The Portland daily press., 1900-12-12
CONCERNING hooks.

Messrs Doubleday & Mcclure port
land, LorlnS. short q Harmon } have
recently published the Life of Henry
George, by his ison. Henry George, Jr
the volume being dedicated 'To all who
strive for the Reign of Justice" The
work is q vaiua BILE and interesting one
and delightfully."- written, the son evil
IDENTITY being quite in harmony with his
fathers views, and In sympathy with
the trend of his thought, feeling and
efforts for the benefit of his kind, for
Henry George was "a practical philan-
throp1st, in the very highest sense OF the
term.
His career was varied and extraordi-
nary. In 1855, at the age of sixteen, the
boy went to sea, before the mast, and In
1858 worked his passage to California.
thence to Vancouver's Island, IN Puget
Sound. There, where, he had hoped to
find gold, he acquired nothing but a
rather trying experience. Returning to
san Francisco. dead broke" Henry
George sought employment in u printing
office as typesetter. AT the age Of twenty
two, and with hardly penny in his
pocket, he made a runaway marriage.
This rash act was followed by a season of
extreme privation for the young couple.
Meantime a child was born to them, and
while Mr.. George found some scant and
irregular work in a newspaper Office, the
young mother paid the rent of q small
house by sewing for her landlady.
But fortune had better things In store
for them, and In 1865, while still en-
ployed in a printing office, and on the
daily newspapers, MIR. George began his
career of writing and iecturi ng, while
at the same time he worked upon his
Progress ana Poverty, the book which
was to make him famous,
Through his political speeches and leo
lures at the University OF California, he
soon became known to the public, and
in 1879 his great treatise was published.
OF course he could not be sure that his
book would quickly become famous, but
his heart was in 1t; he felt that he was
writing the truth, and this urged him
on. OF the night in which he completed
the final chapter of Progress and Poverty,
he subsequently wrote: ~ felt that the
talent entrusted to me had been account
ed forfeit more fully satisfied, more
truly grateful than II all the Kingdoms OF
the earth had been laid at my feet 10
another friend he said: "When hal fin
ished the last mage. in the dead of night,
when 1 was entirely alone, l flung my
eelf on my knees ana wept Ike q child.
The rest was in my Master hands,"
Into chs strong work on political econ
omy MIR. George put his whole soul. 1t
was his religion, and his creed The APP
pletons at first declined to publish the
book, thinking it Every aggressive"
Many who had read the manuscript oou-
ceded It's ability, but objected to Its doc
trines, considering 1t revolutionary In
character.
Finally Mr. George decided to have 1t
printed and sold by subscription, but at
this point, receiving proDosAl from ID.
Appleton & Co., to publish the book,
he gladly accepted the offer. Such a
work as this would not appeal to the
masses at the outset, but only to the
thoughtful minority. Thus Progress and
Poverty was slow In making its
way. but it, and its author, hal strong
friends, and Francis G. Shaw of Staten
Island, one of whose daughters had mar
ried George William Curtis, bought one
thousand comics of the best edition, to
place In the libraries throughout the
country.
OF Mr. Georges subsequent career, OF
the full recognition of him by the
people, as q political and social power
for purity and strength ;-ot his acceptance
OF the nomination for the smayoraIty of
Greater New York; Of the tragedy of his
sudden death at the crucial moment, one
need not speak. All this Is too recent,
and made too great an impression to
be so SOON forgotten. OF him, napsr OF
another faction said: Stricken down In
the moment of supremest confidence,
Henry George. the idol Of the people, is
dead. He was more than a candidate for
office. more than politician, more than
a Statesman. He was thinker whose
work belongs to the worlds literature
y As thinker, a philosopher. a
writer, he was great; but he was greatest
as an apostle OF truth as he saw it, an
evangelist, carrying the doctrines of JUS
tics and brotherhood to the reInotest cor
ners Of the earth. His life, as written
by his son, is most impressive, sympa-
thetic, and intensely interesting.
1t is a rather singular coincidence that