Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1911-01-27


to mahhood--in the life of the open
country.
Land hunger is the only kind OF
hunger that strengthens nation.
Bread hunger weakens people. and
in the end means revolution; money
hunger is simply another name for
greed, and in the words of the old
proyerb, greed always kills'-kills
family life, kills patriotism, kills rep
resentative government and democra-
cy, and in the end will kill freedom.
Land hunger gives permanence to the
home and stability to our institu-
lions. by land hunger l do not mean
! the motive that drives men to land
grabbing or land speculation, or in
yestment in land. That motive may
be, and frequently is, simply another
form of money hunger, and may be
as dangerous and destructive when
carried to excess as any form of
greed.
Il mean by land hunger that deep
and passionate instinct TO possess
and own, and cultivate, and keep the
land from which we draw fooG and
the means of life. l mean the ma
tionaI and individual instinct that re-
CARDS land as the most durable, the
most desirable, the most fundamen-
tai of all the forms of wealth, and
places agriculture first in the honor
roll of the Industries. For examples
of land hunger that leads to pro-
per appreciation of the value of land
turn to the leading countries of Eu-
rope from which this country drew
is early immigrants. The aristo-
crazy of England is one of the mar
rowest, most exclusive, rigid, un-
yielding, conservative and perhaps
the most stupid aristocracy in the
world, but it knew the value of
land, seized the land and held it with
a firm grip. By the institution Of
entail they prevented alienation and
secured it as a family possession for
ever. The whole class and social
system, and considerable portion of
the governmental system of England
is based at bottom on the ownership
of land. AS a rule then, English
men know the value of land.
The land owners know it's value,
because it is drilled into them in
daily instruction as a part of their So
cial creed. The English tenant farm
er knows its value, because through
all his life he has cultivated fields
which he never can own. The
Scotch Crofters know the value of
land for the same reason. The Irish
peasants, scraping a scanty subsis-
tence from the land of landlords,
defeated again and again in their at
tempt to wrest ownership from the
governing classes, come ever to this
country, so into politics, and in many
cases take hand in the governm ent
themselves.
'All of the leading issues of Eng
lish politics today-the Irish ques-
ton, the house of lords, the budget
the taxation of land, are all simply
incidents of the attempt of the cult.
yators Of the soil to wrest ownership
from the lords of the land.
THE French peasant knows the
value of land. The ownership of the
land of France was the one great Is
sue in the French revolution, and the
lesson learned then has never beer
forgotten. There is one good reason
why France will not return to a mon.
archial form of government, and why
France will not soon see another rev.
olution. The French peasant owns
his land and is unwilling to risk his
stake and small estate in the hazard
OF a political revolution.
Because the French peasants owr
their land and know how to cultivate
it, and know how to save their pro.
fits, they have become the bankers oil
Europe. Germany at the close OF
the war OF 1870-71 demanded a wal
indemnity that staggered the finan.
ciers of Europe. The French peas.
antry paid it out of their savings
drawn from the land. When the
house of Barring failed in England the
money needed for the restoration OF
English finances was borrowed from
the French peasants. Practical,
the whole of the great national deb
OF France is held in France and
France is today the greatest Euro
pean holder of the financial obliga
lions OF other countries.
Germany, Belgium, Denmark. the
Netherlands, Norway and Sweder
know the value of land. They de