442 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



Suggestions for Real Reforms. 



That the ownership of large estates in land by private 

 individuals is an injustice to the workers and the source 

 of much of their poverty and misery, is held by all the 

 great writers I have alluded to, and has been fully 

 demonstrated in many volumes as well as in the four 

 chapters on the Land-question in the present work. It 

 has led directly to the depopulation of the rural districts, 

 the abnormal growth of great cities, the diminished culti- 

 vation of the soil and reduced food-supply, and is thus at 

 once a social evil and a national danger. Some petty 

 attempts are now making to restore the people to the 

 land, but in a very imperfect manner. The first and 

 highest use of our land is to provide healthy and happy 

 homes, where all who desire it may live in permanent 

 security and produce a considerable portion of the food 

 required by their families. Every other consideration 

 must give way to this one, and all restrictions on its 

 realization must be abolished. Hence, the first work of 

 the people's Parliament should be, to give to the Parish 

 and District Councils unrestricted power to take all land 

 necessary for this purpose, so as to afford every citizen the 

 freest possible choice of a home in which he can live 

 absolutely secure (so long as he pays the very moderate 



f round rent) and reap the full reward of his labour, 

 very man, in his turn, should be able to choose both 

 where he will live and how much land he desires to have, 

 since each one is the best judge of how much he can 

 enjoy and make profitable. Our object is that all 

 working men should succeed in life, should be able to live 

 well and happily, and provide for an old age of comfort 

 and repose. Every such landholder is a gain and a safety 

 instead of a loss and a danger to the community, and no 

 outcry, either of existing landlords or of tenants of large 

 farms, must be allowed to stand in their way. The 

 well-being of the community is the highest law, and 

 no private interests can be permitted to prevent its 

 realization. When land can be thus obtained, co- 



