Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-04-19

Ann Writings VI MTs hatIy
George make new page In polit-
ico.sc0nomic trestises. They are
marked by q decided philosophical
spirit and by depth and signifi.
canoe of research which have hith-
erto characterized no other in.
quirers, except perhaps Jean
jacques Rousseau, who applied
himself exclusively to the poetical
and romantic phase Of human af.
fairs-to that phase which devel-
ops Arcadias and Utopias. Outside
Of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir
Thomas Moore, no other men who
have concerned themselves with
the possibilities Of human life have
begun to attack the hard realism
with the romantic vlgor which
characterizes George. His large
work, "Progress and Poverty" has
created first class sensation in all
the centers of thought In the civ.
ilized world. His second work, a
mere brochure of less than one
hundred pages, Is given up to q
consideration Of the Irish grlev.
snces. This notable production
is built upon his first. In progress
and Poverty" he assumes that the
occupancy of land is the keynote
to all the economic problems Of the
modern days. He regards the
owner OF land as the man who re.
ally produces the miseries of mod.
ern life. He advances the postu.
late that no such thing as the
private ownership Of land should
for q moment be tolerated in an in.
telligent and humane scheme of
daily life. To this private owner.
ship of land he refers all the Ills
which have multiplied since great
numbers of men have begun to
dress in purple and fine linen. His
scheme Of amelloration embraces
the taxing of land up to its full
rental value, thus making it the
source of all governmental revs-
nue. and releasing all industries
from any kind of tax. He pro.
poses to remit everything in
tho shape Of taxation, to treat the
owners of land as men who have
encroacbed upon the natural rights
of mankind, and as being the mere
tenants of the community at large.
He contends that, under such an
eq quitable System, not only all the
expenses Of government would be
paid, but there would be an i'm
mense overplus which would be
available for increasing the aver
age standard OF happiness and com.
fort of the people. Instead Of dens.
ity of population being a drawback
to human happiness, Mr.. George
contends that the earth is ample to
supply the wants Of thousand
times it's present population, If
only the landlords are abolished
and his theories are accepted and
carried out. In his Irish brochure
he urges the people of the Emerald
Isle to surrender all narrow and
national views, and to throw them
selves into the van as the cham
pions OF whole world, to whose
happiness only the annihilation OF
private property 10 land is neces-
sary. There is, unquestionably,
something OF Runic splsndor in
this programme. Its author cup.
ports his views with a wealth of
ILLUSTRATION and an argumenative
acumen which call for recognition
from those who did not suspect
that, while he was going about
amongst US State inspector of gas
meters, they were really fooling
about o Gameliel, whose counsels
may yet produce an economico.po-
Iitico Saul of Tarsus, to be convert
ed into q modern Apostle Paul,
who shall strike the shackles from
all who labor for their daily bread.