The herald., 1896-12-06
member of the national con-
gress of the United States:

tlnSulSneQ member OF the national con-
gress of the United States:
Separated from the land" says Judge
Mcguire. man must perish, just as fish
would perish on being separated from the
water, which is his element. Therefore.
if man has natural and inalienable
right to life, liberty and to the pursuit
of happiness, he must have a natural
and equally inalienable right to the
means which the Creator, who gave him
life, has freely and abundantly provided
for his support. There can be no right
to life more sacred than the right to
the means of sustaining life. You take
my life when you do take the means by
which l live Liberty is impossible to
one man so long a s another man controls
his means of living"
Now we address ourselves briefly to
the important question whether land
monopolization is consistent with the
wholesome evolution of the race The
question involves an inquiry into the
nature and constitution of man.
The history of evolution, from monad
to man" is not within our province; but
we are warranted in saying that when
Man came into this world, then came
Mind. My Lord Bacon has said: "The
first creature of God in the works of the
days was the light of the sense; the last
was the light ofreason: ard His Sabbath
work ever since is the illumination of
his spirit" And, hence. it has come to
pass that humanitarian conceptions
never fail to conquer the world. They
may be delayed i'll their MAJ ch, across
the realms and across the ages, by the in
ertld OF an unenlightened seltishness, but
their progress is inevitable, their move
ment resistless as the coming of the
dawn, and they stand at last transfigured
on the vantage ground of truth" where
all men eyes are opened TO them and
all men hearts acknowledge them.
What is deducible from the foregoing
fact concerning the human race? Sim
ply this: That the instinct of justice,
equity, is practicable of humanity. What
then. does equity dictate as to the pro-
priety of land monopoly? on this point
l desire to cite the dictum of the great
est living philosopher and student of
mankind, Herbert Spencer. Equity"
he says, does not permit property in
land. For II one portion of the earth 5
surface may justly become the posses
sion of an Individual. and may be held
by him for his sole use and benefit as a
thing to which he has an exclusive right,
then other portions of the earth's sur
face may be SO held and our planet may
thus lapse altogether into private hands.
Observe, now, the dilemma to which this
leads. Supposing the entire habitable
globe to be so enclosed it follows that
its surface all who are not land owners
have no right at all to its surface. Hence
such can exist on the earth by suffer-
ance only. They are all trespassers.
Save by the permission of the lords of
the soil, they can have no room for the
soles of their feet Nay, should the
others think tit to deny them a resting
place, these landless men might eQuit-
ably be expelled from the earth alto
gether. Ii, then, the assumption that
land can be held as property involves
that the whole globe may become the
private domain of a part Of its inhabit-
ants. and if, by consequence, the rest OF
its inhabitants can exercise their fac
ulties-c can then exist. even-only by
consent of the land owners, it is manifest
that an exclusive possession of the soil
necessitates an infringement Of the law
Of equal freedom. For men who cannot
live and move and have their being with
out the leave of others cannot be equally
free with these Others" y..e
Now it follows from this dictum, if the
court please, that the. practice of land
sequestration and monopolizaton is a
violation of the equitable instincts-the
moral nature implanted in man-and
hence, must initiate against his whole
some evolution. That eminent French
savant and student of the science oi
government, De Toqueville. says in his
Democracy in America. Men are moi
corrupted by the exercise of power. mol
are they debased by the habit ~ obedi-