II. Land and Rent

If II-LAND AND RENT LAND FOR THE PEOPLE Alth6ugh •s~e6nd~ry in th~· study of· econonUcs, k. the view of the Anarchists t the land question' nevertheless ranks high with a large number of persons, hence it was always coming to' the front in the columns of ,Liberty. During the period covered by the matter in this volume the Single Tax.·was 'veryprotninent .in most discussions of thissubject,an<J. Henry George. was very active in his pr~paganda, hence, in the> following pages, there will be many references. to his •pet theory ... The Irish land question also was very much in the public eye, and the tiverpoolspeech, referred to here, is that in which Michael Davitt, in 1882, first publicly. endorsed the doctrine 'of land nationalization. The term. urent,"as. here used by Mr. Tucker, means monopolistic rent, paid by the. tenant to the .landlord,and notecono~ic rent, the advantage enjoyed by the occupant of superior. land. This dis tinction is lmaintained' generally throughout these .discussions. ~ THE Liverpool speech, it seems, as delivered by Davitt in respons~ to a challenge from the English press to el\'plain the meaning of the phrase, Hthe" Ii·nd for the people.'" We hope . they understand it .110W.

uThe land for the people," accor ing to Parnell, appears to mean a change of the pr~sent tena •ts into propri~to1"li of the. estates by allowing them to purch se on easy terms fixed by the State and. perhaps· with the State's aid, and a maintenance thereafter of the present .landlord system, involving the col lection of rents by law. 1St 182 INDIVIDU AL ' LIBERTY ttThe land for the people,H according to Davitt, as ex plained at Liverpool, appears to mean a change of the whole agricultural population into tenants of the State, which is to become the sole proprietor by purchase from the present pro prietors, and the maintenance thereafter of the present land lord system involving the collection of rents in the form of taxes. CtThe land for the people," according to George, appears to be the same as according to Davitt, except that the State is to acquire the land by:confiscation instead of by purchase, and that the amount of rental is to be fixed by a different method of valuation.