NATIONAL TAXES 67 



abandoned its right to a variety of feudal 

 dues from other lands. For all practical 

 purposes the Crown, in the name of the 

 people, has no more right to claim part of 

 the rental of land than it has to claim part 

 of the rental or income from other forms 

 of wealth, e.g., ships or machinery. In the 

 last resort, the State has of course the right 

 to take any form of property it likes for 

 the public use, but to exercise this right 

 in an arbitrary way, regardless of equity 

 as between different individuals, would be 

 to cause an indirect loss in security, that 

 would altogether outweigh the direct gain 

 of the confiscation. If, then, the titles to 

 land, so far as the idea of private owner- 

 ship is concerned, have in fact been settled 

 for centuries, we cannot now go back and 

 bring in the long abandoned claims of the 

 State. This idea of State ownership may 

 possibly be of some use from the point of 



