276 LAND REFORM 



on rents, would be to extend and perpetuate the evils 

 of the present system. 



Tenants would not be benefited ; they would have 

 to pay, not the small interest on outlay referred to, but 

 just as much total rent as the landlord chose to ask. 

 No advantage to either the large or small cultivator, 

 or to agriculture itself, could accrue from such a 

 plan. 



There are further schemes of land reform of a social- 

 istic character. The advocates of these schemes, how- 

 ever we may wish to ignore them, are, under different 

 names, making considerable progress. The socialistic 

 section of the labour societies are for making the 

 State the "universal landlord," as well as sole pro- 

 prietor of all means of production, distribution, etc. 

 Resolutions passed at meetings in favour of these 

 principles are more and more frequent. Candidates 

 for Parliament are standing on this platform, and are 

 gaining such an increasing amount of support as to 

 make it more than probable that before long they will, 

 as members, become a distinct force in the House of 

 Commons. 



There is also a separate organization, with members 

 drawn largely from the middle classes, which advo- 

 cates the "nationalization" of the land. Henry 

 George — in his remarkable book — calls this a 

 "more scientific" plan. He holds that it is not advis- 

 able for the State to become a "universal landlord," 

 but advocates that an increasing tax should be placed 

 on land. This, he argues, would, by a self-acting 

 process, undo the evils of concentration, by gradually 

 making it impossible for a man (except a user) to hold 

 land at all. He would not "confiscate the land," but 

 would tax the rents till they disappeared altogether. 



