The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-01-31

turn for their aid In keeping him ON
hlR throne
The right of the king thus to do
was not yet questioned, as the per.
captions OF the people were only
slightly evolved as to question Of pub
lie policy or abstract justice, and as
there was plenty of land for all at that
time, It was not n live question.
But i'm the course of time. when
peoples multiplied and land came to
be n necessity for the common peo.
pie, we see this ancient right of the
king challenged, and after much edu-
cation, changed by law.
And now we comp to the crux of
the matter today, and find the peo-
pie boring deeper into the land ques-
ton, critically studying the principle
of ownership, laying down some in
conference.-the rules which logical
thinking makes necessary for the clear
understanding of that fundamental
human problem.
oluutllb dit utildl lilb Nhhb NJ AiNA
have an equal right to live" which
seems unanswerable, and also, All
men have a right to equal access to
the means of making living"
This is a new thought in society
and is not yet woven into the fabric
of human government, but is travel
ing the same road which all i'm
provements in government have al
ways taken.
And now let us see what bearing
this all has on the subject under dis
oussion-that of the influence of gov
eminent on morals.
Though society has discarded the
plan of giving all lands to conquer
ing king, nevertheless we still admins
ter land on principles which run
counter to the present sense of JUS
tice, which denies that the right of
private ownership to as much land as
any grasping man can clay hold of,
and now says that "The land belongs
to the living"
That is, all those who are now liy-
ing-not a few of the smart ones, and
it is now seen to be a duty of organ
lied society to so administer the land
as put it at the equal disposal of all
men.
When this is incorporated into law,
we will stop this cinch which the pres
ent law gives to men of power. In eff
feet the law allowing the private own
ership of what we all must have in or
der to live, says:
"Here you strong and cunning men,
here's your chance! Don't you see
that millions of men must have land
to live on, and if you will get in and
corral it and keep them off it for a
while, they will be compelled to pay
YOU an enormous price for the use OF
it. and thus you will have a cinch as
no king in all the past has enjoyed. "
Thus society permits and defends by
: law, this unatural and immoral as
sault that strong men may make on
the right to live off the many, and in
that act give governmental sanction
to all the inharmony, Jealous and ha'
treds which mret ae.se between those
who are de1ri=cG Of land by this sys
TEN of private appropriation of it and
those who haze Been G..on this priv
Iilege by law.
All this inner sock Of immoral
ity exists in socic.g today as the di
rect concomitant of the private own
ership Of land which is supported and
defended by governmental action.
Now let a law be made allowing
equal access to land for all people, and
the immoral acts perpretrated by the
landowners on their legal victims
and the acts of resentment by those
victims will vanish from society as
the mists before the rising sun, and
new standard be set up on a higher
plane of morality,
This will be the direct result o
? governmental recognition of a mora
wrong in the relationship between
men and the use of the powers of so
ciety to prevent the continuance OF
that wrong.
And what is said of the wrong use
of the land is also applicable to the
wrong use of machinery. Thinkers
are now pushing the reasoning ap
piled to land into the field occupied
by machinery and when it becomes
generally known that the means to
work the land and its products must
20 along with the right to live, then
governmental action will place both
land and machinery equally before
every man and all strife arising from
the private appropriation Of either will
cease. and another era of social NOR
atty will begin.
And the higher state of morality
prevailing in society reacts favorably
on the individual wooing him into
finer state within and this again will
be reflected in the new laws made by