New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-04
GEORGES NEW WORK.
AN ASSAULT ON HERBERT SPENCER.


methods OF his synthetic philosophy. Mr.. Georges
primary object is to defend his positions on
great subject which has engrosScd his attention and
brought him into the front rank of controversial
writer's of the time. When he opened his discus
sion Of the Land Question. he referred to Her
bert Spencer as authority who supported
his view respecting the inalienable and nat
ural right Of man TO land. AS MIR. George
explains the matter he was directly and
indirectly instrumental in giving TO Mr.
Spencer's earlier conclusions much greater clrcu
lation than his own books would have given them
If Mr. George Lad exercised greater sef-restraint
he would have admitted more mOdesty that it was
through his ability TO cite the passages from Mr.
Spencer's Social Ethics in relation to land that
he was enabled, young and unknown writer,
to command public attention and to force mis- way
into the field of controversy. Whatever may have
been the mutual obligations of these eminent
writer's, Mr. Spencers latest and most mature re-
Elections upon this subject have deprived Mr.
George of the advantage of which he made full
use at an earlier period. Since he can no longer
refer to Mr. Spencer as an authority on his own ,
side he is forced to regard him as an antagonist
who has ceased to be an independent, logical and
honest thinker This volume is deliberate at
tempt to discredit not only Herbert Spcncer's re-
vised and more carefully stated views on the land
cal and scientific investigation.
In ono respect at least Mr. George shows himself
to be an honorable critic and foeman worthy of
the philosophers steel The reader will find IN
this volume every word which Mr.. Spencer has
published on the land question from 1850 to 1892
The earliest passages IN Social States are re-
printed without the suppression of single SEN
tence: then follow Mr. Spencers famous letters to
THE ST. James's Gazette" and The Times lion
dom. under the head of Reputation; and finally
The last utterances in Justice are cited In full ana
critically examined. Not merely is the philoso-
pher treated with full justice, but there is no
attempt on the part of Mr.. George to bubble over
phrases or to break the force of what he considers
a recantaton. lie accepts MrAWpencers present
attitude as one of uncompronsinC hostility to the
authors own views of the only possible solution
of social and political problems Of the INT time
With the ground cleared and the main issue de-
fined. he challenges Mr. Spencer's soundncss as a
reasoner and his intellectual honesty, and after
ridiculing him rs q philosopher and pronouncing
him, with what we might describe as stark naked
candor, altogether contemplate as mamie makes
a direct attack upon the synthetic method and
system Of evolution that is essentially materalislc
in eliminating the spiritual element
II is needless TO state that the daectlcs OF this
book reveal refinement OF analytical powers ana
consummate argumentativc skill. Mr.. George Is
always direct in his method of attack He boldly
faces the entertainments in front of him and, con-
centratng his fire upon them. invariably attempts
10 carry them by storm. He does not have re-
course TO flank movements, or to any system OF
Gradual approaches but forces the lighting in the
open field with splendid energy and force, ana
always at short range His stEe is never hacking
in lucidity, and is trenchant and sparkling with
vivacity even when he Is dsentangling the SUD-
tletes of an abstract question OF ethics or eco
Monies CONTROVERSY is as the breath Of his life
Every page bears witness to the pleasure when
he finds in measuring swords with one OF the
greatest thinkers of the age.
His method is one of luminous simplicity. He
begins by proving that Mr.. Spencer in 1850 en-
pbaticaly denied the justice of the present system
of land ownership but that he subsequently seemed
anxious to explain away what he had said, ana
in his final work defended just what he had
originally denounced as unjust. The main portion
Of the book is devoted TO critical examination
Of the chapters in Justice in which the lana
question is discussed, and which disclose change
from cleverly reasoned opinion TO It's opposite
Mr. George contends that tho premises in Jus
tce" are the same as in Social States, but that
the conclusion is different ore, and one not
deducibc from them. That is 70 say, Mr. Spen
Ger, in now sustaining private property IN Iano'
asserts the same principle Of equal liberty from
which he originally deduced its condemnation
The critic is not content with showing tlat the
philosopher contralicts his first work when he
publishes the revised and cxpurgated edition, and
supplements it with labOred chapters in defence OF
ownership in land. lie cites Mr. Spenccrs own
formula of Justice and aflirms that the rights Of
existing landowners TO mOnopolize land on which
all must live are not deducible from the law OF
equal freedom. This is equivalent TO demon
stration of the inherent weakness of Mr.. Spencers
final argument as unsound and illogical without
reference to the lack OF continuity between the
earliest and the latest utterances Of the founder
Of the synthetic philosophy
What Mr.. George does is to present in those
passages on the land question a cross-section OF
Mr.. Spencer's philosophical writings; and when he
finds the grain running counter to his own social
theories, and, as he looks at it, out of harmony
with itself, lie condemns the whole system Of
social investigation as incongruous, and the phil
osopher himself as deficient in intellectual honesty
and in capacity for careful logical reasoning. La
his first book" he remarks, written when he
believed in God. in a divine order. in moral
sense, and which he has now emascuated. he
does appear as honest and fearless, though
sometimes too careless thinker. But that part
of our examination which crosses what is now his
distinctive philosophy shows him to be, as phil
oeopher ridiculous, as man contemptible-a
frowning Vicar OF Bray, clothing in pompous
pbraseology and arrogant assumption logical con-
fusions so absurd as to be comical
What Mr.. George does is to attempt to discrcdit
one OF the foremost thinkers and most profound
writers of the age time-serving charlatan and
hypocrite whose system of philosophy is radically
unsound and dishonest. And why? Because he
has chosen after the mature dcliberaton of life
time to suppress. passages from his earliest writ
incs from viii Mr. George had derived adven-
tjtious aid in the discussion Of the land question:
and to render it impossible for any social agitator