Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-05-28

world into a slaughter house and ulti-
mately made every human being 20
selfish that he can hardly any longer,
by the utmost strain Of his powers, pre-
fer another to himself, can as little be
doubted as denied. Is it not possible
that the doctrine of limitations applied
to property might rob it of its power to.
curse and promote its power to bless?
1t is not property moderated and linn
tied, but only the want Of it, or the law
less excess of it, that curses the world.
1t Is the too-much or the two-little that,
blasts the hopes Of men. There is q
vast area Of intermediate possessions
between the extremes Of poverty and
wealth, that is almost an unmixed
blessing.
We may note also that 1t is in this in
termediate and wholesome region, be-
tween the extremes of want and sur
felt, that the genius of the world and all
of its saving forces are born and econo-
mized. We are accustomed to say that
genius has its birthplace in poverty.
This opinion prevails because in some
conspicuous instances the children Of
the humble poor rise to the godliks
stature. That any one so born should
rise at all is thing so remarkable as
to attract the attention of the world
and to favor the opinion that only the
children Of poverty can be great. In
few instances the children Of the rich
are born great also. But the rule is
that the greatness and power of human
life proceed from the intermediate con-
lition in which there is neither abiect
poverty nor Astounding riches. In this
there Is an emphatic suggestion Of the
principle Of limitation applied to prop
erty; and here the debate properly be-
gins. If society could agree that prop
erty shall freely exist, that every man
shall have for his part all that he earns
by his labor and skill, and no more,
men indeed would not be equal in their
possessions, but poverty on the one
hand would cease, and the glut Of
riches on the other hand would disap-
pear. Those who have nothing-and
starve-would rise into the vast and
healthy body Of society composed Of
those who have something and live.
Those who have too much-and surfeit
would be drawn back from excess,
and would be absorbed in the great
body from which in an evil day they
were permitted to escape.
What follows? 1t follows as the
night the day that somewhere between
the right to own the valley of the Mis-
sissippi or the whole United States a
line Of limitation must be laid, over
which no power known among men
may be allowed to pass. To pass this
line is to prepare the antecedents Of
the inevitable enslavement Of mankind.
1t is thus perfectly clear that restric-
ton on land-ownershlp is a necessity
OF the situation which has supervened
in human society. The principle Of
unlimited ownership cannot be longer
admitted II civil and industrial liberty
is to be maintained as a part of the
rights Of man. 1t is already absurd to
speak Of unlimited land ownership, or
to attempt to defend 1t. doubt
whether any man in his senses here in
the high light of the last decade Of a
great century will dare to champion the
supposed right of an individual or Of q
corporate body to own the five states
of our great northwestern group, or to
own one Of them, or a quarter Of one Of
them. II there be such, he and l diff.
fer toto coelo and forever.