Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-08-12
Private Land Ownership.

Bcreeu Win ms 1ull name. not necessarily for
publication but as guarantee of good faith
Private Land Ownership.
Remarks in discussion before the Knights
OF Labor on the iniquity of private land own
ership. Ordered to be printed.l
Master Workman, Sisters and Brothers: !:
With all due Difference for the learned
opinions Of the able and eloquent gentle
man on the negative of this vital ques-
ton, that is now agitating the advanced
thought of the present age, an honest
conviction compels me to take the af-
firmative. Private land ownership has
no redeeming features whatever. 1t is
an evil, an evil only, an accursed evil;
an evil far greater than any other evil
that ever afflicted the human race. 1t
requires no argument to prove that the
earth, air, water, woods, minerals and
all the other natural resources were in
tended by the Creator for the free and
equal use of all mankind without let or
hindrance, stint or favor. By law of
nature every person born on this planet,
whether rich or poor, millionaire or men
dicant, prince or peasant, has perfect
right here, and to an equal share Of the
soil, sunshine, air, waters, woods and all
the other natural resources, means and
opportunities of subsistence.
But the logical conclusion necessarily
drawn from any social or statutory laws
that gives titles to, or private ownership
OF land, make all the landless intruders,
even in their native country! They can
only exist by permission of those owning
the title deeds; for by enforcing them
these intruders have no legal right to
even standing room on the face of earth,
without paying some man for the privi-
lege, outside Of the public highways and
they cannot stop even there; which
proves this monstrous system of private
land ownership to be an outrageous and
shameless iniquity.
The only pretense of reason ever
offered to justify private land ownership
is the insolent claim that it is Republi-
can in principal and necessary for the
common good; that individuals must
surrender all common original inheri-
tance of people to the lands of any coun-
try before they can be civilized and is
necessary as basis of security for in
vestments. But all will see that if the
people Of the remote past were Republi-
can and did for the public good volun-
tarily divest themselves, and majority
of all succeeding generations, of their
original inherant rights to possess and
enjoy share in the lands of their coun-
try necessary to their maintenance at
any period Of the worlds history, for the
beuefit of the few, it must be proven
that it was not only then q public
good, but that it has continued
to be and is now a pub.
lie good to prevent generations in the
light of indisputable modern facts from
reversing their erroneous judgment.
The cunning assertion is obviously
false, and opposed by the common in
stincts of all men; it cannot be Republi-
can in principle and there can be no
necessity for the surrender of a right to
the means OF life. No. 1t is absurd to
make any such self-e evidently false asser-
tions. No people ever voluntarily sur
rendered their birthright to the sponta-
neous productions of their country-their
necessary means Of subsistence. And
no custom every practiced by human
society was ever more Numerically op-
posed to the fundamental principles ol
Republicanism than this, which enables
a few unscrupulous persons to appreciate
the values created by all. Facts are &C.
cessible that prove private land owner
ship is the creature and foundation OF
monarchy.
It is we'll known that private land
ownership had it's origin in the exigencies
of war; by the intrigues and frauds of
favored countries obtaining concessions
to and the violence of cruel kings in
the conquest of neighboring countries,
when in the barbarous ages captives were
enslaved and forced to toll in chains for
their brutal captors.
Private land ownership has always
been the arbitrary rewards of ambitious
conquerors to create aristocratic adher-
ants in support of monarchical govern
ments, whose chief source of income was
obtained from the labor of captive slaves,
prisoners of war upon lands obtained by
fraud and violence. And it is absolutely
impossible to justify such glaring
wrong as private land ownership in this
enlightened age and nation, thanks to
the benefcent effects of our public
schools.
To render such an assumption of pri-
vate power beneficial even in the most
barbarous ages, the good promoted by it
must be demonstrated to have been more
than commensurate with the fearful vio-
lence committed in its establishment
and the enormity of the suffering inflicted
on humanity by it's continuance. 1t
must be shown that the poor working
man who PAGES the streets of our cities
in the vain search for employment, will
ing to work at anything at any wages to
feed his wife and children who, scarcely
half clad, in some uncomfortable unfur-
nished apartment, perhaps barn, a gar
ret, or cellar, shivering with cold and
famishing with hunger, can be made to
realize that his being restricted from
access to the bounteous products of
nature is for his best interest, is for
the good of those dearer to him than life,
who are depending upon bis earnings,
or can in any possible way be for the
good Of his fellow workingmen in this
world or any other. 1t is equally untrue
that there is necessity for private land
ownership as basis for the safe invest
ment of surplus money, and for public
or private security this is only an excuse
for holding lands out of use till increas-
ing population gives increased values to
the holders of the law made title deeds,
which as security for loans of money dis
places personal integrity by mortgages,
and by aattering inducements encumbers
the lands with irredeemable debts at
rates of interest twice or three times the
rate of the common gains becomes a
tempting snare that generally ends in
loss and bankrnptcv