The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-07-23

sion admit of tolernbv clear delincation He
points out that tho desire to appropriate lies
deep. not in human nature only. but in ami
mai nature. being. in fact. q condition to sur
VlVal. The consciousness that conflict and
consequent injury may result from the endeay-
or to take that which is held by another. ever
tends to establish and strengthen the
custom Of leaving each in possession OF
whatever he has obtained by labor
But this claim to private ownership fully
acknowledged in respect Of moveables manu-
featured by the possessor and more or less
completely recognized in respect OF game killed
on tho territory over which members of tho
community wander. is not recognized among
primitive men in respect OF this territory itself
OF tracts OF 1t. Al such stage OF civilization
property Is not individualized in respect =.
land. because. under the condition. ,n I'LL
vldual claims can be effect" .,,v MARKED on
n so,,Iad s,a," Il" .~ever. from q nomadic to
,nmnit... :. ownership Of land by the COM
becomes qualified by individual owner
snip. but only to the extent that those who clear
and cultivate portions of the surface have un-
disturbed enjoyment OF its produce. Habi .ually
the public claim survives. and either when after
few crops tho cleared tract is abandoned. or
when after transmission TO descen daDts 1t has
ceased to DO used by them. 1t reveTts to the
community. Mr.. Spencer keeps In view the
fact that this system Of temporary ownership
which is congruous with the sentiments and
usages inherited from ancestral nomads is
also associated with an undeveloped agricul-
ture. land becoming exhausted after u few
years. 1t is war which both by producing class
dinorontiations within each society, and
by efrccting the subjugation of one
society by another. undermines or de-
stroys communal proprietorship OF land.
For this arrangement. war substitutes
either the unqualified proprietorship of an
absolute conqueror. or ownership by con-
queror. qualified by the claims OF vassals
holding it under certain conditions. while their
claims are in turn qualified by those of de-
pendants attached to the SOIL that is to say
the system OF status which militancy develops
involves graduated ownership Of land as II
does graduated ownership Of persons II we
do not mistake the drift of the authors argu-
ment which is propoundcd with much caution
he.means us to infer that absolute ownership
OF land is as truly a mark of imperfect civil
ization as is ownership Of human beings.
1t is not Of course. denied by Mr.. Spencer
that the tendency toward NATURALIZATION of
ownership in respect of land. as well as mov-
ables. is an accompaniment Of industrial prog
ress, Bought and sold by measure and for
money. land is gradually assimilated to the
personal property produced by labor. and be-
comes in the general apprehension 'confound-
cd with 1t. Our author docs not believe that
the dreams OF the Socialists will ever be real
lied. so far as movables are concerned; but
while no thinks the private possession OF things
produced by labor will grow even more
definite and sacred in the future than it is
at present. he sees reason to suspect that the
inhabited area which cannot be produced
by labor will eventually be distinguished as
something which may not be privately pos
sessed. AS the individual primitively owner of
himself partially or wholly loses ownership Of
himself during the militant regime but gradu-
ally resumes it as the industrial regime devel-
ops. SO, 1t is suggested. the communal proprie-
torship OF land. partially or wholly merged in
the ownership Of dominant men during evolu-
ton OF the militant type. may be resumed rs
the industrial type becomes fully evolved Such
Is the conclusion reached in the present dis
cussion OF the institution OF property and il IL
noteworthy that Of all the systems advocated
by modern Socialists. that OF Mr. Henry George
alone seems to have commended itself to the
authors judgment.
In chapter entitled Political RETROSPECT
and Prospect" Mr.. Spencer says that the days
nave gone by when paper constitutions wore
believed in by instructed people. The general
truth that the characters OF the units deter
not admitted overly and fully. is yet 80 far ac-
knowledged that most politically educated
persons do not expect forthwith completely TO
change the state of society by this or that kind
OF legislation. But Mr.. Spencer points out
that this truth, when fully admitted
carries with 1t the conclusion. not only
that political institutions cannot be eff
fectually modified faster than the charac-
ter OF citizens are modified. but also that II
greater notifications are by any accident pro-
duced. the excess Of change is sure to be I'M
done by some cOunterchange. When, as in
France. people undisciplined in freedom are
suddenly made politically free they show by
some pebescite that they willingly deliver over
their power to an autocrat, or they work their
parliamentary system in such a way as 10
make popular statesman q dictator When
as in the United States, republican in
situations, instead of being slowly evolved.
are all at once created. there grows
up within them an agency Of wire pulling poll
ticans. exercising real rule which overrides
the nominal rule Of the people at large When,
as in England. an extended franchise very
soon recxtended, vastly augments the mass Of
those who having before been controlled are
abruptly made controllers they presently fall
under the rule OF an organized body like the
birmingham caucus. that chooses their candi-
pOlltlcal
gramme. which they must either accept or be
powcrless. SO that. in the absence of n duly
adapted character liberty. given in one drec-
ton is lost in another.
Mr.. Spencer insists that in proportion as no.
iitlcal structures become popular in their ORR
GIN they must be restricted in their functions.
otherwise coercion over the individual relaxed
in one direction. will be frightened elsewhere.
III political structures become more popular in
their origin without becoming more circum-
scribed in their functions the effect is to foster
arrangements which benefit the inferior
at the expense Of the superior. and.
by 30 doing. work toward degradation.
swayed as individuals are. on the average.
by q seliishness which dominates over their
sympathy for others. it must happen that even
when they become 80 far equitable in their
sentiments that they will not commit direct
injustice. they will remain liable to commit in
justice Of indirect kinds. And since the ma
Iority must ever be formed OF the inferior,