The Socialistic Method. 289 



The theory of the different relation of man to land and 

 to other possessions is not new ; it is the universal prop- 

 erty of all civilized communities. That which is most 

 new on the part of Mr. George and his immediate fol- 

 lowers is the deliberate assvimption and statement that 

 the practical spoliation of the present holders of real prop- 

 erty would be just, would be in the interest of mankind 

 and agreeable to the gods. 



The first consideration is that land cannot be increased 

 in amount, while the race is constantly increasing in num- 

 bers. Most true; and it is likewise true that with ad- 

 vancing civilization land increases rapidly in productivity, 

 while population as rapidly diminishes in rate of growth. 

 There is not yet the slightest evidence that the one 

 will ultimately become too small for the other. Mr. 

 George claims that land was at one time common prop- 

 erty, and that it has gradually fallen into private hands 

 through more or less of fraud and violence. This is also 

 most true, and I think that it would seriously puzzle 

 the author to pitch upon any kind of property what- 

 ever the possession of which has not in some degree and 

 at some time been tainted with fraud and violence. In 

 the sense in which Mr. George's statement with regard to 

 real property is true, the same statement is true with re- 

 gard to personal property either as to the articles themselves 

 which constitute such property, or as to some of the labor 

 which at one time or another was involved in them, or as 

 to the raw materials of which they are composed which at 

 some time were a part of the land, the ''natural opportuni- 

 ties " which Henry George says have been appropriated by 

 fraud and violence. Indeed, according to the Scriptures, 

 ''from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom 

 of heaven suffereth violence and the violent taketh it by 

 force." 



Because land was at one time in a certain sense common 

 property (which also it is to-day) Mr. George claims that 

 it is so now in every sense, and that the taking of the 

 rent of land by private owners " is a fresh and continuous 

 robbery that goes on every day and every hour." He bases 

 the claim that the community as a whole should expropri- 

 ate the land without compensation to the land-holder, on 

 the doctrine of natural right, the same doctrine upon which 

 is largely built the theory of the various socialistic bodies. 



