The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-30


and friend, and the head of family. said
one VINO Is near TO him, Henry George is
the Justest, the most considerable the sweet
| est and most lovable of men, For some
| ing the leisure and the matured thought OF
| his ripened life to the composition OF an
| elaborate work on the Science OF Political
| Some of the chapters / have seen and am
| acquainted with the books scheme 1t
shows no decline In power but there is in
| it what there is in George himself-a miIdar
tone. He had sat down in his evening to
( tell before night came AL he the ught of the
| world liz which he found himself-to face its
| problems and offer his solutions. His alb
| sorption ~ this vast task. pleasure to
him. was complete until the call to the
n1ayoralty contest came. Then he woke up
as a pasturing war-horse might at the
bugle's blast, and he is the old Henry
George again that knew in San Francisco
when he. was in his thirties and up to his
ears in his newspaper fights.
STRUGGLE IN CALIFORNIA.
THAT long. hard ard bitter struggle In
California, often humiliating, often discour-
aging, but never crushing or dishonoring
was Henry Georges university. 1t developed
and knitted his character, trained his moral
muscle. and made him sufficient unto him
SELF For his mind the experience had an
exceptional advantage, which he acknowl-
edges in his first book Unlike other stu
dents of social causes and effects, he was
sent him with primitive conditions and to
pilot him through the mazes of higher de-
velopment. In California he saw society
grow from its simplest elements into the
finished compleXity of modern civilization.
Though an actor in the drama he was also
a spectator. He lived in a laboratory as
well as in the library. Hence his firm grasp
on the fundamental things which so often
elude able minds that have not seen them
with the actual eye, but must search for
them under confusing layers of institutional
superimpostion. Also his California school,
ing gave him that comprehension of the
mind, the needs, the passions, the preju-
dices, the aEpiratiors the limitations, the
possibilities, the inner soul of the common
man. Not the commonplace man, but the
common man, the man at the base OF the
structure. George was out of work with the
voorhees,, hungry with the hungry, and all
whose daily problem is subsistence were
Georges own daily cares for years. The
man of his political economy therefore, is
not that machile-made monster created 10
make and consume wealth ana operated
only by the iron law of wages-the eco
nomic fnan-but the human man, who loves
and hates and has children, and is conscious
of ambitions as he works.
THE panic year of 1893 gave him an OPP
portunity to apply in practice his financial
theories, and to illustrate happily for his
friends the iniQuity of his private ownership
of land and public franchises. The proprie-
tors of some large manufactures in small
town were about TO shut down, as money
was not to be had. This would have thrown
many men out of employment and lost TO
proportion of them their homes, partly paid
for On the advice of Mr. George the en-
ployers deposited government bonds, Sc
curities resting on the good faith of the gov
eminent with a New York trust company.
The latter then issued certificates against
these bonds in denominations of from 81 10
$40 The men accepted the certificates as
notes for their wages, the merchants OF the
place oO TOOK COX tnem as notes dor felr ere
issued and went into circulation, the fac
tories were kept going, nobody lost ana MT.
George claimed a triumph for fiat money.
TN
ION the morning of the day upon which
Mr.. George resolved to be a candidate for
mayor of New York there was, at his re-
quest, meeting of friends to advise him.
They came to the number of thirty, and it
was for it's size a notably representative
gathering There were few business men,
two of them rich in lands as in other de-
sirable things, several lawyers, some leaders
in the labor unions, a few practical and
more impractical politicians and journal
list or two. The average grade of intelli-
gence was high. The least impressive per-
son present was the occasion or the assem-
bling. Mr. George sat in the midst, his
small stature and inattention to the nlceteS
of apparel accentuated by the large and
Well-GreSSed plutocratS (but ferVld single
taXers) who hanked him. The light shone
on his dusty shoes and on his Spectacles,
through which he blinked. Advice poured
upon him. There were friends who urged
his health and his unfinished book as rea-
sons why he should not run; others talked
inspiring or depressing generalites; others
went into figures. There was not man
there who did not at the beginning feel per-
fectly competent to guide Mr. George In
politics and in all the things of common life.
At the end there was not a man there VINO
mentally did not stand hat in hand before
his superior practical sense. He talked less
than anybody else, asking questions chiefly,
and wound UP by putting the case pro and
con so Simplify that the matter was clear
at once to everybody, and all Joined in say
ing Decide it for yourself, Mr.. George. and
whatever your decision may be 1T is ours
The rest had given their thoughts TO con-
siderations of expediency, chances of fall
ure or success or the effect of the canvass
upon him. Henry George went straight to
the core of the matter and dealt only with
the question Is it right that l should do
this? Am / needed by my causeY In the
presence of simplicity and unselfishness the
wisdom Of the shrewd became as foolishness
to them. There was no doubling his sim
certify. When he said, I live to advance
this cause, and if it takes my health or HE
and that is needed / am ready he said 1t
with no flourish, but quietly, as another
man might say he was ready to make some
sacrifice of time and business for his party.
The thirty who met divided in opinion went
away as one, and that one on fire with de-
votion to Henry George and lifted to his
plane for the hour"