LAND NATIONALIZATION 273 



satisfy no one, and contending that " nothing but an elaborate 

 system of law and judicial machinery could make such a plan 

 tolerable " ! He had himself read a paper, with suggestions 

 for a number of mild ameliorations of the present system, 

 which, in its essentials, was to remain untouched. 



The result was, I think, to show that a conference of op- 

 posing parties, each looking at the question from an absolutely 

 different standpoint, and with no possibility of agreement as 

 to fundamental principles, cannot lead to any definite con- 

 clusion. The method adopted by the Land Nationalization 

 Society was the only one calculated to produce any definite 

 results, viz. to lay down certain fundamental principles, capable 

 of logical demonstration, and by means of an association for 

 the purpose to educate the public on the subject, both by 

 argument and by a constant appeal to all facts or experi- 

 ments which serve to illustrate the evils of the present system 

 and the benefits of that which we propose to substitute for it. 

 This has been done both by land nationalizers and socialists, 

 with, on the whole, most satisfactory results. On the one 

 hand, the socialists are agreed that, as a first step, free access 

 to land, with a view to its future nationalization, is vitally 

 important; while on the other hand, the workers no longer 

 say, as they did at the congress, " Land nationalization will be 

 of no use to us." This is an important advance in the short 

 space of twenty years. 



Among the few eminent men who joined our movement 

 was Professor F. W. Newman, and I had the pleasure of 

 meeting him several times at the house of my friend Mr. 

 A. C. Swinton, and I also had some correspondence with him; 

 but there is little in the few letters I have worth quoting. 

 The following is the concluding paragraph of a letter dated 

 June 6, 1882 : " Our duty is to do what we can, in detail ; but 

 the longer I live the less hope I have of justice, without 

 changes so great in the persons who hold power that it will 

 be called a revolution. I mean justice, not as to land tenure 

 only, but as to many other things equally sacred, perhaps more 

 vital. Until popular indignation rises, I expect no result; 



