The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-07
Property Xs. Life
Bs .pR. FSANR CRAND

There areftwo ancient instincts that stand most every human breast; one is .fhA desire most every human breast; one if the desire to own things, the other is the desire to en- joy fullness of life. <
 All the struggle for wealth and all the wor- ship of place and power are merely forms of the craving for exclusive possessione. The extreme of this is seen in the breed of black oxen which for centuries has been reserved for the sole use of the Japanese imperial family, or the cream colored horses that draw the state carriage for. English royalty. !
 The molky worship of the twentieth cen tury in AmeFlca is akin to the ancient re- ligions; both are based upon the pleasure of exclusiveness The value of a million dollars is not in what this sum will buy. but in the amount of things it prevents other people, equally possession mad. from acquiring. So the desirableness of black oxen and cream colored horses is not due to their superiority, but simply to the fact that no others except royal folks can use them.
 Against tAs ownership lust the sages have engaged in an ;age-old war. "A careful study of Jesus convinces us that the first step to- wards fullness of life is to get rid of owning property. t.tr
 This is hard saying. and fear the reader is left uneonvinced. Yet, for those wko en- joy thinking, this is point we'll worth null ing over, on rainy days. <
 In Maeterlinck's "Blue Bird" highly symbolical play in which the author artfuily hints his theory of life, he gives list of the Luxuries which all disappear before the ad- vent of Light. There is the Luxury of Satis- fled Vanity, the Luxury of Knowing Noth- ing, the Luxury of Understanding Nothing, the Luxury of Doing Nothing, and many others, and in the list is put the luxury of Being a Landowner
 Another item to ruminate upon every Uto- plan scheme. every ideal system of society worked out by dreamers, has included more or less of the abandonment of private owner ship. The Mosaic law had it's year of jus tice when land titles reverted; the early Christian church had all things in common Buddha found the true light only when he had renounced ownership; Socialism, com munism, nationalism, Henry Georgeism,. Bel lamyism, the Roman Catholic hierarchy d. most every ideal plan of millenial conditions. has consciously or not. aimed at the property feeling, aimed to put the possession of goods In the hands of the commonwealth and not of the individual.
 Doubtless thjsVis impractical, impossible, and all thaE9 Still it's worth thinking about, as I said, on a rainy day.
 And does not the tendency of rich men to endow institutions such as colleges. societies,
  that the safest place for large wealth units Is in the hands of company of men, and not in one mans handsG
 Is 1t not unthinkable, the idea Nf putting the uostoffiee and the public school again in private management? It seems impossible for society to move backwards from what communism 1t has, however loudly we cry for private ownership.
 And. to revert to the soul, it is doubtful if the soul is te be freed, and given a chance for its fulleGb individualistic expression, until it is relieved from the burden of possessions.
 The mores we think of 1t the more we are haunted by the suspicion that there was thirtieth centuFy truth lurking in Jesus say ing to the rich young man:
 "One thing thou laekest. Sell all thou hast and give to the poor, and come, follow me. "
 Stay! Please don't lehal this as "Social- ism.'' When you label a thing you unit thinking about it and begin to nate it.
 Besides. this is not Socialism fts nuea worse 1 won't tell you what t is