New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-11-17
THE land QUESTION HERE.

alt is not land in the far West that we want"
say followers of Mr.. George. Millions Oh
acres there are of no use, for the unemployed
workers are rot there and cannot get thero'
That land does not enable them to earn hvlog
when out of employment here, and so does not
prevent their ruinous competition win other
labor when there is struggle for higher
wages. But there is land unoccupled or
unused in great abundance here in New York,
In New jersey and Connecticut. 1t Is mOnop-
Olized by spectators, who put so high price
on it that nobody can afford to buy or use 1t
for purposes of tilage. But let that land be
free, and the unemployed of this city would
have resource always available. Then they
could not be called in to defeat every strike
bv working at lower wages than other men
want"
Yes there is much land unused near this
citv Half the area of Manhattan Island is
really unoccupied at this hour large tracts
across the Hudson. and above the Harlem, aud
on Long Island and Staten Island are unculh-
waited and practically unused Whether the
holding of such land for speculative purposes
ought to be discouraged by legislation is a
fair question, which need not be hastily decided
against the claims of the labor party. For it
is easy to see that, if their wish were granted,
there would still be the same army of the un-
employed.
Would those who are now unemployed go out
to till the soil in NewJersey or Long Island,
if they had a chauce9 Some might; but would
enough to make any practical difference In the
tnrong of the unemployed There is some
reason to doubt it, Within moderate walk
from this city, there are great many people
who are willing to hire labor on farms, in care
of CATTLE or IN market gardens. The wages
paid are not bad. Why il it that the army OF
the unemployed continues to congregate IN
cities and tn suffer, when no one knows how
many could find employment at wages moder-
ately lower than are now paid in farming dis
tricts The fact is that agriculture of all sorts
has been rendered less profitable in this very
re glon by the high price IF labor The unem-
Moved either cannot or will net obtain living
in that occupation.
But if they would what then7 They would
produce what some other farmers are now pro-
ducing; exactly similar supplies of vegetable
or animal food, frelts or grains, butter or
cheese or wool or hops. Somebody else would
be driven out of that business if this army
were to go into it. For there is no departmnt
of industry the fruits of which are lacking
| here ; on the contrary. the general complaint
is that too large supplies are constantly offered.
The cheap rail rates enable farmers OF far dis
tant States to compete at An advantage with
those of the nearest counties. Vermont sends
| milk to compete with Orange County, and Ohio
sends butter and cheese, and Virginia sends
vegetables, and the far West sends grain and
cattle. What would the unemployed raise that
somebody else does not now raise, with the
large experience and training which the unem-
ployed have notf
Would it help labor as whole in any respect
to push out of occupation $4,000 men some
where else, and give occupation to 10000
here Not at all. II hat woud only change
the locality of the trouble, were it possible.
But the unemployed would remain as numerous
as BEFORE provided the new producers could
do rs much in year as the men now at work,
which is doubtful. But whatever number they
displace would then be the army of the unem-
ployed. struggling somewhere else to find work,
and depressing wages everywhere by that
effort. More land is not so much wanted as a
change in the wants and habits, the modes of
living and the qualifications, of some part of
the workers, who crowd into the towns where
there is too great q crowd already, and who
crowd into occupations tina: are too foil already.
This change in human Dature will not be
effected by change in the tenure of land.