Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-21
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
PRoaRxss AND POVERTY. An inquiry into the cause
of industrial depression and of increase OF want
with increase If wealth. T remedy. Ry Henry
George. New York: D. APPLETON & Co.

Mr. George has here written a very
remarkable book. 1t is neither more
nor less than deliberate impeachment
Of every pre-existing school of political
economy, and the establishment upon
their ruins of theory of social organ
ization involving in its adoption the uprooting
of the foundations of civilization as at pres
ent constituted. 1t is obvious that work
embracing propositions so new and challenges
SO daring must command attention, even if
the novelty and audacity of it are its main
attractions. But We should be doing great
injustice to Mr.. George if we were to pretend
that his book possesses no stronger recon-
mendations than these. It is, within its lin
its, carefully and skillfully written argu-
ment, and it embodies a great deal of shrewd
thought, and abnunds with suggestive ideas
1t is one of those books which are sure to be
blamed and praised with equal indiscretion.
1t is calculated to captivate the average
reader, however, and because this is so. and
because it appears to US that harm as
well as good may arise from the common
tendency to acquiesce in a seemingly
strong argument the real merits of which
are beyond the discernment of the masses,
it is desirable that it should be examined
with particular care. Before pointing out
wherein its defects lie, however, it is neces.
sary to give some account of book which is
certain to provoke a very active discussion
among thinking men. MIR. George sets out
to show that the accepted theories in regard
to the causes of the tendency of wages to a
minimum are erroneous. He tits at Adam
Smith, and John Stuart Mill, and Nautilus,
and Ricardo, and Mccullough, and all the
economists, and having the choice of ground
and weapons, he is enabled to demolish his
adversaries. His arguments against Mill and
Nautilus are extremely ingenious and adroit
Indeed the whole book is a really splendid
series of logical triumphs. The author
marches on from demonstration to demonstra-
ton with an energy, persistence, a mastery
of his plan of campaign so thorough as to
carry the reader with him, while the intense
earnestness and frequent eloquence of his
language infuse into all he says a
kind of enthusiasm which goes far toward
atoning for the utter absence of diffidence,
which would otherwise be one of the most
remarkable characteristics of the work.
The aim of the book is to show that the
increase of want with the increase Of wealth
has been Inexperienced by all who have
written on the subject before that the NAL
thusian theory of population is disproved by
the facts that the current theory of wages
and interest is all wrong; that none of the
remedies for pauperism hitherto proposed
are of any value but that the only way to
save modern civilization from the ruin which
has fallen upon ancient societies is to abolish
private ownership in land The way in
which this hypothesis is developed is admir-
able. a more strongly connected argument
it would be scarcely possible to conceive.
The ingenious author has apparently left no
loophole unguarded, no objection unprovided
for. And because of this close reasoning and
smooth progress the interest of the argument
is sustained to the close, which is imprisoned
enough to have proceeded rather from
fervid disciple of Jean Jacques Rousseau
than from sober Pennsylvania American OF
the latter end Of the nineteenth century.
We cannot find space for such an analysis of
the book as would alone do it Justice. 1t
would be alike unfair and presumptuous to
condense into few hasty lines the pith of
arguments which have been labored with the
greatest care, and whose force consists in
their elaboration. Nor would it De possible
to convey to such as had not seen the book
any adequate conception of its character or
scope by such methods 1t is emphaticallv a
work which must be read to be appreciated
and we shall not hesitate to add that it is a
work which all thinking men ought to read
Notwithstanding the extreme radicalism of its
conclusions, and notwithstanding the fallacv
of many of its positions
We desire to place on record our very
hearty appreciation of the merits of the work
before proceeding to point out wherein it
seems to fall short of the aims of the
author. We recognize in it one of those in
valuable attempts to throw more light upon
the scheme of civilization, which are always
so prolific of intellectual progress. 1t NAV
not follow that indifference to the influence
of authority in matters of opinion indicates
originality of mind, or predominance of
genius but it is certain that without that
want of reverence for conventional standards.
there would be little or no advance and that
it alone has repeatedly saved the world from
sinking into the torpid condition of the Chi
nese. 1t is from friction that fire springs.
and it is from the sharpest and most sweep
ing challenges of received hypothesis that
the greatest enlightenment is to be ex
pected. The standard erected by Mr..
George, the pursuit of Truth at no matter
what cost. is one which all liberal intelli
gences must recognize and defer to. His
method is the only thoroughly respectable
method of inquiry, and whoever follows It is
entitled to have his results examined with
the utmost candor and impartiality. While,
very able and powerful and deeply interest
ing volume, and while we are satisfied that
many of his criticisms of accepted economic
theories are sound, we are compelled to say
that we do not think he has succeeded in
what must be regarded as the crucial demon
stration of his system the demonstration,
namely, that the methods he advocates would
really bring about the improvement he seeks
in the condition of mankind
The very compactness of his argument
tends to blind the reader to the narrowness of
its limits, and to produce conviction of its
truth. 1t must therefore be pointed out that
this compactness, when understandinely re-
garded, is really cause for suspicion rather
than conviction. And for reasons which we
will now advance. Previous writers on politi-
cal economy have, with few exceptions COM
menced unprejudiced and uncommitted. If
they have seemed to get confused occasionally,