tioning of the earth, a communism that is dissociated from
propaganda and programs. The freedom of the earth is not the freedom of
license: there is always the thought of the others that are dependent on
it. It is the freedom of utilization for needs and natural desires,
without regard to one's place among one's fellows, or even to one's
condition of degradation or state of sinfulness. All men are the same
when they come back to the meadows, to the hills, and to the deep woods:
He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on
the just and the unjust.

The lesson of the growing abounding earth is of liberality for all, and
never exploitation or very exclusive opportunities for the few. Even if
the weaker anywhere perish in the contest for food, they are
nevertheless given the opportunity to contest on terms equal to their
abilities; and at all events, we come, in the human sphere, to the
domination of sweet reason rather than to competition in sheer force.
When, by means of reasonable education, this simple relation is
understood by mankind and begins to express itself spontaneously, we
shall find our voluminous complex of laws to regulate selfishness
gradually disappearing and passing into the limbo.

It is now easy to understand the sinfulness of vast private estates that
shut up expanses of the surface of the earth from the reach and
enjoyment of others that are born similarly to the privileges of the
planet. There is no warrant in nature for guarantee deeds to such
estates. It is true, of course, that land-estates should not be equal,
for capacities for use are not equal, and abilities and deserts are not
equal. It is legitimate to reward those who otherwise render great
service, and this reward may lie in unusual privileges. The present
emoluments in the way of incomes bear little relation to service or even
to merit.

We have not yet escaped the idea that vested rights--and particularly
personal realty--are inviolable. Certainly these rights must be
protected by law, otherwise there can be no stability and regularity in
affairs; but there is no inalienable right in the ownership of the
surface of the earth. Readjustments must come, and even now they are
coming slowly, and here and there in the interest of the neighbor; and
in the end there will be no private monopoly of public or natural
resources.

The cure for these ills does not lie, however, in the ownership of all
the land by "the g