The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-03-20
ANDERSON. THURSDAY MORNING. MARCH 90 1890
LANDLAW OF THE BIBLE.
The Year OF Jubilee and Modern Theories.

LANDLAW OF THE BIBLE.
The Year OF Jubilee and Modern Theories.
atlanta Constitution.
They say this is free country, but if
you get any ofitin Atlanta you have to
pay from 81 900 an acre to 81, 900 front
foot. The air is free around you and the
sunshine comes without cost, but the
ground you walk upon can be had only
for considerations, not always for that
There are many people who think this
a great Infringement upon the natural
rights of man, and of all such people
Henry George is the apostle. This class
is limited as rule to those who have no
land, for those who have it feel that it is
an inalienable right to hold and to use
what one has bought and paid for. The
have-nots, however, are restless and
aggressive, and in those countries where
they are in large and unhappy minori-
ty, they make their opinions felt until
everybody around Is made to shiver in
the winter of their discomfort.
The uppermost question now in crowd.
ed countries is the land question. 1t is
so in crowded New England, it is so in
Old England, it ia 80 in Germany. This
is why Edward Bellamy's book, advocat'
ing the naturalization of land and
everything else, has run to the 3Oth
housand.
1t is bound to be so as long as some
people have homes and some have not.
1t is this mainly that delays and compli-
Gates the settlement of the Irish home.
rule question. The conservatives have
now and then shown evidences of con-
viction deep down in their hearts that
there is right on the side Of local self.
government. 1t is impossible that 8
people Who wrested the rights of nlagua
charter from King John, should have no
sympathy for the same ideas among their
neightors.
But they. are handicapped by the in.
fuence of English owners of Irish land.
In parliament, on the huatings, every
where in England, these landlords exert
themselves against home rule. They
fear their long oppressed tenants, and fly
to the government for protection.
It is strange chat in the magni6cence
of the queens jubilee, no one thought of
that other jubilee centuries ago, happy
year from which the queens celebration
tooks it's name. 1t is somewhat remark.
able that the queen should name her
festival for one which provided regular
distribution of the land of Canaan among
the inhabitants every fifty years, sub.
dividing itin exact proportion to The
increase ofpopulation.
No doubt it was thought to be happy
inspiration which gave the name of
Jubilee to the semi centennial Of glori-
GUS reign, but there is something of irony
and a great deal of rebuke in a name
which brings up the difused wealth of
the Hebrew theocracy In striking con-
trast with the congestion in country
where hundred people, own the most Of
everythiDg-in one. oppressed portion of
which the foxes have holes and the birds
of the air have nests, but the children of
men have not where to lay their troubled
heads-where 5000 we're turned out on
the highway and forbidden the shelter Of
the humble roofs which their own hands
had raised above them. There is some.
thing in this that political economy does
not provide for, something the 6nancier
cannot take into account; but there is q
provision in the human heart, chapter
in which the unwritten law works out
their solution; and it is to the everlast.
ing credit of our much abused nature
that the world has warm heart for the
homeless. 1t shudders at eviction when
The winds are bowling without, and no
man is comfortable in an easy chair if a
pinched and purple face looks in at the
window, unable to share the warmth
within, but poaching pitifully on its light
and cheer. It is this that provided our
homestead laws, it is this in the bank.
rupt law that allows poor fellow when
he has fallen 10 get up and try it over,
and it is this in the wisdom and goodness
of man, this in the mercy of God, that
will work out some equitable plan by
which the poorest will have shelter,
and the landlord will not be defrauded
Of his own.
In England the law of primogeniture
has prevented the distribution of land.
In Canaan the law Of the jubilee made
division inevitable. The late celebration
OF the queen crowned an era in which
the land was held in vast estates and
wealth in all its furrn, was congested
The great festival of tAs Hebrew theo.
cracy came after seven Sabbaths of years
to celebrate the redistribution Of the
land. On the modern pageant the mass,
es look with mild enthusiasm or down
right Indifference the ancient year Of
jubilee Was ushered in with joy, those
who had been homeless and wanderers
now returned to the estate of their faith
ers and in it each man Of pure blood had
his full share.
A man who bought land bought it fo'
forty nine years, or less, and the price
was regulated by the number of years
before the jubilee.
"In the year of this jubilee" says the
law, "ye shall return every man unto bis
possession. And if thou sell aught unto
thy neighbor, or buyest aught of thy
neighbor's land, ye shall not oppress one
another.
According to the number Of years