The Colfax chronicle., 1891-11-07

| Auec, unu all HatiOnai WORKS must be
postponed until lords and squires please
to part with requisite slices Of their es-
tates. If we decide that the claims of
individual ownership must give way,
then we imply that the right of the ma
tion at large to the soil is supreme
that the right of private possession
only exists by general consent-that
general consent being withdrawn il
ceases-or, in other words, that it is nc
right at all.
s. But to what does this doctrine,
that men are equally entitled to the use
of the earth, lead? Must we return tc
the times of uninclosed wilds, and sub
sist on roots, berries and game? Or are
we to be left to the. management OF
Messrs. Fourier, Owen, Louis Blanc &
Co. ?'' &"
Neither. Such doctrine is consist
ent with the highest state of civiliza.
ton, may be carried out without involv
ing community of goods, and need
cause no very serious revolution in ex
isting arrangements. The change re-
quired would simply be q change OF
landlords. Separate ownerships woulc
merge into the joint stock ownership ol
the public. Instead of being in the
possession of individuals. the country
would be held by the great corporate
body-Society. Instead of leasing his
acres from an isolated proprietor, the
farmer would lease them from the ma,
tion Instead of paying his rent to the
agent of Sir John or his grace. he would
pay 1t to an agent or deputy agent of
the community. Stewards would be
public officials instead of private ones,
and tenancy the only land tenure.
A state of things so ordered would be
in perfect harmony with the moral law.
Under it all men would be equally
landlords; all men would be alike free
to become tenants. A, b. cand the
rest might compete for a vacant farm,
as now, and one of them might take
that farm. without in any way violat-
ing the principles of pure equity. All
wonld bBnqually free to bid; all would
be equsfly free to refrain. And when
the. farm had been let to A. u or C. all
parties would have done that which
they willed-the one in choosing to par
a given sum to his fellow men for the
use of certain lands-the others in re-
fusing to pay that sum. Clearly, there
fore, on such system, the earth may
be inclosed, occupied and cultivated in
entire subordination to the law of
equal freedom. ss
.. No doubt great difficulty must at |
tend the resumption, by mankind at !
large, OF their rights to the soil. The |
question of compensation to existing |
is complicated onc-one
that perhaps can not be settled in a
strictly equitable manner. Had we to |
ieal with the parties who originally |!
robbed the human race of its heritage, |
we might make short work of the mat |
ter. But unfortunately, most Of our
present landowners are men who have
either mediately or immediately |
either by their own acts, or by the acts
of their ancestors-given for their es-
,ates equivalents of honestly earned /
wealth, believing that they were in
resting their savings in legitimate
manner. To justly estimate and liqui-
late the claims of such is one of the
most intricate problems society will
'ne day have to solve. But with this
and our extraction from it,
distract morality has no concern Men
having got themselves into the dilemma
~ disobedience to the law, must get
nut of it as well as they can; and with
IS little injury to the landed class as
nay be.
Meanwhile, we shall do well to recol
ect that there are others beside the
anded class to be considered. In our
ender regard for the vested interests
4 the few. let us not forget that the
lights of the many are in abeyance, and
must remain SO as long as the earth is
nonopolized by individuals. Let us re-
member. too, that the injustice thus In
licted on the mass of mankind is an in.
ustice of the gravest nature. The fact
hat It is notso recorded provesnothing.
n early phases Of civilization even
omicide is thought lightly of. The
nttees of India. together. with the prac-
ice elsewhere followed Of sacrificing
ecatomb of human victims at the
urial of a chief show this, and prob
bly, cannibals consider the slaughter
I those whom ''the fortunes of war"
as made their prisoners perfectly
lstifiable. 1T was once also universr
llx supposed that slavery was a natur
and quite legitimate institution-a
3ndition into which some were born.
nd to which they ought to submit as
!, b divine ordination. nav. indeed. a