such men would rather suffer than otherwise by the abridgment of personal liberty. More profit can be realized by the labor of those whose means of life are controlled than those in whom the employer has the right of property.

The wealth produced by labor is the object sought, and the poverty of the wealth-producer is the condition that best serves their purposes. Therefore it is in the right to the means of life we find the subject under consideration.

1. RIGHT OF LAND TENURE.

It is from the soil that all physical sustenance is derived; and as we are constantly consuming, we must as constantly replenish. Every breath we exhale, every muscle we move, every thought we think, is at the expense of consumed value, and requires as constant a supply. Land is the all-sufficient source from which these supplies are derived; therefore the occupancy and use of the soil becomes a necessity in the production for consumption.

The value of land, then, consists in its power to supply the demand for the consumption of values. As all have a claim to these values, based on the necessities of life, it follows that the right to produce them, either directly from the land, or indirectly by enhancing the value of

its raw productions by manufacture, is equal to such claim. In general terms:

The right to live carries with it the right to the means of life; the means of life are derived from the land; therefore the right to the land, to those who desire to occupy and use it, is equal to the right to live.

The regulation and protection of this right is one of the essential and most important functions of government, and indispensable to the freedom and equality of the people.

The land of a country belongs to the people of that country, and it is the duty of the government to secure to all its citizens its fullest possible benefits. Land monopoly is robbery; though under the forms and sanctions of law, and ratified by the decisions of courts, and established by custom grown gray with age, still it is robbery. All the edicts of autocrats, the bulls of popes, the power of legislatures, and the authority of courts cannot make a wrong right nor a right wrong; and although untold millions have been impoverished and enslaved by land monopoly, it is no less bitter on that account. This evil grows aś population increases, and it must inevitably result in oppression and despotism, landlordism and serfdom. As population increases; the value of the land increases just in proportion as the increase

of demand gives increased value to supplies. Both the cultivated and wild lands of this coun try are rapidly going into the hands of monop olists, who are thus laying the foundation for absolute despotism.

The family is the foundation of society, the fountain of virtue, and the basis of government; and the character of that society and government will depend very largely upon the permanence and ownership of the homes of the people. If owned by the occupants, every inducement tỏ improve and beautify it is given; if rented, neglect of both is the rule. The former conduces to sobriety, industry, and social improvement; the latter to recklessness and disorder. These con

ditions materially affect the character of the government. The rental generally takes from the tenant all his net profits, which has the effect to discourage and impoverish—conditions incompatible with good government. The rents so demanded go to enrich idleness, build up class distinctions, and by destroying equality make republican government impossible.

Therefore, a radical change in the system of land tenures is an imperative and absolute necessity. Those who live on the land must own it, and those who own it must cultivate it. There is no more justice or propriety in withholding

land from others for use, or demanding pay for the use of it, than there is for withholding sunlight or air; the only difference being that the one can be appropriated and the others cannot. It is given for the support of all, and not for speculation or the upbuilding of power.

Our fathers sought to avoid the evils of land monopoly by proscribing primogeniture and entails; but corporations have accumuluted its millions where primogeniture has preserved its thousands.

B. S. Heath, of Chicago, has given a clear and forcible exposition of this subject. He says:

"Our fathers recognized this law (primogeniture), and supposed they had guarded against its abuse and violation by providing equal distribution of estates among the heirs of deceased persons.

"No accumulation of wealth, however large, long survives its owner, if left free from legal restraints. It was the boast of our people that all were equal before the law, and that the prize of wealth was the reward of the most industrious and enterprising. As a rule, the heirs of wealth soon squander their patrimony. They were the autumn frosts which caused the leaves of the summer's growth to fall back to enrich the labor soil, to be again gathered up by the resolute and ambitious sons of poverty. As a rule, the rich men were the 'self-made men.'

"In this way the wealth accumulations of each generation fall like the dews of heaven upon the toilers of the next; and thus social conditions were equalized. Consequently there were few paupers

and fewer millionaires. Comparative equality of Social conditions formed a deep and permanent foundation for a just and permanent government, equable laws, and purity of administration.

The productive forces of society consisted of muscle and brain.

"Since that time great changes have taken place. Occult forces, never dreamed of, have supplanted skill and muscle. A ton of coal and a hogshead of water will do the work of a hundred men. The steam-horse and his train of a hundred tons fly like meteors from town to town and from ocean to ocean. The lightnings have been harnessed to the car of thought, and messages are flashed over the continent and across the ocean sooner than the post-boy of a century ago could saddle his horse. Our houses are warmed and lighted and the motive power of the nation's manufactures and commerce are supplied from the storehouses of nature, which were locked against the generation of fifty years ago. These have been developed outside the Constitution. To handle and control them a new class of persons, unknown to the framers of our government, have been created. Corporations instead of men have come to the front. Upon these new elements and forces incorporated greed and avarice have seized, as the Norman conqueror seized upor the wealth resources of Britain, and upon these & new empire has been established in the land of the free outside of the Constitution and the people.

"Upon them a new feudal system has been inaugurated and a new law of primogeniture established. Corporations are substitutes for dukedoms, baronies, and lordships, and the estates of this new feudalism are as effectually immortalized by government charters as were their prototypes by the Magna Charta. And the perpetuation of these estates,