The Private Ownership of Land [pp. 125-147]

THE PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF LAND.
To this law land is equally subject as all other material
things. The reason of the law holds in respect to land as truly
as in respect to anything else. There are some substances
which, under ordinary conditions, never are owned. Air and
water are such. Yet when labor must be exerted to make
water contribute to human use, when it must be obtained
from wells dug deep in the earth, or carried to a distance from
the source of supply, it just as naturally becomes the property
of an individual as wheat or vegetables. It is not perhaps im possible to suppose a case in which a certain portion of the
atmosphere has undergone modification by the application of
labor to fit it for some special use; if so it would also become
private property.
What may sometimes happen in respect to these two univer sal gifts of the Creator to all, in respect to land always does
happen. It is precisely here that the opponents of the private
ownership of land'lay the whole stress of their argument.
Land say they, as truly as air and water, is God's free gift to
all alike, and therefore cannot be the exclusive property of any.
It is also precisely here that their argument breaks down. Land
never is found in its natural condition to be fit for human use.
It must be prepared for cultivation by processes which are
always laborious, and often exceedingly costly. The rank and
useless growths of nature must be exterminated, channels for
drainage must be opened, and it must be protected from the
incursions of brute animals both wild and tame by suitable
fences. Buildings must also be erected for the use of its cultivators. In this necessity is found the natural foundation for
the private ownership of land. The Creator has given land to
the human race under very different conditions from those under
which he has given air and water.
One man conceives the idea of rendering his hunting more
successful by selecting suitable materials and constructing a bow
and arrows, and owns the same because he exerted his powers
in making them. Another believes that he can more easily
supply his wants by making something grow out of the earth.
He selects a piece of land which he thinks suitable for the purpose, at the cost of immense labor (because he has no suitable
instruments to aid him in his work), he clears it of the forest
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