298 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CHAP. 



gone, the results of legislation by landlords, and 

 usurpation by kings, the story of royal grants, con- 

 fiscations, and inclosures, are all exceedingly interesting, 

 and will be found to support and strengthen at every 

 point the argument from principle and from results ; but it 

 is not essential to a comprehension of the main question, 

 and we shall therefore omit it here, referring our readers 

 to such works as Mr. Joseph Fisher's History of Land- 

 holding in England ; Thorold Rogers' Six Centuries of 

 Work and Wages ; Our Old Nobility (originally published 

 in the Echo newspaper) ; and Dr. W. A. Hunter's lecture 

 on " The Land Question " (Mark Lane Express, January 

 8th, 1883), for condensed information on this branch of 

 the subject. 



First, then, we have to inquire whether private property 

 in land is just and right; and here we find ourselves at 

 once in conflict with the great body of Liberals and land- 

 law reformers, who advocate, as their sole panacea, free 

 trade in land. For the foundation of their doctrine is, 

 that land should be treated as merchandise; that it is 

 right for individuals to own it absolutely and in any 

 quantity ; that it is good for great capitalists to add farm 

 to farm, and to build up great estates ; that land should 

 be bought and sold as easily as iron or railway shares. 

 We nationalizes, on the other hand, say that all this is 

 fundamentally wrong. We maintain that land should 

 not be treated as merchandise, for the following 

 reasons : 



1. Because it is absolutely essential for all produc- 

 tive industry, while it is the first necessity of human 

 existence; therefore those who own it will, as a whole, 

 possess absolute power over the happiness, the freedom of 

 action, and the very lives of the rest of the community. 



2. Because it is limited in quantity, and tends there- 

 fore to become the monopoly of the rich a monopoly 

 which will surely be intensified by free trade, which will 

 render it easier than now to accumulate large estates, and 

 will thus make the landless people still more surely than 

 they are now the virtual slaves of the landlords. 



