The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-11-30
HENRY GEORGE.
He Appears at New Haven and Expounds His
Peculiar Land and Taxation Theories.


Special TO the Indianapolis Journal.
NEW HAVEN, Conn, Nov. 29.-Carlrs Opera
house was crowded to its utmost capacity to
United Labor party and the presence of Henry
George, of New York, the principal speaker of
the evening. Brief speeches were made by Peter
]. Lynch, the labor candidate for Mayor of New
Haven, and Henry C. Baldwin. of Naugatuck,
the well-known ex-Greenbacker. Henry George
was then introduced. After the applause had
subsidized, Mr. George stepped to the front of the
platform and said:
Ladies and Gentemen-I thank you for this
reception. Men of New Haven l came here
from New York to bid you Godspeed in this
movement. You taking the only right step
to purify the ballot | DO not know whether you
can carry your candidates or not and don't care.
Success does not mean the filling of an Office.
We did not meet with success in our late cleo
ton in New York. but we accomplished work
the news of which has travelled all over the land.
Public opinion, in the long run. will rule. Our
politics haXe become corrupt because principle
has gone out of them. The last national election
turned On a question. OF personal char.
acter Think of it! Nation of
sixty millions of people haggling over the
personal character of two rival candidates. The
work of the Republican party is done. Black
slavery has been abolished. But the crusade
now begun is a crusade for the emancipation of
all mankind. both white and black. At last the
laborine masses all over the country are organic
ing. Strikes and boycotts to my mind, are
like swords and rifles they are ugly weapons,
and although it may be necessary in some instan-
ces to resort to them 1t is not by the of either
that the workingmen secure their rights.
All over the country a great awakening of
minds has been going on, but these thoughts
have been crude until recently, when they have
begun to crystallize The real heart of the labor
Your candidate for Mayor has told you that for
over thirty years he has earned his bread and
butter in the sweat of his brow. There was some
applause, but it was limited; men do not applaud
those who earn their living in that way. The
good things of life, the riches and amusements
are not for the worklngmen. 1t is not natural
for men to like work. / never saw men looking
for work because they liked to work and yet
have massive protective tariff laws to keep work
IN the country. We are building immense ships
OF war that we do rot want. and are told that
we may need them sometime, ard at any rate
work is furnished for thousands OF men. Well.
if we burned up houses would furnish
men work in rebuilding them. No man
has n right to demand work of
another. No man has right to say to another
that he must or must not employ a certain man.
What we must do is to produce condition of
things that will furnish opportunity for all
to work. What we want is that all men should
have equal opportunities to secure work Our
lutely denies it. We have abolished slavery,
and boast of our splendid country, where tramps
abound and the aims houses are full. l was
reading, tonight OF a new aims house that was
being constructed in Western city. In this
house is to be a tramp room, which is to be
constructed SO that it can be filed with water
and the tramps forced to pump it out or drown.
What is a tramp? He is American citizen.
He will work and he will vote. and the rich man
who runs for office will buy his vote. 1t is the
iPh nd nnn ma hat wa foar hat
ridiculous thing it is to tax houses. Are there
two many houses in the count ry2"
Referring to his we'll known principle that tax
alton should fall upon land values, and that no
should own land to the exclusion of
the ccmmunity's right therein, Mr.. George con-
tnued:
What right have those who are dead in this
continent? About as much right as man who
has left railroad train has in the car that speeds
on its way. If want to buy a vacant lot in
New York am obliged to pay the larger part Of
my earnings to some rich man beca use the will
of some dead English king who never set foot
in this country says So What foolishness! You
enter a railway car and you find all the seats
filled with bundles. You attempt to sit down,
and you are told that the seat is en-
gagged. You ask how it came to be
engaged, and you arc told that it was
bought from the person that alighted at the last
station. There is just as much sense in the car
illustration as there Is in the selling OF land for
building purposes. There ought to be no such
thing starvation when the great granares are
all full The great Creator has put enough in
this world for ALL Equality of opportunity Is
what is needed. Justice is what we want. What
you are doing this election is to elevate princi-
plies. / hope no true Democrat Republican
will fail to vote for your Labor candidates. You
cannot elect them, but come as near as You can
Your influence will be exerted for good. Men of
New Haven, do your dnty and let it go forth to
the world that Connecticut is waking up to the
cause of labor"