APPENDIX  B

169

ance  upon  the  land  question.  In  it  Is  declared  his  belief  that
the  greatest  of  all  iniquities  is  the  private  ownership  of  land,
together  with  his  explicit  endorsement  of  the  single  tax  doctrine
of  Henry  George.
The  utterances  of  this  world-famous  man,  heralded  far  and
near,  are  likely  to  foster  the  misapprehension  that  the  aim  of
both  Henry  George  and  himself  is  the  destruction  of  private
property  in  land.
I,  therefore,  beg,  with  only  a  word  or  two  of  comment,  to
call  critical  attention  U>  one  of  Tolstoy’s  statements,  leaving  it
to  the  reader  to  make  his  own  interpretation  of  its  meaning.
Notwithstanding  Tolstoy’s  unequivocal  declaration  that  “the
soil  must  be  restored  to  the  people,”  and  his  reiteration  of  “the
wrong  of  private  property  in  land,”  the  conclusion  that  he
would  destroy  the  private  ownership  of  land  must  be,  it  seems
to  me,  a  mistaken  one,  and  out  of  harmony  with  both  his  text
and  context.  Henry  George  specifically  arraigned  the  institution ­
  of  private  property  in  land,  as  it  now  exists.  He  condemned ­
  that  feature  of  land  tenure  which  necessitates  the  invasion ­
  by  taxation  of  the  otherwise  sacred  right  of  private  property
in  the  products  of  labour  in  order  that  ground  rent  may  continue ­
  to  inure  mainly  to  private  benefit.  Hence,  it  must  be
submitted  that  what  Tolstoy  had  in  mind  was  private  property
in  land  “  as  now  existing.”  The  length  and  breadth  of  George’s
proposed  remedy,  to  which  Tolstoy  gives  full  endorsement,  was,
in  Mr.  George’s  own  words,  “I  do  not  propose  ...  to  confiscate ­
  private  property  in  land.  .  .  but  to  appropriate  rent
by  taxation.”  (“Progress  and  Poverty,”  Book  VIII,  Chapter
2).  In  the  enjoyment  of  every  other  “right  and  privilege”  of
tenure,  the  right  to  “own,  possess,  buy,  sell,  devise  and
bequeath”  excepting  only  the  one  privilege  of  the  private
appropriation  of  rent,  Mr.  George’s  specific  declaration  was
that  the  land  owner  should  be  left  undisturbed.  The  following
paragraph  is  from  Tolstoy’s  “A  Great  Iniquity”:
“A  member  of  the  English  Parliament,  Labouchere,  could
publicly  say,  without  meeting  any  refutation,  that  ‘he  was  not