Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth

This Memorial Edition of the Writings of
  Henry George is limited to one thousand
  numbered copies, of which this is

  No. 4




  MEMORIAL EDITION
  OF THE WRITINGS
  OF HENRY GEORGE

  VOL. I.




Make for thyself a definition or description of the thing which is
presented to thee, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is,
in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell
thyself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has
been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For nothing is so
productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically
and truly every object which is presented to thee in life, and always
to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe
this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value
everything has with reference to the whole, and what with reference to
man, who is a citizen of the highest city, of which all other cities
are like families; what each thing is, and of what it is composed, and
how long it is the nature of this thing to endure.—_Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus._


[Illustration: _Henry George when writing “Progress and Poverty” San
Francisco, 1879_]




  THE WRITINGS OF
  HENRY GEORGE


  PROGRESS AND
  POVERTY

  AN INQUIRY INTO THE CAUSE OF INDUSTRIAL
  DEPRESSIONS AND OF INCREASE
  OF WANT WITH INCREASE OF WEALTH

  THE REMEDY

  I

  [Illustration: Colophon]


  NEW YORK: DOUBLEDAY
  AND MCCLURE COMPANY
  1898




  Copyright, 1891, by
  HENRY GEORGE

  THE DE VINNE PRESS.




  TO THOSE WHO,
  SEEING THE VICE AND MISERY THAT SPRING FROM
  THE UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION
  OF WEALTH AND PRIVILEGE,
  FEEL THE POSSIBILITY OF A HIGHER SOCIAL STATE
  AND WOULD STRIVE FOR ITS ATTAINMENT

  SAN FRANCISCO, March, 1879.




            There must be refuge! Men
    Perished in winter winds till one smote fire
    From flint stones coldly hiding what they held,
    The red spark treasured from the kindling sun;
    They gorged on flesh like wolves, till one sowed corn,
    Which grew a weed, yet makes the life of man;
    They mowed and babbled till some tongue struck speech,
    And patient fingers framed the lettered sound.
    What good gift have my brothers, but it came
    From search and strife and loving sacrifice?

    _Edwin Arnold._

                    Never yet
    Share of Truth was vainly set
      In the world’s wide fallow;
    After hands shall sow the seed,
      After hands, from hill and mead,
    Reap the harvests yellow.

    _Whittier._




PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION.


The views herein set forth were in the main briefly stated in a
pamphlet entitled “Our Land and Land Policy,” published in San
Francisco in 1871. I then intended, as soon as I could, to present them
more fully, but the opportunity did not for a long time occur. In the
meanwhile I became even more firmly convinced of their truth, and saw
more completely and clearly their relations; and I also saw how many
false ideas and erroneous habits of thought stood in the way of their
recognition, and how necessary it was to go over the whole ground.

This I have here tried to do, as thoroughly as space would permit. It
has been necessary for me to clear away before I could build up, and
to write at once for those who have made no previous study of such
subjects, and for those who are familiar with economic reasonings;
and, so great is the scope of the argument that it has been impossible
to treat with the fullness they deserve many of the questions raised.
What I have most endeavored to do is to establish general principles,
trusting to my readers to carry further their applications where this
is needed.

In certain respects this book will be best appreciated by those who
have some knowledge of economic literature; but no previous reading
is necessary to the understanding of the argument or the passing of
judgment upon its conclusions. The facts upon which I have relied are
not facts which can be verified only by a search through libraries.
They are facts of common observation and common knowledge, which every
reader can verify for himself, just as he can decide whether the
reasoning from them is or is not valid.

Beginning with a brief statement of facts which suggest this inquiry,
I proceed to examine the explanation currently given in the name of
political economy of the reason why, in spite of the increase of
productive power, wages tend to the minimum of a bare living. This
examination shows that the current doctrine of wages is founded upon
a misconception; that, in truth, wages are produced by the labor for
which they are paid, and should, other things being equal, increase
with the number of laborers. Here the inquiry meets a doctrine which
is the foundation and center of most important economic theories,
and which has powerfully influenced thought in all directions—the
Malthusian doctrine, that population tends to increase faster than
subsistence.