The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-01-23
For the Farmer and Mechanic.
Land Ow


Land Ownership.
Editor Charlotte Obserrer " GU
must surely have misunderstood the
drift of nav argument in regard
TO land-ownership. To prerent the
Of priviledged classes I
to prerent vassalage to prerent OPP
preston of every kind. is the object |
aim at. To make every single citizen
a land owner is the only way 10 prevent
the greatest evils which now aiiiict So
riety. You think my 'allusion t65ew-
ish customs is unfortunate. and de-
clare that restoration to their law of
land-tenurc would be freedom abrid-
ged'
The Jews are to-day not only the
most pros porous, but the most long
lived people in the world.
i distinguished English physician.
DR.. Richardson, in book published
few years ago. entitled Diseases OF
Modern Life" says, Through the val
liable labors of NJ. NJ. Legoyt. Hof-
man, Neufville and Mayer, we have OBJ
most widely disseminated OF all races
on the earth. the Jewish" These facts
show that from some cause or causes.
thi. race presents an endurance against
disease, that does not belong to the
of the civilized communities in
which they dwell. The distinctness of
the Jews in the midst of other and mix
ed races. singles them out specially for
observation and the history they pre-
sent. Of resistance to those influences
which tend to shorten the natural cycle
of life. is sinCularly instructive. The
Jews escape the great epidemics more
readily than the other races among
whom they live Thus the mortality OF
cholera among them is so small that
the very fact Of it, occurrance has been
Dr. Richardson goes on to give the
statistics collected by these -four learned
showing that for every ten sui
cides which occur amongst the Jews,
forty take place amongst the Gentiles.
In the total of all ages, half the Jews
born reach the age of fifty-thrcc years
and one month. whilst half the Chris
tians born attain the age OF thrty-six
years only. AS the Mosaic law is to
the Jews, what the Christian law is to
rs. we may safely infer that they owe
their superior physical condition to the
observance of the Mosaic law.
Their political laws have necessarily
been dead letter for ages. because they
we're destitute of all nationality.
But that these laws wee livinely
wise, we have every reason to believe.
The land shall not be sold forever. for
.he land is mine" saith the Lord.
When Ahab wished to possess him
,elf Of Naboth's land he resorted to no
but offered him better tract
Of land in exchange; or if he preferred
{, the full value in money.
According to our heathenish ideas
.his was a very fair proposition. But
he pious Naboth recoiled from il in
horror The Lord forbid it me-" he ex-
claim ID. that l should sell the inheri-
lance of my fathers unto thee!" Nol
money could buy the land of which God
lal declared from Mount Sinai, 'The
and shall not be sold forever. for the
and is mine!' Naboth would have
great and wilful sin. if lie
lad sold hi. land.
The law which held each man to the
Of his fathers was rs divine
" bencficcnt as the laws of Nature =
The laws which give sun light and air,
and earth and water and vegetation for
The needs Of the human race. A man
ha. the power to shut himself out from
the sunlight or to abjure the use ofl
water. like some fauatical religious or
lers of the present day, but he suffers
from these self-imposed deprivations.
And so he suffers when he deprives
himself of his God-given inheritance in
The land. He suffers moraliy-he suf-
fers fnancially-he suffers politically
he suffers physically-he suffers social
ly. From being landowner, digni-
fed son of Adam. with all the noble
attributes of manhood. he becomes a
''hand' in somebody olae's employ
ment: dependent for the food and
clothing of himself and family. upon
some "other man." This ''other man"
is sometimes a very bad one At any
rate. no person with the true instincts
Of manhood wishes TO be dependent for
the necessaries Of life upon another.
For other things there is no shame in
certain degree of dependence upon our
fellow men. We depend upon them for
our social enjoyment, and for cO-opera-
ton in many Of the important affairs of
life. But in these cases they are as de-
pendent upon us as we are upon them.
AS long as this social equilibrium is
obtained. no harm results. But when
Cne class grows rich and great at the
expense of another, it is like one limb
of the body swelling to great and un-
natural size. and intiamed with a super
abundance of tevered blood, while the
rest OF the frame shrinks III proportion,
ard becomes cold and chilly for the
want Of the same blood which disease
carries into the swollen member. In a
nation which is in healthy political
condition. no class suffers with want
No class is dependant Ito any great eX-
tenD upon any other class Tor the bare
necessaries of life. England approach
ed this happy condition when her splen-
did yeomanry formed 30 large a proper
ton of her population. Although the
Early English. under Alfred the Great,
and his immediate successors. were a
free people, they gradually fell into a
sad condition as the centuries rolled on,
always struggling to maintain their
rights. but growing weaker and weaker
under the iron hand of their kings and
NOTES.-The selfish and the strong.
The great Alfred had said ''Englishmen
should remain forever as free as their
own thoughts" and nearly all his en-
actments tended to stablish this result.
The Norman kings took the ancient
coronation oath. but with some modifi-
cations. That the liberty of the sub
iect. however. was no: destroyed by
these notifications is shown hy the fol-
lowing sentence from one of the statutes
of William the Conqueror. tAll free