The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-06-28
LAND OWNERSHIP.

The duke 4. Sutherland s dad
The r,os. interesting feature concern
ing hin is the statement TIA; WIZ.
the exception o: -aa emperor OF Rus
sia he vas she .arges- and owner IL
the world, and Iha, h. ow@eo cs-A;eS
in one section Q. England alone o.
more than I.3H9.000 acres. hs, IS
a lot Of lard, over 1000 square miles,
in facto: equal 20 a ;.act nearly NJ!
mics square. There are so".c forty
million people n :ae B!!;:s!? is.es and
tina. quantity ot Land, - ? country
as small as England. where and :s Is
valuable as il IS there. Is = great Ca!
TO te owned by oa!y o.e Man III O..
all those millions. How does i! CONC
that one ,aa1 ca. y 50 much lana,
whe: so many others nay nos own
any?
Henry George maintained tnat there
could he, r.gat:ul!.. &c such hin
as private ownership IN land. He
held tha. a man might properly own
what he had created by his own
labor, or such things as. having been
created ny the ,aoor OF others. had
been given. OF traded or sold TO him.
He believed that a man might own
a house, because he built it; or q
wagon, because he made il; or Il
horse, because he raised it; but that
the earth itself, not being the product
Of the industry OF man, cannot be his
property. but is an estate in which
all the inhabitants have a life interest
on equal terms by virtue OF ,hc.r
common humanity.
Mr.. George was not a socialist or
communist. He believed III individual
enterprise and individual ownership
Of property. He believed, also, in the
individual occupation of land, but he
made a distinction between occupa-
ton and ownership. He believed that
society, as represented by its organ
lied government, should be consid-
cred the owner, or rather, the trustee.
for future generations, of al! land Of
every character, n that all occu-
pants should occupy as h tenants
of the state. In that way ne believed
that all members Of society, whether
actual occupants of much or little
land, or no land at all, would receive
their just share OF the benefits due 10
society at large from those who did
occupy the soil.
That doctrine has been ridiculed
and secuted, and still, in a way, We
recognize it as sound. We think We
believe in the private ownership OF
land. and yet we deny that principle
when put TO the test The title of
the Irish andScotch landlords to their
holdings rests on as sound a basis as
does the title OF any North Dakota
farmer TO The quarter section which
he occupies; that is, the holder or his
predecessor has been granted a patent
10 the land by the government of the
country of which he is a citizen. 1t
happens that the patents III the Brit
ish isles have run in The name OF n
king, whjic our more recen Ameri-
can t~itl@- ave emanated from con-
e1ess. l. me principle is the same,
for the English kings were merely
the representatives of the recognized
and organized government. In fact,
many of u American titles-most
Of them in some of the eastern states,
nave as their basis the grant Of an ,
English king TO an individual or a
company. Yet. when need arose. the
principle Of private ownership of
those Irish and Scotch lands was de-
MED by the parliament which ordered
their sale to their occupants on terms
fixed by appraisers appointed by the
government. II the land belonged
20 the persons named in the deeds
tEey could not properly have been
to dispose of it. The ex-
is that the doctrine OF pri-
.ate ownership has a string to it. :
Mr.. Rockefeller is credited with a
fortune Of something over a billion
dollars. Suppose he should choose 10
turn hts property into cash, and with
the cash buy land. At SO an acre
billion would buy just about the
of North and South Dakota,
~N "c~%O P2opoDlJ 10 d SOCO
price for the Land, when all the rough
And undesirable sections are figured
IL At any rate, i. would be possible
IL a few generations for all tho and
IL the United States to pass int, me /
ownership. for q few dozen men 20
all the land In the world. and
for all that land. in process Of time, !
to be owned by a single individual.
Obviously sue a thing could not
be permitted. If it were attempted
Iociety would quickly assert the right
which has always existed. but which
not always recognized, the right
~trusteeship over the land, and the
Of private ownership would
70 SIimmering. His grace, the late
duke Of Sutherland. held title to-
lends which had been given to his
A~ncsstors. b. a government which
held it in trust. and which,
'herefsse. had no right to convey
ownership.