PRIVATE  PROPERTY  IN  LAND

105

In  considering,  therefore,  a  tax  on  land  values,  we  must
bear  in  mind  that  it  is  a  fundamental  teaching  of  the  Church  that
the  common  good  of  all  mankind  is  an  end  that  must  be  kept  in
view;  that  the  community  is  the  overlord  of  the  landlord;  that
every  individual  holds  whatever  land  he  possesses  subject  to
the  high  and  supreme  title  of  eminent  domain.
“If  I  thus  correctly  interpret  your  aim  and  object,  I  do  not
hesitate  to  say  that  your  system  of  taxation  is  not  condemned
by  the  Catholic  Church,  nor  is  it  contrary  to  her  ethical
teachings.”  *  )
To  the  foregoing  there  should  be  added  the  following
words  of  the  Rev.  Edward  McGIynn  in  his  statement
to  the  authorities  of  the  Church  of  Romef  regarding
what  he  broadly  conceived  to  be  the  right  of  eminent
domain  with  deductions  therefrom;
The  organised  community  through  civil  government  must
always  maintain  the  dominion  over  those  natural  bounties,  as
distinct  from  products  of  private  industry,  and  from  that
private  possession  of  the  land  which  is  necessary  for  their
enjoyment.
The  increasing  need  for  public  revenues  with  social  advance
being  a  natural  God-ordained  need,  there  must  be  a  right  way
of  raising  them  —  some  way  that  we  can  truly  say  is  the  way
intended  by  God.  ...  By  a  beautiful  providence,  that
may  be  truly  called  divine,  since  it  is  founded  upon  the  nature
of  things  and  the  nature  of  man  of  which  God  is  the  creator,
a  fund,  constantly  increasing  with  the  capacities  and  needs  of
society,  is  produced  by  the  very  growth  of  society  itself,  namely,
the  rental  value  of  the  natural  bounties  of  which  society  retains
dominion.  The  justice  and  the  duty  of  appropriating  this  fund
to  public  uses  is  apparent  in  that  it  takes  nothing  from  the
private  property  of  individuals  except  what  they  will  pay
willingly  as  an  equivalent  for  a  value  produced  by  the  community, ­
  which  they  are  permitted  to  enjoy.  The  fund  thus
*  Extract  from  an  address  by  the  Rev.  Robert  J.  Johnson,  Rector  of  the
Gate  of  Heaven  Church,  South  Boston,  at  a  reception  and  dinner  given  by  the
Massachusetts  Single  Tax  League  to  the  Catholic  Clergy  of  the  Archdiocese
of  Boston,  December  3,  1900.
t  for  Dr.  McGlynn’s  complete  statement  as  presented  in  Italian  to  Mgr.
S^atolli,  December,  1892,  together  with  English  translation,  see  Appendix  D.