New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-12-14
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
HENRY GEORGES LAST WORK.

Henry George, Author OF Progress, and ID, Pow
erty," etc Octave, PIP xxH'S' Do Douo'eoas'
Mcclure e. Co
Those who admired the earnestness and the
literary concentration OF that popular book
progress and Poverty" will perhaps be disap-
ponted in the present work. Without being
elaborate IL is nevertheless difruse. 1t is not
easy to divine the necessity Of the philosophy
and psychology with which the book begins
Strict definitions OF such words as matter. spirit
and energy. wherever IT was found necessary to
NE them. The authors excessive bitterness
toward all the modern schools OF political econo-
mists distracts attention from his own argu-
ment What his declarations seem to imply Is
that nothing was really accomplished In the de-
yelopment Of the science between the date on
Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations" and the
date Of Progress and Poverty" In that case.
It would have suficed TO make clear Aoam
Smiths position. set forth the doctrines OF the
French Physiocrats. whom Mr.. George clameo
as his own predecessors. and then proceed with
his own theory Of wealth. II political economy
was the dismal science before. II now becomes
doublv lugubr!ous when II Is reduced 10 a his
tory OF books that have been written and the
errors that have been made all OF which the
historian takes on himself 10 pronounce not
science but obstacles TO science. AFTER all tnis
Mr. George gets to his own definition or wealth.
namely, that "in the polito-econom'c sense
Consists in natural substances that have been
On ACQUIRED moved combined or altered by hu-
man labor as 10 fit them for human SAUSAGE
ton" However great the difficulty OF analysis
wealth is always to be expressed In terms oi
labor IL consists Of things that have Vaiue
and the estimate upon these Is the amount OF
labor that II Will cost in general to get them
,l,o+x ate q
all those things that have value Mr.. George
dissents emphatically. He distinguishes be-
tween the wealth Of an individual and the wealth
OF the community at large An individual may
be accounted rich who holds quantity OF the
community's bonds. But the people a whole are
so much the poorer until these bonds are paid.
and when the bonds paid they better
off than II the bonds had never existed. Mr.
George is very positive about this. He looks
upon a nation In the light thrown by Hobbies.
as huge living creature in which the individual
men are the atoms Possibly he is behind the
times on this point Government nowadays
looks more or less Ike vast corporate which
the people deal with as they do with every
other corporation. by paying IT for its services
When this corporation finds itself confronted by
an exceptional task for which its present pay
is not adequate II asks tor loan. II the people
have no confidence In 1t. or lack the cash, II goes
10 other populations with its appeal. and thus
obtains the valuables which will enable it TO
perform its task II this task is a useful one
It adds something to the efficiency OF the nation
as a whole. and this increased efficiency turns
out after a while as wealth obvious 10 the
political economist. The debt Of the govern
ment is thus seen to be part of elaborate
machine by which labor is performed. just as 1t
IS performed by the steam engine. You can
cipher out the work Of an engine in terms OF
human labor and you ought 10 be able TO cipher
out the work that a national loan does in the
same way. But Mr.. George condemns this arith-
metical method in political economy as If it
We're something unnatural But, even agreeing
with him that a nation Is just Hobbes's Levia
than and nothing else. it seems as If a national
debt might not be the worse than useless thing
which he makes it out to be. For in that case
the individuals TO the nations the living
cells are 10 the animal organism. A at
given task in the long run makes use Of certain
cells more than others. and these flourish at the
expense Of others. The brain cells Will borrow
and consume the whole strength Of the body
rather than give UP the task they have been
trained TO do 1t is the same way In the body
polite. BY fair means foul-Mr George says
foul-the government loan gets stored in those
human cells that can get the most work out Of
IT, and 1t works for this minority Of the people.
IT helps them TO do things that they would not
do without IT. to build church a school
a library. or set up a picture gaery--and these
In the end become useful TO the community. Mr..
George characteriZes the methods by which these
results are obtained better than robbery.
This moral aspect Of the business fills his vision
TO the exclusion OF the fact that good library
built by thief can be just useful one
built by paragon Of all the virtues. The only
defect in this is that not all Of what is thus
absorbed by the few gets back TO the com
munity in an obvious form. Mr.. Georges plan
for getting IT all back from individuals for the
benefit Of ali the people is set forth better in
his former work than in the present one.
The question Of national debt illustrates his
position to the whole mass OF wealth COM
prised in obligation as compared with wealth
comprising actual productions. The former is
not wealth at all to the people collectively. 1t
comprises the labor OF others which one can
command. His most significant example is that |
OF slavery In which the exchangeable commod- |
fly is the obligation Of class Of men to labor
for another class. The point he makes is that
the estimated worth of all the slaves in the
United States was not wealth. except TO the |
elave-owners. 1t was private wealth. but an /
actual burden on the people at large. This is a |
conclusive case and yet everybody is aware that /
the direct interests OF the Shareholders were only
a part OF the intricate machinery Of human eff
fort. in which slavery constituted the driving
wheel. Suppose that the author is right In de- /
fining the whole modern Industrial system S a
species Of slavery. and so necessarily violation
of the natural laws OF a true political economy !
Nevertheless. II must be in agreement with nat
ura laws to stand at all. These natural laws
ne
sets forth for the simple reason that they
tain an actual fabric while he only claims to
have raised a theory. This theory. II II ever
came TO be practical thing would have to be