The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-04-22

face it. The questions of the tariff, Of f.
nance. of internal taxation, Of civil service
reform, and of national education are sim
ply side issues. The just solution of all Of
them will be comparatively easy, il aided by
a wise settlement Of the land question.
The labor movement itself will prove an
unmeaning wrangle, if it does not plant it.
self upon this % its central idea, and press
it's demands for other reforms through its
adjustment. In pointing out the evils of
our present policy have indicated some Of
the reforms which these evils make immedi
stely necessary; but we have gone SO far
in the direction of feudalism, and are still
drifting toward it at so fearful rate, that
the right of private properly in land may
itself ere long have to be reconsidered.
This right, in it's unlimited sense, is disown-
ed by three-fourths of the human race. in
GLIDING the ablest thinkers of the present
generation. 1t is a war with the great pri-
msl truths Of the Declaration Of Independ-
ence, and can no more be defended than the
absolute right of private property in the
sunlight and the air. do not propose, or
even suggest, any scheme of agrarianism
but that this asserted right, according to
some just method yet to be applied, should
be subordinated to the rights Of man and
the public good is as true as any Of our fun
damental political maxims.
Sir, this question reaches down to the
very bedrock of democracy for if q few
individuals or chartered corporations may
absolutely own millions of acres, they may
ewn the whole of State, or Continent,
and thus practically enslave its people.
The unrestricted monopoly of the soil thus
logically justi6es land owning despotism,
and is just as repugnant to republican gov
eminent as slavery is to freedom. The land
holders of country govern it, and there
fore the struggle for equal rights, whether
in this country or in Europe, must resOlu
tely uphold the natural rights of the people
to an inheritance in the soil. Thus only
can they most certainly work out The over
throw of every form Of aristocrxtic and dy-
nastc rule, and institute real democracy
in their stead. Every household is little
commonwealth, ard the aggregate Of these
make the nation. The family is the pecu.
liar institution of the race, the most bless
ed creation of God and nations are pros
porous and strong in the exact proportion
in which it is protected and cherished. II
is the foundation of society, the parent and
master Of the State. The home cmbodie.
all that is best in our civilization, all that is
most precious and sacred in the idea Of
country, Of liberty, and Of life. To guard
and foster it should be the grand purpose Of
our laws; and to fail in this duty, or to
throw obstacles in the way Of the multipli-
cation and security of well ordered homes,
is to strike at the life of free institutions
Ehe land question then, repeat, is the
great living issue and overshadowing ques-
ton Of American politics. No other prob
lem goes down SO deep, or lies so near the
heart Of the people. Even the grand cause
Of woman's enfraHchsement is fairly includ
ed in it, in so far as the ballot is powerless
to save in the hands of landless citizens
while 0at cause must find its chief support
in the laboring masses whose battle cry is
''home for all, and who will welcome the
heart and brain of woman as their natural
and most powerful allies