arV 12218 B Cornell University fj Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031264488 Cornell University Library arV1221B The land catechism : T iq24 031 264 488 THE LAND CATECHISM. IS RENT JUST ? WHAT POLITICAL ECONOMY TEACHES REGARDING IT. « By WILLIAM brown. Hamsm wishes should not trouble the divine order. — Domat. The law does not create right ; right must dictate the law, — Laveleye. A just weight and balance are the Lord's : all the weights of the bag are his. work.— Provskbs of Solomon. Friee : 36 Ceats, or One SMUiog Sterliag. PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL &* SON. 1881. CONTENTS. PAGS 1. Introduction ; ,,,.,.. 5 2. The Land Catechism , 21 3. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible : review of the Article " Usury "... . ,„ , 107 4. The Usury of Land : reprint from Hunt's Merchant's Magazine! ....... ~i . . iff 5. Presbyterianism and. Usury : review of the Article "Usury" in /'The Westminster Bible Dictionary." . . <' .1 I2'g 6. The Intersst- Question : review' of the Chapters on Interest in the recent work of Mr. Henry George,' " Progress and Poverty.'' 118^ 7. Labor the only factor in production which can demand a return , ■ 136 J3"The price of this voliime, in paper, covers, postage paid to any country in the Postal Union, is 25 cents, or one ihilling sterling. For one dollar, four copies mU, be sent, postage paid,. to any address. If posted in Canada or the United States, a a cent stamp is requisite on a single copy to any part of Europe,' a one Cfflit stamp carries it from -Canada to the States or throughout the-Doihinibn. >nl .1 lEriendsflf. the land. and.labar. mpvemwt. ^re ^^r;\e5tly. solicited ;to aid in the- ciwgilatipn of the work.- i.Thpse who may desire to assist by the j(ubli9^tion,eitlver, of ^ full edition, or of the portion embraced.in the.Land Catechism, are invited Jo' make' their wishes known to the Author. ■ ■ WofkingmiiA whb'iftay reid this voliinie can render itnportaMt Service l^'^tting-'- tKelrfellowworkmen-iH-thefactoriesj mills or shops to subscribe for CBlpiesJ AUjordexs^'TemiitltanoesJ eto., (Sh;e.rlatteii to be registered) , to be ,.?4tireKed;; V^ BrowpjCare of Jol p L,ovel[l,4r° Spn, Publishers, Montreal, Canada. ,^ INTRODUCTION. In November- last I sat down tothe prftparation of 'the following" pages on the iand Question, and finished my task fey the -month ofMatoTi. The momentous problems discussed having engaged my constant study for many years, they did not comte before me as questions in which I had not previously taken any interest, neither had I to begin (the search for new ■ ihaterial . The series of papers thus produced appeared from weelc't* w&k in' an American Journal of 'great 'influence and large circulatiotii the New York " Irish World ahd'lndustrial Liberalor;" A large number of readers have accordingly had them through hand, and I am glad -to say I have abundant testimany thjit they have been studied with deep solicitude ■-and attention. That these great problems must now receive full and free discus- ■sionis the gr(5*ing conviction of all thoughtful men. Ta the labor press, a press rapidly, increasing, we are largely indebted that the long lost truths of Political Economy are being 'discussed and understood by rhillions of the Working popu- lation. When aspirit of enquiry Has baari awjikened as to questions affecting the Welfare I of the human race, men' natu'rall/ turn 'to those sources, of information where error finds no friend and truth no foe. One would think that even those who' remain -totally indifferent to the claims of labor, and in whose hearts ihe' long and constant wail of hiim^n: suffering rarely if Sver finds an echo, must have the con- victiomat times forced lipoii their minds that there is, at the' bottom of all this turmoil and unrest, Teally sohiething which demands enquiry and investigation.' As it is certain that we are all actors, one way or other, in the present scene of things, jeach leaving! his impress, whatever that may be, on the •w'orld through which he is passing, so it is certainthat every human being has an equal and press- ing interest in a righteous' settlement of those great industrial - problems now' challenging the attention of all. .For it is man aS man who is interested, not as' he is rich or as he is poor, not as. he belongs to this class or to that class. - I do not know of any medium of communication with the industrial classes which I could have chosen more suitable than the " Irish World " — perhaps, air things considered, > I may say I know of none so suitable. Its sympathy witb the toiling 'people is too well: known to need any word of recognition from me. Its correspbndents have of coursfe all the advantage of its enormous and constantly increasing circulation. The paper has rooted itself in the affection of thousands, and this no doubt as much from the feet that it jfermits nothing to stSind between the poorest toiler on earth and the interests of that toiler, as that it discusses living- and practical problems of profoundest interest to us all with a freedom and fullness bom Cjf^ deep conviction ^nd attachment to truth. The silly attempt to cry down, truth because it haooens to be unpopular, eets no sympathy in its pages. What 6 INTEODTTCTION. this powerful Journal has accomplished in its generous treatment of the claims of labor, and on behalf of suffering humanity, will only be fully known in the judgment of a future day.* One hesitates to. say which is its greatest praise, the hatred of its enemies or the admiration of its friends. And all this, I am glad to say, I can freely utter though differing with the " Irish World " to the last degree- on at least one leading topic of economic enquiry, the Currency. And I am sure I can say it all whilst sincerely wishing to other Journals devoted to the interests- of labor every success i^tjieir good andhonoriU) w,ork.. .. I take the present oppbrtuni^ of acknowledging the generosity with which the columns of the Journal referred to have been placed at my disposal. I have preserved the headings to the diflerentpapers from the pen of the Editor himself. n^es^Jieadir^s reveal, with n^uch force iind prepision, the contents of eachi serviiigih this respect as a sort of illuminated index tp the text. Some little addition has^ here, aijd there been made to the original papers. About twepty years since I threw out sotpe observations on this Land Question jn t^iecourse of a series of articles on the efifects of usury on prices and wages, con^ tribute^ to "Hunt's Merchant's Magazine," a New York Journal of well known jnd established reputation, and an extract ifrom which will be found in the present yohimft The views then advanced were substantially the same as are here advocated, thoHgh; of course not with anything like the. present fullness. I then poidted out a great economic truth, that the renting of land is the usury of i land, just as the renting of tooney is theujury of money, and to be judged mainly by thf same cbndi- tions.'Then there were but few indeed to listen to. anything regarding economic topics whic)i ran counter'to the popular , and established noitions of the day. What my political economy taught me then when the land question was nobody's cause, my political economy teaches jne still when the land.question has become a popiilar cause. The lapse of a quarter of a ceptuty has Witnessed a wonderful, changes "W^e have not now a movement confined to a few muttered words from a solitaryi thinker here and there. We now witness an upheaving almost as wide as- humanity itself, and which is destined to sweep everything before it, even thoiigh dungeons should groan with imprisoned patriots and the most powerful thrones be shaken to their fall. A new economy is dawning over all the- world j though^ long, asleep, is ; now thoroughly aroused ; everything points' to the Coining jof that tremendous'revolution which will not only settle for ever the long contest whether the heavens do rule, but restore to the industriar world its long lost patrimony ; the minds of working men are everywhere astir about these great labor problems, and they are now, like wearied and long-tossed mariners, intently ;" looking out for the la.iid" J the light is spreading r-with". marvelous rapidity; and we have millions.bent on knovifing not only the truths of the new but the errors of the old economy, lEvidence accumulates in my hands, and 1 suppose in the hands of otl^ers, that many men of the highest education, and holding positions of trust and; influence, are quietly but earnestly thinking out these questidns for themselves.' Let, us trustjin that growing spirit -of human brotherhood wMch longs for somer better evidence of its existence than the advent of the tax collector's bill,; the • A hand now cold in death wrote regarding this Journal ; •■ The enterprise- and patriotism^ exhibited in the Irish Woeld are worthy of the highest commendation."— J. A. Garhelo. INTRODUCTION. T evictor's process, or the despotism of that industrial competition which mocks alK the teachings of Christianity and is grinding up society piecemeal. Of this we may be certain, that the political; economy of the colleges and schools; will either have to take itself off to parts unknoiyn, or submit to such a redressing: that its own friends will hardly khow it. The cloistered philosophy .of the schools,., though it would at present as soon be called upon to lift hot iron, need not hope;- to escape meeting this new economy face to face. And here let me pause, just for'Ufeioment, to point out to my readers, and' especially to the more youthfiil of them, how truly noble are the investiga— tipns towards; which this volume is an attempt toipoint the way. What a dis- ciphne for mejjtal effort ; what a broadening of all human sympathies ; what a. formative and commanding power towards integrity of character, rectitude of" morals, and righteousness of life ; how august the themes themselves, those are sure to know who approach them with a whole-hearted purpose i and an earnest desire to seek for nothing but, truth. Nothing , rejoices me more than to hear of young men making these problems their study. One word of warning. The: . man who hopes to ' drink from these new ! fountains of truth must rid himself ef, a. . world of prejudice, and approach them with the spirit of a little child. The- education- of ," the street'?! must be all cast aside whffli he begins the study of the great laws of this new political economy. I have discussed , the land and rent questions almost exclusively from the economic side. ■ Voluiiieg.innuraeiable. have been written as td the political and historical aspects of the case, many of them treating the' subject of land tenure with great abiUty, and. evincing unwearied research. But it seemed to me that, very much remained to be said, on. the iconamies of the questions. Hence theset; papers. In addition to those bearing immediately On fhe land question, I have selected from my contributions to the Journal previously referred to, and have incorporated, with the present volume, sundry, other papers having so close a relation to the great, subjects discussed that they could not well be dispensed vnth on this occasion.. . Each of tiese papers will be found supplementary to the line of argument followed, in the Catechism itself. Everybody is interested in the subject of property, the rich because they have it, , and the toilers, because they hare it not and ought as producers to have it. The rights, of proiperty I can never, as an economist, regard < otherwise than as a mis— leading and meaningless phrase. The rights to property is a term which all can, understand, and in .which every one, from the very rich to the vety poor, has a- personal andlastii^ interest. It carries the mind > in a monient from the dead i inert matter to the active i and living being who produces all. , i The rights of human beings are anterior to, and infinitely superior to, all those loose ideas which.. spring from that very loose phrase, the rights of property. We will look upon the subject, thei!efQre, ; principally from this and associated points :of view. It is a self-evident truth that if .the working population constantly Surrender the fruits of their toil without full equivalent being given— that.is, an equivalent in value to that of the products surrendered — theni. the 'rights to. property, coiitract notwith- standing, are persistently violated, and it is held by hands which ought not to hold, it. For it is not so much a contract, as the industrial righteousness of a contract^.. 8 INTRODUCTION. which fortifies true ownership. In fact, contracts which constantly ignore or i violate the rights of labor can never give birth to true ownership ; for ownership can only spring from a contract" which is economically equitable and just, and TVhich truly transfers value for value. The very idect of an industrial contract implies lvalue for value. And our discussion will naturally lead us to the consideration, , aiot of the property itself, but rather of the economic laws and conditions bearing ' ■upon the labor out of which that property springs. For is it not true that the •only way to understand the rights 7(7 property, is' to understand what defines, regulates and sustains the rights of labor, in so far as that labor gives birth to the property or lays upon it its moulding and forming hand? What relation' does ' the producer bear to the product, is therefore the first and serious question to be settled. Can he surrender all, or can he surrender a«_)/, portion of it without a full equivalent being made ? If he cannot, how comes it that producers are all jpoor, non-praducers all rich? These are the questions now pressing for an answer as questions never pressed before. It is wisdom to meet them, for it Is vaijj to think that they can be longer hid. If it be true that the industrial world is surrendering its fi^uits without an economic equivalent being made, then I appeal to the common sense of every reader a am industrial crime is not being committed which has no parallel in the hiWory of our race. For all other crime is naturally intermittent ; but this never paases night or day, and in its wide devastation throws all other crime into th« shade. ' If this be the state of the industrial problem, then strikes, look-outs^ turmoil and disorder, are the natural fruits of such a condition of things ; just as natural is that the wirfe, stretched beyond its power of tension, must eventually break ; or that the lava, -long restrained, must some day or other break forth in a wide and desolating *ream. Perhaps the fact most prominently brought forward by the present land agita- tion is the exter.t to which society is festering with the pernicious doctrine that law creates right. I am sure this is too obvious to be disputed. Not only is no concealment made, but the utmost pains are taken to proclaim the extent to which -a doctrine involving such utter depravity is corrupting the national life. It pours ftoja the piress like a putrid stream . It seems as if there were a foregone conclusion "that inalienable human rights must all be borne down before whatever is embodied : in a modem statute-book, or voted upon by a clamorous and excited crowd met to- . gether within the four walls of a building. Men are but too prone to forget that truth is'truth in spite of all the resolutions arldvotesever carried or cast. This intensely unchristian and perilous doctrine honeycombs our so-called christian society " through and through. This land movement has compelled it to reveal itself in its true colors. It has nowhere to hide itself in presence of the burning light which is being thrown around these economic problems. What wonder if it attempt once more— and let us hope but once mtwe — to play the tyrant with the people and ^stretch forth its hands in deeds of violence in default of ability to lift its voice J^ ^argument, apparently oblivious of the fact that a traitor to truth is the man guilty ' •'of high treason against God and man. If a man who breaks a human statute, ' -abominable in its inception and cruel and devastating in all its issues, is a . small traitor, what sort of traitor.is the man who tramples under foot the law of rahat dread Being before whom he must shortly stand, and who by his wild and ■ INTRODUCTION. 9' reckless acts brings misery and sorrow to countless hearths and homes ? And the doctrine is all the more perilous inasmuch as it is held by those who flatter them- selves with the belief that what they call law and order is necessarily opposed to anarchy and turmoil ; losing sight of the fact that bad laws and bad'systems are the fruitful sources of crime, and must ever instigate to those publicidisorders which are the natural protests against such laws and part of the disciplinary process of cure. Toimpose bad laws can never be less than a crime — to discuss bad laws caii never be criminal. I have often questioned in my own mind to what extent human laws and parliaments have been the parents of violence and crime. And the more I think over it, the more am I driven to repose faith in the one great statute 'book given by God for the regulation of human affairs and the security of all industry^, which embraces every vital interest and protects every human right. Between the purity of God's law on the one hand, and what we are accustomed to regard simply as human depravity on the other, may It not be a most momentous question, whether there lies in that middle ground a vast embodiment of so-called human law which has really opened floodgates of iniquity which all this simple human depravity would of itself have been powerless to move one inch ? - Does not our peril lie, as expressed in the Word of God, in "framing mischief by a law'"? Framing mischief — how expressive ! We have got accustomed to hear the poor and oppressed multitudes branded as the dangerous classes. Many wise and thought- fill men are crj'ing halt to such an opinion. For the most dangerous man is not the one who runs a-muck amongst his fellows. His race is soon over and his evil deeds confined to narrowest bounds. Men are becoming everywhere painfully sensible of the fact that it is not in such quarters that the real sources of danger are to be found. And let us not forget that it is an instinct of :humanity to save- itself from destruction, even when that destruction is sought to be accomplished, "by process of law '' If destruction of the tillers is the inevitable issue and the- thing on which men are bent; then a leap from the precipice into the sea is more quickly accomplished, has less of evil aboutit, and costs a great deal less — that is to say, the nation will not have to foot so heavy a bill. And over and' above all, it is well if our indigiiation be occasionally tempered with the reflection that it is infal- lible wisdom which declares that oppression will at last drive even wise men mad. I repeat in the Introduction what I have insisted on in the body of the work, that it is sinful and discreditable to compel obedience to bad laws on the ground that efforts will be made to patch and tinker these laws for the public good. ■ Tcf compel humanity to submit to a process of cruel and arbitrary destruction in the expectation that something may eventually be done in the way of amelioration j may call itself what it likes, but it is not Christianity. The spirit which would prompt such a line of argument, especially where precedents have been all unfavorable, is as despicable as it is wicked. Such a one must cry halt to his folly else he will have his house in flames. Either that or humanity is not humanity. Now, I am willing to accept the arguments of those who advocate such a doubtful process of reformation. For if it be good to submit '■ to the powers that be in the hope of bills of " amendments"; to the bills being passed, it must be far better, in cases where human and divine laws are ih conflict (and that there is a mighty conflict is now evident to all), it is better, I say, in such circumstances, to submit to the source of all power and to obey the 10 INTRODUCTION. ■divine rather than the human,! and this on the ground of conscientious conviction as ■well as of age, authority and precedence. And surely no Christian will hesitate as to his course of conduct when divine law and authority are on one side and Acts of Parliament on the other. It is certain that the divine law was first on the statute book, and it is certain that it is there still. Let every man at his peril obey the :good law which needs no amendment, not the bad law which stands' in need of daily tinkering, 'which can give no reasonable account of itself, and which we may be sure has crawled upon the stage with no gbod end in view. If we deliberately tiolate natural and divine law, the only truly " constituted authority;" and teach simple souls to do the same, what shield will our devotion to human governments prove to us in the great day ? It is to God, not to man, that we imust all give account at last ; it is to his la-wynot to man's, that humanity must yield obedience. ■ And what a contrast there is between human and divine law^the one a cruel, mnbending, and cast-iron yoke ; in the main a manufacturer of crime and of crim-" inals;!whose endless and hap-hazard complications < nobody can understand, and ■which are often a puzzle and entanglement to the lawyers themselves ; whose final and malignant issues are seen in thousands of industrious and toiling people ■cast out on the road side to perish, an issue whose grim satire certainly loses Tiothing in dramatic effect in so far as it is all done by " due process of law " — the other the safeguard of labor, of property, of house and home, preservative of every liuman right, and throwing its wide and beneficent arms around every human Tjeing from the cradle to the grave . Theimarvel is that men can be found bowing themselves in the house of this great Lawgiver on the Sabbath day, and spending "the week in manufacturing pains and penalties for their fellow men, and in endea- voring to cast aside all the restraints of that divine law which once a week they profess to admire and obey. If there is any warning more than another needed by men at the present day, it is with regard to the encroachment of this seductive and dangerous spirit. Those who permit it to overrun their minds will come to think they do God service in the attempt to legislate nations from off the face of the earth. A more terrible scourge to humanity can hardly be conceived. And it festers in our Christian society. Men come to approve by their silence, if not to provoke 'by their open sympathy, the most terrible deeds if only done under the ■covert of this fetish they call law. If ever the " abomination that maketh de'so- late" stands where it ought not, it is when it has entered the' dwellings of the poor — ^dwellings reared or paid for entirely by the labor of their own hands — and ■with a remorseless barbarity on which the naked savage of Ntw Guinea would turn his backaShamed, proceeds to cast out helpless infancy and age to perish by the road side or in the ditch, and to tear in pieces the roof-tree which has been a shelter to the venerable frame now bending with infirmity and years, and to the bonny bairns whose heart-breaking sobs mingle with the patter of heaven's cold rain on the bleak hill side. On an average, for the last forty years, thirty humble xiwellings in Ireland have been thus ruthlessly. destroyed every day, year in and year out, and one hundred and fifty human beings daily cast out of their homes 1 "The appalling record has fouhd a place in the recent Census, and its truth cannot he disputed, a Census which may well cause the blush of shatne to mount to every INTODUCTION. 11 cheek.* When the nation's hearth is thus violated aiid Ihi family 'AsAxoytA by process of law, then look out for judgment. The deed is beyond discussion. A .nation may \fell tremble when it J^as reached to such a stage. O my brbther, my brother, as you hope for heaveii's smile on your own dying bedj let me entreat you never to be identified in thought or word or act with such deeds as these. On the .•contrary, let the knowledge that sucli things are done iri our day determine you at once to take the side of the stricken and the oppressed. Humanity cannot do the impossible. Its powers, its knowlddge, its resources, are limited. In these thousands of years it has been trying to do what never can ■fae done, rule itself.. This is absolutely beyond its power. It is just as impossible for humanity of itself, or apart from revelation, to form a code of laws suitable for humanity, as for a sen^less bit of machinery to begin a process of reasoning as to its parts, its powers, or its movements. That the first attempt to do this of which we have the record was a deliberate effort to dethrone God, we have the testimony ■of the Deity himself : ',' They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them." . . . . "iEerceivei Snd see that your iwickedneis is great in asking you a king.". . . . "Ye have this day rejected your God." It was an insult lo the Alniighty, as well as to the good, ample,, and-;sii£ficien(i liws; witih which he had launched humanity on the race of life. This was the spirit and tHe act.vrhich have made of this fair earth a hell, and filled it with the deeds of hell. Thenwas bom to man an enemyiahich has. never since ceased to scourgehim and to strip Mm bare ; a thought which I want to plant deep, as a seed of truth,' in the heart of every man who reads this page. Human liberty then dug its own grave. God knew what was in man, and he knew exactly and to an absolute .certainty what statutes, judgments, and commandments ic was necessary to give to him in beginning hi? long and eventful journey on the earth, a knowledge to which man could not, of hiiriself, ever attain. The words of the venerable Seer who told to the peqple the manner of the king who should reign Over thein, have been veri- -fied to the letter in every subsequent period of history ; and 1 know of no more interesting stu,dy than to trace, sentence by sentence, that wonderfiil prophecy >put piind,, let us,re;^.d. the cxix Psalm,,. vvhere the echo;of every sentence is a testimony tp the.glory and majesty of the righteQus, judgments, and commandments, qf the Most, High. ,, Has not this , pure source of delight been, long all but lost, to tjhe Christian church ? And what. had t. David to ponder oyer,, what the source of his supreme jJ9y,, but 4 few pages 0/ what wein puii ignprance would call a fragmentary record, but which he recognised as all in all? There is nothing for us but to come back to these statutes. Depths may be found there that the most philosophic mind will fail ,tp fathom, and material for thoughtithat the most reflective will fail to e?^aust. His commandnjent. is '/^exceeding broad." Not seldom have I hstened, with equal pain and sadness, to the empty religionist, carried away'^with " the, progress of, the age," lisping forth his shallow sneer at lavi-s before whose, stupendous majesty I, stand ^s on holy ground. To submit to these laws is the true and only cure fpr that terrible conditipn qf soeietji 14 INTRODUCTIOI^. ■which is filling us all with such anxious alarm. As was done by the people of Ephesus, natioiis will have to come together and burn their books of curipus arts, 'though the price thereof' should be found to be uncounted millions of pieces of ' silver. Men nerer made a greater mistake than to suppose that the law from ' Sinai's rugged peaks was'something destined topdrisli in the irrfancy of the race. Lost ! It has reigned thrdugh ill the ages, swe'eping the disobedient from its path, burying mighty nations in all but forgotten tombs, a:fid breaking in pieces the haughty and disobedient like a potter's vessel. God must reign, and man must know where his place is and how to keep that place. The book of God can sub- rait to no divided authority. All humkn legislation must go and that book reign supreme. It is God who is the Lawgiver, not man. God is the author — man the subject. As complications sometimes become too serious ever to be un- Taveled, and leave no alternative biit'to destroy and begin anew, so the complica- tions "and disorders of society cannot be patched by tinkering with such things as Acts of Parliaments or of Congress, or with feeble" bills" of hiiman' legislation, though you number their "clauses " by the thousaiid and protract your vigils over them from year's end to year's end. When the lightning condescends to listen to your fair speeches, then you may venture in with ybur little bills aind ballpt boxes and well-trimmed schemes. The broken locomotive whbse wheels and movements are all out 'of gear must not be permitted to encumber the track, for there are other traiiis upon the road entitled to the' right of way. The peril is that these foolish tinkerers maybe found still busy, with theii- trifling and their patching when iot afford to dot so. Let the: toiler turn his. attention to the sjmple but truthful definitions which the new economy presents before him, and success is atihis.hand. There is not a working; njan who takes up this little ,yolume but. may rest assured that with ordinary patience and perseverance, joined to a reasonable measure of determination, he wijll not belong in mastering all th^t is needful for him to know. Then, with, every step (in knowledge , will cornea step in freedom,. One great aim in the preparation of this book, is to get, working raen inier^ied in vital questions which. SQ closely concern them. I entreat my wo^kiiigifriends to beware of ignorance and . iixdifference , If they remain wilfully in .chains, chains will be their portion. Scrip- ture declares, ito us that , wisdom and knowledge are to be the stability of the approaching; times. "I^hink of if. Stability pfthe times. . What a contrast to these " times ''—nothing settled, all- unrest, el«ments all at, war, labor an iron furnace^ panics andtufiult in constant and .rapid succession, ignorance and folly the- source, of tl)a.t troujjled, ''sea" froni: whose^.unclean and restless surface humanity constantfy.fail^ ^p gatlier. either fl^.wer or fi'uit. If there iS( anything mors thaii. another, which this book repudiates and con- demns, it ^s that spi:;it of communism which .enters upon the possession of property without full equivalent ai>d compensation,-, or which yrould hand over all the pro- ceeds of l^bor to the 'management .pf, a gigantic corporation called the State. Na such .spirit; ■^ill .b|e fpund, in. a single line ofi these pages. On the contrary, it; claims that men shall stand on their own feet — that they Aall everywhere wijoy . the fruits of their own toil and not an atom more ; andihat their property shall be- kept .in hqnd for|themselves and families, and not thrown to the winds on that wild- sea of cojnmcrcial gambling where it becomes the sport of speculators who live by their ^-Hf its,, and i^jbp flourish lor fall as rumor comes and goes or as this or that lie- takey th^ marke^. , As reasonable .and responsible beings, then, we are hound to know the truth., about tjjje mighty prphle.ins. Ijere discussed. To know is a great step towards safety — to,be v^ilfully ignorfintiivill be our ruin, A nation which does not under- stand the true principles .of. political economy, or which believes in the spurious economy under which we have been so long tutored, will be an enslaved nation, for it will know little or nothing of its right?.. Under an outward show of liberty; oppression the deepest and the darkest will reigoi in.all its force. A nation led. astray by a spurious economy takfs the downward path to ruin — a nation which. understands, a true economy will never be.a nation of. toiling serfs; Would Eng- land, for. example, have to contend as she has to dp to-day with the ceaseless and;, • ever-growing burdens pf pauperism, did the toiling millions of England but INTRODUCTION. IS thoroughly understand their economic rights ? A nation which begins to open its long-closed eyes to the rays of tnith, takes the first step on the march to freedom. You may drum up subscriptions for the national cause by the million — you will nevet remove one shackle from the nation's limbs till you have spread the light ol Intelligence throughout its dwellings. It remains with ourselves whether we shalj be found in the day of trial among the enemies of industry, or among its friends To our own master we stand or fall. Let a brokenhearted world command our sympathy and invoke our aid. Let us never forget that we are all hastening to > that judgment seat from whose solemn sentence there will be no appeal. Let us fear God with a reverence so deep and devout that we shall not rest till we have settled in our own minds what is his will with regard to Human Labor, its rights and. its rewards. To this, and nothing less than this, every reasonable man is called. W. B. Montreal, June, 1881. TBE LANS GATECHiSU. 21" No. I. FOR THE STUDY OF ALL WHO SEEK THE TRUTH— NEITHER ( LANDLORDS NOR TENANTS IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE ' CREATOR. "[NoTt — I dedicate thesp papers to honest tillers of the soil of every nationality andname,. .1 Tiavp written them under the conviction that it is the, d*^ of every cultivator to understand the economic laws under which he toils from day to day, and' that is also our duty to ' understasd what is the mind of the Creator himself with regard to 'HiS'bwn land laws. I ask from my readers ioi Tctvxriytkai they strive to give these papers tfu widest circulation possidie.} Question. Who made the land ? Answer. God. Q. For what purpose did he make it ? A. As a home for the human family- and to jrield sustenance to the race. Q. For ■vyhom did he create it ? A. For each individuarbom into the world.. Q, Has each child bom a claiip to a share of the Jand so as to yisld him wkMe- ■with to sustain life ? A. He has — it is his birthright. It of ceurse ceases with death. Q. Has any cjiild a preferential claim over another child ? A. No — all hiive ecpial claims^ because it is the duty of each to mstafa the life God has given. Q. Is it ^he duty of the child, when ^rriyed at maturity, to appropriate his -portion or shar« of (lie land ? ' A. It is his privilege, and, as far as may be, his duty, jn order to ^Ifil the ^purposes of his creation (that is to multiply and replenish the earth), to appropriate .an unappropriated portion of God's earth. Q. Is the land, then, a gift froih God to the children of men ? A. It is — to all men equally, not unequally. Q. If it be a gift from God, can men sell to each other portions of the earth, God's gift ? A. /fiiey cannot. They, can only «ell the labor spent \ipon the ground, the ampirovements — /.i^ ^«««a? as such cannot be sojd. Q. Should every parent teach this truth to his child ? .A. He should. It is his duty to do so. ' ,. Q. Why should he do so? '. A. To prevent troubles and quarreling about land ; to tell his children what .-are God's designs as to the land ; to [prevent its monopoly ; and to secure peate and happiness for his posterity. Q. Does God anywhere enforce this view, as to the soil bsing in a manner "his special property ? A. He does. He challenges us in Scripture to note that the land is his^hat he reserves in it, as it were, a special proprietary right. Q. Do you think that the command thai the land shall hot be sold forever has reference to that point ? A. It may have, remotely. But that oommand, I rather think, had reference to the solidity and perpetuity of the nation ; and, it may be, also to domestic privileges and rights. Evidently it had reference to the homestead, to the improvements of the- land or farm which might be sold, not to the land itself as ■land which cannot be sold. . Q. Does the improved land go with tjie improvements on the occasion of a sale ? A.' Certainly— you cannot separate them — but it is only the improvements which .can be sold, or for which you can demand pay. ^2, TH|; LANI) CATECHISM. Q. Is it the same economic law in operation as regulates the sale of every com- -jnodity man can handle, and on which he has bestowed his labor ? A. Just the same. It is only human labor which can be sold. The material itself is the free gift of God. This truth jxi;Ao what it is that men really sell, rjiamely, human labor and nothing elsS, is an 'unfailing economic law j and to this -I r^e^ when I say the land itself, as land, cannot be priced and sold. ,^ Q. Should there be klfii'it to the holdiilgof'each man 'dr family?' '■' -' - . A. Certainly. ^; . 1 . V /.;1 ■ ,' ,' Q. Why should there be so ? .,...' A. Because a man or family can have no use for more th^n that family can -cultivate, and to take more would be an encroachment on public rights, or the rights of others — it would be taking what is not youts, and to which you have jieither title npr claim. You can only c\a.im your own — the portion , designed to you by God — the limits you and your family can cultivate, and as fixed and arranged by a national decree. For the lan^ is God's, not yours. And if you