8 Conservative.
A PRIVILEGED CLASS.
Tlio following pessimistic contribu
tion from Mr. J. B. Johnston , of 5754
Washington avenue , Chicago , THE CON
SERVATIVE prints with great satisfaction.
It demonstrates thoroughly well the
fact that there is a privileged class in
this country. There always will bo a
privileged class , so long as some men
have better intellectual ability by in
heritance aud better development there
of by schooling and discipline , than ,
other men.
Quoting the definition given in the
article of Mr. Johnston , this privilege is
"a peculiar benefit or advantage ; " that
is to say , it is "a peculiar benefit and
advantage" to be stronger-brained and
better developed intellectually than your
neighbor than any other man with
whom you come in competition for
daily subsistence.
The man who has the best brain and
who has developed the same , has "a
right and an immunity , " not enjoyed by
feeble-minded and undeveloped mortals.
Education , together with inherited
ability , "exempts men from evil and
from burden. " It provides the means
of obtaining subsistence and acquiring
great wealth by mental efforts.
Those who have not intellectual gifts
aud development , are compelled to ac
quire livelihood aud maintenance by
manual labor.
lu. the gold fields of Alaska , the latter
class would enjoy privileges and advan
tages over the former. The capacity for
physical effort , manual labor , in open
ing up new countries , in developing
great mining industries and in most of
the methods for the material develop
ment of the earth , has "an advantage
and peculiar benefit" and a strenuous
privilege over and above mere mind-
culture and brain-strength.
But read Mr. Johnston's article and
"send THE CONSERVATIVE answers to the
same from time to time.
HAVE WE A PRIVILEGED CLASS ?
BY J. B. JOHNSTON.
i
A privilege is "a peculiar benefit or
advantage ; a right or immunity not en
joyed by others or by all special enjoy
ment of a good , or exemption from an
evil or burden , " and the privileges of
which we complain are those conferred
by government in violation of funda
mental principles.
Those who enjoy privileges belong tea
a privileged class , and our proposition is ,
that the wishes and interests of this
class are paramount in the councils and
in the administration of our govern
ment.
If there were no privileged classes in
this country , there would be no private
property in land. There might be
private property in everything else , as
now , that is , in the products of our
laud , in things produced , extracted or
i
derived from land ( and there are no
other things ) , but there could be no
private property in land itself ; for the
man who has an estate in land has a
privilege , a right or immunity , not en
joyed by others , or by all.
He may inclose it and exclude his fel
lows from any share in its advantages
or possibilities.
He has the power to sell and convey
these privileges to another or to others ,
to them , their heirs , executors , adminis
trators , or assigns , forever , so runs the
deed.
He has also the right to buy more
land , all he can pay for , aud to associ
ate himself with other land holders , for
the purpose of increasing the value of
his holding , that is the extent to which
he may lay tribute upon the commun
ity , the amount which he may compel
his fellow men to pay for the opportun
ity to use such portion of the earth ; all
iu , violation of the equal rights of his
fellow men.
It is no answer to this averment that
men and nations have commonly treated
laud as subject to private ownership and
control ( although this will not be con
ceded ) . The question is , does land
ownership create a privileged class ?
Nine men , it is said , control ( or did
last fall control ) the anthracite coal
fields of Pennsylvania , and with them
the welfare , if not the existence , of
140,000 miners.
Nine men fix the price of this coal for
the whole country. Nine men say how
much shall be mined , or whether any
shall be mined. Among nine men , and
the others represented by them , are
divided the profits which result from
this "right or immunity not enjoyed by
others or by all. "
Do these men belong to a privileged
class or not ?
Since this article was begun , there has
appeared in the public prints , notice of a
similar consolidation of the soft coal in
terests of Illinois and Western Indiana.
"Before the first of September , " it is
said , "all of these companies will have
been gathered into one organization
similar to the United States Steel Cor
poration. The capitalization will be
enormous , probably second only to that
of the big steel trust. "
The above extract precedes notice of
the acquisition of the Ohio and West
Virginia fields.
What will be the condition of the
miner when the bituminous coal fields
of these four states shall be under one
management , as contemplated , and who
will be chargeable with this condition ?
Who aud what but the alienation by our
government of these very lauds in favor
of private citizens ?
This alienation , we contend , is iu its
nature utterly fraudulent and void. Wo
refuge to recognize the right of any
government , on any pretext , or for any
consideration , to deed away iu perpetu
ity the heritage of its people.
To use or to enjoy , yes ; but to give
away , to sell , or to devastate the inher
itance of the absent , the infant aud the
unborn Right 1
The laud grant railroads of this coun
try have received from the government
( Land Com'r's Report , March 8 , 1888) )
49,167,892 acres of land , equal to 76,825
square miles , a portion of the earth's
surface greater in extent than the whole
state of Nebraska , aud with it have re
ceived the equivalent of vast sums of
money and the solo right to tfuild and
operate , for private gain , public high
ways ( so-called ) over half a continent.
They fix the rates at which , and the
terms and conditions on which , they
will transport passengers and freight.
They can build up one section or local
ity and tear down and destroy another ,
as they choose. ( In this connection
read the receut complaint of the orange
growers of Southern California. )
Their motives and policy are embodied
in two short and simple rules , viz :
"Charge all the traffic will bear , " and
"The public be damned. " And in the
face of such indisputable facts as these
there are meuand among them the edit
ors of this paperwho deny the existence
of privileged class iu this country. They
might , with equal reason and as good
grace , deny the law of gravitation. It
is true the roads themselves are not per
sons , nor classes , but who are back of
the roads ?
Monstrous as are the facts we have
cited , they are only the abuses of a
system which is wholly , irredeemably
wrong. Let the right of one man to
own a piece of land be conceded ( size ,
location and circumstance are imma
terial ) , and the existing order , with all
its menace , becomes the legitimate and
inevitable result. Our theory aud our
practice are at variance. In theory
men have an equal right to life , liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. If the
domain of nature were opeu to all men ,
they would have an equal right to life ,
liberty aud the pursuit of happiness. If
they had the equivalent for the ( temporary
ary ) deprivation thereof , they would
still have the right to life , liberty and
the pursuit of happiness ; but , having
neither the right of access nor the equiva
lent , how can it be said that men , under
'our institutions , have an equal right to
life , liberty and the pursuit of happi
ness. They have not. The only herit
able rights of men in the earth today
are those of the highway and the desert ;
all others have to be bought from those
who , as land owners , can make their
own terms. Hence , the relation of
landlord and tenant , of employer and
employe. The institution of private
property in land , with its inevitable ac
companiments , underlies not only our
judicial system , but our civilization
All that is worth preserving in our