Chapter II: Section I: The Morality of Private Landownership and Rent

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE LANDOWNER'S SHARE OF THE NATIONAL PRODUCT 3
Economic Rent Always Goes to the Landowner 4
Economic Rent and Commercial Rent 5
The Cause of Economic Rent 6

II LANDOWNERSHIP IN HISTORY 8
No Private Ownership in Pre-Agricultural Conditions 10
How the Change Probably Took Place 12
Limited Character of Primitive Common Ownership 14
Private Ownership General in Historical Times 15
Conclusions from History 17

III THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST PRIVATE LANDOWNERSHIP 19
Arguments by Socialists 19
Henry George's Attack on the Title of First Occupancy 21
His Defence of the Title of Labour 24
The Right of all Men to the Bounty of the Earth 30
The Alleged Right of the Community to Land Values 39

IV PRIVATE OWNERSHIP THE BEST SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE 48
The Socialist Proposals Impracticable 48
Inferiority of the Single Tax System 51

V PRIVATE LANDOWNERSHIP A NATURAL RIGHT 56
Three Principal Kinds of Natural Rights 57
Private Landownership Indirectly Necessary for
Individual Welfare 59
Excessive Interpretations of the Right of Private
Landownership 61
The Doctrine of the Fathers and the Theologians 62
The Teaching of Pope Leo XIII 64

VI LIMITATIONS OF THE LANDOWNER'S RIGHT TO RENT 67
The Tenant's Right to a Decent Livelihood 69
The Labourer's Claim Upon the Rent 71

VII DEFECTS OF THE EXISTING LAND SYSTEM 74
Landownership and Monopoly 75
Excessive Gains from Private Landownership 80
Exclusion from the Land 90

VIII METHODS OF REFORMING OUR LAND SYSTEM 94
The Leasing System 95
Public Agricultural Lands 97
Public Ownership of Urban Land 98
Appropriating Future Increases of Land Value 100
Some Objections to the Increment Tax 102
The Morality of the Proposal 108
The German and British Increment Taxes 114
Transferring Other Taxes to Land 117
The Morality of the Plan 120
Amount of Taxes Practically Transferable 122
The Social Benefits of the Plan 127
A Supertax on Large Holdings 130
References on Section I 133