The herald., 1895-11-13
THE CIVIC PARLIAMENT


% -o--N
supplv he flame OF the lamp, so does the
earth stpply our lives and our bodies.
Cut off ne flow Of oil, take away the
wick, AID the flame is gone. Cut us off
from tie earth and we dIe-we vanish.
How has all the wealth around us in
this world been made? By the labor of
mans hand and brain applied to land.
Whence comes all its substance? From
the land. Cut off labor from access to
the earth, and all production would cease
as Instantly and completely as all motion
cetsed when the spell OF enShantment was
thrown over the army OF Boabdtl the
Moor; all the wealth that is would dis
solve like the unsubstantial fabric of
vision, and in few short years hardly q
vestige of man or his works would remain
tn commemorate the dust into which all
else had crum bled.
In space. TO one man 1T says: This acre
Ia yours. And thereafter that man owns
an infinite portion of space in the shape
OF an inverted pyramid whose apex IS
the center Of the earth with q gradually
of the earth.it is what we call an acre.
But it does not stop there. 1t exteDds
upward, through the air. widening as It
goes, through the ether, past the stars.
on 10 in Unity. And this inverted pyra-
mid whirls com pletely around upon its
cry twenty-four hours.
Eight thousand miles away from the
apex of this pyramid, on top OF all the
ground in it. sits the owner in the center
of his acre-a monarch as absolute as
car. and yet helplessly whirled around
four hours. Who is he that he should
say: This Is miner" His body and his
strength come from this pyramid. His
years are three score and ten-he years
Of the pyramid are eternal. Yet, through
out the eternal years that are to come the
law gives him and those cisiml1s under
him the perpetual ownership and diApos-
sition of his pyramid. Did ne make this
pyramid? Nay, rather il anything, it
made hlm-frOm it he sprang-lt will en-
fold MIN and own him VIXEN he dies and
his body will become par. OF it.
But under the law he is the owner. His
brother, who also must have earth upon
which to live, If he venture to set foot
within that sacred square, is a trespasser
If he reach i. by a tunnel, males under
ground, he is o tresmsser-nay, even ii
he cross it any where in a balloon between
the earth and limitless sky, he is in the
theory Of the law trespasser
Now, does the dominion which the
law gives che owner over that acre cease
at his death. A century or so ago the
owner of some Of those acres in the city
of New York believed that people should
20 10 Deu ny CtNlulc llBut, anu lelt tuOSo
acres to the city as park on condition
that the gates should be closed at sunset.
"His bones are dust-his good sword
rust-his soul is with the saints, we
trust but no one of the present genera
tion of men has any right to that portion
OF the earth after sunset-the gates are
closed.
Is 1t not plain that all this is wrong
and absurd?
All the resources o. nature were in
tended b. .he Creator for all alike. If
He had intended the earth for some men
only, should He not have given to the
other men wings like the albatross which
flies without resting, or finish like the
fishes. All men are land animals. There
fore the land was intended for all men as
a NEUTRAL right. All men have an IN
nlienable right to life. Land Is necessary
to life. Therefore all men have an in
alienable right to land. Though all men
should today freely combine to vest the
title to all the earth in some man or set
of men-the feeble fingers Of the next
babe that was born would in the eye of
the law OF right tear such paper titles to
tatters Habit, tradition, and conven-
tionality are strong-0ut let us remem per
that all our land system comes from a
man surnamsd The Conquerer" from
his captains and generals who were called
''lords"w hose title deeds were written In
blood and sealed by the hilt of the sword,
WuOSc lduuIeSS eeTNdHbo W6Tt Cdlleu WIS.,
sails, taught to emulate the 10y atty OF the
dogs, companions with tn en- in their hail
OF their common masters. Let us look at
the right to land with clear eyes. If one
may rightfully own an acre, he may
rightfully own an island-and he or q set
of men may rightfuily own the earth. If
one may rightfully exclude all other men
from his acr', he may rightfully exclude
all othe- rien from his island, he or the
set Of men called landlords may right
fully exclude oil other from the earth.
No legal writer is more widely known
or more universally accepted as authority
than Blackstone. Listen to him:
There is nothing which so generally
strikes the imagination, and engages the
affection OF mankind, as the right of
property; or that sole and despotic do.
minion which one man claims and exer-
cises over the eternal things of the world,
in total exclusion of the right of any
other individual in the universe and yet
there are very few that will awe them
selves the trouble to consider the origin
and foundation of this right. Pleased as
we are with the possession, We seem
afraid to look back, to the means by
which it was acquired, as if fearful of
some defect in our title; or, at best, we
rest satisfied with the decision of the
laws in our favor, without examining the
reason or authority upon which these
laws have beenbuilt. We think it enough
LnaC our Title is derived Dy the grant OF
the former proprietor. by descent from
our ancestors, or by the last will and tes-
lament of the dying owner; not caring to
reflect that accurately and strictly speak.
ing) there is no foundation in nature or in
natural law why set of words upon
parchment should convey the domin ON
OF land, why the son should have a right
to exclude his fellow creatures from de-
terminate spot of ground, because his
father had done so before him. These
inequalities, it must be owned, would be
useless and even troublesome in com n. on
life. 1t is well if the mass of mankind
will obey the laws when made, without
scrutinizing too nicely into the reasons of
making them"
Is it not clear, then, that our laws per-
mitting private ownership IN land are
fundamentally wrong, that they violate a
funda mental right of property, and if SO,
is it not fair Inference tha at such funda.
mental wrong will work itself out to the
surface to the injustice, the want, the
idleness, the misery and the crime whose
presence is expressed in that phrase SO
familiar to all--"the labor question:" In
other words, the labor question IS the
land question.
EFFECT On PRODUCTION
If farm had various grades OF land
nom the most fertile to the poorest, we
would think the farmer foolish to cult
vats the poorest land and leave the most
fertile TO lie idle. But the agricultural
land OF the world is used very much in
that way, Millions of farmers scratch
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