" LANDLORDISM." 143 



and class distinctions flourish quite as rankly 

 as in England. I have not noticed their ab- 

 sence in the United States of America. I have 

 even known Australians who ' ' dearly loved a 

 lord," and who had an unconscious faith that, 

 if Man is in truth made of clay, for some 

 men there was used a kind of meerschaum. 

 And if the social system of Great Britain were 

 to be converted into a full republicanism, 

 that in itself would not do anything to change 

 the conditions of landowning or abolish " land- 

 lordism." 



The question of the ownership and cultiva- 

 tion of the land should be separated entirely 

 from the discussion of social issues between rich 

 and poor, between persons of title and the 

 common people. The most profound and re- 

 volutionary changes in the system of land 

 tenures can be made, and yet leave class dis- 

 tinctions untouched ; or class distinctions can be 

 deprived of all legal recognition, and yet leave 

 it possible for some plain " Mr." to own a vast 

 landed estate. There is no sense, therefore, in 

 attempting to decide an issue in regard to land 

 cultivation on the basis of a philosophical con- 



