New-York tribune., 1886-07-05
LABOR MADE FREE BY SAVING
LAND aMoNOPOLY AND TRADES UNIONS.
THE WEALTH OF HoUsEHoLDs. BY J. T: DASsoS.

LAND aMoNOPOLY AND TRADES UNIONS
i2mo pp $50. Oxford Clarendon Press
He who manages to read this book to the end will
be instructed and pleased. 1t is not brilliant or
fascinating work. nor can unreserved praise DO
ciyen II on the score of soundness OF teaching'
Nhe style Is rarely attractive. but frequently
muddy. and occasionally Its cArelesspess blossoms
into open defiance Of the simplest grammatical
rules: thus, tp. 264l 1t follows that all changes
OF the amount or incidence of indirect taxes Is to
,ome extent uneven Moro important far are
somewhat frequent instances Of ooseness of state
ment so great that the author would have TO plead
strange Ignorance In order to the charge OF
unveracity For example. speaking CT 1rea'
Britain, he says. In no country IN the world mas
isic) population and wealth increased 30 iarSeN
and so rapidly as In this country during the last
century." 1t is enough to say that the population
OF Great Britain and Ireland was about lo,Ooo'ooo
in 1900 and 35.OOO.0 900 in 1881. while the popu-
lati,n of the United States was about 53Oo'ooo IN
1900 and so. 600 900 in 1880 In century the
Cnitod States has gained In wealth more thah
Great Britain now possesses. after many centuries
of growth This inability to state things accur-
ately Ia Of course fatal TO attempt at scienuhc
reasoning TINS in soaking of the settlement OF new
lands the writer saws:
We never see the change effected wltho''. cel
tain preliminaries and among these ,ne ms n,os
Important is the provis cn OF year sun ;5
a. aaJrancs and va NAV be sure that when MANKIND
passed from the hunting to the agricultural sa
from iaily earnings TO yearly al rov uu
not accomplish inc cnahse "i'"
ION
And again he says. on the same page nature
50. ,s orr Uapes only once a year. This is an in
exorable law Bat this law does not apply at all to
mining nor wholly to fisheries. nor even 10 all
nroducts of agriculture. writer so loose In mnd
would naturally create many new dehnltions TOT
himself. and Mr. Danson thinks @when one man
serves another by placing capital at risk for him
with beneficial result. the gain obtained by the
service is called profit" Whether the result is
abenefcsl" to the other man OF to the owner OF
cani+al mirht be important. But with eli it,
fanlts and they are not few the book has some real
merit.
Unlike most economic works. this book treats
many topics from a practical point or view ana
gives great variety of useful information IN re-
gard TO the practical workings OF economic princi-
nles in exchange, in various branches or Industry.
I'm acnuirement aud renting of land In home an"
foreign commerce, in banking, Insurance., methons
of taxation the treatment of pauperism. and the
co;nace of money Intended text book. it is
divided into short, numbered paragraphs which
nnon comparison often cast useful / glt But the
style does not well adapt the work Tor use in the
schools even of Great Britain and an unhappy BRIT
ish incanacity to comprehend defects OF British
theories or practices Will make it unfit for such use
elsewhere. Nor has it the depth orthoroughuess I"
a1tain scientific value. and yet it contains sound
and useful suggestions on many points. Its discus
sion of the lard question. of the effect OF organiza
tion of labor in trades unions. and OF the relations
between labor and capital. is sufficiently meritori-
ous to atone for much weary repetition OF oid doc
trines sound or unsound, and for not a few errors
which unhappily are new.
Mr. Danson ma kes poor answer to Mr.. Georges
plea that rent md poverty go hand in hand and he
quite fails TO meet the argument that land he'd Tor
specu alton or for game preserving or other pur-
roses OF Iuxury should be exceptionally taxed.
But no one has more effectively demolished Mr..
Georges claim that land ownership Is monopoly
In Great Britain. and is the principal cause OF mis-
chief there He shows. first that If a child OF
noturep claims his share of the land of the earth.
he has only to 60 and take It, II be claims as a
member of the human family, his share Is about
twenty -fopr acres. Int nothing entities MIN 10 take
that share III one place rather than another and me
certainly has no right TO take the shares which
other persons have previously taken. or to refuse
tina land still unOccupied and TO claim land made
exceptionallv valuable by means Of the ownership
of Others and their expenditure to make IT valuable
So. If tie claims British subject. he can go to
Australia or Canada, where:
The other ten millions Of Engishmen, with all
f resi- of our English land. the whole of it held in
secure possesson and under climates any English
mao may live and thrive IN. are 1uite r'ady to vel
come him among them. They are burdened az pre-
sent with the care of about 900 acres OF land per
hcgd What they most wisn for II 10 get other
Jngll sbmen 20 come and share II with them. Ihcy
Will he glad TO see him, and to put hi n in speedy
possession of a. many acres As be can use. and Will
charge him nothir for IL beyond what II has cost
them to got il ready Tor him, say pound per acre.
Ior picked lana.
II roads have been built. or settlements created,
to make part of this land more valuable. he can
not choose that without paying his share for the i'm
movements but Wild land he can have. and all he
wants of it. for the asking. All Mr.. Georges
theories about monopozing the earth's surface
are rudely set aside in the following forcible and
truthful passage:
The consequence is that at no time in the history
of the world has il been IL IS now for any
man 10 obtain chcapy, rapidly and certainly as
much land as he can cultivate land OF fertile
approached by good roads, within reach OF
market aud protected by Government share of
wlrch ne have for the asking. Aud this is
easier to Englishmen than TO any others, because
All these advantages are to he had without leaving
the society of their cOuntrymen.
The frnits Of this, the natural. primitive and most
reason able method of appropratng the land. have
been under our own Government very good II IS
hardly century since the hrst snip Load OF lmnl-
grants landed in Australia. Our several colonial
governments there now hold in possession more
than g. 900. 300 square mics OF territory, with pop
ulaton of about 1900. 900. mostly BRUSH have
got more than 1000. 900 acres under cultivation
and are receiving on an average about 1900 imm
grants per week. They like their land laws which
are substantially the same as Ours. They make NJ
complaint. Ana their late spontaneous offer &c
share in war the burdens ot the mother country
which gave them both the land and the laws
sufficiently testes alike to their prosperity and tt
their content.
There is much force also, in the suggestion tha
over-production is in part exclaimed by the world
wide economy in time required for transportation
Of goods and for commercial operations and tin
consequent change in the quantity Of stocks neces
sary to be carried. AMI in the of transporta
tion required But not many honest thinkers vii
approve nor many sensible teachers PROFOUND 4
their scholars. the theory that British manufact