this must count in the end only as corrective and palliative unless
with it are associated other reforms which this generation is hardly
likely to see, yet which more and more outline themselves as a part of
those better days for which we work and hope. As to America thus far,
our great spaces, our sense of unlimited opportunity, of the chance for
all which we still count as the portion of every one on American soil,
and a hundred other standard and little-questioned beliefs, have all
seemed testimony to the reality and certainty of our faith. But as one
faces the same or worse industrial conditions in London or any great
city, English or Continental, with its congestion of labor and its mass
of resultant misery, the same solution suggests itself and the cry comes
from philanthropist and Philistine alike, "Send them into the country!
Give them homes and work there!"

Naturally this would seem the answer; but where? For when search is made
for any bit of land on which a home may rise and food be given back from
the soil, all England is found to be in the hands of a few thousand
land-owners, while London itself practically belongs to less than a
dozen, with rents at such rates that when paid no living wage remains.
When once this land question is touched, it is found made up of
immemorial injustices, absurdities, outrages, and for America no less
than for the whole world of workers. It cannot be that man has right to
air and sunshine, but never right to the earth under his feet.
Standing-place there must be for this long battle for existence, and in
yielding this standing-place comes instant solution of a myriad
problems.

This is no place for extended argument as to the necessity of land
nationalization, or the advantages or disadvantages of Mr. George's
scheme of a single tax on land values, with the consequent dropping of
our whole complicated tariff. But believing that the experiment is at
least worth trying, and trying patiently and thoroughly, the belief,
slowly made plain and protested against till further protest became
senseless and impossible, stands here, as one more phase of work to be
done. In it are bound up many of the reforms, without which the mere
fact of granted standing-room would be valueless. The day must come when
no one can question that the natural opportunities of life can never
rightfully be monopolized by individuals, and when the education that
fits for earning, and the means of earning are u