Although there might be, and naturally would be, inequalities arising from various degrees of industry, there would be no such extremes of poverty and riches as we are familiar with . . . The Law clearly recognises the fact that slavery, in one form or another, is caused by the denial of equal rights in land. So long as the Hebrew retained his foothold upon the land, he enjoyed freedom and had within his hand the opportunity of winning a comfortable subsistence by honest toil. No landlord could rack-rent for permission to till the ground, or confiscate the results of his industry by raising the rent on his improvements. Economically and politically, he was a free man.
Wage slavery is the daughter of landlordism.
Even foreign settlers among the Hebrews were subject to the law of Jubilee, so far as their Hebrew slaves were concerned. Well does one of the prophets call it 'the Year of Liberty. Back to top. Like Headlam, he was a supporter of Henry George's scheme for the taxation of land values, a cause to which he remained devoted for all his ninety years. Torrey is founder of Jesus Abbey in Taebaek, Korea.