New-York tribune., 1901-04-20
HENRY GEORGE.
THE LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE. BY His Son.
Henry George jr. Octave, PIP. 6S4. Doubleday
q Mcclure Company.

Henry George 1r. Octave, PIP. 634 Doubleday
& Mcclure Company
The fame of Henry George has passed its
highest point. The book that created much
discussion no longer occupies a conspicuous
place. and the economic theories it expounded
are gaining no headway. Nevertheless a man
with much force of character. and of so
active a career. might we'll be made the sub
ject of a biography. That which his has
written with all filial devotion-and with
preme confidence in the magnitude of his hero
is, we regret to say. a disappointing volume.
1t is composed with little if any literary skill,
and is without the interesting quality which
one expects to find.
The restlessness that to characterize
Henry Georges whole life manifested itself in
early boyhood, when he left his Philadelphia
home for voyage to the antpodes in the little
ship Hindoo. 1t showed also in his brief ap-
premiership 10 printer on his return, where
by he was launched in the trade that he pur-
sued till his book made him famous; in his
taking sea passage to California in the Gov
ernment steamer Shubrick to better his con-
dition; in his Joining the rush to the Fraser
River his arrival at San Francisco In 1893
and his speedy return thither dead broke
There is little in any of these adventures how
ever or in the numerous letters and diary ex-
tracts that reveals the least departure from the
ordinary juvenile point of view. The record OF
his life in San Francisco Is Of unceasing
vicissitude: of employment in the printing
Offices varied by advances into journalism as
editorial writer and managing editor. They
were usually hard times and the young man
and his growing family came near to starvation.
On the morning of his first babys birth he was
absolutely without money. He walked the street
and made up his mind TO stop the first stranger
whose appearance might indicate that he had
money to give. He did so. and the stranger gave
him So. IF he had not" said George, many
years later "I think I desperate enough to
have killed him
His first work a a writer, dutifully reproduced
by the son. shows that he was already enlisted
for what he considered his great crusade against
capitalism. and that he was already alarmed
for the safety of republican institutions. The
Chinese immigration question then seemed
vital one and of Henry Georges early
writing was directed against this menace lie
ELECTED a long letter from John Stuart Mil on
this subject commencing his economic state
ment of the case but denying the higher justice
Of the stand he took Needless TO say that
George was early and inveterate enemy OF
the railroads in California, and that he entered
the field as one Of their most aggressive oppo-
nents From this to the formation of his land
theories was not a long step. This formulation
1871 He did not begin Progress and Poverty
till six years later; that book occupied him about
two years That it a product of original
and independent thought is clear He was never
student of other mems economics. He himself
tells how before writing his articles on the
Chinese labor question wishing to know what
political economy had to say about the causes
of wages" he went to library and Cooked
over" Mills Political Economy" accepting his
IIa oil In
sisted, however. that he had worked out his
theory without aid He had never heard Of the
French investigators who had anticipated him;
and said that il was "a mistake to which crit
les who are themselves mere compilers are liable,
to think that men must draw from one another
to see the same truths or fall into the same
errors
His personal traits are. Of course, described
bv his biographer who gives divers anecdotes IL
Illustrating his habits of thought. his methods or
work and SO on. The closeness of his compan-
ionship with his wife is attractive. They read
and worked together. and some extracts from
his letters that are given are full OF devotlon
though they like almost everything else that
relatee TO his personality have little individual
itv Such glimpses as the biographer gives OF
the personal quality Of the man fall to remove
this impression. There is little that Is much
more striking than one anecdote told 10 sho"
his preoccupatoa while at work on progress
and Poverty:
One day at lunch he sat down In dreamy
wav drew a dish of cold stewed tomatoes low
ard him, and helped hlmseir pountl1 i1 u,S, ~ ,ad
he was very fond of them. BY the time ne haa
eaten them the other edibles were served
Presently his eyes fell upon tne Iorha.oes "a a.
the further end Of the table Well, he salo
with some asperity, lam l not to have any to-
matoes? Don't you know like them?
The story OF the reluctant acceptance of the
hook. its publication, it's advance into popular
itv. the consequent speedy fame brought to its
author and his immediate plunge into the home
Rule conflict in Ireland as offering an opportu-
nifty TO apply his theories. is an interesting one
His progress through Ireland and England In
1881 was full Of exciting and dramatic lnchdents
In 1854 ne went again to England, when times
were less stirring; but he himself and his pook
were the objects OF much attention from hlsh
a 1oyv His activity in connection with New
Work. nolitics is fresh in the memory of most
Nevvyorkers By far the best and most sig
nificant chapters in the book are those devoted
70 these episodes which are reported with full
detail II not always with literary effectiveness
Nothing in his late years, as those VIII rernem-
her who followed his career. did he consider
bevond him in the field Of thought. He was
etching to get at Huxley, whom ne iarnpoohs
~, ono occasion as Professor Bullhead"; he in
tended to transfix Spencer-whom he thought
70 he "going insane from vanity''-and not only
bis views on the Irish land question. but the
whole evolutionary philosophy as we'll The
Pernlexed Philosopher contains the tremen-
dous indictment" as the son calls 1t; but Spencer
never even noticed the book, and 1T awakened
NO general demonstration IN press or period
;ca1s" while the evolutionary philosophy still
subsists