New-York tribune., 1884-02-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

,oo,., npopYrMs Rv HENRY GEORGE. l2mo Pp
S6s Chicago and New-York. Ben iu' |i"
The cbapters comprised in this book are III p"ie
republication Of series Of newspaper essay .h,ro;n
in part a fuller development OF the iu,,dod lucas
set FORTH according to the princip'eS ".or;hes
in Mr. Georges better known work' go, NOV.
the prevalent evils of the world arising hun
.". .s,s,;,r ~ condition scarcity OF WORK
in some branches of industry, scarcity vi W.,
.,,o, ~ o,bers the injustice of power anu ,.o
occasional cruelty Of law; ana ne uocs o."
with a force and feeling when are his.s
~ ,n,,, ,e begin 10 INQUIRE how far his state
,,onts ore trne. Il needs very little Thought 10
satisfy Us that his rhetorical exaggera'ions oi'o
reach the dimensions of taiseho"u' anu
that the picture which be paints Oh 'he con-
dtion of our country I'VE need not trouble ourselves
for the present about the rest OF the worl Is ho'
justified by the facts. Ii is not true that Tue ao
cumuation of great fortunes is crushing the poor
On the contrary there never was country or
time in which the average comfort OF the laporihg
class was so great as in ours, the facilities Tor
getting rich so many, OF the proportion of those
who rise from Indulgence 10 independence so large
or the power of wealth i'll public affairs so small
There is great suffering undoubtedly, especially III
the large cities but so there always has been ana
so there always will be while man has free VIII anu
falhble Judgment. The ratio of the mseraDie 10
the happy is decreasing, and while TINS aheliora-
tion goes on we need not despair.
MIR Georges remedy for the real and imaginary
disorders upon which he dilates is the abohtoh ol
private ownership of land. lhis he po
Geve. to be the foundation Oh soci"
reform which will give abundance 10 all.
uo aisclaims any desire to interfere with
the rights of property, or to limit acquiSition
.cVbatever any man has added to the common stock
of no free
who did produce it, let that be his against all the
,vorldn Only he claims for the State the absolute
ownership of all land improved and unimproVed
town lots farms and forests. and demands that the
State shall lease il to individuals at It's market
value This is to he done by laying upon IL tax
eouiyalent to the full rental, and whenever tne
value of the land rises the tax will rise also by
this plan Mr. George thinks that everybody VIII
get what land he wants and that the poor man
will be particularly favored.
II seems TO Ms that no scheme of laud tenure could
he devised which would more certainly ruin the
moor and favor the rich. Only capitalist could
hold land under such an arrangement, because
only n capitalist could take the risk of bad
seasons and pay rent on the farm when the
crons failed or on factory land when times
were dull No poor man could invest his saw
inps in a home of his own. No small FARMER couIU
mt money into careful tiage. Being taxed the
full rental value of the land irrespective OF the pro-
duet, the farmer must live from mana 10 inouth'
And as the rental value of the land is the price
which the lease will bring, competition would oe
st;u keener than il is now, and every occupier
would be liable to he turned out of his holding as
soon as a richer man offered au advance upon the
rent. But indeed Mr.. Georges idea is so wild that
if we undertook to point out all the objections to 1t
we should have TO write book nearly as large as
his own.