Morris tribune., 1891-10-21
GEORGE TO THE POPE.
THE SINGLE TAX ADVOCATE RE-
PLIES TO LEo'S ENCYcLlCAL.

He Expresses the Highest Regard for
His Holiness, but Finds Fault With His
Views on the Labor 0uestion-Labor
Saving Inventions and the Labor Asso-
Citations Suggested by the Pope Not
Endorsed.
New YORK, Oct. 19.-The reply of
Henry George to the pope's encyclical
letter on the labor question has been
presented to the pontiff. 1t was written
in both Italian and English and makes
about six pages of newspaper print. The
English title is: "The Condition of La
bor." An open Letter to Pope Leo XIII.
The first decision of the letter sets
forth the ground of the single tax be-
lief, and proceeds from the exist
ence of God and the facts of nature to
deduce the principle that men are
equally entitled to the use of land. He
points out the injustice and corruption
attending all methods of taxing the pro-
ducts of labor. the monstrous customs
that hamper intercourse between So
called Christian states, the taxes on oc-
cupations, on earnings, on investments,
on building of houses, on cultivation of
fields, on industry and thrift in all form,
and asks if these can be ways intended
by God, and strikes at tariff from the
moral side.
Private Ownership of Land.
In the second section of the letter Mr..
George rehearses in detail the points
made in the encycllcal in defense of pri-
vate ownership of land. In the answer
a strong distinction is attempted to be
drawn between legal and moral sanction
for such ownership. Mr.. George makes
use of the example of slavery, and by
the change of the word land to slave
the argument of the pope is shown
to be the same as that which was the
popular defense of slavery in the United
States.
The Subject of Compensation.
On the subject of compensation Mr..
George says $50 far from there being
anything unjust in taking the full value
of land ownership for the use of the
community the real injustice is in leav-
ing it in private hands-an injustice
that amounts to robbery and murder.
+ And when your holiness shall
fully realize that land is really the store
house that God owes to all his children
you will no more listen to any demand
for compensation for restoring it to them
than Moses would have listened to a de-
mand that Pharaoh should be compen-
stated before letting the children of
Israel go.
Labor Saving Inventions.
On the subject of labor saving inven-
tions Mr.. George says: Although the
natural effect of labor saving improve
ments is to increase wages, yet in the
unnatural condition which private own
ership of the land begets, the effect, even
of such moral improvements as the dis
bandment of armies and the saving of
labor that vice entails, is, by lessening
the commercial demand, to lower wages
and reduce mere laborers to starvation
or pauperism. If labor saving inven-
tions and improvements could be carried
to the very abolition of the necessity for
labor what would be the result? Would
it not be that land owners could then get
all the wealth that the land was capable
of producing, and would have no need
at all for laborers, who must then either
starve or live as pensioners on the bounty
of the landowners?
Labor Associations Not Endorsed.
AS to the pope's attitude on trades un-
ionism, Mr.. George has this to say:
When fire shall be cool and ice be
warm, when armies shall throw away
lead and iron to try conclusions by the
pelting of rose leaves, such labor associ-
ations as you are thinking of may be
possible, but not till then. For labor
associations can do nothing to raise
wages but by force.
The declaration in the encyclical of
the right of laborers to employment and
to living wage are denied.
No one has a right to demand employ
ment of another, or to demand higher
wages than the other is willing to give,
or in any way to put pressure on another
to make him raise such wages against
his will.
Men Must Employ Themselves.
The natural right which each man
has is not of demanding employment or
wages from another man, but that of
employing himself-that of applying by
his own labor to the inexhaustible store
house which the Creator has in the land
provided for all men.
On the question of the influence of a
genuine charity toward bettering the
condition of men. the answer declares
that all it can do where injustice exists
is here and there to somewhat mollify
the effects of Injustice, It cannot cure