu ti o n
whi ch
I
trust under your leadership shall
b ecome the home of all freedom and whose pro
f e sso r s
and students shall determine the lines of
action which shall hereafter make for more and
b etter life among men , for which there is more
than ample room
.
therefore regard the expres
I
sion of your views on this , as on all intellectual
s
ocial and politi cal q uestions on which you choose
,
to speak , as the truest representation of modern
thought o f the highest type and
,
I
shall endeavor
to discuss the subj ect in hand in all seriousness
a nd
with due respect
You say
a
,
“That
.
’
the w hole basis o f Mr George s
.
rgument is faulty ; that he assumes that certain
f orms of property relation have a divine or sacred
8
ri ght and that his premises are based upon mere
,
figures o f speech
’
Take George s work squeeze
.
,
out ev e ry metaphor, cut out all the stu ff of the
‘
’
French dreamers of the last century about the
rights of man to one thing or another and put it
,
all into straight English the argument woul d not
,
have a straw s weight
In his logic he takes out
’
.
nothing at the end not assumed at the beginning
In the following observations
”
.
propose to
I
squeeze out every metaphor, every suggestion of
divine authority and the purposes of nature , all
“
”
the stu ff of the French dreamers of the last cen
s ci e n
tury, to confine myself to the most strictly
ti fi c
m e thods and in straight English to base my
,
,
,
argument on facts established by human observa
tion and experience about which there is
l u te l y
no room for doubt
Before doing so
I
.
desire to thank you for your
good and terse definition of what is
I
a b so
“right
“
”
and
,
’
agree that there is no such thing as right e x
‘
cept as we find experimentally that a certain
line of action makes for more and better l ife
among men
”
.
I
promise faithfully to apply this
definition to every conclusion
TH E
LA
W
O$
I
I N DE P E NDENT
may draw
H
.
U M AN LI $ E
.
I n the first place , man i s an animal endo w ed
with
“
intelligence
”
“strength
and
9
”1
,
which , in
active combination is technically called
“
labor
.
Labor exerted upon earth air, water and sunshine ,
,
technically
“food
”
called
“all
on which
,
“land
”
,
yields the
”
men live
The application
.
of labor to land is technically called
in the following argument
product
“
industry
’”
.
These simple indisputabl e facts form the whol e
’
foundation of Mr George s argument
.
.
There is in
these premises no metaphor no mere figures o f
,
speech no
,
“if
”
no assumption of divine right or
,
purposes of nature but a simple truthful and
,
,
un
answerable statement of man s dependence on the
’
“
voluntary exercise of his own powers upon land
on the result of which
e x istence
.
he
”
,
lives and maintains
Here then we have a statement of bare
,
u ndoubted facts , involving a simple line of action ,
which not only makes for more and better life
among men b ut is the only possible foundation
t h e continuance of hu m an life
fo r
.
I n the next place , that which is true of the
whole i s true of the several parts upon whi ch this
l ine
of action operates
.
Man finds experimentally
that he must have under his own individu a l con
trol intelligence strength and land none of which
,
,
can be taken from him without the destruction
h is
life
h uman
.
of
There is no experimental evidence that
life can be continuously maintained in any
10
other way
3
Man ca n not live on intelligence
.
“
no r
,
”
on strength and food will not drop into his open
,
m onth
4
’
This line of action being open man s
,
.
dependent life depends solely on his own
tary exertion
in
v o l u n~
If a man will not work neither
.
,
shall he eat and the penalty of idleness is death
.
,
i ndustry is as natural as sleep
“
Happily
hea l thy well fed
men and the gate
-
,
n
n
d
c
e
e
e
p
“
”
to
of inde
,
is thus made open
”
.
Yo u have l ately taught us wise l y that the main
te n a n c e
‘
and development of manhood is the most
important matter which any nation in the world
has
no w
on hand ,
a nd
that each man must help
solve his own pro b lems
te na n c e
to
The independent main
.
o f his own life i s for each man the first
and most important problem
.
The manhood of a
nation depends on the manhood of its units
Th e
.
conditions of the problem are embodied in the lin e
of action evolved from the facts detailed
.
A
man
has only to be free to think , free to act and free
,
to
take maintenance by his own labor from the land ,
and the problem for the individual is solved
.
H is
life th e refore depends on the active combinatio n
,
,
of intellectual p e rsonal and industrial freedom
,
,
There is no other way
any
condi tion
.
man i s free who unde r
N0
whatever is compelled to beg of
other either food or work
freedom depends on
“self
5
.
an
~
Absolute individua l
employment
11
.
”
,
only mad e
possi b le by
“m
no
er e
“ac cess
n
t
m
e
fig
,
”
to land
”
which is therefore ,
,
,
but an essential condition in the
maintenance of indep e nde n t human life
6
Lastly ,
.
j ust i ce between man and man declares the equal
right of every man to the products of
labor
f o u n da
It constitutes his wealth and is the
.
tion upon which his freedom rests
ow n
h is
It is his to
.
consume, to hoard or dispose of at his w ill , and no
one
h as
hi m
t i on
either legal or moral right to take it from
wi thout his consent and adequate compensa
.
Your argument that the trees have not
a
eq u al
”
ccess to land seems to me without force
7
The
.
life of trees is not dependent on the same condi
tions as the life of man
.
Trees are not endowed
either with intellect or active strength
h ave
8
They
.
no power of choi ce or locomotion both o f
,
w hi ch are absolute conditions of individual human
l ife
.
Besides
“
equa
l
”
access is neither possible nor
necessary either to trees or man
tu n i ty
is all that i s required
E qual
.
o pp or
Once armed with
.
.
the independent opportunity of ma i ntaining life
b y th e
employment of his own
“l abor ”
a man however destitute is really
longer subj ect to the law of Lasalle
is
upon land
“free
no longer at the mercy of employers
he
“
10
.
”9
.
”
He is
He is
no
Hence f orth
.
provided with an alternative which ena b les
him to refuse
“ba r
-
e s u bs i stence
12
wa ges ,
”
and he pos
s
esses an independent remedy against starvation ,
m isery and death
.
He is provided w ith a line of
action which experimentally makes for more and
better life among men
11
.
“line
I n the next place , this
is i n
of action
e x orab l e unalterable, and universal in its applica
,
tion
“
”
There is no other line o f action which se
.
cures the independent exi stence
of
human beings
.
“
It rises therefore to the conditions of a general
,
law
”
,
Thi s law of independent life controls the
.
maintenance of human life and movements j ust
as
t h e la w of gravitation controls the life and move
m ents
of the planetary
bodies
.
Starvation ,
misery and death result from the violation of the
one, as surely as planetary destruction would from
the violation of the other
12
.
Now , general l aws are laws o f necessity mora l
,
ity and j ustice
.
In action they are j ust equal
,
changeable and permanent
no room for t hat
fi ckle ,
m yt hical force called
,
un
There is , therefore ,
.
unstable undefined and
,
“
Social Agreement
is wholly unabl e to determine what is
“
”
,
“right
which
”
,
and
”
it is no wonder that rights so artifici ally created
are diffi cult , nay impossible to find out
,
,
.
Social
agreemen t cannot be a substitute for a general
l a w,
for no statesman is wise
e n o u gh t,
no govern
ment strong enough to improve on such a l a w
,
S o cial agreement can only meddle w it h inte l
13
.
l ectual ,
personal and industrial freedom , to spoil
their j ust and equal action
Social agreement is
.
impotent to provide either food or employment for
a
ll
mankind
13
History provides us with many e x
.
amples o f its baneful interference
t ai ned
its man
In the reign of
“
Henry VII , when in England
”
.
every rood main
the E nglish yeoman oc cupied his
,
rood in comfort and happiness on definite and
easy terms
14
But when Henry VIII made land a
.
com m odity to b e bo u ght sold and controll e d by
,
,
individuals ( called S te p l o r ds by Latimer) the
masses of the people were evi cted from their
,
homesteads by the exaction of rent they could not
pay
.
I n a few years the whole island swarmed
with the destitute who became vagabonds and
,
thieves in order to sustain existence
.
The nation
was threatened with anarchy and in the reign of
,
Eliza b eth social agreement , as represented by the
English Poor Law , endeavored to remedy the evil
,
by giving to the destitute a legal right to food
,
.
clothing and shelter making this a first charge
,
upon the land
The result was pauperism ; the
.
greatest curse ever inflicted upon a thrifty and
d u str i o u s
A fter
people
300
in
15
.
years the sermons of Latimer are
re
echoed by Mr Henry George and happily their
.
d octrines
,
will never again be stifled at the stake
.
I n Spain , so cial agreement attempted to control
14
the intellects of men and the result was the
,
miseries tortur e s and murders of the Inquisition
,
In America and elsewhere social
.
agreement
sought to control personal freedom , and the
re
“
sult was slavery
.
And to d ay social agreement continues the
tice of that tyrant Henry
,
.
r
a
c
p
Still treats land as a
commodity of sale and purchase
Still gives the
.
landlord power to exact a steadily increasing rent
.
Still gi ves him power to evict those who refuse or
are unable to pay him toll
.
Still enables the land
lord to live in ease and luxury on the labor of other
people and make serfs and paupers of the indus
,
trial class
.
The conclusion is unanswerable so cial agr e e
,
ment cannot successfully control the conditions of
independent human life the only fixed law whi ch
,
makes experimentally for more and better li fe
among men
TH E
16
.
L A W O$
C O LL E C TI VE H
U M AN LI $ E
.
Now , the law of independent human life i s also
the law of hu m an life in general
“
That which is
.
”
true of all men in the individual sense must al so
“
be true of all men
in the collective sense
Al l
.
men collectively must have intellectual personal ,
,
and industrial freedom , which are therefore the
,
,
essential elements of both individual and colle e
15
tive l i f e
T he l aw of individual life is simply for
.
and extended by collective action
ti fie d
.
Thus
Whilst individual industrial freedom secures for
“all
men
”
individually little more than a
“bar e
collective industrial freedom is able
s u bsi s tence,
to satisfy the millions of intellectual and physical
desires of
“all
men
”
living in civilized communi
ties ; and if this result is not reached the failure
,
cannot be charged upon the law but on its viola
tion and neglect
.
As ac cess to land is an essen
tial element of individual life and freedom , so it
must be an essential element of co l lective li fe and
freedom for without land no community can l ive
,
17
or find material on w h ich to operate
I t is t h i s
inseparable re l ation o f land to la b or which gives
the land such paramount importance for un l ess
,
“
land
”
b e equally free to
all
mankind , industria l
freedom becomes impossible b oth to individuals
and to mankind in general
A gain ,
.
as the law of i ndependent life secures to
every individual the products of his own industry ,
to consume to hoard or dispose of at his will so
,
,
,
the law of collective life demands
cO
-
pa r tnership
in the products of collective industry to b e hoard
,
ed consumed or disposed of by the collec t ive wil l
,
The collective operators cannot
a p p r o p r i a te a n d
'
use the products of individual industry nor can
di vi du a l s
in
appropriate and use the products of co l
16
.
each individual that portion of the colle e
i n g to
tive product whi ch represents his individual
e xe r
ri
i
n
a
v
technically
called
his
wages
there
is
)
(
a b l y a surplus produced by t h e c o operators in
t ion
-
th e ir corporate capacity in which nevertheless
,
,
the individuals have a
co
-
partnership interest
18
.
In the millions of compli cated conditions of col
l e cti ve
~
life and la b or it is impossible to segregate
the share of each producer in the collective result
,
b ut it is universally admitted that the larg e r part
i s f aithfully
v
conserved and concentrated in land
alue , and that it constitutes that increment of
value which attaches to land in consequence of the
increase of population , and is technically called
“
rent
Without col l ect i ve i ndustry l a
nd has no
” 19
.
v a l u e a nd
“rent ”
there is no
—whi ch “c oete r is pari
”
bus increases directly in proportion to the p o p u l a
tion
.
I t is the collective industry of the p o p u l a
tion which alone produces it
tion w ho are
by
co
-
.
It
is
the
l
a
o
u
p p
partners and who are authorized
the general la w of human life to hoard , con
$
sume or dispose Of as they please and as it cannot
,
b e equi ta b ly divided amongst the individual pro
du ce r s,
of
it can only b e applicable to the provi si on
their common w ants of which the current e x
,
penses of government is a fair example
.
Hence it
‘
is the only source
‘
e
of
ta x a ti o n
ra l l a w of human l i f e
.
provided b y the gen
I t is the
18
“Single T a x
”
.
’
The result of this analys i s of Mr Henry George s
.
premises j ustifies the conclusion that it is only by
a
bsolute obedience to the general law o f inde
pendent and collective human life that we can
hope to realize the inalienable right of all men
equall y to life liberty and the pursuit of happi
,
ness (Je fferson ) the satisfaction of human intel
lectual and physical desires ( H George) or the
,
,
,
.
making for more and better life among men ( J o r
d a n)
LAND A PP R O P R IATI O N
.
in
Having thus established the general law of
dependent and collective human life whi ch
men
”
“all
must obey in order to live and prosper it
,
i s permitted by the accepted canon of scientific
“deductive ”
procedure to substitute the
“
inductive
for the
method and to employ the general
law as to the
,
t e st
'
of
existing conditions and as a
means of pointing out other lines of action which
make for more and better li f e among men
And first with regard to
s
“land
”
.
.
In order to
tate these conditions clearly I will relate a recent
history o f land appropriation
.
Within a few weeks of fifty years ago a fe w
,
hundred citizens of the United States landed on
the
western shore of San Francisco Bay
f ound
.
They
a nest of sterile sand hills of no more value
-
than the summits of the Sierra Nevada Mountains
19
.
T hey were free to take , and di d take , all the sur
face they required for use
But not content with
.
this and under the paramount power and
au
,
of the Government of the United States
the most perfect organ i zation of social agreement
t h o r i ty
in
,
the world they proceeded to appropriate to
,
themselves and their heirs and assigns forever the
exclusive ownership of
“all
the earth in sight
’
.
Had these citizens raised the peninsula from the
depths of the Pacific O cean by their own asso
c i a te d
labor the land would have b een their own ,
,
and this appropriation woul d have been fully j us
t i fie d ;
but a s they found the sand hills ready to
-
their hands, it seems difficult to understand how
any authority whatever or any deed or paper could
confer upon any set of individual s
t he
e x clusive
ownership of one of the essential conditions
of
human life, and of a portion of the earth specially
adapted to the con ditions of collectiv e life
.
But in accordance with the law they divided up
,
the land into blocks and the publi c o fficial w h o
,
conducted the appropriation still lives in San
Francisco , and testifies that many hundr e ds of
these b lo cks were given away to individuals with
out the payment
antee to
u se
of
a cent without even any guar
,
them and at the sole cost of pens ink
,
,
and paper n e cessary for the completion of this
tri ctly
s
“
lega l,
”
and ac cording to j urists , states
‘
20
men and p o litic a l economists strictly
,
action
“r i hte u s
o
g
20
.
That the land was valueless does not in any way
alt e r the nature of
legally cr e a t e d
“l
th e
case
a n dl o r ds ,
”
These citizens were
.
a nd
given absolute con
trol of what was already a necessity of associated
life They were endowed with
.
“
serfs of all men
“th i r
e
o ccupy
w ere simply
”
th e
power of makin g
who should hereafter desire to
l an d
”
.
In straight English they
“
l a n dgr a bb e r s ,
”
l egalized thieves o f
land which they did not make and to the use o f
,
which they had no better title than any other set
of
me n
They took advantage of the unrighteous
.
law and practi ce of the United S tates to forest a l l
the advent of an industrious population already
,
known to be on the way to San Francisco from
every quarter of the globe ; and to make all f uture
immigrants pay toll for the privilege of oc cupy
i ng these easily acquired
“
blocks
”
,
or to pay pur
chase mon e y for the transfer of the right to collect
this toll
s
.
These robbers are still at large and
,
ti ll enj oy the protection of the
“law ”
They,
their heirs and assigns still continue to exact
,
a
steadily increasing to l l for the privilege of oc cupa
tion ;
still have the right to sell at a contin u ally
advancing price
.
Many o f these
l a n dgr a b b e rs
withho l d their blocks from use , because they
certain that with increasing popul ation
21
a re
t h ei r
value w i l l increase, and will ensure more re nt
“
Nor is this practi ce confined to city blocks
”
.
.
Mil
lions of acres in the State of California are held by
“l a n d r a b b e r s ”
g
on the same title not s o much
,
for
present use and profit as for the prospective cer
tainty that an increase of population will give
them higher rent or more purchase money for the
privilege of taking it
B ut
.
“cinch ”
the
of these
“
l a n dgr a bb e r s
was
not exclusively confined to land considered as a
place of residence
For he who control s the land
.
control s the laborer who lives on it
.
From the
m oment of this appropriation , fifty years ago ,
til to day , these
-
have exacted tol l
l a n dgr a bb e r s
f rom every l aborer
un
Every coming ship bro u ght
.
more grist to the grabbing mill
.
Every man who
did an hour s work built a shanty opened a store
’
,
,
or made
a
,
workshop ; every importer who broug h t
in food and clothing increased the value of their
,
u
noccupied sterile blocks
,
.
And now every
im
provement , whether made by individuals corpora
,
tions , or the city government brings gain to the
,
grabbers of the rent
.
If a street is well paved
,
well lighted and well cleansed by the publi c ser
,
ants , the rent of the houses will be higher than
v
that of similar houses in a dirty dark and ill
,
paved street
.
A park created at the publi c cost
raises the rental of the surrounding land
22
.
Car
lines
have
recently been construct e d on two
streets of San Francisco and the abutting land
,
assessment has been rai sed fifty per cent
.
all of
,
whi ch is or will be , made the source of increased
,
rent
The necessiti e s of commerce h a ve rais e d
.
th e
val ue of land on the water front ; the require
.
ments of retail business have done the same on
Market street
Resid e nti a l value is continua ll y
.
growing in the sub u rbs ; and to day a square f oot
-
o f land in San Francisco is worth more than a hun
dred square miles upon the mountain tops
That
.
w hi ch was valueless fifty years ago is no w w orth
many hundred millions
21
fund , not created by these
the
co
-
Here then is a huge
so
-
call e d owners but by
,
operate acti vities and n e cessities of the
tire community
.
en
A fund which under the gen e ral
l aw of associated human life belong s to the
co
partners who produced it to be administered by
,
social agreement for public purposes and in the
interes t of all the people
.
A fund which has been diverted from it lawful
owners to the po ckets of men whose individual
du s tr y
in
scarcely contributed a mite to the result
.
A fund which has enabled thousands to live in
idleness and luxury at the expense
the poverty ,
of
misery and starvation of their fellow citizens
Consider for a moment what this
co
-
partnership
f und would have done for its real owners
23
.
.
The
urrent expenses of the municipal , state and fed
c
eral governments would have been a mere baga
telle
municipal gov e rnment might
Th e
.
have
erected gas works water works electrical works
a nd
stre e t car lines
,
,
,
.
Light electricity water and
,
,
public transportation might have been free to all
,
w hereas , these works have been erected by capita l
furnished by the rent belonging to the citizens and
f or the use o f whi ch the citizens now must pay
.
Public buildings not dreamed of in the palmy days
of Greece and Rome could have been erected at
the public cost ; also , free schools
,
univers i ti e s
,
l i braries theatres museums art galleries parks
,
,
,
,
and observatories ; and a score of public utilities
b y which the
co
-
partner profits might have been
indefinitely increased
.
And at our public festi
vals we could have emulated the citizens of Potosi ,
by
pa ving our streets with silver and adorning
pu b lic processions with gold and precious
our
s
tones
.
And all this without t aki n g one cent o f
ta x ation from individual industry
s
.
I t is i mp o s
i bl e to conceive the e ffect of the Single Ta x on
the morals and intellectual progress of the peo
p l e but it may b e safely stated that the fear o f
,
poverty being gone the need of policemen j udges
,
,
j ails and poorhouses would have been reduced to
22
a m inimum
,
.
T ested e x perimentally the existing relation b e
24
m ade to work
On the contrary he states that a
,
.
redivision o f land is not possible and if possible
,
could not be p ermanent
That possession for use
.
is necessary for the sower to reap his crop or the
,
b uilder to recoup the cost of the improvements he
may make
He now h ere proposes to dist u rb the
.
present occupiers of land ; and insists that
s
uch disturbance wo uld amount to revolution
a ny
.
You seem to confound property in use with prop
e r ty
in
so
-
called ownership ; and to suppose that
o w nership is necessary for land improvement and
development
r
i
e
ence
p
.
.
But this is not even a general ex
Half London including many hundreds
,
o f its finest palaces half
,
N ew
York and of many
,
other cities have been constructed on land not
o w ned b y the builders
a nd
23
The landlords of London
.
New York are not such fool s as to alienate
t h eir perpetual right to constantly in creasing rent
.
I t remains only to governments lik e that of the
United States to give away the national heritage
f or the price of pen s , i n k and paper , and enable
l andlords forever to collect a continually i n c r e a s
ing toll on l abor
.
It is quite true that Mr G e orge
.
rests most o f his arguments on the foundation o f
m ora l right , as when h e states that a laborer is
entitled morally to the products of his own
du s tr y
.
And there
a re
thousands who believe
that this is the stronger ground but a c l ose
,
26
in
a na l y
si s distinctly proves that his ethics are not imagi
nary, and that his metaphors are supported
by
substantial facts namely those laid down at the
,
,
beginning of thi s letter
.
I nstead of demanding an accounting such as
w ould be ordered by the Cou r ts in the case of i n
di vi du a l s
G
wrongfully
24
eorge proposes to let
th e
possessed
by
-
gones be
of l and
,
by
,
-
Mr
.
gones and
landlord having had his turn it is now mor e
than time that the people who have been so lon g
,
defrauded of the product of their collective labor,
a nd
“
have su ffered so deeply for the want of the
rent which they hav e earned should be restored
”
,
to their collective heritage
.
’
Mr George s proposal is j ust clear and
.
cal
,
“
.
He desires that all men
”
in
r
i
a
c
t
p
their collective
capacity should assume their undoubted right to
the ownership of land and that all m e n indi
,
vidually shall have equal opportunity to its use
and occupation on the payment of rent represent
ing its value to the entire community
This rent
.
to b e collected as a single tax and used to provide
,
for common necessities and the satisfaction o f
common desires
.
The result no doubt will be the
,
ultimate destruction of the
—
landlord
mation devoutly to be wished
But Mr George
.
di d
,
a
co n s u
m
.
not expect that the
“rent ”
could b e taken from the landlords al l at once
27
.
T hey are much too powerful , and the masses of
producers much too ignorant and venal
.
But the
time is coming and it is not far distant , when the
,
producers of wea l th shal l have learned their
“rights ”
under the g e neral law of human life and
,
with the aid of universal su ff rage and the ballot
will not fail to take them
ve r si ti e s
.
It is the duty of uni
to conduct the necessary change with
w isdom and moderation
P R E S ENT
TH E
.
C O NDITI O N
O$
LAB O R
.
Mr George in Progress and Poverty , described
.
,
the present condition of the laborer in the lowest
ranks of civilized society , whose life i s spent in
c ommon l abor or in prod u cing one thing or an
,
fi ni te si ma l
l
i
i
t
c
y
p
ci e ty
in
part of one thing out of the multi
,
of things that constitute the wealth of
so
Ho w he is a mere link in the enormous
.
chain of producers
a nd
consumers ; helpless to
sep a rate himself, and helpless to move e x cept as
they move
.
The worse his position in society the
m ore he is dependent on society , the more utterly
una b le does he become to help himsel f
.
T he very power of e x erting his labor for the
satisfaction o f his most rea sona b l e wants passes
f rom his own c ontrol , and may be taken away or
restored by the action of others or by general
,
causes over which he has no more influence than
,
28
he
has over the motions of the solar system
un
der such circumstances he loses the essential
quality of manhood
chine
,
a
That
.
He becomes a slave a ma
,
.
commodity , a thing in some respects lower
than the animal , for he looks
to crime and
drunkenness as the only hopeful sources of relief
.
I n the days of cannibalism , says Ingersoll , the
strong devoured the weak actually ate their flesh
,
.
I n spite of all the laws that man has made , in spite
of all the advances of science , the strong still live
upon the weak
25
the unfortunate , the
,
foolish
.
T rue , they do not eat their flesh and drink their
blood but they live on their labor
The man who
.
defor m s himself by toil , who labors for his wife
a nd
a nd
children through all his barren wasted life ,
goes to his grave without having tasted a sin
g l e luxury, has been the food of others
.
The poor
woman living in her lonely room , cheerless and
fir e l e ss ,
sewing night and day to keep starvation
from her child , is slowly being eaten alive b y her
fellow men
26
.
When I take into consideration the
agony of civilized life the failures and anxieties ,
,
the tears and withered hopes the bitter realities
,
the hunger
27
,
crime drunkenness ignoran ce and
,
,
humiliation I am al m ost forced to say that canni
,
b a l i sm ,
after all is
,
th e
most merciful form in
which man has lived upon his f e l lo w m en
.
’
In this connection Markham s great poem
c e n tl y
O
f
’
written after seeing Millet s famous picture
,
The Man With the Hoe deserves quotation :
,
B o we d b y th e
U p on h i s h o e
t u ri e s h e l ean s
a n d g a z e s o n th e gr o u n d
T h e e m pti n e s s o f ag e s i n h i s f a ce
A n d o n h i s b ac k th e bu r de n o f th e w o r l d
Wh o m ad e hi m d e ad to ra pt u r e a nd d e s pa i r
A thi ng that g ri e v e s n o t a n d that ne v er h o p es
St o l i d a n d s t u n ne d a b r oth e r to the o x $
Wh o lo os ene d a n d l et d o w n thi s b r u ta l j a w $
Wlh o s e wa s th e han d that sl a n te d b ac k thi s b ro w $
Wh o se b r e ath bl ew o u t th e l ight w ithi n thi s b rai n $
w e ight
o f c en
,
,
.
,
-
,
,
thi s th e thi n g th e L or d G o d m ade a n d gave
TO h ave d o m i n i o n o ve r a ll th e l an d
T o t r a c e th e s ta r s a n d se a r c h th e h e ave n s f or
po we r ;
T o te ll th e pa ss i o n o f E te r ni t y $
I s thi s th e D r e a m H e d re a m e d w h o s h ape d th e s u ns
A n d pi ll ar e d th e blu e fir m a me nt w ith l ight $
Do wn all th e s t re t c h o f H e ll to i ts l as t g ulf
T he re i s n o s hape mo r e te rr i ble than thi s
M or e t o n gu e d with ce n s u r e o f th e w o r l d s bl i n d
gr e e d
M o r e fi lle d w ith s ign s a n d po rt en t s f o r th e s oul
M o re f r a u ght w ith me na ce to th e un ive r se
Is
‘
’
.
W hat gulfs
b et we e n hi m a nd th e s er aphi m $
Sl av e o f th e w h ee l O f l a b or w hat to hi m
A re Pl ato a n d th e s w i n g o f P l e iad e s $
W hat th e l o ng r e aches o f the p e ak s o f s o n g
Th e r i ft o f daw n th e re dde n i n g o f th e r o s e $
T h r o u gh thi s d re ad s hap e th e s uff er i n g age s l o o k ;
T i me s t r ag e d y i s i n that a chi n g s to o
p;
T h r ou gh thi s d e ad s ha p e h um a n ity b e t r a e d
y
P lu n de re d p r o fa n e d a n d di s i nh er it e d
C r i es p r o te s t to th e J u dge s o f th e wo r l d
,
,
,
’
,
,
,
,
A
re
p r o tes t tha t
is
al s o
pro ph ec y
30
.
to be the thing he is
it
How shall
.
be with you
when this dumb terror shall reply to God after the
silence of the centuri es
The man with the hoe
$
is not a remnant of prehistori c times
The know
.
’
ledge of good and evil was man s first acquire
ment a knowledge which the man with the hoe
.
has lost
Barbarism never made a human being
.
like him
.
No such creature is to be found among
savage races
H e is not a simple improvement
.
on the monkey taught to use the hoe
were men not monkeys
c e sto r s
,
.
.
His
an
He is the natural
brother o f the honored a mong men La Place Des
,
,
Cartes Pasteur and a thousand others
,
.
He is not exclusively o f French production
.
In
many countries he is found in the garb of woman
He is found abundantly in Eastern Germany
where
landlords
are
strong
and
powerfu l
.
,
.
Throughout England he is found in the very midst
of civilization and he is known in every village
,
.
His name is Hodge and he i s recognized by the
,
ingenious deli b eration of all his movements for he
,
has learned by dire experience to ac curately adapt
his e x penditure o f force to the measure of hi s bare
subsistence diet
.
I n the presence of his master he
puts forth a little deceptive energy but behind
,
his b ack he rests upon his hoe and looks upon the
gro u nd
.
Moreover he is here the l ast to escape
,
fro m military service
.
He is the easy prey of t h e
32
recruiting s e rg e ant He takes the Q ueen s shilling
in prospect of a mild debauch He struts like a
’
.
.
peacock in his scarlet uniform
.
Set up and drilled
he becomes the sturdy backbone of the great mili
t a ry machine
.
In the ranks he is the ignorant but
faithf u l comrad e of the intelligent but more weak
ly
soldiers drawn from the factories and slums
.
Endowed with the hereditary courage of the bul l
dog he attacks the enemy in front and does not
,
know when he is whipped
He is too big a fool to
.
is
run away and after he
,
prepared as food for
powder he dies upon the battlefield without a mur
mur
Hodge was not created by the removal of
.
the strong but by the pressure of the crafty on
the weak
.
He is the vi ctim of generations of ill
usage and unceasing labor
.
Heredity has stamp
ed ignorance upon his mind and brutal degenera
tion o n his body
r
e
s
s
i
v
e
g
He is the production of retro
.
evolution
This type is found in various
.
forms and more or less d e v e loped in every rent
,
ridden country upon earth , wherever landlords are
privileged by law to suck out the brains and life
blood of the people and make them slaves of rent
,
.
The masters of the soil have fed upon his labor
without shame or mercy and have left him noth
,
ing but the hoe and bare sub sistence
.
He was
created man , and has been made a brute by
controllable social forces
.
33
un
Worse housed than the
—stalled
l ike the
ox
toil s
o
—
goaded
x
like the o x , he
from early dawn till late at night
.
Like the
ox he feeds and sleeps only to be able to renew his
labors
Stolid and stunned he becomes dead to
.
rapture and despair a t h ing that grieves not and
,
,
that never hopes
From all the stretch of hell to
.
its last gulf there i s no shape more terrible more
,
,
tongued with censure of the world s blind greed
’
,
more fraught with menace to the peace of all na
tions and the universe
.
These then are faithful descriptions of indus
trial bondage
so
-
28
A bondage fastened down
.
by
the
c a lled law of wages tending to bare sub sistence
point
T he law of wages described by Mill as
.
“
natural
” 19
,
do r se me nt
f e sso r s
the
“iron
”
law which bea rs the
in
of the very highest names amongst pro
of political economy
.
A law taught i n
text books , schools and universities throughout
,
the world ; and yet for all this a law which has
,
f alsehood
a nd
'
,
da mn a ti o n
written on its ver y face
.
For it cannot be denied that every known g e n e ral
law o f nature makes for more and better life
among men
30
whilst this the creation of social
,
,
agreement , makes
death
.
Th e
tion of the
ni b a l s
for
starvation
,
misery and
facts a ff ord the strongest
so
-
called law
.
c o n de
mna
And who are the can
who slowly eat up the lives and labor of
th e l a b oring
c l asses $ Who takes the wealth they
34
individually and collectively produce
not governments , landlords
and corporations
$ 31
$
Are they
millionaires , trusts
,
Controlled by these selfish
“
cormorants social agreement by obstructing
,
,
cess to land
du s tr i a l
d own ,
ac
”
has kno cked the bottom out of
,
in
fr e edom and is abl e to drive wages down ,
,
down until the
,
“bare
subsistenc e
”
point is
only stops there becau s e death puts an
r e a c h e d, a n d
end to further robbery and casts upon the canni
,
bals the cost of burial
And notice the result
.
th e
In England one and a half per cent of
.
.
adult
population own eighty per cent of the w e alth ,
.
while eighty seven and a half per cent of the
-
.
a
dult working poor own only two per cent
.
In
America nine per cent of the adult population
.
own seventy one per cent of the wealth and sixty
-
,
.
three per cent of the adult working poor own no
.
m ore than nine per cent
The American cannibals
.
have made good time in a hundred y e ars and bid
fair soo n to overtake their English cousins
32
.
Now the industrial bondage of civilized human
,
life i s worse than that of chattel slavery
slave was , at least well cared for
,
possibility of escap e
he would be free
.
.
.
.
The
He had the
There were lands in which
But the industrial slaves of
modern life are made responsible for their own
e x istence on a
“
”
bare subsistence sc a le
.
In spite
of education , in spite of individual skill and per
35
s i stent industry and thrift not one in ten thou
,
sand can escape
Hundreds of thousands lose
.
their health and liv e s in the hop e less struggle and
,
leave to their children
33
constit utions
th e
h e ritage of weakened
In citi e s lik e London and New
York whole streets are inhabit e d by adults with
’
children s powers children s ignorance children s
’
’
,
,
c
onstitutions earning children s wages living o n
c
hildren s food , with children s ambitions and yet
’
,
,
’
’
,
’
wi thout children s prospects of becoming men
T he
c
.
cannibal s have eaten out the hearts of such
ommunities and left the husk to wither still on
,
“bare
subsistence
t h ese
people taxed to death that they can i m
”
law
,
,
prove their condition
thrift
What a mockery to tell
.
education industry and
by
,
There is no possible escape from such
.
bon da ge
sistence
“
Go where they will the
.
”
wage will follow them
.
bare sub
The landlord
w ill d e ny them the use of land without the pay
ment of his rent
“
.
bare subsistence
l e cti v e
a nd
The capitalist , whilst giving the
”
wages robs them of their co l
,
industry , and in proportion as population
civilization grow in new countries so does
du stri a l
bondage fasten on the people
.
in
But as in
,
the East, nineteen centuries ago , the morning star
of love heralded the coming of the Great Prophet
o f universal brotherhood that b ond of
,
sh
co
-
partner
ip w hich i s an essential element of the la w
36
of
human life so t o d a y has the west e rn evening star
,
of industrial freedom heralded the prophet of ma
ter i a l
prosperity and comfort as the outcome o f
obedience to the same great law
.
The prophet of California has forged the
ham
mer whi ch shall re mov e the fetters of industrial
bondage and given the world the key whi ch shall
open the door to industrial freedom Ridi culed b y
.
professors of political economy despised by mod
,
ern Scribes and Pharisees rejected by the Priests
,
of Christian churches and denounced by ignorant
,
politi cians he spent a noble life and
,
,
death in the cause of humanity
glad tidings of great j oy to
34
But he brought
.
su fi e ri n g
the p e ople heard him gladly
s u fl e re d
millions and
Already after l ess
.
,
“
”
than t wenty years the gospel of Singl e Tax has
,
been preached in ev e ry civilized community , and
his disciples number millions
35
.
In England seven millions of c o operative and
co
-
partner workers the pick o f the industrial com
,
munity , are foll owers of Henry George
.
For years
past the great convention of English laborers the
,
most numerous most intellectual and most power
,
ful labor organization in the world has passed
,
resolutions in favor of the taxation of la n d valu e
(the Single Tax ) And already the leading liberal
states m en are following suit John Morley has
.
.
declared that the t a xation of land value wil l be
.
37
an
issue at the next el ection
He is supported
.
by
Lord Roseberry Sir Wm Vernon Harcourt Ear l
,
,
.
Carrington P rof e ssor James Bryce and the Hon
.
,
H
e nr v
l ish
Asquith
Among the members of the Eng
.
House of Commons are
B i l l so n
of Halifax
,
Pirie of Aberde e n Sinclair of Forfar Cameron of
,
Gl asgow M c G
,
hee
,
of South Meath and Michael
,
Davitt of Ireland all of whom have been e l ected
,
on the platform of the Single Tax
.
In Canada the
workmen s conventions have annually adopted
’
“Single
Tax
”
and Sir Wilfred Laurier the Pre
,
,
mier says that all future legislation must be car
,
“
ried forward on the line of the Single Tax
.
And now curiously Germany the most conserva
,
tive power in Europe has established the Single
,
Tax as the only source of revenue in the most
backward country in the world In the new colony
.
of K i a u tc h o u in Chin a the Minister of Marine
,
,
made the following statement
,
“no
colony has ever
enj oyed such absolute freedom of production and
trade as we have secured to K i a u tc h o u
Not one
.
sing l e duty or tax will b e imposed exc e pt the
,
taxes on land values
ta te d
tions
the
.
solely
.
This measure has been di c
by politi c economi cal
-
considera
That the measure is popular is proved by
e
t
i
t
o
n
p
presented to the British Government
by the merchants who are also land own e rs of
,
Hong K o n g who
,
,
led
by Mr Mathieson proposed
.
38
,
question is which will most equitably distribute
the burden of taxation among all the tax payers ,
w hi ch will interfere least with industrial freedom
a nd
most favor the same in the larger field of col
l e cti ve
l
t
e
e
p
industry
$
Whi ch i n fact is in most com
,
,
38
accord with the general law of human life ,
the only law whi ch makes for more and better life
among men $
As
“
l e cti v e
a ll
39
men
”
derive their independent and col
lives , comforts necessities and luxuri e s
,
from land it follows that a tax on l and value
reaches e very living being in proportion to the use
he makes of it
.
The individual living and a cting by himself and
for himself alone , contributes nothing to l and
value , and i s not called upon to pay running ex
penses of a collective government in which he has
no place, and of whi ch he has no need
40
.
But as
soon as a government is needed by a growing
population rent is cr e ated , and the l aw of
partnership , a most j ust and
e
co
quitable law , steps
i n to determine that the collective product shall
be set apart for collective use , of whi ch current ex
penses of government are a part and j ust as the
,
needs of the population increase with increased
population the fund expands
creas e d common wants
.
$1
to meet their
in
This seems to me a most
w ise and equitable arrangement , whereby the
40
back is fitted to the burd e n and the industry
,
individuals is
set
fr e e to secur e for themselves
of
th e
full products of their individual exertion and to
,
pursu e happiness by the gratification of their
and phys i cal desires
t e l l e ct u a l
in
Surely this is an
.
arrangement whi ch makes for more and better li fe
among men
“
.
On the other hand b eer is a product of indi
,
v
idual and collective industry
It requ i res the
.
co
operatio n of farmers m a l ste r s brew e rs coopers ,
,
,
,
wagoners and a thousand other people to produce
a nd
distribute a single glass
Rent is the surplu s
.
of th e ir collective industry from which the single
tax is paid
Thus beer pays its proportion of taxa
.
tion l e aving individ u al exertion free
a tax on b e er directly
is
.
But to pay
a violation of the law of
individual fr e edom whi ch s e cures for every laborer
the absolut e possession and disposal of the pro
duct
of
his own exer tion ;
43
that is , without
licenses taxation or other interference by so cial
agreement with the gratification of individ u al de
sires
.
Nor is there any moral reason for a beer ta x
.
Beer has been adopted by all civilized nations as a
drink well suited to satisfy thirst and th e ir
ed d e sires
It
.
c i vi l i z
has been selected under the law of
evolution j ust as wheat rice meat and other a rti
,
cles of diet
,
.
,
I t is not in use by the stagn a nt and
41
nations of the
e fl e te
doos and Chinese
—
earth Turks
,
Arabs , H
in
For centuries it has f ormed the
.
principal drink of the Anglo Saxon race
-
.
Less
than a hundred years ago when tea and co ffee
,
were but little known , and less used o ur ancestors
,
drank beer for breakfast beer for din n er beer at
,
,
supper and b eer at
,
all
their
festivals
universal use by all who could
buy it
t he
It w as in
.
a flo rd
to brew or
And with this ha b it the race has co l onized
.
earth and b ecome the leaders of civilization
.
But there are fanatic s w ho prefer and advocate
Turkish and Chinese a b stinence
there i s
“
death in the pot
”
.
They say that
and that taxation i s
,
cal cu l ated to repress its u se and reduce intoxica
tion
.
But i f a
“
beer tax
”
was able to destro y
drunkenness and secure universal sobriety it still
,
“
would not b e true that that which is best admin
”
i ste r e d
is best ( Jordan ) you would say that this
is the maxim of tyrants and prohibitionists That
,
.
the making of manhoo d is more than the making
o f total abstainers
.
That te m perance which is
,
sel f governm e nt and suitable adj ust m ent , makes
-
m en strong to use all the products of human i n
d u str y
without abusing them and it may be added
,
that there are millions o f human beings who are
intemperate in water drinking ; millions more in
sugar eating and that there is no
,
in whi ch
“death ”
“
pot
”
on earth
may not be fo u nd by f ools
42
.
The conclusion is inevitable
.
T he
“land
ta x
conforms in all its details with the general law of
human life which m a kes for more and better life
,
among men
And the tax on beer is robbery
.
I N D US T R IAL
B U C C AN E E R S
N o w,
E U DALI S M
we have seen that
tion and distribution and
co
.
AND IND US T R IAL
’
$
44
-
.
operation in produc
co
-
partnership in the
produc t and surplus created by c o operation are
essentially compl e mentary elements of the law o f
coll e ctive human life and that in consequence of
,
the intimate conn e ction between land and labor
the larger part of this surplus is taken by land
lords in the form of rent
.
tion will show that only
that direction
where
th e
But a little considera
th e
larger part goes in
With a few honorable exceptions
.
employers of collective labor , besid e s
paying wages divide the profits with their work
,
men all such emp l oyers take th e collective sur
45
plus to th e mselves ; thus in making a contract for
,
,
building a house the contractor makes an estimate
,
of the cost
He estimates all kinds of labor at the
.
market pri ce including his own servi ces and risks
,
,
the costs of materials the i nterest on the capital
,
required to provide
th e
tools transportation etc
,
,
.
;
and when every necessity has been est i mated he
,
,
adds a percentage to the wages of every work
43
m an , whi ch , in fact , i s the surplus value of their
collective industry
.
It i s in this way that giganti c
fortunes have been made in building railroads
,
public buildings and public and private works of
,
a ll
kinds
.
T hus the l aw of
co
-
partnership is evaded and
,
t h e surplus of collective industry seized by capital
i sts
in
and employers who are the b uccanee rs of
,
du str y
46
Considering
.
th e
vast number and i m
portance of establishments of collective labor it
i s no wonder that contractors manufacturers and
,
employers become mil l ionaires ; and is it any won
der that th e y seek to
e
xtend their control of
l aborers by the establishment of trusts $
a
Social
greement calls this enterprise business superior
,
,
a b ility to organize labor ; but is it not a taking
vantage
of
ad
the ignorance of the laboring classes
,
w ho are taught to believe that wages are all they
are entitled to and that they have no part in the
,
product of their combined exertion
f act , robbery
$ 48
$ 47
Is it not in
,
Robbery of the same fund whi ch
goes to the landlord grabbing mill $
The rob b ery
o f that wealth whi ch individuals cannot create by
their individual exertion but which i s a necessary
,
outco m e of their collective industry
Now experiment proves that
,
co
-
co
-
.
partnership and
operation make for more and better life among
m en
49
.
There are t o day in Great Britain seven
44
in
millions of its population more or less engaged
,
,
co
-
operation and
co
-
partnership A picked sevent h
.
of the population doing a business , manufacturing
i nclud e d ,
of
millions of dollars a year, with
2 72
a
bank of their own with deposits of sixteen ( 1 6)
millions and turning over two hundred millions
,
in trade
.
Many years ago I heard
Robert Owen lecture on industrial
a n d co
co
-
operation
partnership ; his first attempt was a
-
r
i
e
v
g
ous failure b ut he was followed by Holyoake ,
,
Kingsley, Maurice , Tom Hughes , Vansittart Neal ,
Ripon , Ludlow , Godin and Leclair, and t o day
there is scarcely a town in England without a
co
operative store for distribution ; and som e of the
largest and finest f a ctori es there and in
th e
world
are now o wned and managed exclusively by work
ing men in the interest of the working men em
,
ployed
For further evidence I would r e fer you
.
to the recently published ac count of Labor
CO
part nership by Mr Henry Demorest Lloyd who
,
s
ays
.
,
“
,
that industrial democracy can become a fact
whenever the people will
it
” 50
.
The desire for
property is universal and the aptitude to manage
,
“
it like honor and fame from no conditions ri se
”
.
P roperty , business and capital will never be prop
e
rly m a n a ge d
‘
u n ti l
the entire people have a share
in management ownership and results
,
.
Fro m this it is evident that the law w hich
45
ap
plies to government applies to collective industry ,
vi z
.
,
that no individual action can by any possi
,
b i li ty ,
replace the concerted action of the people
( Jordan )
and
co
-
Nor is the moral e ffect of
.
partnership
less remarkabl e
was a farm in the mids t of one of
co
-
operation
B al a b ine
.
th e
most tur
bulent distri cts in Ir e land , where the people were
ragged hungry lawless and
th e
liv e s of landlord
and steward were in deadly peril
The owner was
,
,
,
.
co m pelled to fly , and he l e ft his estate in the hands
of Mr E T Craig who explained to
.
.
.
,
th e
labor e rs
that henceforth they were to be their own mast e rs ;
divide the work amongst themselves and all share
,
in the produce
.
The very ringleaders of previous
disorder became the best workers
.
A commercial
system of life was adopted ; the peopl e w e nt into
associated homes
fully
A
.
cO
.
They worked well and suc cess
op e rative store was opened and labor
-
,
notes were issued in the place of money
.
I n three
years the people became wonderfully changed
They left
c l ean ;
o ff
.
drinking ; they kept their homes
they paid the rent ; disorder and violence
ceased intemperance became almost unknown
,
.
All had earned mor e than was paid by neighbor
ing farmers and the incident which wa s termi
,
n a te d
a
by the bankruptcy of th e proprietor remains
splendid illustration of what can b e accomplish
46
d owed
s
with al l the privileges of private owner
hip , who take all the rent , choose their tenants ,
and discharge them when they please
They hav e
.
power to take all the tra ffic will bear , leaving the
tenant nothing but a bare sub sistence and in
,
s
pecial cases not even that
.
The evil results of this l imited rent distribution
are seen in Ireland
.
It is unnecessary to describe
the frightful condition to whi ch the I rish people
were reduced about fifty years ago
Thousands
.
died of starvation and disease , whil e millions were
evi cted from their miserable shanties and forced to
em igrate
At length the conditions became so
.
in
tolerable that a parliament of landlords was com
l
l
e
ed
p
to interfere , and to establish the l nalienable
right of the inhabitants to live upon their native
soil before anything was paid to landlords
'
.
The
power to evi ct was taken from them and under
,
the operation of the courts rents have been
du ce d
of
re
more than one half, and the r e distribution
rent has greatly improved the condition of the
people
.
The Irish are t o day more prosperous and
more contented than for centuri e s
.
In the next place all the privileges of ful l
,
ownership
T hese
may be exercised
by corporations
.
may be even worse than landlords because
they are totally devoid of human sympathy
.
B ut
w hen corporations are municipal and manage pu b
48
lic property, the rents
city needs
a re
applied to provide for
.
In Freudenstadt , a town of
there is no taxation
rived
1 50 0
inhabitants
,
The public r e venue is de
.
from royalti e s
,
rents
,
and other natural
sources of wealth attaching to the town and neigh
bo rh o o d
e
.
The revenue has always exceeded the
xpenditure
.
There are neither paupers in the
co m munity nor unemployed
ce ntl y
On one o ccasion
.
re
there was divided among the inhabitants
men women and children , a sum amounting to
,
r
e
p
capita
.
In England many municipal
corporations either inherit it or have acq u ired
land in the cent e r of their cities
Old buildings
.
have been torn down new streets have been con
,
s
tructed and the land rented out on lease
,
.
In a
few years the rents of such properties will relieve
th e
citizens of much taxation
.
In the next place , the relation between owner
a nd
occupier may b e determined by custom or by
l aw , as under the feudal system , under which t he
relation between lord and villein was definitely
fi xed ,
if not always faithfully kept
.
As the lord
acknowledged his fealty to the king by personal
servi ce or the presentation of a pair of spurs so
,
the villein s e cured
th e
protection of his lord by so
m any days of personal service or so much p roduce ,
a n d,
having rendered his dues with punctual ity
49
,
he
w a s l eft in peaceful oc cupation of his holding , and
u
ndisturbed possession of any surplus products
whi ch he might thereafter raise by his own
d u str y
Thorold Rogers has
.
fullv
in
d e scribed the
co m fortabl e and happy condition of the English
peasants before the introduction of landlordism
and
th e
di a te l y
frightful
ensued
.
e
,
conomic pressure which imme
The land then for the first time
,
in England was treated as private property and
,
,
the oc cupiers were evi cted because they were
able to pay interest on the purchase money
nu
The
.
Hon Joseph Legg e tt has shown that the s a m e
.
causes have produced similar results in California
For the first twenty
-
five
.
years after the first set
tl e m e n t
land was open and exc e pt in cities was
cheap
The pressure of rent was very littl e felt
.
,
l and w a s
tented
.
,
,
,
abundant , and the people few and con
But when all the productive land was
taken up some for profit more for speculation
,
,
,
rents began to rise and wages fall for while land
,
l ords exist laborers cannot
appropriate both
.
T h en economic pressure began to appear the ri ch
,
b ecame ri cher and the poor poor e r
.
r
e
a
e
d
p
Then
.
ap
armies of tramps and thieves and the
dependence
,
of
thousan d s was destroyed
in
.
In the next plac e the multiplication of i n di
,
v
idual owners r e sults in di ff usion of the rent
has
,
a nd
chiefly o ccurr e d in France through the opera
,
60
tion of
code of Napoleon ; but
th e
r e nt di ff usion are obscur e d
c e s si v e
tion
b e n e fits of
neutralized by ex
a nd
military s e rvic e and heavy i n dustrial taxa
Neverth e less
.
th e
o ne
,
remarkable result has
b e e n attained ; the food production of Fr a nce has
incr e a sed in
th e
l ast century fiftee n times faster
tha n the growth of population a practical proof
,
that th e
so
-
called law of Malthus is not absolute
.
In the next place permanent occupiers may als o
,
be
part owners portions of rent b e ing assign e d to
,
other persons on definite terms fixed by law
Thi s
.
form of land tenure has been in operation in the
Chann e l Isla n ds for a thousand years
Th e
.
island
of Jers e y has never been subj ect to the Roman
law and therefore there are still no landlords
,
,
The e scape from landlordism was probably
the poverty of the soil which until lately
,
,
,
du e
was
.
to
not
able to support the inhabitants much less to yield
,
a surplus for the payment of rent
te e nth
.
In the seven
century as may be seen from the first edi
,
’
tion of Falle s Jersey
the island did
duce the quantity of food required by the
not
pro
i nh a bi
tants, who w e re supplied from England in time o f
peac e and from Dantzig in tim e of war
,
.
In the
groans of the inhabitants of Jersey we find the
same complaint
And Q uale in 1 8 1 2 stated that
the quantity of food was quite inadequate to their
sustenance
,
.
apart
,
from the
51
,
English garri son
.
A f ter mak i ng says
,
mu s t
all all o wances the tr u t h
be,
,
told the grain cro ps
be
a re
,
stance s
e xe
crably so
writ e rs
tha t
de c o m p o s e d
th e
fo ul in some
,
ih
We lea r n also fro m r e cent
.
soil i s by no m e ans rich
It is a
.
gra n i te w i thout organi c matt e r ,
,
sid e s what man has put in to
it
be
Th e r e are also
.
se ve nty acres of an Arabian d e sert
of
sands and
hil lo cks with v e ry p o or soi l on the nor th and
,
we s t o f
Nor i s
it
.
th e
clima te as fav o rable as
m i gh t have been exp e ct e d
There is an absence
.
o f sun hea t in summ e r a r e markable pr e valence o f
-
,
Jer s ey fo gs bring i ng mild e w and blight
,
tu mu ,
Lan d
a re
.
J e rs e y has been
in
mall lo ts o f a
there
,
,
egeta ti on i n spring
s
au
and mu ch dry c o l d east wind , r e tarding
v
$
in
fe w
acr e s
.
he ld
for c e nturies in
I n the whol e island
not m o r e than six farms o f more than
tw e n ty fi ve
-
acres and up o n thes e the c e l e brated
,
Jers e y cows are rais e d
permi tted b y law
a nd
.
Th e
owner of the
custom to issue
“
lo t
rents
”
is
to
the extent of three four ths of the value o f the hold
-
ing
of
.
Th e se
the crop
“
ren ts
of
”
r e present a small proportion
wh e at as raised a thousa n d years
ago , when the s o il was ev e n more b arren than at
the beginning of thi s century , and the
c u lture w as much less advanc e d
.
a rt
o f agri
So fai thfully
has this custom been preserved that the money
pay m ent equivalent to that small modicum o f
52
w heat secures to the oc cupier permanence of
o c cu
The possession of land is therefo re
a b so
a
i
o
n
t
p
.
safe to every cultivat o r , and can n o t easily
l u te l y
be alienat e d
seiz e land for
To
.
debt
is
a c co
m
with so many di ffic u lties that it is seldo m
n
i
d
e
a
p
resorted
to
The part owner and occupier cannot
.
be c o mpelled as i n
,
fund the principal
th e
case
of
mo rtgage , to
re
The laws o f inher itance
.
a re
also s u ch as to pres e rv e the homestead to the
c h ildre n notwithsta n di n g all or any debts the
,
father ma y have incurred before hi s death
Cus
.
tom pr o vides al s o t h at the purchaser for cultiva
tion undertakes to pay only a capitalized
o ne
fourth of the total rent , and he often pays less ;
p e ople are thus able to buy la n d for cultivatio n
with very little capital and the cost o f conv e yance
,
i s almost nothin g
t h e i sland ,
ra i se
th e
.
As there are no landlords on
there i s no
r e nt
,
no
one
o ne
to
to watch
th e
crops or
,
fix the term s of lease
,
no
one to dictate the course of croppi n g no one to
,
rai se the r e nt as population grows every til l er of
,
th e
soil
is
hi s own m ast e r and oc cup i es
,
hol ding without interference from
e
very
o
h i s l itt l e
a ny o n e
.
Whi le
cc u pi e r is an i ndepend ent owner th e re are
hun dreds of other citizens who have an i n t e rest i n
rent but without power to distrain f o r n o n pay
-
,
ment of the principal
.
Here t h en w e
h ave
a clear
reco gnition o f the principle t h at rent b e l o n gs
53
to
the people and a rough and unscientific method
,
of
distributing
it amo n g the population
In fact ,
.
the Norman custom is an imperfect Single Tax
.
Other common privileges have al so b een careful
ly
pre serv e d Every one is at liberty to gather sea
.
weed for manure at a certain season of the year ,
and to dig sand at a distance of sixty feet from
h i gh
wat e r mark
-
.
And now let us notice the result
.
The island is
eight miles long and less than six miles wide ;
comprises
13 0 0
acres rocks includ e d
,
it
There are
.
inhabitants to the square mil e or two to
,
every acre, and besides providing their own food
,
,
they now annually export $2 50 worth of produce
from every cultivated acre
In 1 8 9 4 they export
.
ed
tons of potatoes gro w n on
acres ,
,
and fo r these they received about
als o e xported
a nd
sa
1 60 0
head of
c a ttl e , c h i e fly
They
cows bulls
,
horses and many tons of tomato e s
,
,
pears ,
lads and oth e r produce Thi s success is entirely
.
du e
tio n
to the amount of labor whi ch a de n se
is
putting on the l and
.
l
o
a
u
p p
The fertility of
soil has been created by the industry of the
th e
in
habitants ; it has been fertilized not only by sand
and s e aweed but with refuse of all kinds inclusive
,
of
a
n i mal manures city waste , stable manure
,
,
bo n e s shi p ped from Plevna and mum m i e s of cats
,
from E gypt
.
The ground is artificially warmed
54
I t w as overwhelmingly in debt , and the p o p u l a
tion was decreasing at the rate of twenty thou
sand
a
year
After the adoption of this form of
.
taxation prosperity immediately retu r ned
,
l
a
u
o
p p
tion began to incre a se and the annual increase i s
,
now greater than the ann u al decrease b e fore the
passage of the act United States Consul Connolly
.
says of New
r
s
s
i
e
v
e
g
$
ealand , that it is now the most pro
country upon earth
.
That the private
wealth of the people has increased over forty
cent
.
,
r
e
p
which is double the increase of population
After
fi ve
’
years experience the New
$
.
ealand
government extended the method of taxation to
those municipalities which should choose it in
preference to the older plan
.
Twenty municipali
ties have voted in its f avor and it is remarkabl e
,
that the reform has been carried by the vote o f
property owners and not by equal
,
In
1 8 9 5,
s u fi r a ge
.
the L e gislature of New South Wal es
,
having bee n thoroughly convinced of the success
ful reforms in New
$
ealand passed a law abolish
,
ing all taxation on personal property and improve
ments and levying four m illes on the dollar o n
,
l a n d value instead
.
Prior to the passage of the
law the financial condition of the country verg e d
on bankruptcy and the peopl e su ffered great pri
,
vation
One half of the land was owned by less
-
.
than one thousand people
56
.
souls men ,
,
w omen , and children , had not land
which to dig their graves
.
.
,
of
An English
.
had acquired many thousand
w h i ch
acres put them on the market
f a te s
in
Immediately the large
l and speculators became alarmed
sy n di c a t e ,
enough
Many large
.
es
acres were readily disposed of i n
small lots and in
,
the increased area of land
189 7
under cultivation was alr e ady
acres
.
Landlordism still flourishes in the adj oinin g
c olony of Victoria wh e re the population is about
,
the same and where there is a high protective
,
tari ff
contrast is convincing
Th e
.
there are employed in various trades
,
and
females
ed
in
,
males and only
,
For e very ten ships do cked and repair
.
Vi ctoria ther e
Wal e s
male s
But in New South Wales
.
t h ere are employed
females
In Vi ctoria
.
a re
seventy in New South
The deep sea ships in
.
b ors number between
t
th
e
Vi ctoria har
wenty and thirty , whil e in
New South Wales they number between ninety
and
o ne
hundr e d
.
During a period of years
,
51 8 0
more men left Victoria than arrived while New
,
South Wales attracted
who left
.
more than those
In New South Wales both artisan and
,
unskill ed laborers are feeling the advantage o f
better times
th e
.
The supply of workers is less than
demand and the employee i s the arbiter o f
,
his own compensation
.
I n no other period has the
57
value of impo r ts been so great its manufacturing
,
output so large and general pri ces and wages so
,
satisfactory as during the two years j ust passed
.
The Premier said on a recent oc casion small as
,
,
the change has been , it has secured to the country
for all time a good , sound principle of taxation ,
and it has killed the trade of the land gambler
In
19 01
tari ff on imports will entirely cease
.
.
A most remarkable experiment with the Single
Tax was made at Hyattsville , Md
.
18 92
In
the
town commissioners , believing they had power
un
der the town charter, decided to assess land val ues
only , so they abolished all taxation on improve
ments and personal property
In order to meet
.
the loss of revenue the tax on land value was
raise d
from fifteen to twenty
dred dollars
.
-
fi ve
cents on the hun
The eff ect wa s to reduce the taxa
tion of householder s forty four per cent
-
.
,
and to
raise the balance of sixty per cent on land held f or
.
speculation and not for use
di a te l y
.
The e ff ect was imme
beneficial ; it lightened the burden of those
most worthy of consideration
It promoted the
.
improvement of property , the erection of
new
b uildings and the employment of the people
.
There was no di fficulty in the application of th e
system
.
The land speculators however set up
,
,
vio l ent opposition , and took the matter into the
courts ; and , it being declared unconstitutional ,
58
the town was compelled to return to
tem
.
th e
old sys
All building immediately came to an end
when the land speculators resumed their sway
.
Thes e results are all in favor of the Single Tax
TH E
U N IVE R S ITI E S AND
LI $ E
TH E
LA
W
O$
H
.
U M AN
.
It is the special function of universities to ex
amine and illustrate those general laws which con
trol the operations of the univ e rse
To teach
.
their order correlation beauty adaptability to
,
,
,
surrounding conditi ons their su fficiency and per
,
f e cti o n ,
their j ustice and morality and to show
,
how co mpletely and surely they make for more
and better life among men whilst the least viola
,
tion or neglect makes of necessit y for starvation
misery and death
,
.
Are the universities of America fulfilling their
duties with respect to the law of human life
$
They
seem ready and willing to acknowledge the val ue
of intellectual and personal freedom but have
,
they put industrial freedom on an equal footing
$ 51
It would seem not ; nay rather are they not fol
,
lowing the practices of the European universities
of the last century $ And j ust as those universities
direct e d al l their
e fi o rt s
to restrain intellectual
and scientific freedom so now those of America
,
are using their great powers to strangle industria l
59
freedom
None of these institutions whose o ffice
.
,
i s to extend the range of freedom o ff er a protest
,
against the artificial privilege of landlords
None
.
are protesting agai n st industrial feudalism which
,
i s industrial tyranny
on
They have nothing to say
.
ab solute necessity of
th e
co
-
partnership in the
results of collective l abor as the only possible pro
t e cti o n
against the rapacity of governm e nts mil
,
li o n a i r e s
,
trusts
corporations
a nd
They
.
have
failed to demonstrat e the wi cked n ess and folly of
taxing individual industry as if it were a crime to
work and create we a lth
.
They seem to sanction all those methods of taxa
tion whi ch bring lyi n g and dishonesty in their
train and enabl e the rich to shift the burd e n on
the poor
.
Common s e nse should t e ll them that
all such methods make for starvation misery and
,
d e ath and that absolute obedienc e to the law of
,
human life alone makes for more and b e tter li f e
among men
s i ty
52
In thi s its first duty the Univer
,
,
of California like thos e of Ameri ca
,
enerally
g
,
i s a grievous failure and even Stanford the most
,
,
li ber a l is by no means innocent
,
.
It is significant that you shoul d have so
o u sl y
misapprehended Mr
r
i
e
v
g
’
.
George s argument
That you should charge him with scientific
.
i gn o
rance possibly wit h out having read his last great
scientific work
.
T h at you should find his premises
60
faulty and founded on figures of speech , when they
are based on simple s e lf evi dent facts
That you
-
.
should say that he takes out at the end only that
which he puts in at the beginning whil e in reality
,
he puts in the beginning the simple facts of human
life ,
a nd
in j ustice between man and man takes out
the Single Tax
.
That you should regard his argum e nt as not
worth a straw s weight whereas it involves the
’
,
foundatio n of all human progress
It is no w on
.
“
der that his last and greatest work on the Science
of P olitical E conomy
bra ry ;
”
is not in the Stanford li
and that the law of human life should be
utterly ignored in
th e
class rooms and is replac e d
-
,
by a study of the dreams of the French physiocrats
of the last century ; and this not for the purpo s e
of
picking out from all their writings those grains
of wheat the
,
a nd
“produit
net
”
and
“
impot unique
”
,
of illustrating these grains of truth with the
’
assistance of Mr George s wisdom , but with the
.
c
ertain result that without that wisdom the stu
,
,
dents intellects will be buried in the mass of cha ff
’
.
And lastly , it seems to me incompreh e nsibl e that
you should rely upon that inscrutable unc e rtain ,
,
weak mythical principle
,
“
,
the authority for what is
so cial agreement
right
”
”
,
as
when you have
befor e you a simple law of nature which makes
f or more and better life among men , and the small
61
est neglect of whi ch makes for starvation misery
,
and death
.
I t is painful to write th e se facts , but for y o u
truth
”
has no terrors no humiliations
,
,
a nd
it is
necessary to probe to the bottom of the wound in
order to e ff ect a cure
.
’
But this negl e ct of Mr George s do ctrin e is the
.
more r e markabl e at Stanford
,
b e caus e h e re as
,
always int e rest i s c o incident with
O
,
natural law
a nd
duty
.
b edience to
The Stanford estat e s suffer
m ost gr i e v o u s l y f r o m t h e unj ust system of taxation
now
in force and from which th e re i s but little
,
“
hope of relief, except by the adoption of the Sin
gle Tax ,
”
under whi ch no rent can be taken from
land in public use of which the most important i s
,
the promotion of higher education
away fro m such an institution is
Rent taken
.
th e
worst form of
robbery and there is no possibl e excuse for it
,
der the operation of the
“
”
Single Tax
.
un
It is t rue
that the appropriation of land to publi c use is only
a restoration of what belongs to the peopl e but
,
this restoration was none the less a royal gift
made by the founders of the Stanford University
Bv
53
.
it they renounced forever their artificial ri ght
as landlords and gav e back to the community that
,
whi ch the commu nity had earned
.
But
did
th e v
more for they carried out the principl e of the
,
“
Single Tax
”
to its uttermost point and did by
,
62
,
land ,
”
is destructive of industrial freedom , and
that the ap propriation of the product of collective
indus t ry by landlords millionaires trusts , cor
,
,
r
n
a
i
o
s
t
o
p
That
co
-
and individual employers is robbery
operation in production and
co
.
partner
-
ship in the collective result are essential elements
of the law of collective human life
That the la
.
borer to be really free must attain to s e l f employ
-
ment as an individual and self gover n ment as a
-
,
member of the collective body sharing in the pro
,
fits
s
and manag e ment not as a favor but a right ,
anctioned by the law of human life
.
That the
taxation of individual industry is a violation of
the law of individual freedom , and the final con
e
lusion is that the
“
Single Tax
”
on land value
,
whi ch i s created by the collective activities and
necessities of
p rovided
who l e community is the source
th e
,
by the law of human life for the
s a ti s f a c
tion of the common wants no one being called
,
su fi er
upon to
li c need
loss indi vidually on ac count of pub
.
As under the
“
Singl e Tax
no one will care to
have l and except for possess i on and profitable use ,
millions of acres will be op e ned to the people
.
T here will no longer be need to camp out for weeks
upon the borders of land open to o ccupation
.
longer need to fight and race and struggle
w hereon to live , for
“r
f
ee access
64
”
No
for
will b ecome
a
fact and free material s will everywhere be found
,
at the disposal of collective life
.
Last l y the law of independent and collective
,
huma n life is the only complete and absolute
basis of e conomi cs
It defines the origin of indi
.
vidual and collective wealth and determines the
,
rights of the respective own e rs in its distribution
.
It mak e s impossible the formation of trus t s and
c
ombinations which under the pretense of better
,
,
org a nization of capital and labor and the promise
,
of
cheaper production rob the producers of their
,
individual and collective earni n gs
I t gives the
.
land and its natural resources to the whole pe o p l e
by the operation of the Single Ta x , and thus de
stroys monopolies at their very roots ; in fine it
makes for more and better life among men , and
,
becomes a safe guide for statesmen governments
,
and professors of political economy throughou t
the world
.
AN I ND U S T R I AL
U T OPIA
.
You have wisely tol d your students that the
Utopian element is one which our lives sorely
need
That we have fought the devil long enoug h
.
with fire
That we have attempted good results
.
by evil means ( social agre e m e nt expedi e ncy i m
r
i
l
m
a
e
i
s
landlords trusts bare subsistence
p
,
,
wages
,
,
,
,
industrial taxation
65
,
licenses
,
franchises ,
and other special privileges , tari ff and other inter
with the law of independent human life) ;
that unless our souls dwell in Utopia , life is not
f er e n ce s
worth the keeping ; that our windows should look
toward Heaven , not the gutter
.
Now with
,
th e
help of the general law of human life it does not
seem di ffi cult to construct an industrial Utopia ,
w h i ch being the f oundation of life i s also the foun
dation of all human progress
57
Let us suppose the
.
creation of a huge industrial corporation to e x
o
i
l
t
p
the earth
To becom e a shareholder it is
.
only necessary to b e a human bei ng endowed with
,
intelligence and strength , who pledges hi s labor
in return f or life and the satisfaction of his wants
.
Every worker getting his wages according to the
law of supply and demand , and those special con
di ti o n s
whi ch determine the value of the servi ce
rendered
.
I f but little servi ce , bare sub sistence ;
if more, comfort leisure and the gratification of
,
desires ; if great and rendered to the corporation
,
honor, glory , repose and luxury
T he charter of this c orporation is
,
.
th e
law of
ih
dependent and collective human life as laid down
,
in the foregoing pages
Ev e ry individual must be
.
free to think , to act and to assist in the business
,
of the corporation
,
th e
exploitation of the earth
,
and be free to consume , hoard and dispose of hi s
wages ac cording to
hi s
wi l l whil st the surplus
66
,
created by coll e ctiv e labor shall
be
the Single Tax and distributed to
gathered by
th e
,
collective
pr o duc e rs not in personal dividends but in pro
,
,
vision for coll e ctive necessities
tion of collective desires
Th e
a nd
i
fi
r
a
t
c
a
g
the
.
construction of the governme n t of this cor
must b e demo cratic
r
a
i
n
o
t
o
p
58
That is exactly
,
.
that of a private business corporation
No indi
.
vidual action must be permitted to replace the con
c e r te d
Nor
action of the people
n
.
eed we forget that Utopia is b e yond the
reach of human action
That evil and death are
.
as permanent as gravitation and will forever
,
re
main essential elements of growth and progress
It is not our business if we never reach perfection
All men must be free to choose between good
an
evil , and we must be content with the rule of
maj ority
.
We may be assured however
,
,
t
.
.
d
th e
h a t th e
maj ority is for the most part right and that our
,
individual duty is to promote j usti ce between man
and man and thus advance the brotherhood of
,
mankind
.
Now I confidently claim your assist
,
ance in promoting this Utopian idea
ly
al l
I t is exact
.
the form of government to which you were con
verted in relation to muni cipal a ffairs
.
It is the
form of gov e rnment adopted by business corpora
tions and by English cities
to
.
I ask your assistance
teach it in your schools that its operation ma y
,
67
b e extended to counties , States , and nations
is
“
the ideal arrangement although perhaps , i m
,
,
possible
s
This
.
If
.
it is impossible it must become pos
,
”
ible somehow before we can get on (Jordan )
But nothing is impossible which is founded on
.
truth j ustice and natural law
,
p roves
it
.
Past experience
One now can scarcely believe that only
.
fifty years ago men were shot down and imprison
ed
for advocating vote by ballot and universal suf
frage and by honorable men , who believed their
,
adoption to be impossible in England $ Who could
have anticipated the abolition of slavery in the
Unite d
a go
s
States fifty years ago
Even thirty years
who could have dreamed that men would
peak to each other a thousand miles apart
with or without the
f reedom
$
$
ai d
of universities
,
$
So
,
I ndustri al
must ultimately prevail , because it is
founded on truth and j ustice and the law of
h uman
life
s ti t u te s
.
It is obedience to this law which con
true reli gion and I would call upon the
,
clergy of al l denominations to adopt it as the b asis
“
of
their teaching
.
This law provides the true
remedy for ignorance , poverty, and immorality
and is the only safeguard against starvation
$
misery and death
.
This l aw promises the realiza
—
tion of that glorious document the Declaration
of
—
Independence which
states so clearly that all
m e n have equal ri ght to life , liberty and the pur
‘
68
suit of happiness
This law which alo n e gives
.
right to all men equally to gratify their physical
and int e llectual desires ( Henry George) This law
which is so well expressed in the motto of Eng
.
lish
co
-
partners
“
each for all and all for each
,
”
.
This law which assuredly makes for more and bet
ter life among men ( Jordan ) T his la w whi ch de
clares the equality of a ll men before natural la w ,
.
and is the foundation o f the brotherhood of all
mank i nd
.
STALLARD
.
A PPEN DI$
Note
s
—
Adequate
I
.
inte ll igence and adequate
(J )
Men in general are neither idiots nor invalids
trength are not com b ined in the same man
.
.
.
Man has nothing else to depend upon but
gence
strength
a nd
No te 2
—
Labor
.
S
(
.
.
i n te l li
)
i s al so exerted on la b or or the
p a st results of labor also a form of industry
,
La b or cannot be exerted on labor only
.
can be no la b or without land or its products
No te 3
—Only by e x change
.
(J
T here
.
.
.
)
But one can be e x
.
changed for another and must be in so cial
operation
S
(
co
J
(
.
But w e are now discussing individual inde
,
pendent life and exchange is necessarily e x c l uded
,
f rom the argument
Note 4
-
.
a re
.
S
(
.
)
Not in the tropic s nor when incentives
,
withdrawn by social force
J
(
.
We are still discussing individual li fe but even
,
i n the tropics food does not fall into his open
mouth
.
He must al so tramp and beg when socia l
i ncenti ves are withdrawn
.
(S )
.
to l and must be equal in order to secure to all men
the possi b ility of living and this equality is simpl e
,
j ustice between man
a nd
man
Nor is it necessary
.
that all men should be farmers , miners , or market
gardeners to secure ac cess to land for it is
o b vi
ous that access does not depend on the fact of
o cc u
,
i
n
a
t
o
p
The taking of rent
.
guarantee
.
a fi o r ds
an equal
Landlords have complete access to
l and by taking rent even when they are absentees
.
Rent is wealth created by the community at large ,
a nd
’
by putting the community into the l andlord s
shoes every citizen gets access to land and share s
b oth in the creation and expenditure o f rent ,
matter what his trade or o ccupation
.
no
Thus is si m
ple j ustice b etween man and man secured b y the
operation of the singl e tax
Note 7
a
.
.
(S )
.
—Trees are not endowed with intel lect
ctive strength ( S )
Neither are many men
.
.
for the other
.
or
Men must e x change one
.
J
(
Animal s without intelligence or strength canno t
b e classed as men
.
Exchange is a necessit y of
col l ective , not of independent human life
.
Robin
son Crusoe had no opportunity to make exchang e
u ntil Friday came to him
N
o te
c
8
.
.
(S )
.
—
I f all men depended on themselves f
hoice the worl d would b e scantily populated
72
.
or
J
(
There is no need for universal independence
Men gain too much from social intercourse and
operation
S
(
.
.
co
)
—
Once
9
No te
.
.
armed with the independen t
op
of maintaining life by the employmen t
n
i
t
r
u
t
o
p
y
of his own labor upon l and a man however desti
,
,
t ute is really free
,
Not
all
.
(S )
.
Robinson Crusoe could have
.
su fi e r e d
from almost any of the known forms of misery
.
(J
True ; but misery is not an essential condition o f
human life and although a prisoner on the island
,
,
Crusoe exerted his intellect and strength on land
and was made free to live
master
(S )
.
.
—
10
H
N ote
l
o
r
e
s
p y
He was his own
.
.
e
is no longer at the mercy of em
(S )
But he is at the mercy of brains
.
.
.
J
(
While he has the independent opportunity
of
maintaining his own life by his own labor exerted
upon land he is at the mercy of nothing but
,
perior force
himself
S
(
.
Note 1 1
.
Even then he remains master
.
.
su
of
)
—I f
all men could get at the land and
,
cou l d live when they got there the earth w ould be
,
too small to support them
73
.
There is much bad
l and ,
unproductive land , malarial land
O nly the
.
b est tillage on good and healthy land , with brains
in
direction , will make civilized life
This may or may not be true
.
.
B ut we are dis
c ussing the conditions of independent human life
,
not the progress of civilization or the future of the
race
yet
Neverthel ess the limit of production is not
,
.
known
In E ast Flanders thirty thousand
.
people li ve on thirty seven thousand acres
all
-
,
taken and besides they manage to support
,
h ead
of horned cattle
sheep
,
18 15
,
swine and to export flax and other
,
u ral produce
horses
,
a gr i cu l t
In one hundred years the f ood pro
.
duction o f France has i ncreased fifteen times
faster than the growth of
proof that the
f allible
so
-
practi cal
called law of Malthus i s not
in
(s )
.
LA
N ote 1
—
population a
W AND
J U ST IC E
.
— The law of independent human l ife
6)
provides the only li ne of action which secures the
S
(
)
—
There i s no such line of action most of all de
independent existence of human b eings
pends
on
.
the being his health and heredity
,
.
.
The
law of independent life does not follow from the
o
bserved facts
method
a
e
.
You use nowhere the inductive
xcept in a few illustrations
.
Your real
rgument rests on an invention like
74
“similia
similibus
'
;
in other words you are guided by
,
an assumed divine law
never yet tried except
.
in part and which you have discovered through
,
“a
priori
‘
says
not
life
”
reasoning
“This
,
There is no law which
.
ought to b e
thus and so
’
‘
but is
,
There are many ( a priori ) schemes of human
You overlook the fact that the great prob
.
.
lems are psychological , physiological and ethical
rather than economic
“a
the
y ields
priori
”
I respect truth , but not
.
method of reaching for it
That
truth sometimes but gives no test by which
,
we can tell truth from moonshin e
m en
.
S cientific
.
”
says P rofessor Brooks ( and I endorse his
“
statem e nt) repudiate the opinion that natural
.
,
laws are rulers and governors over nature and
‘
’
‘
’
,
l ook with suspicion on all nec e ssary or universal
’
‘
laws
”
.
Man has nev e r found out such
such laws are not rul ers
.
‘
’
Certain l y
.
We must rule ourselves
within the limits of our environment which is
,
m ade up of cause and following e ffects
.
I deny that all known natural laws make for
more and better life a m ong men
There are laws
.
of decay as well as laws of growth
.
We have not reached a point where deductive
argument can prove anything to be trusted in
human conduct
.
What j ustice is can only
be
found out by
e x p e ri
ment and attained only by the slow growth which
75
is possible under go vernm e ntal forms
I know o f
.
no w a y of g e tting at j ustice through the applica
tion of universal laws because no such laws can
,
bring credentials
.
If as Dr Warner says p utting air in private
,
.
,
hands would yield a be tter supply on j uster terms
there is no divine reason why we should not turn
the atmosphere over to an air company
J
(
.
If the skies fall we shall catch larks but in my
,
premises there is no
“if
”
.
It is simple fact that
men are animal s endowed with intelligence and
strengt h , and
bv
exerting that intelligence and
strength on land t h ey obtain food and maint a in
e x istence
These facts form an impregnable basis
.
o f inductive argument
ethi cs
,
.
But in order to show that
psychology and heredity have nothing
whatever to do with the simple maintenance of life
I will put the question in a simpl er form
Thus :
.
Men are land animal s and fish are water animal s
,
.
Human and fish life depend respectively on the
,
,
conditions to be found in land and water
l ife ,
land and water are here metaphors
,
.
Now
.
They
mean more than the simple words express but
,
t hey
are convenient and n e cessary and save long
descriptions of well known facts ; and the facts
are that men live on land and fishes in the water
,
This i s no invention of mine
76
.
.
There is here no
baseless hypoth e s is like
“similia
similibus
,
no
“
a
assumed divine law (whatever
that may mean ) no reference whatever to the pur
pos e s o f nature and I simply state the self evident
i
r
r
i
o
p
”
r e a s o ni n g, n o
,
-
,
facts that men are born and live on land and fishes
in the water
a nd
.
These facts a child can understand
no philosopher can doubt
N o w,
.
natural law is the constant relation
tw e en definite antecedent facts
or
be
conditions
ff
causes
and
definite
consecutive
results
e
ects
(
)
(
)
Under this definition to live on land is a natural
.
,
law
of human life and to live in water is a natural
,
law of fish life
.
Exactly the same reasoning
plies to material bodies
ap
The mutual attraction
.
between two of them constitutes the natural law
of gravitation
.
No reasoning can get closer to
the facts ; it is induction pure and simple
I give the question up
as
.
.
If not
,
But the law of human life
it depen ds on land and the law of fish life as it
,
depends on water is not the who l e law of life any
,
more than the mutual attraction of two bodies is
the whole law of gra v itation ; for as in
th e
one case
the antecedent conditions and consecutive results
are definitely modified by density and distance , so
in the others are the laws of human and fish life
definitely modified by the million
e n ce s
di fi e r e nt i n flu
with which they come in contact
.
But the
fun damental law in all three cases remains con
77
stant and intact
If fishes do not get at water they
.
die : if men do not get at land they starve to death
.
And two material bodies , if not mut u ally attract
ed to each other would remain separate
,
The
.
maintenance of fish life like that of human life
,
is , therefore purely
,
n o mi c s
a nd
,
simply a question of eco
The water must be open to the industry
.
of fishes j ust as land must be open to the industry
,
of men and under these natural conditions only
,
life is safe
.
It i s simply nonsense to speak o f the
psychologi cal ethical and hereditary problems o f
,
fishes as involved in the maintenance of fish life ,
and it is di fficult to define the age when they begin
to operate in man but it is clear that they have no
,
more to do with the simple maintenance of human
life than they have with moonshine
.
In this there is no intention to ignore th e import
ance o f psychology , ethic s and heredity in the
the dev e lopment of individual character and social
li fe but we are discussing the simple question of
,
maintaining human existence which , o bviously ,
,
must b e settled on a firm basis before the others
can be reached
.
In the next place the sequence of events which
constitute the law of i ndependent life distinctly
points out many things which ought to be
”
and so , but are not
.
“
thus
For example all men ought
,
to have enough to eat and drink , and f or thi s al l
78
.
there exists an ascertained seq u ence of parti cular
e
vents so definite so sure , and so constant that
,
,
we are able to tell the minute o f sunrise at any
given place or any given day in any given year
,
,
in any given century
natural
ta i n e d
s
.
—
l aw the
A suspected law is not a
.
sequences have not b e en
It is no law at all
umption only
,
.
a s ce r
It is a surmise or pre
If we cannot depend on natural
.
l aw ( ascertained sequences) for our rule of action ,
c
haos is still here
.
“
And if we have not reached a point where de
du cti ve
argument can prove anything to be trusted
i n human conduct
”
,
where are we
ground is it possible to stand
$
O n what other
$
How otherwise
progress $
Every suc cessful acti on of human life depends
o n faithful obedience to some natural law that is
“
ascertained sequences
l ive
t he
u
.
”
.
Men eat and drink to
T hey depend upon the earth for food and o n
air for the o x ygen t h ey breathe
.
They walk
pon their feet ; they see with their eyes , hear
w it h their ears , and think with their brains , when
they have any
.
These and a thousand other l a ws
are natural l aws of life, the violation of any one of
w hi ch makes for misery and death
.
Are not the
professors of Stanford searching the earth f or
truth , that is , for
“ascertained
b enefit of h u man cond u ct $
80
sequences ,
”
for the
Has the law o f
evo l u
tion no lessons for e ff ective human action $
Or
,
to take a concrete example the widest and closest
,
observation has firmly established the relationship
between temperance and health , and there is no
d ifficulty
whatever in applying this universal law
to influence our lives and happiness
.
Nor is experiment needed to determine what is
j ustice for j usti ce is an eternal and unalterab l e
principle of action the law of which is as well
,
,
established as the law of gravitation
s
i m ply
“the
Justice is
.
equality of all men before the law
”
.
But not equality before all sorts of law ; not equal
ity before unequal law ; not equality before
t ruthful
un
law ; not equality before bench law ; not
e quality before military law ; not equality before
—
United States law m fine
h uman
e
,
not equality before any
made law whatever
.
But j usti ce is the
quality o f a l l men before natural law which is
al
,
one j ust and equal and the only law which when
,
f ree to all men , as it should be , provides a certain
g u arantee that life liberty and happiness are with
,
in
the reach of all men
.
Justi ce therefore simply gives to a l l men equal
,
,
tit l e to the b enefits of
natural law
.
“ascertained
sequences
”
,
or
It is inj usti ce which denies these
benefits to any and such denial is continually
or
dained by human legislation and carried out
by
,
force
.
81
~
Justi ce entitles no man to the exclusive use of
any benefits due to natural laws
ern
e
a nd
,
neither gov
me nts nor constitution s can confer on some ex
lusive
title to natural benefits
equally to others
self,
”
Which bel ong
“
I wi ll accept nothing for m y
.
says W Whitman ,
.
“which
all may not have
the counterpart of on equal terms
”
.
This alone is
absolute fairness between man and man
.
The credential of j u si c e i s not di ffi cult to find ; it
i s exposed on the very surfac e of a l l j ust laws and
,
attested by the absence of special privileges
.
All
m en are equal before natural l aw , b ut the inj ustice
of
social agreement in the form of Ameri can law ,
,
h as
conferred special privileges on landlords at the
e x pe n se of other people
.
Moreover, j ust i ce does not
“
depend on govern
m ental forms , nor is it attained slowly by their
aid
”
.
Government in any form or by any means
i s incapable of creating j ustic e or even of securing
its attainment , for the relation of
natural law is personal
a nd
“all
men
”
to
sacred , and is deter
mined , not by governmental forces but by the
,
man himself
.
All that governments can do is to
distur b the equality of right as when it confers on
,
landlords the exclusive privilege of private owner
ship of land whereby they are enabled to exclude
,
other citizens from the v e ry source of life
as
.
Justice
t h u s defined i s the foun dation o f individual free
82
do m,
duct
and it is the only safe guide of human
“all
It applies to
.
ua l and collective sense
men
”
,
co n
both in the individ
‘
It is the cardinal princi
.
ple of democratic government , and the only rea
sonable hope for peace and good will among indi
and nations
vi du a l s
~
.
It is thus prove d that the Government of
th e
United States is a fo rt ress of inj ustice in which
.
th e
ac knowledged right of all men to life liberty
,
and the pursuit of happiness is fettered and con
fine d
You decl are that the only government
.
o
u
y
recognize is that whi ch establishes j ustice never
,
t hat
whi ch establishes inj ustice , and I therefore
confidently call upon you to assist in the alteration
of American law that j ustice may b e permitted to
prevail
.
Human legislation cannot even foster j usti ce I t
.
can only interfere with it ; for whenever govern
ments attempt empirically to correct or
nate personal misdoings
the
e xte r
mi
freedom of j ustice
destroyed and the evil is increased
is
.
For men cannot be made j ust to one another ,
honest , sober, clean polite or virtuous b y any form
,
of human legislation
.
These are and ever must
be
—
personal considerations to be determined by per
sonal associations and personal education
.
When
I was a b oy drunkenness was the test o f Engl i s h
h ospit a lity
.
A gentleman dis h onored
83
h is h ost b y
w a l king home ; he honored him b y drinking his
three bottles and falling insensible underneath t h e
table
by
The poor man also measured his happiness
.
the same standard and got home from the fairs
a nd
j u nketings after lying in the ditch all night
All this time there were laws to punish drunkards
.
,
f rom which , as usual , the ri ch esc a ped , and b y
w hi ch
the poor and ignorant were scourged
.
A m ongst the ri ch this test of hospitality has long
s
ince passed away , without any l egal interference ;
pub l ic opinion has declared such conduct a dis
g race
to the class but the poor and ignorant con
,
ti nu e
f orces
their e x cesses in spite o f governmental
.
For natural law is the only real schoolmaster
w hi ch teaches wisdom and shows up the folly of
diso b edience
to its righteous teachings
m aster f orce of progress
as
.
.
It is the
Civilization advances
fast as the fools l earn wisdom or are killed
b y the l aw of evolution
.
ofi
Nature i s kind to her
tr u e disciples b ut has no mercy for the fools
,
.
When a m an drinks to e x cess over night he gets a
w a rning h eadache in the morning
.
I f he neg l ects
t h is w arning , his liver , brains and family s u rely
s u ff er, and with further persistence in his evil
d oing
comes misery and death
.
But human stu
i
di
ty
p
presumes to improve on natural la w
ta x e s
drink, enacts prohi b ition , and closes the
84
.
It
saloo n s
.
It fin e s and impriso n s the drunkard
when caught by the police
.
It fears that the fool
will get another headache ; that he may ruin his
f amily , or even kill himself with drink
Thus ,
.
w hilst natural law would utterly destroy the fools ,
human edicts are issued to protect them from their
folly
and to preserve the breed
.
Swaddling
c l othes and leading strings are only fit for infants ,
but man must b e m a de to realize the consequences
of evil doing each on his own account
,
.
Unde r
.
the uninterrupted reign of natural l aw fools will
be overwhelmed in their own folly and wise men
w i l l increase and mu l tiply
.
All that j ustice wants therefore is a fair field
,
and no f avor
.
It asks no direct help from govern
m ents and human edicts
h erent
force
.
,
.
It grows b y its own
in
I t is fostered by personal education
and by persona l association with the j ust
.
In
a ll
other respects it simply asks to be left religiously
alone
.
But j ustice demands the destruction of al l
special privileges and the recognitio n by govern
ments of the title of all men equally to the b enefits
of natural laws ; indivi duals and nations may then
rest in calm assurance that the power of good
must in the end prevail
.
Now , it is the province of schools and universi
ties
to searc h o u t truth and j usti ce whi ch are but
,
85
d i ff erent
expressions of the same great l aw , for
there is no truth in inj ustice , no inj usti ce in truth
.
I t is for the professors of political economy to
teach all governments that the progress of truth
a nd
j ustice is beyond the scope of human legisla
be
tion , and that it is for i n dividual s to choose
.
t w een the happiness
e
vil
.
of
good and the misery of
As Moses told the Jews
b efore
“
,
Behold I have set
,
thee this day life and good , death and evil
,
”
.
Man s whole business upon earth is to search out
’
natural laws whether of truth and falsehood j us
,
,
ti ce and inj ustice good and evil life and death
,
,
.
The more we know of these laws the more accu
,
r a te l y
we trace their action the more faithfully we
,
follow their teachings for good and their warnings
against evil the longer we shall live and
,
th e
hap
pier w e must be for all natural laws ( ascertained
sequen ces) make for more and b etter life among
,
m en
.
Note
v
—
13
So cia 1 agreement
.
i s i m pote nt to pro
ide either f ood or employment for all m a nkn d
.
(S J
Human action in any form is important
.
(J
If humanity i s really impotent to provide its own
food by its own exertion it is very b adly fixed
,
.
But there are pretty good indications that we may
s
truggle on a few more centuries without fear o f
86
giving of anything pauperizes
The Jews giv e
.
freely to their poor, but do not pauperize
.
The
giving or receiving of anything is in itself , neither
,
di shonorable
l u si o n
nor degrading
.
It is a complete de
to suppose that England has not lan d
enough to support her population
v
If the culti
.
a h le area of the United K ingdom were cultivated
as the soil is cultivated on the average in Belgi um
there would be foo d for thirty seven millions
-
of
people, and Engl and might export food without
ceasing to manufacture ( K rapotkin ) If the p o p u
l ation o f the United K ingdom came to b e doubled ,
.
all that wo u ld be required for producing foo d
for
ei ghty millions w ould be to cultivate the soil as it
is a l ready cultivated on the b est farms in England ,
Lom b ardy , or Flanders , and to utilize meadow
l ands , w h ic h are now almost unproductive , in th e
same w ay as in the neighborhood of the bi g cities
o f France ( K rapotkin) I n 1 8 70 I visited
Breton f arm at Romford It cost the owner
.
.
an
th e
£4 0
acre , and had been cultivated by the former ten
ant and his t w o sons with the help of two horses
,
.
At the time of my visit thirty men and twenty
five horses were employed , besides a hundred
women and children
.
The annual cost of cultiva
tion w as $ 1 7 5 an acre , and the produce sol d f o r
more t h an double The ir rigation farm at Alder
.
88
s h ot cost the English Government twelve cents an
acre
It now rents for $ 1 0 0 per acre annually
.
.
I t is the incubus of rent which strangles English
agriculture
have
.
Th e
industrial classes of England
pay their landlords one billion dollar s
to
annually for the privilege of standing on English
soil ; and they have to pay nearly as much again in
taxes
one
-
.
The Liberals are now proposing to transfe r
fifth
of the rental of Engla n d to the public
treasury , relieving industry annually to the tune
of twenty millions of dol l ars
.
Relieved of thi s
o v erwhelming burden , the industrial classes will
get higher wages and at the same time be a b le
to
compete successfully with any industri al co m
mu nity on ea rth
.
SO C I AL A G
Note
—
16
Social
.
R EE M
ENT
.
agre ement cannot s u c cessfu l l y
control the conditions o f independent human life
T his does not follow
r
.
Property is not a divin e
.
ight ; it is a creation of social agreement which
is
the resu l tant of social forces psychologi ca l forces
,
and human history
.
So cial agreement is a fact
,
using that term for its statutes or conventional
operations among men
No statesman can ris e
.
mu ch a b ove social agreement , which is the inevi
89
ta b le result of laws and conditions
So cial agree
.
m ent must approximate the best conditions if civi
l i z a ti o n
progresses ; it declines if intelligence and
activity decline
w iser
.
It grows b etter as men gro w
.
Men cannot grasp at higher l aws they have
not the wisdom to understand
Social agreement ,
.
l ike the methods of farmers , varies with the w is
dom of its units
I t is pretty bad yet
.
i ng is equally b ad
.
Most far m
J
(
.
The conditions of independent human life are as
fixed and unaltera b le as the law of gravitation ,
and cannot be amenable to human statutes or the
conventional operations of men
By defying
.
a sc e r
sequences ( natural law) individual s ma y
t u rn night into day and will sure l y s u fi e r for their
ta i n e d
,
,
f olly
a nd
.
So al so so cial agreement may defy j ustice
establish starvation , misery and death
has already done so
.
It
.
For social agreement has no
definite principle o f action ; it has no respect f or
either truth or j ustice
.
There are communities
in
w hi ch social agreement m akes heroes of the most
ex
pert thieves and most suc cessful b urglars
.
The
general who kills most Filipinos will b e worship
ped by so cial agreement in America t o day
.
So cial
agreement supports protection in one country and
free trade in another ; imp e rialism in one p l ace
a nd
popular government in another
.
There is no
f olly or inj ustice for which this mythical and many
90
headed monster is not made the scapegoat
Socia l
.
agreement is the tool of wealth ; it is the slave of
power ; it has an u n reasoning reverenc e for vested
interests even when those interests are most
un
,
j u st
their nat u re and most inj urious to the ma
in
o ri t y
of people
Social agreement is
th e
strong
j
ho l d of special privileges , all of which retard the
.
progress of industrial freedom
.
It is social agree
ment which takes twenty millions annually from
the industrial classes of San Francisco for the
privilege of standing on its soil and more than
half as much again for taxes
.
It is social agree
ment which enables a privil e g e d few to live in idle
ness and luxury on the industry of other people
Your verdict that it is
“
pretty bad
”
.
giv e s me the
greatest satisfaction but I am the more surprised
,
that you should prefer social agreement to Divinity
as an authority for the
“
right to property
”
for
,
Di vi ni ty i n cl u de s the idea of ascertained sequences ,
or natural law
ta b l i sh e d
What possi b le
.
“
“right ”
can b e
es
”
by pretty bad authority $ What possi
“
ble title has a
pretty bad authority
”
to grant
privileges to some men and deny the same to
others
action
$
Social agreement cannot influence human
s u c c e s s f u l l y u n ti l
man and man
.
i t r e s p e ct s
j ustice between
This m ust be the standard to
w h ich all statutes and conventi onal operations
among men must be referred before adoption
91
.
I
confidently claim your assistance and that of your
“
”
professors to destroy pretty bad as an authorit y
for
“rights ”
of any kind and to establish j ustice as
,
the cardinal principle of social action in the
United States
Note 1 7
.
S
(
.
—
The
.
co
)
m m u n i tv must get at land , not
necessarily all its individuals
J
(
.
All men must get at l and for no one can find
,
f ooting in the clou ds
to land
for
food
.
a
All men must have access
.
Men can enj oy universal access without bein g
f armers , miners , or market gardeners ( vide note
S
(
Note 18
a b ly
”
.
—
In
collective labor , there is
a surplus pro duced by the
their corporate capaci t y
S
(
co
-
)
i n va r i
operators
in
)
I nvariably $ Some men are devoured b y wages
Cost of production can be less than product onl y
.
.
.
(J
There i s no exception
w hen the greatest wis dom exists
I nvariably
.
prime necessity o f all
.
.
co
-
Land i s a
operative industry
.
T he
m ere presence of the workers creates l and value ,
w hich is the source of rent
o n co
-
.
Rent is a first charge
operative industry and the landlord takes
,
hi s rent even when the employer through lack o f
,
wisdom , i s devoured b y wages
92
.
The landlord is
the true devourer both of employers and employed
.
H e takes his toll on all the wealth that they create ,
)
—The surplus of collective industry is
come what may
Note 1 9
.
.
S
(
.
conserved in rent ; consequently land value
creases with population
S
(
.
This is purely theoretical
.
.
in
)
The val u e o f a p l ace
depends in part on the scramble for it
.
J
(
And what is the scramble b ut the higgling o f
the market , that wh i ch determines the value of
labor and all other things
When the scram b l e rs
$
are many, values rise ; when they are few , they fall
.
T he scramble represents the price buyers are will
ing to give for the satisfaction of their desire for
l and , and when the public are purchasers the
,
value of the land f or public use
theory
.
S
(
.
-
.
agreement
.
,
)
P R OP ER T Y
Note 2 0
This is fact not
.
I N LAND
.
Property in land is a creation of social
The wor l d cannot prevent the men
w ho got hold of Greece from becoming Grecians
.
Once Grecians they did not give the barba r ians
,
half
a
chance
.
Although free appropriation may
have b een b ad policy , it binds us j ust the same
it is b ad policy, don t do it again
’
.
.
If
If a deed w as
given to the first settlers in San Franci sco w e , who
have agreed to recognize this act , or s w orn fealt y
93
to the Ameri can Constitution , must recognize tha t
t h e land is now theirs
ers
h aving
Certainly t h e title o f o w n
.
such deeds is b etter than that o f others
w ho have non e
.
This may have been unwisdo m
,
b ut it g i ves no man and no community moral or
l egal right to correct it , unless a community agrees
upon a method of correction
The community can
.
only deal honestly and legally by paying for w hat
it takes
The land is now in the hands of innocent
.
purchasers , who have exchanged products of la b or
for it on the guarantee of title by the Constitution
.
’
T he q uestion is one of action to d ay , b ut George s
proposal to tax ownership out of existence is con
fi s c a ti o n ,
whether taken all at once or in a thou
sand years
force
.
A l l tax a tion i s accomplished by
J
(
.
I n the first place , as to the legal compa ct and the
American Constitution
owners
In giving deeds to land
the Constitution reserved the right of
,
taxation
.
Rea l estate i s taxed in every State ,
.
often by separate assess m ent
Nor has any limit
.
ever been imposed on such taxation by the Con
sti tu ti o n
of the United States
s ti tu ti o n a l
.
There is no con
obstacle to the taxation of land value
even to the extent proposed by Henry George for
,
government may have full right under conditions
to claim the lives and property of all the citizens
The question is simply one of j ustice
94
.
.
But if the destruction o f land ownership be con
fi s ca ti o n
under the law of j ustice , what special
claim have landlords for exemption over other peo
ple $
Professors of political economy seem to
think that confiscation only fits the rich
They
.
never protest against the confiscation of the poor
man s industry
’
’
s
.
The sacrifice of a man s l a bor,
kill and subsistence , in fact all that he has to live
,
upon is called the inevitable result of social pro
,
gress never confiscation and no one proposes
,
,
m u n e r a ti o n for the loss sustained
s
re
Then why
.
hould landlords be paid for what they never
earned $
Forty years ago twenty thousand so b er indus
,
tr i o u s ,
working tailors in Whitechape l , London ,
w ere reduced to a b solute starvation b y the intro
duct i on o f the sewing machine
To d ay the lino
.
type machines are taking bread out of the mouths
of
“
thousands of intelligent compositors , who hav e
given the b est part of their lives to the faithfu l
servi ce of the publi c and now being good for
,
,
nothing else , they have been driven down to the
b are
subsistence scale of wages by conditions
t e r l y b eyond
their own control
.
ut
Why should not
landlords , who have enj oyed so many comforts in
the past , b e made also to fall before the J u gge r
naut of human progress $
a nd
The slave owners fel l ,
w hy not l andlords also $
96
-
But the sacrifice demand e d is not all loss
Th e
.
troubles anticipat e d by the sl ave owners have not
-
been realized or have had their compensation
They
a re
.
no longer degrad e d by association wit h
slavery , the separation of children from their par
ents and the cruel whip
i zed
They have been human
.
and freed from responsibilities beyond thei r
power to discharge
,
a
nd to d ay there is not to b e
found a slave owner of forty years ago who woul d
-
restore the institution
.
And j ustice will b e equally lenient to landlords ,
but few of whom will be reduced to common labor
as the use and o ccupation of their lands will
,
re
m ain secure and they will not be depriv e d of i m
r
o
p ve
m e nt s henceforth to be relieved from unj u st
taxation
.
Like th e slave owners the l andlords will be freed
-
from an odious thraldom
the drones of social life
They will cease to be
.
They will be saved
.
th e
perj ury and deception by which they now shame
fully shift the burden
shoulders of the poor
.
of
taxation on to the
In spite of themselves they
will be made honest men
.
Deprived of rent the
,
pious thief will no longer be able to steal thirty
mi l l i ons annually from the earth , whi ch is the pub
li c
treasury of wealth
h a ve
,
and he will no longe r
nee d to bri be legislators or to esta b lish
97
p ro
)
f e ss or s h i p s
of politi cal economy to promote sus
.
tain and j u sti f v his robberies
A n d as regards the r e cipients of j usti ce
.
s
erfs of industrial bondage have a decided
age over the slaves of the past
them a new experience
.
The
.
a d v a nt
Freedom was f or
They were too ignorant
.
to take advantage of it
But , happily , the serfs
.
of industry are not all reduced to the condition of
“The
”
Hoe man and even he would stand upright
,
and hav e an upward look if his bondage were
mo ved
re
.
N ow ,
the application of rent to th e public service
and the r e lief of every industry from taxatio n
would creat e a new world both for the producer
,
a nd
consumer
The rent of the oil fields would
.
pay the war tax
expen ses of
th e
,
and
the rent of mines the current
governm e nt and as rents decline
,
,
wages being complementary th e r e to woul d rise
,
,
.
Not a labor e r in the United States but would be
a
ble to provide two or three suits of clothes where
he now possesses one
.
The impulse given to com
m erce and manufactures would be irresistibl e
.
A
home market would be created ten times greater
than that of all China and the East
kin says
s
s
c
,
“let
.
As K r o p o t
your factories be employed not in
,
u pplying the wants of enslaved Filipino s , but to
atisfy the unsatisfied need s of millions of Ameri
a s
n
”
.
Over prod u ction would b ecome impossi b l e
-
98
.
i g l e ta x l eaves the l and itself intact , does not
s n
diminish production nor imperil permanence of
o ccupation
It simply takes the rent for p u blic
.
use and destroys the privilege of private o w ner
s
hip
.
L astly,
the single tax i s not forcible ta x ation
.
Unlike the cyclone, whi ch is violent , destruc t ive
and partial in its operation the single tax acts like
,
b e n e fi c e nt
t h e silent , unfelt ,
h
r
e
e
p
ci a l
pressure of the atmo s
Industrial taxation operates only on spe
.
classes and passes by the l andlords , who are
protected by their rent
ates universally on all
cape
.
.
But the single tax oper
No one can possibly
.
No one can shirk his duty
.
es
No one can shift
’
the b urden on another s shoulders , and the pres
sure will not be felt being equal in all direc tions
,
and perfectly adj usted to the advantages received
Now
,
in
.
fa ce of the certain fact that the land
l ords will lose their grip upon the b allot box ,
-
whi ch must soon become the impregnable fort ress
of human independence , and that producers and
consumers number ten to one against their ene
mies the landlords there is not only hope but
,
,
tainty of eventual victo r y
.
cer
So when the i n dus
,
trial classes come to know and have courage and
independence to exercise their power social agr ee
,
ment will b e forced to change the statute whi ch
,
a ll
w e w ant
.
(S
.
)
100
is
No te 21
ti o n a l
.
—
The
rise in land values was
e x ce p
Califor n ia was treasure trove and di
,
.
vi de d u p
by the law of bushwhackers
.
J
(
In every city in the world land values have risen
ceteris paribus , in proportion to population
the necessities and activities of the people
a nd
They
.
have increased more in Chicago than in San Fran
cisco
San Francisco in fact , presents an
.
,
ex cep
tion which supports the rule for while populatio n
,
has increased during the last ten years land values
have declined because speculators had created
a
,
fi ctitious boom
Note 2 2
-
.
S
(
.
.
)
There are two sides to this picture
.
Public money which does not cost makes irre
sponsible waste
J
(
)
There is no publi c money which does not cost
brains
,
.
strength
,
.
and industry
,
and those w h o
make it have the right to dispose of it at wi l l
Note 23
ment
.
.
—A
.
substantial ownership
.
.
)
st a ble lease would permit develop
A long lease has often b een regarded
in California
S
(
.
as
I t is therefore p r ohibited
J
(
This is surely a condemnation of private owner
ship
in
any form
Note 2 4
.
.
S
(
—Society
.
)
cannot separate legally fro m
ri ghtfully ( J
.
10 1
T he mis fortune i s that it does so all the time
.
Legally is human law edicts or ordinances ; ri ght
,
,
fu ll y is ascertained sequences
Legally is
.
nu
ta b l e one thing one day and something el se the
s
,
next ;
ri ghtfully is permanent and unalterable
Legally i s quite as often wrong as
ful l y is always right
r
.
ight ; right
Civilization advances as
.
t h e t w o approximate and when they coa l esce w e
,
w il l have nothing to complain of
Note 25
.
—
S
o
.
(S )
.
do th e weaker live upon the strong
.
I f there were no weak , life would be easier for the
s
(J
T he w eak only e x ist they do not live upon the
trong
.
,
strong and
the uniform result is that the few
,
s
trong get stronger and the many weak get
w eaker
N ote
e
S
(
.
.
)
—
Di ffi
Eff
conomic l ines
.
cu l t
pro b lems , not to b e solved on
J
(
But cannot be solved on any other lines b ecause
,
the economy of simpl e existence stands b e f ore
every other consideration
Note 27
—Not
.
S
(
.
)
(J
Hunger i s the chief cause of crime drunkenness
.
true
.
,
and i gnorance
chil d or get
.
It is impossi b le to teach a hungry
e fi e cti ve
la b or out of a hungry man
.
S u fficient f ood i s the one absolute condition of an
102
Yes but the one obtain their wealth by means
,
special privilege and force and the others can
of
,
not help themselves whil e social agreement denies
by
them equal opportunity to earn their share
l abor
S
(
.
.
)
SO C I AL
—Yet
Note
P R OG R E SS
.
in no land and at no time of the
w orld was the condition less
u n f a vo rbl e
.
J
(
O n a superficial vi e w this seems to be entirely
true
Everywhere we recognize the marvel ous
.
g rowth of wealth and luxury the n u merous
,
tions of labor saving machinery the
-
,
n
h arnessing
of
atural forces to the service of mankind the stu
,
e
n
do u s
p
c
i nven
advance o f Art and S cience the rapid
,
onstruction of cities provided with all the con
v e ni e n c e s
im
and lu x uries of m odern life the
,
rovement
of
sanitation
and
the
prolongation
of
p
h uman
ex
life ; and last but by no means least the
,
,
tension o f education especially in the higher
,
b ranches
.
But none of these are evidence that j usti ce is
c
reasing between man and man
a
fford
is
c
.
in
They therefore
no proof that the real condition of society
better now than it ever was befor e
Nor is
.
th e
onclusion supported by any past experience for
,
w h enever
the
the power of a class has grown up under
fostering wing of special privilege whenever
,
w ealth has accumulated in the hands of drones
10 4
and non producers when e ver land and its products
-
,
have b e come the prop e rty of a comparatively few
i n va r i
monopolists pov e rty and dependence have
,
a b ly grown faster than the wealth and luxury
And not all
th e
th e
pomp of power not all
,
.
forces
of civilization have b e en abl e to stifle th e fire of
in
j usti ce and oppression raging underneath the sur
face and no nation has b e en able to withstand the
,
e x plosion which eventually took place
.
In spite
then of all appearances it may yet be true that
,
the condition of society even in this favored land ,
,
was ne ver more unfavora ble than it is to d ay
Neither wealth nor
e
ducation can be regarded
as tests of social progress
that it is certain that
not get ri ch
producers
poorer
.
.
.
th e
Andrew Carnegie says
.
men who do the work do
Wealth does not j ustly come to its
The rich become ri cher and the poor
And education without industrial free
.
,
dom for its basis , only creates desires and am b i
tions more rapidly than the means for satisfaction
.
In that case men b ecome discontented and
a re
tempted to live by their superior wit on the
in
du s tr y
of others rather than their own which
,
tends to robbery and crime
.
The decrease of
in
j usti ce between man and man is the only measure
of sound progress and this is attested by the de
,
crease
of
o
r
t
v
e
v
p
and its consequences whi ch ma y
be e asily observed
,
.
105
To make men good and kind and no b le , and to
give them independence it is necessary first and
,
,
foremost to satisfy their material wants
,
.
When
’
one s whole time and energy are needed to fight
for
th e
necessaries of life there i s no opportunity
,
for the cultivation of those higher qualities whi ch
distinguis h
men from brutes
genial soil for culture
rance can thrive on it
.
.
Poverty i s not a
.
O nly the weeds of
i gn o
There are no moral con
siderations in the presence of starvation ; no
t e l l e c tu a l
needs while material wants remain
“
in
un
”
r
The
of
My
Dict
torshi
S
t
o
a
v
(
p )
( Moreover the worst form s of poverty do not
satisfi e d
.
,
“
appear upon the surface for to b e poor and seem
”
poor is repugn a nt to all m en especially to men of
,
education who therefore co v er up their n e eds
,
.
Poverty may be best discovered by its inseparabl e
associates first invol untary and unnatural indo
,
,
l ence the consequen ce of insu fficient or unwhole
,
so me food and bad environment a form of indo
,
,
l ence whi ch soon becomes habitual and heredi
tary ; then loss of self respect and independence
-
then crime and immorality in every form
,
.
To the needs of poverty and to the artificiall y
created
needs o f fashion
equally imperative
women sacrifice their virtue
,
m e rchants their
credit educated men their honor and all of them
,
,
seek the use of artificial stimuli to raise their
106
energy and intelligence from every region upon
earth
.
T here w as much open land , and the incomers
w ere few and contented
.
But we have seen that
the city b egan with an unj ust appropriation b y
‘
a
few individuals of all the land in sight and w he n,
,
a
in
fter a quarter of a century , all the use f ul land
th e
State w as similarly taken up , a change began ,
a n d,
i f the change has worked righteously and
w e ll , if the condition of so ciety is really less
un
f avorable , we may reasonably expect , due allo w
ance being made for the increase o f population
that there is now less poverty less c r ime less i m
,
m orality , less need
h ouses ,
of
,
policemen , j ails and al m s
and proo f b eyond dou b t that the condi
tion of the mass o f citizens is becoming less
l ess un f avorable every year
N o w,
in
18 7 4
a nd
.
the millionaires were f ew in nu m
b er, but have since then steadily increased
.
No
one has lived in the City during the last quarter o f
a
century can dou b t that the few rich have beco m e
ric h er , and as they have long since c eased to b e
producers , t h eir wealth has ac cumulated at the
They have taken to ll
of
the collective industry of their f ellow citizens
in
e x pense o f ot h er people
.
the shape of rent and t o day the industrial c l asse s
,
of
San Francisco pay the l andlords twenty m il
10 8
l i o ns ann u all y before they get
th e m se l ves
and f amilies
a
b ite of food f or
.
Forty per cent of the municip a l and State taxa
.
tion i s also paid directly by the industrial classe s ,
b esides poll tax and their contribution to real
tate taxation making up the whole
.
e s~
Besides this
they pay the larger portion of Federal taxation ,
a l l o f which is paid by the consumers
.
Under
these conditions poverty cannot possi b ly diminish
.
T h e landlords take the cream , and le a ve to the rest
s
ki m mi l k
.
And now examine the return of crime
l owing
.
The fo l
figures are taken from the Municipal
Re
ports :
18 74
P opulati o n
N u mber o f P ol i ce
Arr ests by P oli ce
o f Dr un ka r ds
f or B ur gl ary
f or G
Divor ce
r an d
2 0 0, 7 7 0
79
121
3 62
1 12
1 50
L ar c en y
.
S u i ts
14 9
290
94
4 28
9 11
1 12
56
14 6
1 60
34 0
9 12
168
Sui ci des
Inmates o f Alms H o u se
Inmates o f State Pri son
.
a fi o r ds
evidence of increasing poverty ,
r
g
12 7
9 31
.
Every one o f these items
di ca te s
12 1
124
a nd
indisputa bl e
every one
in
that the condition of society is steadi l y
o w ing worse notwithstanding the increase
109
of
w ea l t h and know l edge , and the advance of ed u ca
tion
.
T h is conclusion is al so supported by strong i n
d ividua l
w rites
testimony
.
The Rev Father M cD o n n e l
.
I am b y no means a pess i m i st , but f or
fi fteen years I have lived among the poor and ta l k
,
-
ed
and felt with them
.
I cannot find one person
to deny that the industrial con ditions were not
m ore favorable in 1 8 7 4 than in 1 8 9 9
.
It is no w
m uch more di fficult to obtain employment , wages
h ave
steadily declined and are going down ever y
year The reduction of prices of necessaries and
,
.
l uxuries is not in the same proportion
.
The work
ing classes are certainly more dissatisfied with
their condition now than ever before in the history
o
the world
f
ly
This dissatisfaction is growing year
Cases of involuntary destitutio n are very
.
uent
q
s
.
fre
I have known cases of voluntary death by
.
tarvation and I should say that want of employ
,
is
ment
often a ca u se of suicide
”
.
Mr Fitzgerald , for many years connected with
.
th e
la b oring class and now Stat e Labor Commis
s i o ner ,
,
says :
“The
strongest evid e nc e of the
creasing economic pressure is
th e
in
invasion o f
w omen into nea rly every employment , for women
only go to the workshops as a last reso u rce
.
my experience, I have found employment
In
for
workers , and I can say with truth that there
not compara b le with the same to day
-
“
.
The num
”
ber of misfits seems to b e steadily increasing in
every profession
In
.
I had no di ffi culty in
18 7 4
collecting fees from even the poorer classes ; now
the rush to hospital s and polyclinics for gratuito u s
advice is ov e rwhelming
.
But , after all what is the truest test of the eco
,
nomic condition of the b ody politi c $ Surely that
,
it secures the existence and reasonable comfort o f
all its members ; and the questio n is , do
i nte l li
gent able and i ndustrious people ever suc cumb to
,
invo l untary destitution $ Most certainly t h ey do
.
I n San Francisco such deaths are increasing in
num b er every year out o f all proportion to the
crease o f population
Let m e give an
in
.
i ll u str a ti o n n :
In January last
Mr and Mrs T arrived in San Francisco with two
.
.
.
young children
He was sober
.
trio n s and had been prosperous
,
.
,
steady , ind u s
He f ailed to
ob
tain employment b ut his wife secured work as a
,
seamstress
.
i n su f
Her earnings however were
,
,
fici e nt f or the family support and she denied her
,
self necessary food
After
.
16
’
hours work with
,
out food she went to her husband , and exclaimed
,
“
Oh $ the
p ai n
'
of
”
.
a nd
w ant of food ;
picked up dead
it
.
I am fainting ; dyin g for
sinking on the floor she was
There is here no evidence o f
heredit a ry taint , no evidence of ignoranc e
112
—
a
case
which neither charity nor poor laws can provide
for or prevent
A case due to economic conditions
.
unfavorable to the maintenance of life conditions
,
absolutely destructive of personal independence ;
conditions created by society itself , and whic h
be
co m e worse and worse the longer they exist and
the more perfectly they are carried
ou
t
.
But in San Francisco to d ay there is direct evi
—
poverty more
dence o f a still more pitia b le
un
b earable than any which has before presented
itself in any land or in any time of human history ,
for men and women are driven almost daily to a
voluntary sel f i nfli cte d death by i nability to
-
tain emp l oy m ent
They prefer suicide to depend
.
—
others sure
ence on
evidence
neither ignorant nor idle
tra ti o n s
ob
that
they are
Let me give some illus
.
which have o ccurred during the last fe w
months :
R
.
R
.
,
Aet
42 ,
had a wife and two children
.
He
w as a hard working , industrious and sober man
.
He took whatever work o ff ered and was able to
su
s
pport his wife and family
Work becoming
.
carce, destitution stared him in the face and he
,
hanged hi m self
.
E H W Aet
.
.
.
,
60 ,
a foundryman unable to
,
ta i n work , hanged hi m self
Miss
G
.
ch a racter
,
,
Aet
50 ,
ob
.
a nurse of experience and good
not o b taining w ork
113
,
and b eing
re
q u ested to vacate
F
I
.
.
,
A ct 4 5,
h er
lodgings , hanged
a
.
a l a b orer, unabl e to find emplo y
m ent , j umped into the bay
cl i n e d
h ers el f
When rescued
.
he
de
to state whether he w ould make another
ttempt to end his life
.
G W R came to San Francisco at the beginning
.
.
.
o f the year in search of work
.
He b ro u ght severa l
credentials as a steady man , attentive to his duties
a nd
entirely satisfactory to his employers
.
He
w rote an e x cellen t hand and was fair l y educated
H
e
kept a diary
.
On February
w ork cutting timber
.
.
he w ent to
1 1t h
After a week he w as seized
w ith chills and fever and had to quit
He rode on
.
t h e trai n a little way and then walked
He slept
.
“
in a shanty and walked to Al b ion ne x t day, but it
w as a h ard pull over the mountains
”
Next day
.
tried to walk to Point Arenas , b ut had to stop five
m iles fro m it ; too tired to go any further
.
Slept
in a b arn Fe b ruary 2 4 , arrived at Point Arenas at
.
Got dinner , most awful hungry
27,
on b oard boat till
7
a m
.
Marc h
1
.
March
2
.
March
3
.
.
.
.
.
;
remained
.
Went to S V W W f or work
.
a m
3
arrived in San Francisco at
February
.
.
Found nothing yet
.
No go
.
.
Nothin g without money to pay f or it
No chance of getting anything to do
What will I do $ No money , no friends , no w ork
Sick with h eart trouble God hel p me
.
1 14
.
.
.
.
b orn , where I w as for some years a guardian of the
poor I never saw suici de as the result of
,
de sti tu
tion and yet w ithin the last few months i n San
,
Francisco where the citizens spent a quarter of a
,
m illion for ten days opera , such sui cides are o f
’
c
onstant oc currence
They form a large propor
.
tion of the enormous increase of suicides o f the
l ast f e w years
It is not the death chosen b y
.
thieves and paupers and the dependent classes , but
the death of intelligent , sel f respecting men driven
-
to desperation b y the inexora b le conditions of
c i e ty ,
s
in whi ch j usti ce has no place
ion is that in
S pite
.
so
M y conclu
of all appearances the eco
n
omic condition o f the mass of the people was
n
ever less unfavorable than it is t o d a y
N ote 3 3
.
—
S u ffici e n t
t h ought frees any man
Not without
Note 3 4
.
‘
education ,
(J
)
food
.
s u fli ci e nt
—
This
is
true
.
wisdom
and
.
S)
.
.
But he added no new
.
f acts , and no new deductions
.
He advanced our
knowledge of economics in no appreciable degree
.
J
(
H enry George never claimed originality
he
o
.
But
has rev o l utionized the science o f politi cal econ
my
.
He
h as
fully
an d
suc cessfully exposed the
f allacies , con f usions , and want o f scientific ac c u
r
a cy to be f o und in a l l accepted treatises and te x t
1 16
books particularly with regard to wealth va l ue,
,
etc
,
For the first time a distinction has been ac cu
.
r a te l y
made between human and natural law , the
one being the mutab l e will of man the other the
,
immutable will of God
He has shown that true
.
science deals only with natural laws , and that with
human laws e x cept as furnishing ill ustrations and
,
s u bj ects for investigation the science of politica l
,
economy has nothing whatever to do ; that it is the
science of the maintenance and nutriment of the
b ody politi c , that is , of man s relation to th e
’
earth
.
That this relation is independent of moral ,
th e
ethi cal and politi cal considerations and that
,
due adj ustment of their relation lies at the
f o u n da
tion of all scientific economic s and social progress
He shows that the f acts and conditions of this
l a ti o n s h i p
.
re
constitute a series o f definite sequences
which we describe as natural law and this natura l
,
law is the only true basis of economics ever pro
m u l ga te d
His
.
“divine
natural law
”
authority
”
is simply metaphor for
or ascertained sequences and his
,
mor a l law simply j ustice between man and man
.
“
Thus political economy has been taken from the
,
dreamy and indefinite
”
and established f or the
first time on a scientific basis
117
.
This service
is
G
a l one su fficient to p l ace Henry
eorge amongst th e
most distinguished scientists of modern times
.
S
(
Notc 35
pathy
,
.
—And
.
)
so has Christian science homeo
,
vegetarianism
,
transu b stantiation
All
.
that brings healing , happiness or the millenium
in some way easier than your way or mine
J
(
.
Proof that results must always be corrected b y
deductive reasoning from the sequences of natural
‘
law
(S )
.
.
Notc 3 6
.
—
I do
not dou b t the wisdom of taxing
u nearned increment rather than industry ; but I
’
do not think that George s method o f argument
has
added
anything
permanent
He
.
was
a
preacher , and his converts when they are numer
,
ous enough to try his experiments , will demon
strate its good and evil results
.
J
(
I submit respectful l y t h at George s argument o f
’
divine authority whi ch in fa ct is nat u ral law is at
,
l eas t
as
,
good and more relia b le than the argument
from socia l agreement , whi ch is human law
.
Any
w ay , I am delighted that you acknowledge the w is
do m
o f taxing unearned increment rather t h an
du s tr y
.
in
I have also little doubt that with fu rther
thought you will realize the crass folly of taxing
any form of industry as i f there could be too much
,
1 18
T a x es are imposed to satisfy social wants
If
.
there is no society, there are no social wants and
no taxation
Until a man b ecomes a citizen his
.
land has no value
g l ing
.
There is no market , no
bi g
His industrial products are all his own
.
And on the principle of j usti ce are free from taxa
tion for the benefit of other people
vo
te
portion
—
1
I
expands
t
4
.
C a te r i s
Notc
but not necessarily in pro
J
(
.
“
portion
,
.
pari b us
S
(
.
.
and practi cally in exact pro
)
—
42 T he single ta x
would not b e adeq u ate
.
in mountain districts to m ake the m inha b ita b le
.
(J
T hey w ou l d remain deserted until
f o u nd
.
Notc
b ut
S
(
.
.
“l aw
I t is t h e
m ine w a s
)
—
43 Who m ade that law $
not a
a
I t is desira bl e ,
J
(
.
“l a w ”
o f j usti ce w hi c h secures to every
l a b orer t h e a b solute possession and disposal o f th e
product o f
Note
h is
o w n exertion
.
(S
.
)
—
I t is
not rob b ery i f agreed to b y the
44
arties
concerned
I
t
may
or
m
ay
not
b
e
wise
,
p
.
.
t h at i s a question of fa ct
.
But one is no mor e
divi ne and no m ore ro bb ery t h an the other
120
.
(J
But the consent must be intelligently and
given
ta r i l y
,
vo l u n
with adequate compensation
To
.
take from people who are asleep or ignorant o f
their j ust rights only aggravates the robbery
.
Stanford improvements are unj ustly taxed , in
Spite
of the protest of the Trustees and the tax is
,
paid under duress of human edict , which does not
make it j ust
.
The tax on land value you
a c kn o w l
edge to be wise and this is so because it is estab
,
l i sh ed
man
on the principle of j ustice between man and
But the tax on beer taxes one man for the
.
privilege of drinking beer, whil st by so much other
citizens are relieved of taxation
This distinctly
.
i s not equal treatment , and therefore is not j ustice
.
I n straight English , it is nothing less than ro b
b ery
If j ustice i s divi ne , the tax on land value is
.
also divine , b ut avowedly the tax on b eer is not
.
S
( J
N
ote
l osses
No
—
45 Because
.
su fi e r
all
collective
(J
T hey charge ins u rance against loss and put
.
.
it in the contract
Note 46
du str y
they
.
.
.
S
(
.
)
—
Capitalists
are the
b u ca n ee r s
of
in
S)
.
And also its makers
.
Laborers do not make
conditions under whi ch they w ork
12 1
.
J
(
th e
Capital promotes b ut does not make industry,
bu t ind u s try a l one makes capital
.
Employers and
employed b oth work under the conditions given
t h em
(S )
.
.
—
T
his
7
4
Note
is true only in part
.
Unless
.
w isely contro l led , collective la b or cannot produce
w e a l th
.
J
(
Very l itt l e w ea l th can b e prod u ced w itho u t
it
(S )
.
.
Note
—
No
48
.
,
it is not ro bb ery unti l we
ca n
(J
If taken unj ustly , it is ro bb ery if w e had t w enty
l egally f orbid it by devising something b etter
o
t h er plans
The collec t ive
.
co
-
.
partnership is hope
l ess l y handi capped b y the privileges o f landlords
a nd
capitalists , who take all the tra ffi c w i l l bear
.
(S )
—When
N ote
o
m en are wise eno u gh to
co
perate intelligently , they can f ree themse l ve s
f rom the cost o f control
T h ey w il l
Note
it
.
S
(
.
.
.
(J
)
—
T hey w il l it as they fit t h emse l ves f or
50
.
(J
And the opport u nity w ill make them fit
Note
a nd
.
(S )
.
—
I nd u strial freedo m m u st b e individ u a l
51
.
persona l
.
J
(
122
the results declared and advocated consistently
with
truth and j ustice But scientific investigators
.
do not ignore hypothesis for without its help
,
scientific progress woul d be extremely slow , and
with its help some of the grandest results have
b een obtained
l e cti ve
.
If the law of independent and col
human life were nothing but hypothesis ,
w hi ch is not true , it might still be worth serious
consideration and might lead to magn i ficent
,
r
a
c
p
ti cal results particularly a s the present condition
,
o f so ciety is by no means satisfactory
.
But to declare that ( economic ) facts are investi
gated with impartiality , and that econo m ists have
carefully studied all methods of taxation , possibl e
and impossi b le , without prej udice each with s u ch
,
po wer as was given him to search out truth , seems
to me impo ssibl e
ve r si ti e s
For are not many of the Uni
of America f ounded b y Land l ords , Mo
n o p o l i st s ,
s
.
and Millionaires , who make the
r
f
s
o
e
p
or s possible , and pay their salaries $ Are not a l l
American professors supporte d by the spoils and
r
o b beries of the landlor d system and b y unj ust
taxation
e
t
e
d
c
p
eggs
$
$
How shall professors so placed be e x
to kil l the goose whi ch lays the golden
Fancy a professor created and supported
,
b y a Rockefell er , turning round and telling h i s
patron that he was going to teach the students
e
cono mi c j usti ce under the operation of the Sin
124
l
e
g
T a x,
and
that
Mr
Rockefeller
.
more title to the oil he st eals from
has
no
public trea
th e
sury of wealth than the most miserable infant
b orn in the slums of New York
that
h e wo u l d
.
How could he say
tell his students how to destroy land
ownership how to put an end to unj ust m o n o p l i e s,
ho
wto
,
distri b ute natural benefits more equ a lly
among the people, and prevent all future publi c
$
rob beries
Professors appointed under such conditions
cept the collar of the millionaire
ac
Their province
.
i s to b olster up the act i ons of their patron and to
invent specious arguments against the j usti ce o f
the publi c claim
.
If the benefits of land o ccupa
tion b elong in j ustice to the people as
a
whole it
,
is the people who wil l have to take them , for there
i s no hope in university professors who are subor
di na te
to millionaires
.
But I have declared that Stanford is the most
liberal University in all the world
v o u n ge st,
I t is the
.
and is not trammelled by traditions
.
It
i s free fro m prej udice and its teachers are inde
,
pendent and progressive
.
Moreover it stands for
,
the search f or truth and j ustice also which it is
,
sure to find
.
It makes for more and better life
among men by exposing and denouncing error and
inj ustice wherever they are found
.
If not yet an
advo cate of industrial freedom and the Single T a x ,
it m u st ere long b ecome so b ecause al l its pro tes
,
12 5
sors are young and unprej udiced men o f pre e mi
-
,
nent
a b i l ity,
by a uthority ,
h onesty ,
and candor, untram m e l led
and unchecked in speech ,
a n d, a b o ve
_
a l l , b ecause they are nobly supported by a wise
a nd
open minded chief , who is not only prepared
-
bu t
a
n x ious to follow the tea ching s of both truth
a nd
j ustice to the very end , even when those teach
ings overturn his own
s
el f
.
co n vi cti o n s , a n d
Once let the professors
of
reverse hi m
Stanford re m ove
the b andage w hich now prevents them from see
ing t h e sca l es of so c i a l j ustice ; once let them see
t h at the b alance is uneven , that one scale i s
w eig h ted down b y the privilege o f landlordism
and the incu b us o f concentrated wealth , w h ilst the
other is raised by poverty , ignorance and b are
siste nce wages al m ost out
o f s i gh t
~
su b
o f earth and al l
its b enefits and I b e l ieve that Stanford will b e the
,
first
University to exert
its power to restore
equa l ity , and make the b a l ance even
T hen , and
.
then alone , will j ustice be equivalent w ith tr u th ,
and truth with j usti ce also
N ote 53
.
.
—
This kind of misuse of terms hurts the
real force of your argument
.
That the least
of
f ensive form o f taxation is through land renta l I
am inc l ined to think tr u e
.
J
(
T h is is an e x ce l lent conclusion
Note
54
.
—
It
S
(
)
is best to omit metap h or in
126
.
.
s ci e n
rest on pure w ater, freedo m , s l eep and a b solute
prohibition
.
J
(
T his is a matter of opinion , but the real question
i s,
Do the ascertained sequences involv e d in the
maintenance o f independent and collective human
l ife
define the origin of individual and collective
w ealth , and determine the rights of the respective
wners in its distri b ution $
o
—
I t takes
57
Note
.
Utopia
.
Industria l
a thousand things to m ake a
elements
are
only
part
.
Utopia in Mexico , is where no one has to work ,
,
and go to a fair every week
.
I n an ideal condition
there wo uld b e no maj ority vote or collective
tion e x cept as men strove to help eac h other
.
ac
J
(
And yet you told your students that unless our
s
ouls dwel l in Utopia , life is not worth the keep
ing
a
B ut in Nat u re s Utopia there will always b e
’
.
str u ggl e b etween good and evil
.
I t is the con
test b et w een the forces whi ch would destroy and
t h ose w hi ch would uphol d which keeps the plan
e ts
in their or b its and hangs the constel l ations in
the
fir m a m e nt
,
.
Without temptation , virtue would
expire ( I ngalls) T he choice b etween good and
evil must b e therefore open to a l l men in the best
.
Utopia
s
.
Nevertheless it is w ell that our w indow s
hou l d look to w ard Heaven rather than the gutter ,
even though w e shou l d f ai l to escape co m p l etel y
128
from the
paternalism of a
non representativ e
-
,
though elected tyranny , or fail to reach the acme
of a j ust republic
.
In fact , we m ust be satisfied if
)
—But democracy can handle few things
tru e maj orities can be made to rule
Note 5 8
wisely ;
.
.
S
(
.
it promotes public interest and
i nte l l i
gence at the cost of wisdom and persistence
.
I
am convert ed to proportional representation and
an elected oligarchy as a choice of evils
T v r a nt s
J
(
.
and plutocrats handle few things better
than democracy , and neither wisdom nor persist
ence can compensate for any sacrifice of
and intelligence
te r e st
th y
.
l
n
h
c
u
b
p
No representati o n
the name unless it b e proportional , and
of
oligarchy can be e ffective unless personal
si b i li ty
b i l i ty
i s wo r
no
r e sp o n
is entirely replaced by corporate responsi
truly representing the power of the people
To sum u p
.
res u lts of this correspondence, I
th e
agree with you that pr a ctica l ly we are not far
apart We agree that true representation depends
.
on proportional voting and a pure and
ballot
e fi e cti ve
That government must b e wholly by an
.
elected untrammelled oligarchy
.
.
That the taxa
tion of land val u es is wiser than the ta x ation of i n
du str i a l
e x ertion and although you
,
do
not yet see
yo ur way to the complete relief o f individual
d u str y
in
from all taxation I am satisfied that you
,
m u st eventual l y come to that conclusion
12 9
.
When
individual industry sh a ll once be freed nothing
,
will be left for t a x ation except land made valu
abl e by the population
I confidently
an
.
ticipate that you w ill lend the
influenc e of your great name , and that of the
s ti tu ti o n
e fl e c ti v e l y
over which you so
in
preside , in
favor of these gr eat reforms whi ch lie at the foun
,
dation
o
f
all social progre s s
.
S
( )