The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-07-18


gle with the trusts, and pharisalcally
give thanks they are not as the rest
OF men But as a matter of fact a
third OF the people OF England are
hungry because of the extortions OF
a trust more powerful and more wick
ed than all OF the American moDopo-
lies together.
The land trust is the curse OF Eng
land, since II controls not only prac"
tically all OF the land, but also be-
cause that control has the approval
OF law and custom, because that trust
mas permanent majority In the up
per chamber OF parliament, and be-
Cause, owning the land 1t controls all
OF the products of the land. This
trust is not organized on the New
Jersey holding company principle. but
it is none the less a compact and ef-
fectlve organization. II has no presi-
dent and no board OF directors, but
it is none the less susceptible to the
control OF the captains of privilege,
and II is bound together by the strict
est of gentlemen's agreements In an
eternal community OF interests. To
utter a word In derogauon OF that
trust Is to breathe treason against
the state and against all organized
civilization, In the estimation OF con-
servatiye Britons. Even the miser-
able tenant peasant regards the pro-
position to cut up his lordship's es-
tate as a monstrous crime.
But all Britons are not conserYa-
tive. The liberal party, now Ia power
In the commons, has determined to
attack this gigantic land monopoly,
and If possible, to ameliorate its
evils. An American observer could
not but sympathize with the ardor of
the radical hosts who, In the recent
campaign, sang as a rallying song.
to the tune OF Marching Through
Georgia." these words:
Sound a blast for freedom, boys, and
send IL far and wide!
March along to victory. for God Is
on our sidel
While the voice of Nature thundors
o'or the rising tide
God made the land for the peopleI7
The Land, The Land,
Twas God who gave the Land.
The Land! The Land
The ground on which we stand
Why should We be beggars with the
ballot In our hand?
God gave the land to the people!"
1t is true that some good Ameri-
cans might have been shocked to see
the portrait OF their compatriot, Hen
ry George. on the back OF the song
book, but It Is possible that even they
would think more OF certain plan
Of progress II they had been brought
face to face with a certain variety OF
poverty.
The burden of the land trust In
England falls heavily upon both city
and country dweller, but for the pur-
poses OF illustration It Will suffice to
consider the situation in the rural
districts. England and Wales, with
total population Of about thirty-two
million, have eight million people liv-
ing In the country. The land culti-
yated by these eight million people
produces considerably more than does
any similar acreage In the United
States, showing that the farmers are
thrifty and Industrious husbandmen.
or the eight million, about siXty-one
thousand own the farms which they
proXimately twenty-five million acres.
is owned by about forty thousand
landlords, and the greater part i8
owned by fewer than fiye thousand
landlords, many of them being peers
and members OF the house of lords.
In other words. 1872 per cent of the
farmers Of England are tenants. II
that conditions prevailed in the Unit
ed States there might be song books
there with Henry Georges picture on
the back.
When the further fact that these
tenants pay all of the taxes on this
land and that the owners pay none
whatever, Is taken into consideration,
then one can form some Idea OF how
onerous Is the burden Of rents which
these tenant farmers must pay to sup
port the idle landlords In that par
ticular style of luxury attaching to
English country lifc."
In the time OF Queen Elizabeth cot.
togers were compelled to own at least
fcur acres of land to support each
house. At the end Of the seventeenth
century there were 100000 land hold
Ing peasants In England. At the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century
there were more than twice as many
lad-owning farmers as there are to.
day. and there was a vast amount of
common land" which was used and
enjoyed by the community in general.
In the first half OF the nineteenth cen
tury, when $50 land owners returned
from rotten boroughs majority OF
the house of commons. this common
yate property, the most OF II going to
enlarge the estates OF the peers and
otb~T gentry.
in the last half century there has
been no disposition To subdlvlde es.
tates. On the contrary most Of the
changes made have been in the direc-
tlon OF further increasing Individual
holdings and of retiring agricultural
land from cultivation The situation
has been growing worse steadily from
year to year, and is, of course, re-
sponsible for that agricultural de-
preston" so much deplored by Brit
ish statesmen and publicists
The bulwark OF the Land Trust Is
the law OF entail with the principle
of primogeniturc. The law Of entail
makes II possible 10 settle land upon
chlld unborn. and operates to en-
able owners to transmit landed es-
tates unbroken and undivided 10 IN
ture generations, AS the land des.
cends TO the oldest son. the division
and dispersion OF the land is pre-
vented. This law has succeeded In
establishing the Land Trus. almost
impregnable, since nearly all OF the