164 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



make their appearance simultaneously, and gradually, and by degrees, 

 they change the face of the earth; and they are, as I shall submit to 

 you, not the foundation of the institution of property itself, but of that 

 form of it which is called private, individual, property. And the prin- 

 cipal one of these features which constitutes the foundation of private 

 property and makes it necessary is the increase of the population of 

 the earth ; and it is to this fact that I wish to ask your attention. Under 

 barbaric conditions men live upon the spontaneous fruits of the earth 

 and upon such animals as they can obtain by hunting. They cultivate 

 nothing; the earth affords them support, but it is a support sufiQcieut 

 for but very few, and there can be only a sparse population under these 

 conditions. But as civilization advances increasing numbers make their 

 appearance upon the earth, and these increasing numbers must be fed. 

 The necessity of feeding them requires the cultivation of the earth and 

 the turning to account of all the bounties of nature and making them 

 sufficiently productive to supply the increasing wants of the increasing 

 population. Labor therefore becomes at once necessary. And how are 

 you going to induce men to labor? Society cannot compel them to it; 

 that is not practicable. The way in which they are induced to labor is 

 to promise them the fruits of their labor; it is an appeal to the imperi- 

 ous and everywhere present motive of self-interest. No man will cul- 

 tivate fields, none will sow, if another be permitted to reap the prod- 

 uce. No man will undertake to fame the animals of the earth and 

 increase their numbers if the increase can be taken from him by anyone 

 who will. Labor cannot be brought into activity, men cannot be induced 

 to exert their natural powers, unless you promise and secure to them 

 the product of their labor; and it is in these necessities that the insti- 

 tution of private property begins; it is the necessity of supplying the 

 wants of the increasing numbers which civilization brings along with 

 it which has established that form of property known as private, indi- 

 vidual, property. It is now that the land comes to be cultivated; and 

 society says to its members: " If you cultivate this land you shall have 

 the product of the fields". Society says again : " Here are the various 

 races of animals. If you will domesticate them, you shall have the 

 increasing numbers for yourself". Society says also, in reference to all 

 articles of manufacture : " If you will make these weapons, those imple- 

 ments, that furniture, they shall be yours". Society everywhere says 

 to its members : " The products of your art and industry and labor shall 

 belong to you". And therefore we have, with the increasing numbers 

 which civilization brings with it, the change from community property 

 into private, individual, property. 



Now I have said all I intend to say for the purpose of showing how 

 property, whether in the form of community property, or private individ- 

 ual property, has its origin; and I now wish to say something as to the 

 extent of the dominion over things which is implied by the term ^'prop- 

 erty". And, first, it is not an absolute dominion. No man and no 

 nation has, under the law of nature, or under the moral law, or in any 

 view consistent with the moral order of the world, an absolute property 

 in anything. It is at all times coupled with what may be called a trust 

 for the benefit of mankind. There is no absolute right in any man to 

 anything on the face of the earth. The earth and all its bounties were 

 originally the gifts of Almighty God to mankind in general; not to this 

 nation, not to that nation, but to all men equally and alike; and that 

 title, that beneficial title, belongs to all men without exception. Nor 

 does it wholly disappear with the establishment of individual property. 

 The custody of the thing is indeed given to individuals, or to particular 



