The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-26

OnQ refused TO be, because he came from
the United States, and there slavery was
not tolerated. He finally allowed him to
remain, and told him that he owned the
island, and when asked for the title to it
said that he had none to show, but the
land was his because he got there first.
Finally the first man told the second one
to get him his breakfast-go and kill bird,
cook it and serve it to him. He ate the
bird and gave the second man the gizzard,
saving that.that was the value of his labor.
That" said he, sis an illustration of
landlordism; the owner of the land gets
the bird and the producer gets the gizZard.
The landlord offers what he thinks labor
is worth and labor has to accept, but the
laborer who does that is 'scah.' There is
no difference between the island with two
men and this one in space with millions of
people. Ii l could assure you tonight
that the Central Pacific was to be thrown
open as great public highway, and that
inside of three months there would be one
million and half of people here, what
would be the result? Why more than half
of YOU would rush out of this hall and go
and buy town lots to hold them for the
purpose of selling them at advanced-high
advanced-rates to those who were on their
way, for you would reckon that they would
need land, and they would"
AS an illustration of rent and wages he
said that ON one occasion he with other
boys went to fish pond, spread their
net went into the pond, stirred the water
and drove the fish into the net, and when
they hailed in their net they distributed
the fish; he found that there were six
piles, when in fact there were but five
workers. When he asked to whom the
sixth pile was to go he was told that it was
for the man who owned the pond-the
man who did not stock the pond and who
had not done anything whatever to help
the fish to the point of distribution except
to sit on the fence and white while the
others did the work. In some instances
he said experience shows that the pond
owner would take the five piles and let the
workers take the sixth.
He then said that strikes were not the
means to increase wages. Police and mill
tary did not kill strikes; it was the surplus
of Ia Dor that forced a settlement.
Notice was given sixteen years ago by
Harry GEORGE said the speaker. 2that
there is a cloud on every title to land, and
every day proves that fact, and when the
single tax party is strong enough it will
demand the land for the benefit of the
masses. Then the landowners will say
that they want compensation for their
land, but they will be told that they pur-
chased with open eyes and full knowledge,
and what they did they did at their peril.
''Landlordism, " he said, sis the cause of
the terrible times in Nebraska, because
GiiOSc w lO wv IullIlOllS VI acres IN 1orLllo
countries by holding them drive people to
arid territories, where there can be no
products"
Passing through Texas on his wav here
he asked himself why the Creator did not
irrigate the lands there, which would make
the country paradise. The only answer
that he could find for it was that the
Creator had got tired of doing good for the
benefit of the landlord only.
The speaker then devoted his time to the
remedy for hard times and declared that
what is wanted is to preserve all that is
good and abolish all that is bad Abiding
to an article which declares that there are
idle hands for idle lands and asks how
they can be brought together, he said that
| all that was necessary was to remove the
men who prevented the idle hands from
locating on the idle lands.
Labor, he said, wanted the land. This
was now unused and is unproductive and
by giving it to the laborer the question of
labor troubles would be solved. He urged
that tax on real property only was the
remedy that would force the landlords to
give up their lands which they now held
for speculative purposes, and be forced to
dispose OF it so it should revert to those for
whom it was meant, the masses.
By means of charts and anecdotes the
lecturer showed the effects of overcrowd-
| ing, of holding for speculative purpose, of
overpreduction and of the manner in
which wealth and labor could be harmoni-
ously blended. Toward the close of the
lecture he read an extract from letter by
General Booth of-the Salvation Army to
show his colonization scheme, which
was supposed to be the solution of the
problem for the unemployed, but the
| general found when he wanted more land
| that the same class of land he had paid
$50 an acre for was held at $12OO-that, he
said, was the bane of all attempts to carry
out schemes such as contemplated by Gen
eral Booth.
! AT the close of his lecture he was loudly
| applauded, and then Congressman Ma
guire thanked the audience for its atten-
ton to the speaker.