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On True Political Economy
(The Whole-Hog Book)
John Wilson Bengough
1908
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Notes and Links
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CHAPTER XXV: TRUE FREE
TRADE |
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There is no land on earth, where, as yet, true Free Trade has been tried,
for, to make Trade free in a real sense we must make land free. That
is to say, the right of each man to live on the earth as a son of God,
with no fee to pay to any man for that right, must be set down in the
law. God made the earth for all, and all must be able to use it. But
how is the law to fix it that this may be
done? |
free land, equality, equal
opportunity, land
as God's provisioning for all |
There are some Ways in which it can not be done.
1. The land can not be cut up so as to give
each man his due share. Such a plan is not to be thought of.
2. The land can not be held by all in such a sense that no man has
the right to the sole use of any part of it.
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property rights, land redistribution |
We must find a plan which is in line with these two truths:
1. That all men have the same right to life
and to the means of life.
2. That each man has a right to own the
whole of what he makes by his toil and thrift. |
created equal, oneself,
rights, right
to life, he
who produces, property rights |
| These two truths go hand in hand. For if we are to leave to each man
the whole of what he earns, we must keep those things which God has made,
for all. We must set it down in the law that no man may own and get rent
for the light of the sun or for rain, or for land; else he will get what
he does not earn. But if we so fix it that each man gets all the fruit
of his toil, and may own nought else, then no one can own what is not the
fruit of his toil. |
land as God's
provisioning for the community, ownership, land
different from capital, land
includes, unearned
increment, theft, fruits, |
It is not hard to see how the law could fix this. It is no more than
is done day by day. Four or five men own a ship. How do they act? They
share up what the ship earns by trade. In the same way they may own a horse
or any means of
gain.
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| So with the earth. Who owns it? All who live on it. How are they to deal
with it so that each may get his share of its worth? Let all who hold any
part of it pay a fair rent for that part; and let all parts not thus held
and paid for be free to those who wish to take them up and pay the rent.
Let this rent be paid to the State till, to be spent for the good of all
in each land. Thus all will get a due share — and all will stand
on the one base as the free sons of God. And the till of the State will
be full
though there is no tax on
goods. |
rent, sharing
rent, created
equal, equal opportunity, natural
opportunities,
public spending, (not) paying
twice, (not) God's
eldest sons, |
| Ah! you say, that would have been the right plan if it had been set up
at first, but it is too late now. It would cause a great row to change
at this late day; it might bring on a war! But bear in mind that no one
asks that it be done all at once. We need but to take the tax off the fruits
of toil step by step — off food, barns, stores, and the whole
list of wealth on which we now pay — and make up for what we thus
take off by more
and more of a tax on land rent. When in this way we have at last got the
whole of the rent, the thing is done. Of course this will be grim death
to those who live on land rent, but what are they but drones in the hive?
Each man who works with brains, or hand, or funds, will gain, for he will
then keep all he makes. If such a man owns land, of course he can not then
let it out for rent,
nor sell it at a "rise in price" — that source of gain will be done
for — but
he will gain more as a bee than he will lose as a
flea. |
compensation, transition, |
This plan:
1. Would be a great spur to trade, since
it would throw down the bars that now keep toil from the source of all
wealth; and give new vim to trade, as there would be no tax put on any
thing that was built or made or grown.
2. Would give a source of funds for the
State that would at all times be sure, and this while it left the whole
of the wealth in the hands of those who made it.
3. Would put an end once and for all to
the ground hog — the Great Thief that now takes "all that is
left."
4. Would pave the way for those steps on
the path of right which all good men long to take. With true Free Trade
in vogue, each new man would mean new wealth, and a gain to all, and
we might then say with truth "there is room and a fair chance for all."
5. Would rob the drink curse of the sway
it now has, and put an end to many of the ills we now mourn over.
6. Would be just, for it would give to each man what was his own of right;
and to the State the funds which spring up on land by mere force of the growth
of the crowd, and costs no man the sweat of his brow. |
incentives, trade, public
spending, theft, prosperity,
equality, equal opportunity, natural
opportunities, desperado, panacea, the
remedy, justice,
population growth, fruits |
| True Free Trade means in fact that there shall be no such thing as a
tax at all. It means that the walls shall all come down, and that there
shall be no charge of any kind on trade in or out of the State, but the
one charge, a fair rate for the use of the bare land, and it is wrong to
call this a tax. When a man earns any thing it is his of right, but to
have the sole use of any one piece of the world which God made for all
is no man's right. It is a grant, as it were, from all the rest, who waive
their own claims, each one of which is as good as his. It is not a right
but a grant, an act of grace on the part of all, and that he should pay
what it is worth is no more than fair. It is a chance for the man, and
when there is no tax at all on what he makes by the use of the chance,
be his gain great or small; the fee he pays is not a tax. Yet as we must
have a
name for it we
may as well let the word stand. |
single tax, necessity
of collecting rent, user fee |
| In the term Trade there are two clear parts. When goods are bought and
sold, brought in or sent out of a land, that is but one half of it, though
it is thought of as if it were the whole. Ere goods can be bought or sold,
they must first be made, and no odds what their form may be they are got
out of the ground first of all, and then put in shape by the skill of men's
hands. This, too, is a part of trade; it is in fact the base of trade.
If, then, we are to have Free Trade we must have free land — it
must not be held in the clutch of those who will take toll for its use.
Free Trade
means that there shall be free scope to make things as well as free scope
to buy and sell them. |
natural resources, work, natural
opportunities, free land, free
lunch, windfall, surplus |
| A State can not go on if it has not funds, but much hangs on
the plan by which funds are got. It is the food the State lives on, and
just as
in the case of a man, wrong food is sure to bring forth ills. We have shown
that to get funds by means of a tax on goods must be to rob those who work
of a part of what they earn. This is not just. It is wrong, and we see
the fruits of it on all hands. |
theft, revenue
not primary, |
| There are two forms of tax which would be just and fair:
1. If it were worth while to do so, a tax
might be put on "style." If rich folks see fit to have coats of arms
and such things just to show their wealth, they might be made to show
it as well in the form of a tax to be paid each year on their "frills."
2. A tax (so to call it) on land rent. This
is not the same as a tax on land. It is on what the land as bare land
is worth in each case, and of course it does not touch what may have
been built on said land, or done to it in the way of drains, etc. |
tax justice, rent, land
value taxation, |
| This tax would make a free way to the land for Toil, and as it would
kill off the drones who now get a share of the wealth it would tend to
a fair spread of wealth in the world. With true Free Trade, each new step
in the arts would lift the whole race as it ought to do, but as it now
fails to do. |
wealth concentration, unearned
increment, civilization, technological
progress, abolishing poverty |
| True Free Trade would set free the wage slaves of our day. |
wage slavery |
CHAPTER XXVI: THE
LION IN THE WAY |
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| The way to True Free Trade is clear, but there is a lion in it. At this
dread beast men who see the path and know it is the right one to take,
shake in their boots. To set the land free, as well as trade in goods,
would be to stop the game of those who live on rent, and as this means
of wealth to those who toil not has gone on a long time, it has in some
way got to seem a "right," and men shrink from the thought that it must
be put an end to. Of course it is not a "right," but, as we have shown,
a "wrong," and it must be brought to an end if men are to be made free
in any true sense. Then, it is not only those who live on rent, but a great
host of those, too, who; though they earn their bread by work of some kind,
yet hold land and hope to make gain in this way as well, who take a firm
stand for things as they are. These, for the most part, do not know that
to all who work the tax on land rent would be a great gain, which would
more than make up for what they would lose in rent. But the drones, who
sit on the back of Toil and live on the toll they get for the use of God's
earth, would be slain by such a tax. That, in short, is just what it is
for. The lion must go so that the race may move on; or the race must sit
down and give up hope. |
unearned increment, property
rights, privilege, special
interest, created
equal, theft, speculation, speculator,
underused land, wealth
from land appreciation, dog
in the manger, three hats, civilization,
conservatism, I
was there first!,
foresight, free
lunch, windfall, surplus |
| The "rights" of the lion will not bear the light of day. As has been
well shown by one whose name is high in the halls of fame, the first deeds
were drawn with blood, and not with ink, with sword and not with pen. That
is to say, those who held the land in the first place took it by force
-- stole it. You can base no sound right on theft. But even if the land
had at first been bought from the whole race, the case now would be just
as bad, for had the race in that far off day a right to sell our claim
to the use of the earth in our day? The law holds, as it has done from
the first, that the Crown owns the land and that those who are said to
own it do but hold it at the will of the Crown — that is, of ALL.
But in the mean while there is no doubt it is fear of the lion in the way
that
makes those who would fain be the friends of man sing so small when they
talk of Free Trade. They do not dare to speak out for the real thing —
Free Land, Free Trade, Free Men! |
theft, privatization, enclosure, commons, intergenerational
equity, free lunch, windfall, surplus |
CHAPTER XXVII: CHOKE
OFF THE BIG THIEF FIRST |
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| A great host of ills may spring from one cause, and a cure for all of
them may lie in one and the same thing, but it takes some thought to see
and grasp this. Men are prone to the idea that each phase of ill in the
world of trade needs its own cure, or that there can be no cure but to
make the heart of each man right; or for the State to take care of all. |
the remedy, panacea, fences and small bandages |
| Hence at this day we have a score of "cures" held out, and men who no
doubt have the good of the race at heart are at odds as to the thing that
ought to be done. But there can be no doubt of one thing — if a
man is set on by a lot of thieves and there is one of them who "takes all
that is left," his right course is first of all to down that thief. When
this is done he will at least have some of his goods safe, and can then
get strength
to fight off the rest. That is to say, first set the land free, and take
the tax off what a man earns, and he will have the means to stop the small
drains he now has on his purse. But of what use can it be, to put an end
to the small thefts if you leave that big thief who will then but get the
more? |
theft, land, untaxing
wages, fences
and small bandages, free
lunch, windfall, surplus |
Up to this time the Trade Union is the one and only shield Toil has
had, and this has on the whole been but of small use; while the great
mass
have not even had this aid. To get their full rights by such means is
as hard as for a man in a crowd to get room, and by sheer strength to
push back those who press in on him. The whole base of life is wrong,
and it must be made right; it is built on the lie that God made the earth
for a few to own and rent out to the race at large, when the truth is
that the earth was made for all, and that hence the rent of land must
be for all. |
trade unions, God's eldest
sons, created
equal, natural
opportunities, |
| Some say the sure cure is for the State to do all things, to run all
the shops and find work for all who can work. This calls for wise and good
men, men who are all but gods, at the head of the State, and how are we
to be sure to get them? Such a plan would not do till all men were made
good. But there is no need of such a plan. There are some things the State
can do and should do — Take charge of those lines of trade which
in any case must have the aid of the State or of the town, such as railways,
trams,
gas, phones and so forth. But all lines in which a man could start on his
own hook, which do not need to wield the powers of the Crown, should be
left for the free will of each man. The true rule is — to each man
what is his — to the State what is the State's. So long as man may
own land
on the terms that are now in vogue, so long will it seem that the two forms
of Toil (Labor and Capital) are foes. They are not, but the true foe of
both is the land lord as such. It is due to the same cause — that
some men now own the earth — that there seems to be a great wrong
in competition. We can have, in fact, no such thing as true competition
where land is held
in the way it now is, for one part of the race is tied up, as we may say,
and has no chance. We could not live if we had no air, or if all the air
should press on but one side of us, for then it would pin us down and kill
us. As it is, we are free so far as air goes, we can breathe all we want
of it, and it is all round us so that we do not feel its weight at all.
In the same way, give men a free path to the land so that, if need be,
they can in any case work and live, and not have to beg the right, and
competition would be fair, and would prove a good thing for all, since
each would get his
full due. |
is this socialism?, command
and control, government's
role, labor, capital,
land, landlord, competition, air |
| There are men in this day who are so rich that their names are known
all through the world. They did not, of course, earn their great wealth;
not one of them could have done so. In each case it is toll, due to laws
not of God but of men. Some take toll on goods through the High Tax, but
for the most part the toll is land rent in some form. Give us the tax on
land rent and True Free Trade, and we will see the last of this gross wrong
of some who grow rich in sloth and the great mass who starve for want of
a chance to work. |
wealth concentration, theft, monopoly, privilege, special
interests, free lunch, windfall, surplus |
CHAPTER XXVIII: WHAT
WILL YOU DO? |
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| The cause of True Free Trade is the cause of the Rights of Man, and as
such, where once it is known it goes to the heart, and calls forth all
that is best and most God-like in us. To pack it all into a few words —
we must make the earth as free to all as air and light and the
warmth of the sun are now free. We may be sure that had Greed and Grasp been able
to build walls round the air or the light these would at this day have
been held for rent, and the law would
back up
the "rights" of those who thus held them. And we would find those who sought
to get true free trade in air and light, as well as in goods, would have to bear
the name of "cranks." Well, though air and light are now free, land is not, and
we need it just as much if we are to live. The time has come for the fight. Let
us draw our swords and press on. The cause is one we may be proud to fight in,
and if need be to die for. What, then, shall we do? Take the first step first.
Break down the High Tax wall. Seek to have the tax on goods cut off. Seek to
get a law that will give the folks of a town or State the right to tax what they
think should bear a tax, and to set free what they think should be free. And
while at work in all these ways and in all ways that are on the straight and
true path, let each man spread the light with tongue and pen as best he may.
Let each take a part in the Free Trade fight which is now on, for this is on
the right line, poor as the end it aims at is. Yet it gives a chance to throw
light on True Free Trade, and on the path the Bull must tread to get the twist
out of the rope that now holds his nose to the post. He must go step by step
in the track which leads to the great truth that man may not own land rent, since
he may not own men. |
property rights, equality, created
equal, slavery,
ownership |
CHAPTER XXIX: TO
SUM UP |
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| We set out to make a search for the truth as to which of the two plans
was best for "those who have to work" — the High Tax, or what
they call Free Trade. We have found that the High Tax plan has no help
at all in
it for this class, and can but harm them. It is, in short, a scheme by
which the few may by law tax the many. We have found that Free Trade as
they have it in John Bull's land, though a step in the right line, does
not prove to be the boon it was meant to be. And the cause of this we have
seen in the fact that though trade is free (that is, there is no tax on
most goods brought in) land is not free. The source of wealth is shut off,
or held for rent or toll. We have found that land rent is the one thing
that goes up, with each step the world takes, that all that art and skill
have done to make toil light and wealth great, counts for next to nought
for the mass of men; they get no such share of the loaf as they have a
right to. Those who hold the land have a right by law to take "all that
is left," so that no plan or scheme can ease the lot of the wage slave
while that state of things lasts. If it should rain food and clothes and
all the forms of wealth we need from the sky, it would not help the man
who has no claim to the land on which they would fall. The end of our
search, then, has brought us to this clear truth — the plan that
will aid one and all and be fair and just is True Free Trade, in which
the land
will be set free as well as the things which are made from the land — in
which men will be free to work as well as to trade. It is in the path of
this True Free Trade that the wage slave must go to loose the rope that
now binds him to the post. The work first to our hand is to get the tax
off goods bit by bit, and with each step in this line get it put more and
more on land rent. In due time we will reach the point where land can only
be held for use. The day of the ground hog who holds it for a rise will
be done; he must use it, or drop it and let some one else have a chance. |
land value, civilization,
technological progress, population
growth, unearned increment, theft, wage
slavery, manna, rights, natural
opportunities,
trade, untaxing
labor, underused land, speculation,
dogs in the manger, highest
and best use, free
lunch, windfall, surplus |
Thus have we gone through the whole wage theme from end to end, as we
might pass through the dark shaft of a mine. We have with care sought
to find out the truth, and we have found it. The full light has now burst
on us. It is the light of True Free Trade; 'neath which joy and peace
will take the place of age long wrong, and God's will shall be done on
earth.
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peace, on earth as in heaven |
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