SECTION I. The Morality of Private Landownership and Rent

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