The herald., 1897-07-13

landlords, like all other men, love to
reap where they never sowed, and
demand a rent, even for its natural pro-
duce." We remember, not so very Ions
ago, when two or three men down in
Orange county tried to patent Night
and these men, sad to relate, were Popu-
lists.
Hence from private ownership of land
arises the whole miserable question OF
what is specifically termed economic
rent" term which has been variously
called "unearned increment" 'watered
stock" difference in value between
any particular piece of land and the very
worst piece that can be cultivated-this
difference, of course. accruing to the
owner simply by virtue of his owner
ship. Again, economic rent is always
on the increase because of the increase
of population, improved facilities for
increasing productivity, etc; whereas
the wages of the dependent laborers are
bound to be in inverse ratio, and must
| steadily but surely tend towards the
merest pittance and finally to nothing
at all. Neither is this a mere theory,
either, but a thing we can any of us
observe or study out for ourselves if we
| care to take the time. 1t is time well
spent, too; something that our young
men should stop to consider for a space
instead of joining militia company and
learning to beat a drum, toot a bugle
or carry gun. Indeed, know of moth
ing sillier than for young men to be
| squandering their time in this manner,
like little boys as though the greatese
threat against our country today were
from the hostile spirit manifested toward
us by England, France and Germany
instead of from ignorance. poverty. star
walton. Two or three months easy read
ing of standard authors on economics
would soon dispel the mental fog that
encompasses the minds of the voters,
our party platforms would take on an
air of authority and respect, and our
candidates for office. we might hope
would be chosen from a multitude of
political economists, rather than from
| the usual crop of fakirs seeking soft
job.
Now as to the moral or sentimental
| basis of Socialism. 1t will be seen from
what has already been stated that, with
private ownership of the earth, countless
numbers of men have no chance to work
and make living for themselves, as
| it is by the application of labor to land
that the human race has hitherto kept
itself fed. clothed and sheltered. Not
only is it this generation, but all pos
terity that has been robbed and denied
thing which affords striking exam
pie of the comparative hospitality that
this world extends, for instance, to men
and rattlesnakes. Man at BIRTH" says
Professor Sumner of Yale, has no more
rights to the earth than has the young
rattlesnake when it is born into thu
world" To which Hamlin Garland re-
piled: Il accept that issue. Will you
concede to him the same rights? The
young rattlesnake when it comes into
the world does not find all the cosy
swamps taken up by some monopolistic
|rattlesnakes who happened to get there
before it did, and who stand armed with
a mortgage or a deed to charge the new
conner a rental for a piece of swamp in
which to live"
And so we see that even posterity is
fettered, that the babe unborn is already
heavily in debt and by the time he opens
his eyes and grows to manhood his debt
will have increased exactly in proper
ton to the increase of economic rent
in his so-called native" land. Then as
the pressure of population increases, all
the free land having been given to rail-
roads, and the newcomers being forced
backward into the cities instead of out
wards upon the broad prairieS, and
downwards beneath the steady crush
and tramp of men seeking jobs in the
cities the same as himself, he becomes
restless, disheartened, discouraged. He
gets a job at low salary-notwith-
standing the fact that statisticians of
the stamp of Edward Atkinson can mus
ter up long columns of figures proving
that wages are steadily increasing
with smaller merchant or manufactur-
er, only to lose it again when the mer-
chant is forced into bankruptcy by the
department store or the manufa cturer
| is forced into the trust or is paid
$100, 900 per annum to suspend opera
tions. And he is told by men who un-
derstand these things that trusts and
| department stores are beneficent, that
| they check waste and that business of
all kinds is tending to concentration. OF
course he doesn't understand it; he
knows nothing about evolution; all he
sees is that the more waste. is checked
the more men are thrown out of en-
| ployment that the machine which pro-
duces wealth is no longer owned by the
individual but by the trust or capitalist,
| and that consequently few men al the
! top are getting enormously wealthy by
virtue of their ownership of the ma
chine Thinking and seeing only this
he becomes STEPPED in misery up to the
eyelids, prowling round the city by day
| in the vain endeavor to get job that
| " hv
and sleeping al night on the stone flag
ging of the city hall corridor with his
arm for a pillow and a newspaper that
makes sport of him for a mattress
Compelled to be on his feet all day until
8 o'clock at night in vainly seeking that
| job which none of his thousands of COM
panions seem able to find eating only at
long intervals and then of the scantiest
and poorest that can be found, he begins
| to sicken, his feet swell almost to the
knees; between the pain of his body and
misery at his heart he drops in the street,
and ah now there is hope for him.
He is picked up, taken to the hospital,
tenderly nursed and cared for, and when
he finally comes forth again with his
! mind clear but his health shattered, he
drifts along with crowd going to hear
Robert G. Ingersoll deliver a lecture.
mo, SIR cries Bob, hitting the table
with his fist, I'VE cannot afford to sell our
| liberties for Socialism," Poor fool! Poor