The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1891-11-05
Citizen Georae . the Pope

cyclical TO the patriarchs. primates, arch
bishops and bishops Of the Roman Cath
olic communion throughout the world.
Its subject was the labor question, and
In 1t his holiness condemns most strong
ly the land doctrines Of Henry George
and his school. In return Henry George
has recently issued on his own account a
document to Pope Leo. He calls his en-
cyclical THE Condition Of Labor; an
Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII" In be-
nevolent aud pious expressions Mr..
George shows himself a master.
He begins by stating the position Of
the single tax and antiland ownership
party, which is in brief this: Earth, like
air and water, belongs to the human fam
lily in common. Public revenues are ex-
pended for the good Of all. therefore
they should be raised by taxes on the
common property of all--namely, land.
His own labor and the products of his
own labor, houses, clothing, machinery,
ETC., belong to the individual, are his
private possessions, and therefore should
not properly be taxed. Wherever peo-
pie come together in great commune
ties there land becomes more valuable.
It is not labor that primarily makes this
land valuable, but the presence of many
people, all wanting to occupy the same
locality. Therefore such land should be
taxed in proportion to its value in such
places.
Then Mr.. George "goes for the pope. +"
He says his holiness continually confuses
private ownership in land with private
possession Of land. The single tax advo-
Gates believe in private possession of
lands, but not in private ownership Of
lands The benefits his holiness men
tions as accruing from private owner
ship come not from that fact, but from
individual possession of land which in the
ideal state can be transferred from one
lessee to another, and otherwise passed
from one persons occupancy to another's,
without enabling the individual possess
or, as the owner now does, to lay up an
immense fortune at the expense of the
general community, to whom all the
''unearned increment" Of the land right
fully belongs. not to the individual BY
allowing individuals to not only occupy
but also to own land, the poor grow
poorer and the rich grow richer. The
country becomes barren and untitled.
the cities are crowded with poor who
are unable to find work, cheated out of
their rightful inheritance by the great
landlords.
Mr.. George complains that his holiness
classes single tax advocates with the So
cialists- He has no faith in any kind OF
socialism, state or otherwise, to better
the condition Of the poor, SO long as they
are cheated out of their rightful share
Of the common property In the soil. He
does not even believe the state can do as
much as his holiness thinks it can in the
regulation Of hours of labor, wages, etc.
Leo XIII quoted Scripture to Justify pri-
vate ownership in land. Henry George
quotes it back again to show that such
ownership was expressly forbidden, as in
the Mosaic code. which provided for the
reversion of land every fiftieth year.
also in the following passage from that
code:
The land alsoshall not be sold forever, be-
cause It II mine. and you are strangers and
journers with me.
AS Americans we may point with
pride to the fact that our own Henry
George can quote Scripture with the
best of them. He likewise quotes Pro
fessor Thorold Rogers to the effect that
under the feudal system in the Thir-
teenth century, there was no class SO
poor, SO helpless, SO oppressed and de-
graded as are millions of the Englishmen
in our boosted Nineteenth century, AS
to Pope Leo's encyclical on the labor
question, 1t merely ''gives the Gospel to
the laborers and the earth to the land
lords.
Mr.. George believes the kingdom OF
heaven will reign on earth when man
kind adopt simply the political economy
taught in the golden rule:
We see that the law OF justice. the law OF
The golden rule, Is not mere counsel OF per-
lection. but indeed the law OF social Life We
see that II We were only to observe it there
would be work for all. leisure for all, album
dance for all; and that civilization would
tend 70 give to the poorest not only necessa-
rtes. but all comforts and reasonable luxuries
as well. We see that Christ was not a mere
dreamer when he told men that II they would
seek the kipotlnun NJ (s..1 onI tx ~.
they might no more worry about material
things than do the lilies Of the field about
their raiment; but that he was only declaring
what political economy In the light OF modern
discovery shows 70 be . sober truth.