Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-12-10
Strange Ideas.
A REPLY TO NEsToR.

~~~~~~-@s
REPLY TO NESTOR.
The remarks of your Iron Mountain
correspondent concerning my ideas Of
the rights OF property would make me
laugh were such expressions not so
common, and hence the effects OF such
Ignorance so deplorable.
Upon my desk lies copy Of The
Million free trade paper. in which
Prof. Bowker, the gentleman who op-
ened the free trade convention, in Chi
cago, recently, says that if the enor-
nous rental Of England was abolished
"it would not add pinch of -four to
the six-penny loaf" This means that
if the industrial classes of England
were relieved from the burden of sup
porting the hundreds of thousands of
"dead-beats" who live upon the earn
ings OF the labor;ng men the people OF
England could not supply their own
wants any better than they do now.
Such ridiculous assertions are common
among men who profess to have edu-
cation and talents; hence one Ii not
surprised to find the modest village
correspondent ola county newspaper
badly.mixed up on matters that ought
to be clear even to children.
NV idea III that the rights Of proper
ty are not resp ected and our pretense,
of legal respect at least, Is asiIly trans-
parent farce. Every man has nat
ural right to own, in severalty, the
products of his own toll; but grant that
he has this right and then deny his
natural right to the other factor of
production, land, or natural opportu-
mites, is SIMPLY to mock him.
For this reason all our constitutions
are talitalizing. The dictum of Jean
Jacques Rossean, reiterated by Thos.
Jefferson, In our Declaration Of Inde-
pendence, that man Is endowed by his
Creator with certain inalienable rights,
etc., is set ut naught by 10th National
and State constitutions making the
only subject upou which man can
exert his labor thing of mere barter
and sale, aud by according to non-pro-
ductive ownership a right paramount
If not tantamount to the claim Of pro-
ductlve labor.
The picture of the Little Commun-
ity," as Nestor draws it, is ridiculous
indeed. should draw it differently.
should acknowledge the right of ey-
cry child born in every community to
live by acknowledging that it had
right in common with every o
member o6the community in whid
WAS born to the means of life or all Il
nj Opportunities enjoyed by tffxt
would not allow those
who were born before it to pre-empt
all chance to live, except the chance OF
slavish servitude.
Ownership in common does not inn
ply tenure in common. Nestor does
not seem to see that to-day one man
owns while another occupies !; and
though the owners ownership OF that
which would have been here if the
owner had never lived, does not pro-
duce blade Of grass, yet he takes part
Of the results of the productive labor
Of the occupier,-in fact all the re-
suits, ON an average, except a hard liv-
Ing for the worker. Out Of this
pretty mess" comes all that disgraces
our civilization.
Under my plan men would huld land
just as they do now. in severslty and
not In common; they would sell, con-
vey, and deed it just as they do now,
except that they, would not speculate
IN it as they do now nor. would they
mortgage as they do now. To make
the land yield the most for society as
well as for the individual 1t should be
well and permanently improved, or
built upon these improvements arc
the products Of mans labor and be-
long to him individually, and as
against all other men; and to secure
their ownership he must have per-
and heiritable tenure OF the
land to which they are fixed hence
while the common ownership vesta In
the State the right to occupy and use
vests In the individual who has inn
proved the land. His right depends
upon his occupancy and Improvement,
and the State suppasss him to occupy
as long as he pays the taxes on H.
My sysse1a means taking all taxes of
the psodecis Of human labor and put
ting them wholly upon land Neither
Nestor, or any other living man, can
make reasonable defense Of taxing
the products of human labor nor can
they show any injustice IN making
land the sole subject of taxation.
FARMER.
Murrayville, I'LL. Dec. ~, 1885.
Don't forgss tho Doll Fair Thd .day nigAt-