Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-01-31
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from n Y. StandArd.1

Independent ~ to the Significance Of
the demand for men," Referring to An
idea often expressed in one form or an.
other, that 1t is a shame men are sub
ject to supply and demand, Prof. Sum.
ner says that as We want to know tho
facts about man and the world in which
he lives just as they are, 1t is '1rreva-
lent and idle to talk about what is con.
sonant with, or what Is hostile to. mans
notions Of his own dignity" and warns
his readers that 'it will be found that
men are subject to supply and demand"
This is not true. and Prof Summers
mistake is due to his neglect Of his own
postulate that I'VE want to know tho
facts about man, and the world in which
he lives, just as they are, without re.
gard to any thing else whatsoever"
Ono of the facts about man and the
world in which he lives is that tho
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 be taken from men in
keHeTdl uuO SSStSu III SOuie LuSu, Vic Ad "
OF supply and demand will operate just
as Prof. Sumner says it will. 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 ne
cessitice force them to offer their
labor for sale will constitute the supply.
But if this is what Prof. Sumner means
when he says men arc 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 monopolizcd." But to say that
would be to hint to oil to whom the idea
that man is a commodity is repugnant
that the artificial monopoly OF land
should be abolished.
It 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 a
natural condition of black men. So it is
true that men are subject to supply and
demand when land is artificially moaop-
oliZed; but it is not true that men are
subject to supply and demand in any
such sense as that this is a 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
ma tural law. If 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 a 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 do
prive him of what is as essential to his
existence as his lungs or his brains, it is
not irrelevant or idle to talk about what
is consonant with or hostile to his no.
lions of his own dignity. His notions Of
his own dignity-his notions Of his own
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 civilizati ton |
to-day are want and suffering enough to |
make sick at heart whoever does not |
close his eyes and steel his nerves |
Dare we turn to the Creator and ask |
Him to relieve it? Surprising the pray
err were heard, and at the behest with |
which the universe sprang into being !
there should glow in the sun a greater
power; new virtue fill the air; fresh |
vigor the soil; that for every blade OF
grass that now grows two should spring |
up, and the seed that now increases fiji
ty fold should increase a hundred fold!
Would poverty be abated or want re-
lieved? Manifestly no! Whatever
benefit would accrue would be but TEN.
porary. The new powers streaming
through the material universe could
only be untitled through land. And
land, being private property. the classes
that now monopolize the bounty Of the
Creator would monopolize all the new
bounty. Land owners would alone DO
benefited. Rents would increase, but
wages would still tend to the starvation
and Poverty.
THE man who told Mr.. Cavanagh that
II the single tax once gave the people
access to the land they would cut down
all the trees and thus put an end to rain
tall, gave an amusing illustration OF tho
mental process that a nun Der Of people |
mistake for thinking. Nothing in tho
world has had so much to do 18th the
of the forests of this coun
,ry as the monopoly Of arabic land by
,peculators, who drove men up mountain
sides and into inaccessible places, that
inder any natural system would be de-
,oted to forestry purposes for a thou.
'and years. Next in Importance toland
in bringing about this result
rave been the stupid tariff laws tina,
lenied our people the opportunity to oh.
ain cheap lumber from Canada, much
# which is produced in regions not
suited to agriculture.-TheS Standard.
THE truth is, and from this truth there
AN be no escape, that there is and can
,e no just title to an exclusive possess
ion of the soil, and that private prop
rty in land, is a bold, bare, enormous
wrong, like that Of chattel slavery.
The majority of men in civilized COM