| LESSON XXXVII — Pools And Trusts ... Their Long Heads ...
Dupes Get Left |
|
But do you See these Men all Bound by a Rope?
Yes, I see them.
Did the
State Tie them this way?
No, they did it out of their own Long Heads.
It is what they call a Pool or a Trust. You see, when a Lot of
Works start up in a Land that has a Wall round it, and they all make
Goods
of the Same Kind, the Land is soon Full and Down goes the Price.
So they all go in to a Trust. They Join Hand in Hand as it were, and
Put
Down
the Wage of Those who Work for them, and cut off the Flow of Goods,
and keep up the Price.
It is a Great Scheme, is it not?
It is. And
that is
where poor Toil and his Mates are made Dupes and get Left,
though they Vote to Build the Wall. Toil and his Like are Geese that
the
Men with
Long Heads pluck. |
Woodcut: A circle of nine large well-dressed men, facing outward, with
a rope connecting each to the men on either side of him. |
monopoly
privilege
tariff
wages
prices |
LESSON XXXVIII — Too Much Goods ... Such Bad Fix ... Yet
Folks Starve |
This Man has a Great Store of Goods, has he not?
Yes, far More than
he Likes to have. He is one of the Trust Men, and he would like to
Sell his Goods, but can not do so, for the Land is Full.
Then why does
he
not Send them off in boats to Strange Lands and Sell them?
He would
be Glad to do so, but he cannot. They are too Dear, as the Things
they are
made of have to Pay a High Tax to Pass in through the Wall. And
then, if he Sold them in a far Land, he would have to take Goods of that
Land for his Pay, and then when he brought those Goods home he would
have
to pay a High Tax on them. So you see he is in a Bad Fix. And while
he Weeps that he has all these Goods piled up which he can not Sell,
the
Poor cry out for such Goods but can not Buy them, and are likely to Starve. |
Woodcut: On the right side, a family of three, with hands outstretched.
On the left, a man with a handkerchief held to his face. In the middle
and behind him, a huge stack of boxes. One is labeled food, another clothing. |
monopoly
tariff
free
trade
hunger
famine |
LESSON XXXIX — Soup Is Good ... But We Want ... Right
To Work |
| "The Poor ye have With You all the Time," said the Lord,
and Some seem to Think it would not be Right to fix our Laws so that
no Man
need Beg who is fit to Work and Wills to do so.
And so those who Think
this will lend no Hand to Mend the state of Things which we now have,
by which some grow Rich who Toil not nor Spin, and some are like to
Die though they would Fain get Work to do.
But such folks have Kind Hearts,
of course, and they do not Fail to give Alms to the Poor, so that
they may be Kept in Life. They will give of their Means that the Poor may
have Soup, and they will send them Coal when it is cold.
This is
all
Well, but it Falls Short. Let the Law be Just. We do not ask a
Dole, say the Poor; we ask, as a Right, that we may Work, and to that end
may
go on to the Land which God made for All Men. |
Woodcut: The scene is a soup kitchen. A sign says "Free soup --
all welcome." At the left, a man carrying a sign saying "Give
us a chance to work." A woman labeled "Charity" is inviting
him to the table on which a tureen and bowl of soup sit. |
poverty
charity
justice
philanthropy
unemployment
Alabama |
LESSON XL — Pull Down Wall ... So Far Good ... Make Rents
High |
See these Men. They Smash the Wall!
That is Well. They know that Alms
will not Cure the Case of the Poor if kept up to the end of Time, but
will in fact make Bad Worse.
So these Men say, We must make the Law more
Just to All. But they do not Mean the Land Law; they are quite in the
Dark as to the True Cause of the Ill.
They say, Let us have Free Trade.
We must not Tax all for the sole Good of the Few. Let us have Free Trade
-- that will make things Hum.
So they go to Work to tear down the Wall
that was built to keep out cheap Goods. This is all right. But when it
is Done, and great Crowds pour in, and things do "Hum," it
will just put up the Rent of Land, which goes to the Purse of the Land
Lord, and in the End things will be just in the Same State with those
who Work. |
Woodcut: The tariff wall is being shattered by two workers. Through the
breaks in the wall, a huge crowd of workers carrying bags are entering. |
charity
justice
trade
tariffs immigration
population
increase
all benefits ... |
LESSON XLI — John Bull Wall .... Long Torn Down .... Yet
Has Poor |
Who is this?
This is the Old Gent Who rules half the World. His name
is John Bull, and he is a Fine Old Boy. He tore down his Wall long
ago, and Things did Hum with him for a Time, there is No Doubt of that.
He
took the Lead of all the Earth in Trade, and he Holds it Yet.
But what
of his Poor?
Why, he still has Poor in the Slums, and Things grow
Worse each Year with them. But he has Some far more Rich, too, than
he used
to have -- some Who have Gold they can not Count.
Why is this?
It is the same Old Song -- the same Sad Truth. A Few Men own John Bull's
Land, and the Rest have to Pay them for the Boon of Life. So
you see
from this
that to Tear down the Wall is not All that must be Done to
put an End
to the Bad State of Things we speak of. |
Woodcut: There are three figures. On the left, a large bag with legs
and a hat, with a Pound sign, labeled "The Classes." On the right,
a seated beggar with his hat out, labeled "The Masses" In the
middle is the fat man with hat and stick and his hands in his pockets. |
poverty
land
land
concentration
wealth
concentration |
LESSON XLII — John And Sam ... Both Have Poor ... In Same
Boat |
|
See the Boat and the Two Men in it! They are in the Same Boat, are they
not?
Yes, such is the Case. One is John Bull, and one is Sam. They speak
the same Tongue and are Good Friends, I am glad to Tell you. But they
Both find the same Sad State of Things all Round them, though John
has an Old Small Land, and Sam has a New Wide one. They see the Rich
and
the Poor side by side, Trade Dull, Men out of Work, Some that Die for
lack of Food, and Some that go on Tramp, while the Rich give Balls,
and Drink Wine, and Feast, and have so much Gold that they know not what
to Do with it.
What is the Cause?
The Same in each Case. A few Men
own
the Land, and take Toll of all the Rest.
Is this not Plain?
It
is. And yet these two Wise Men do not seem to See it. |
Woodcut: two men in a flat rowboat. The boat is labeled "Landlord
System" One man appears to be Uncle Sam, and he is staring off in
space while the other man speaks to him, apparently telling him what he
wants. |
landlord
poverty
justice
land
monopoly
land
monopoly capitalism
wealth
concentration
poverty's
causes |
LESSON XLIII — Sam Cute Chap .... John
Hard Head .... Both Mere Dupes |
| See the Fat Man take a ride on a Team!
Yes. Sam may be a Cute, Sharp
Chap, as no doubt he is, and John has a Hard Head, as we all know --
but it is Plain that both are Blind to the Fact that they are the Dupes
of the Law by which Land is held as if it were a Thing men might "Own." The
Land Lord rides on the Backs of Both these smart Men, and they will not
be Free to Stand up Straight, and Breathe with Ease till they have Thrown
him Off. If just One Man held the Land of John Bull, and but One held
that of Sam, the Thing would be Plain. But as there are quite a Few who
take the Fund which ought to go to the State, they do not See it. And
they still cry out, "How Is it that we can not Stand up Straight?" The
One-Tax plan would make the Land Lord get off and go to Work like the
Rest of Us. |
Woodcut: Three figures, on land. The two men from the previous scene
are on their hands and knees, and A larger man stands astride their backs,
and holds the reins which are in their mouths. |
ownership
landlord
injustice
land
monopoly
wealth
concentration
single tax |
LESSON XLIV — Fat Man Rich ... Owns Things Which ... State
Should Hold |
My Child, to make the Point Clear, let us just take all the Rich men
of the Land and roll them in to One big Fat Man; and then Take all the
Poor and put them in One Gaunt, Thin Wretch. Here we have the Fact as
it is this Day.
You say, if Men are Good, and if they have Care and Thrift
and do not Drink, they may Get On.
Yes, that is True: But Both these
Men you see here are the Same on those Points, and yet One has more
Gold than he can Use or Count, and One is in Want of a Meal.
Did the
Rich
Man Earn this Gold?
No; it came from Land Rent, or from the Fact
that he Owns Things which Ought to be Held by the State for the Use
of All,
or that the Law gives him a Chance to get More for his Goods than
he could get if there was Free Trade. |
Woodcut: Two figures. On the left, a well dressed fat man, holding a
foilio saying "Land titles, Franchises, Tariff favors." He is
scowling at a beggar to our right, who has his hat extended. |
privilege
poverty
unearned
increment
rent
ownership
possession
land
different from capital
tariffs |
LESSON XLV — Cows Must Starve ... Near To Grass ... Barb
Wire Fence |
Do you See all these Cows?
Yes, I See the Cows. See how their Eyes Stick
Out. They want Grass to Eat, and there is a great Field of Grass close
by.
Why do not the Cows go and Eat the Grass?
Ah! why not?
You may
not see that Barb-Wire Fence, but the Cows see it, and feel its
Barbs. That
is Why they Starve in sight of Grass. That Fence is just like
the Law that keeps Men from the Land. No Man would Starve if he could
get
to
the Land to Work. But the Land is not Free. It is Held, and you
must Buy it or pay Rent for it, or you can not Have the Use of it.
If you can not Pay you are then in the same Case as the Cows here, and
must
Starve, if some Kind Man does not come and Give you Food as an Alms. |
Woodcut: A field. Four thin cows on land which has no grass, only rocks,
looking across a barbed wire fence to grassy pasture. |
hunger
enclosure
commons
famine
land
rent
charity
privatization |
LESSON XLVI — Rod Strike Rock ... Drink For All ... Man
Owns Land |
You Know how God came to the Help of the Tribes He led out of the Dark
Land.
At one Place, the Good Book tells us, He sent them Food which fell
on the Ground, and each Man was Free to pick up a Share.
If some Man
had Held that Land on a Deed, that Food would have been His, and
All would have had to Pay him for it. And you have Read how, when the
Tribe
was in need of Drink, God told the Head Man to Strike the Rock with
his Rod, and when he did so a Stream burst forth for the Use of All.
Just
so is it Now. God gives us the Land, and if we Strike the Land
with the Rod of Toil, a Stream of Wealth will come Forth. This God means
Each One of us to Use for his own Life.
But if the Rock in that Old
Time
had
been Held by some Big Man, he would have made them Pay him for the Drinks. |
Woodcut: A man is in the middle of the scene. His sash has the words "Title
Deed." On the left, a sign in the ground says "Manna for Sale." On
the right, a spring spraying water from a rock labeled "No Trespassing
on This Land." The sign next to it says "Water for Sale." The
man shrugs. |
manna
title
privatization
air-land-water
theft
land
as God's provisioning for all |
LESSON XLVII — Men Want Work ... Land Needs Plow ... No
More Alms
|
The good Man who was at the Head of a Town in the West saw a great lot
of Men who had no Work and were so Poor they had to Live on Alms.
At
the same time he saw a Great Deal of Land near by that was not in Use.
So he got Leave of Those who Held the Deeds of the Land to let some
of the Poor Use it, and then he Gave them Spuds and set them to Work.
You
ask, How did it Turn out?
Why, each of the Men who got the Use of
a Lot got so much of a Crop for his Toil that he had no Need to ask
for Aid
from the Town. Give Toil the Use of Land and that is all you need
Do.
But did not the Land Lords help?
Oh, yes, Much! They Got Out of the Way.
The One-Tax Plan would make Land Free to Toil. |
Woodcut: Two figures. The one on the left, a thinnish man in tails and
tophat, is holding open a gate for a farmer to go out, carrying a shovel
and a bag of seed. |
single tax
ending
poverty
charity
marginal
land
Robinson Crusoe |
LESSON XLVIII — Work The Thing ... Steam All Wrong ...
Wild Men Wise |
|
What have we Here? Are these Wild Men?
They Look like it, do they not?
They were once Men who had come Up to a High State of Life, up to the
Point where We are now in this good Age and Land. But they found that
Things got in to such a Fix some how that there was not Bread for All,
and Work could not be Found for those who were Out of Work.
Then they
saw what a Bad Thing Steam was, and all the Means that were used
in Mills, and so forth, to save Toil; so they went to Work and broke
up
all the
Belts and Wheels so that all Work must be done by Hand. And in this
way, by Force of the Truth they now Saw, they were led Back, step by
step,
to the State in which Man was in what we call the Dark Age; in Short,
they were once more Wild Men of the Woods. |
Woodcut: Four figures, which seem to represent early man. Teepees in
the background. They seem to be hunter-gatherers, and they use simple tools. |
technological progress
capital
civilization |