THE BIBLE AND LAND. "O Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the word of the Lord!"-Jeremiah. MORRISTOWN, TENN. REV. JAMES B. CONVERSE, PUBLISHER. 1889. PREFACE. The world is filled with books. The author, like the passenger who pushes into a crowded omnibus, feels like making an apology. My apology is an extract from an opinion of the Rev. J. M. Sherwood, D.D., the editor of the Homiletic Review, who examined the first draft of this book. He wrote: "The manuscript itself is an extraordinary one. It does what George and other writers and theorists on the land-tenure question have failed to do-gone to the Bible, to the institutes of Moses and the legislation under the theocracy, to determine the matter. I confess to a great surprise, he establishes, clear as sunlight, one of the fundamental points of George's theory, while he routs, annihilates another essential doctrine which 146034 he teaches, and which is the one of the greatest evil and danger. "The argument is certainly an original one, and contrary, as a whole, to the received ideas, held and taught in our social science and political economy text-books. And yet it will and must commend itself to all fair minded, thinking people. I do believe it is an eminently timely little treatise (it will make but a small book), and that its publication would shed much light on a most perplexing subject, now before the public mind, and go far to guide the public sentiment to a wise decision in the matter." Thanks are due to the Rev. James Park, D.D., of Knoxville, Tenn., for reading the proofs. CONTENTS. Definition of the word "Land"-The best Title to Property- God's Title - A Right Unrestricted except by Himself-Crea- tion ex nihilo by Underived Power-The Fundamental Prin- ciple in Discussions about Land-Revolutionary-A Reason- able Demand-Politics and Piety-Natural Theology and Redemption-Natural Religion the Strength of Government -Creation, a Truth of Natural Religion, and a Fact in Polit- Equality of the Savage State- Of a Primitive Industrial Community, which is Destroyed by Industrial Progress-The Inequalities of the City-The Two Conditions of Equality and Inequality can still be observed-American Equality before the Civil War-Inequality in our Age, the Result of Industrial Development -It is still growing-A Great Evil- The Curse of Riches - The Curse of Poverty -The Inequality The Apparent Cause of Poverty-Is it the Real Cause?-Defini- tions-Value-Utility-Rent-The Law of Rent-Labor and Laborer-Wealth-Capital-Wages-The Three Partners in Production- The Demands of Land must be met -Other Causes of Poverty-Sickness-Intemperance-The Division |