The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-08-16
HENRY GEORGE.
How Habit Blinds Us to Obvious
Truths---How to Simplify
GoverptsAs snt
From Lcslie's Illustrated Newspaper.l

IFrom Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.l
II there seems anything strange ip
the idea that NIL per, haze sqiaal and
inalienahle rights to the use of the
earth, 1t Is merely that habit can blind
us TO the most obvious truths. Slavery,
polygamy, cannibalism, the fattaning
Of children's heads. or the Squeezing Of
their feet. srefh perfectly natural to
th~sn brought up where such institu-
tions or customs exist. But, as matter
OF fact, nothing is more repugnant to
tho natural perceptions Of men thar
that land should he treated ~ subject
10 Individual o~ncfskip, like things
produced BIZ labor. It is only among
hn insignifcant fraction Of the. people
who have lived on the earth that the
| idea that the earth itself could be made
private property has ever Obtained,
nor has Il evet obtained save as the
result uf long course of usurpation,
tyranny and fraud. This idea reached
development among the Romans whom
IL corrupted and destroyed. 1t took
many generations for il 10 make its way
among our ancestors, and it did not; in
fact, reach full recognition Until tWo
centuries ago, when, In Tho time Of
Charles H., the military dues were
shaken off by n landholders' Parliament
We accepted it just as We accept
ed the aristocratic organization Of
our army and navy and many other
things, in which we have servilely fol.
lowed European custom, just. as the
Chinese taller copied the patch which
he found oh the trousers given him rs a
pattern. And land being plenty and
population sparse, we did not realize
what it would mean when in two or
three cities we should have the popu.
lation of the thirteen cn,cnics, But it
is time that We should begin to think of
It now, wheh We see ourselves con-
fronte,t, in spite of our free political
institutions, with oil the problems that
menace Europe when, though our
virgin soil is not quite yet fenced in,
we have working class" criminal
! class and "raupcr cla at" when there
are already thousands nf so-called free
citizens Of the Republic who cannot hy
the hardest toll make q living for their
families, and we are, on the other hand,
developing such monstrous fortunes rs
the world has not seen since great
estates were eating ont the heart oi
Rome.
There il no use in talking of reserv'
ing what there may be left of our pub
lie domain TO actual settlers. That
would avail nothing. There is no use
in talking about restricting the amount
OF land any one man may hold. That
even i. it were practicable, were idle
and would not meet tho difficulty. Il
we would save tho republic before SO
cial inequality md political demoraliza
tion have reached the roin. when M
salvation is possible, we must assert til,
principle of the Declaration of Inde
pcndence. acknowledge the equal ant
unalienable rights which inhere In maj
by endowment of the Creator, anl max,
land common property.
Whit moro preposterous than tn,
treatment Of land as individual prop
ertv. In every essential it differs iron
those things which, being the produc
of human labor, are rightfully property
It is tho creation If God, they are pro
duced by man. II II fixed in quantity
they may he increased illimitably. I
exists though generations come and 60
they IN a little while decay and pas
agai, into the elements. What NOR
preposterous than that ono tenant for
day of this rolling sphere should cellec
rent Tor il from his co-tenants or sci
to them for price what was here ape
before him and will be hero ages afte
him? What more l,reposterons tha
that We, living in New York city in thi
1883, should hc working for lot Q
landlords who get the authority to liv
on our labor from some English kin
dead and gone these centuriesy Wha
more preposterous than that We, tn
present population of the United States
should presume to grant to our ow
people or to foreign capitalists til
right to strip Of their earnings Amer
can citizens Of the next generation
What more preposterous than thes
titles to land? Although the Who'll
people of the earth in one generatio
were to unite, they could no more So
tho land against the next generatio
than they could sell TINT generation
1t is self-eyident truth, as Thomas Je
ferson said, that the earth belongs
usufn,ct to the living.
Nor can any defence of private pro-
erty in land be made Oh the ground
expediency. On the contrary, loo
where you will, and it is evident til,
the private ownership OF land kea,
land out of use; that the speculatio
1t engenders crowds population whel
1t ought to be more diffused, diifuses
where it ought to be closer togethe
l compels those who wish to improve
pay away large part of their capita
or mortgage their labor for years b
fore they are permitted t. improv,
prevents men from going to work t,
themselves who would gladly do .
crowding them into deadly compet.tie
> with each other for the wages of en-
!. ployers: aud enormously restricts II
production Of wealth while causing II
= greatest inequality in its distribution
The ownership of land is not necessal
TO the use Of land. What is necessa'
is the security Of improvements. An
this would not be disturbed by reco
nizlng land as common property. L,
1t is not necessary to the recognize
Of equal rights in the land til
it should he cut up into lit
pieces, and that each should have i
lot That would be impracticabl
1t is only necessary to take the gronl
rent-the annual value of the lal
irrespective Of improvements-fo II
common benefit. This could be dol
:, by the existing machinery Of taxatio
And in doing this we could abolish u
" other taxation, and still have gre
and steadily-increasing surplus IA gro
ing common fund, in the benefits
"A which all might share, and in the ma
= agement Of which there would he su
direct and general interest as 10 affo
the strongest guarantees against misa
ud preparation or waste. Under II
or system no one could afford to hold lal
:" be was not using and lana not in u
20 would be thrown open to those "
wished to use il, at once relieving I
/ L. - onI atsinn an annpns,