The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-03-28

by preludlce, rhs. the sama evils that
we have shown would inevitably have
resulted from making the bay private
property have resulted from tho applica-
ton of that principle to the land.
If then common property as exempli-
fed in it's application to the Great
South bay has worked so beDeficently,
why not extend the principle to the
land also?
sIt is never too late to mend," aid,
notwithsta uding the unequal distribu-
ton of land consequent on the present
system. the ''single tax" as advocated
by the united labor party, will, by TAX
ing only land values, gradually restore
unused land to the people without Inc
Justice to any. HUGH B. BROWN.
Prof. Sumner and Human Commod itiss.
tFrom N Y. Standard
Prof. w. G. Sumner is writing for the
Independent as to the Significance OF
the demand for men," Referring to an
| idea often expressed in one form or an
other, that it is shame men are sub
ject to supply and demand. Prof. Sum-
ner says that as we want to know the
facts about man and the world in which
he lives just as they are, it is ''irreva-
lent and idle to talk about what is con-
sonant with, or what is hostile to, mans
| notions of his own dignity" and wSrns
his readers that st will be found saat
men are subject to supply and demand"
This is not true. and Prof. Summers
mistake is due to his neglect of his own
J ~ ssxx,n nj IN
| facts about man, and the world in which
he lives, just as they are, without re-
gard to any thing else whatsoever"
One of the facts about man and the
world in which he lives is that the
means supplied him by natural
laws whereby he may provide for
his natural wants are taken away
from him by human law. He
can not provide for his wants as an
animal without land. and he can not
provide for his wants as civilized man
without land in civilized locations. II
the right to land>3e taken from men in
general and vested in soue men, the law
of supply and demand Will operate just
as Prof. Sumner says it WITH The need
| for workers on the part of land owners
or of men who can buy rights Of access
to land will regulate the demand, and
the number of landless men whose me-
cessities force them to offer their
labor for sale will constitute thesupply.
But if this is what Prof. Sumner means
when he says men are subject to supply
and demand. his phrase is grossly mis-
leading, He should have written: Men
are subject to supply and demand when
land is monopolized." But to say that
would be to hint to oil to whom the idea
that man is commodity is repugnant
that the artificial monopoly of land
should be abolished.
1t is true that black men are subject to
slavery when and where human laws re-
duce them to servitude; but it is not
true that black men are subject to slav-
cry, in any such sense as that slavery is o
natural condition of black men. So it is
true that men are subject to supply and
demand when land is artificially ,onop-
olized; but it is not true that men are
subject to supply and demand in any
such sense as that this is natural con-
dition or with any such implication as
that even attempts to remove them from
the operation of the law of supply and
demand must be in contravention Of
natural law. II we found, as Prof. Sum.
ner does, that men are subject to supply
and demand, it would be, indeed, in
that connection, irrelevant and idle to
talk about what is consonant with or hos
tile to mans notions Of his own digni-
ty," but when we find that man is sub
, ject to supply and demand because hui
man laws of land tenure and trade de.
prive him of what is as essential to his
existence as his lungs or his brains, it il
not irrelevant or idle to talk about what
is consonant with or hostile to his no.
tions of his own dignity. His notions oil
his own dignity notions of his own
, natural rights-are pertinent and useful
,, in the highest degree when he considers
, the question of changing the human
.. laws that made him subject to supply
and demand
In the very centers Of our civilization
~