The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-06-22
BY Joseph EeIs.


iF'rOm an address delivered at the annual
meeting of the American Society
for the Extension of Uni
versity EducatiOn.)
As practical man of affairs | have
nesitated 10 speak before this meeting.
But / have long been interested in help
ing 10 change public opinion in matters
that clearly demand new adjustments:
ana especially IN those affecting the use
or the land. Thus my aim, in its modest
way, is the same as yours. and so | have
accepted your invitation TO tell you some
thlng or my personal experience with
English public opinion and the land
My own general point of view is ex-
pressed in the following letter written to
a friend in America by Thomas Jeffer-
son while he was travelling In France in
1885:
Earth Common Stock for Mankind.
The property Of this country is abso-
lutely concentrated in a very few hands,
having revenues of from half a million
OF guineas a yeaI downwards These
employ the flower of the country as SER
wants. some of them having as many as
zoo domestics not labOring. But after all
these comes the most numerous of all
classes, that is, the poor who cannot find
work. / asked myself what could be the
reason so many should be permitted to
beg who are willing to work in a coun-
Try where there is a very considerable
portion of uncultivated land. These lands
game.
Whenever there is in any country un-
cultivated lands and unemployed Door il
is clear that the laws of property have
been so lar extended as to violate natural
right The earth is given as a common
stock for mankind to labor and live in
II Tor the encouragement of industry we
allow II TO be appropriated, we must take
care that other employment be provided
10 those excluded from the appropriation
II we do not, the fundamental right to
laDof the earth returns to the unem-
ployed. IL is too soon yet in our country
10 say that every man who cannot find
employment. but who can find unculti-
waited land. shall be at liberty to cultivate
it, paying a moderate rent. But il is not
TOO soon 10 provide by every possible
means that as few as possible shall be
without a little portion of land The
small land holders are the most precious
part of the state"
To these sentiments IL seems TO
me that no exception can be
taken. The land, Including its
waters and its mines. is the basis of an
wealth and the source from which every
nation draws ITS new generations of
strong men and women. In this sense it
is the determining factor in all national
Not only the conditions of land owner
ship. but the whole attitude of people
towards land is different I'm England from
what II is here. With population of
>.
four-fifths of the land is in the hands of
$4,000 landlords, While some districts are
denSely populated, vast tracts are unOc-
cupied and uncultivated. reserved for
pleasure parks and shooting grounds. 1t
is difficult TO get an acre of ground,
though it may be easier to buy 800 or
Loco acres.
But the great difference between our
land conditions and those of England is,
after all. one of sentiment. The land in
America is a power only so far IS cen
nOmic conditions are concerned; but in
Great Britain it has a much larger influ-
ence. There il means not only the power
which money and monopoly can always
WELD. but it also stands for social and
political power and for civic influence.
On this account the possession OF land /
is watched and controlled with a great
deal more jealousy. and its transfer and
entail are surrounded with more difficult
laws than have yet come to prevail IN
America.
Land and Social Position in England.
For instance, a man in England makes
a fortune In some line of business; but /
his social advance is barred by the fact /
that he is a tradesman. If he buys a |
country estate of a few hundred acres
and so becomes the patron of the tenants
and the master Of the employees on tho |
estate he at once rises in the scale of
social position and the first step toward
political power is taken. II is in this
his newly acquired estates in Ireland. is
able TO crush his detTactOrs when they I
try to stop his social advance by refer
ring to his former political connections
in New York. The possession of English
acres often wipes out the disgrace con-
nected with the origin of the money that
bought them.
And with each year that passes the land |
becomes bound up with all the sentiment
and feelings of the family. Many a land !
poor English gentleman clings to mis- |
acres as he clings TO his ancestral pOr-
traits and his family honor. In America !
we are just beginning this relation TO
the land.
In England the leasing system is very
Leases extend over a hundred |
or more years, and they are bought and |
sold. while the freehold remains I'M
touched. And all the laws, favor the |
owner of the land. All buildings and i'm |
proVements made by tenants revert TO !
the owner when the lease expires and be /
fore the tenant leaves he must put all |
in as good condition as they |
have been during the period of the lease |