Now, first, _rent_: I confess that I have no patience with any one who claims, as an inherent right, the exclusive ownership of any part of the earth. He might as well claim ownership in a section of air. In this I am very certain that I have the hearty concurrence of every member of this Club. I am so sure of this, in fact, that I am going to make that assumption, in which we all agree, the starting point of a little dialogue, in which, after the manner of Plato, I will put Socrates at one end of the discussion, and some of his friends, whom we will suppose to be Phædo, and Crito, and Simmias, and the rest at the other, and we will let Socrates and Phædo carry on the conversation, which might run as follows: _Socrates_--We are agreed, then, that no man has any right inherent in himself to the ownership of land. _Phædo_--Certainly, we agree to that. Such a thing is absurd, for the earth is a gift to the human race, and not to particular men. _Socrates_--I am glad that you think so, and am sure we shall continue to agree. And if no one man has any right to exclusive ownership of land, neither have any two men, since it is plain that neither could convey to himself and another any right which he did not possess, nor could two men together by any means get lawful title to what neither was entitled to hold. _Phædo_--You are doubtless right, Socrates. I do not think any man could dispute that. _Socrates_--And if neither one man nor two men can acquire lawful title to land, neither for the same reason could any number, no matter how great, acquire lawful title. _Phædo_--That certainly follows from what we have already agreed to. _Socrates_--And it makes no difference how small or how great a portion of land may be. No man and no number of men can acquire lawful ownership of it. _Phædo_--That is also so plainly true that it seems hardly worth while to say it. It certainly makes no difference whether the land be a square furlong or a continent. _Socrates_--As you say, Phædo, that is very evident. The earth belongs to mankind, and all men are by nature sharers in its benefits. _Phædo_--I trust that you will understand that I agree with you in that, and so make an end of it. _Socrates_--It is perhaps best that we be very sure that we agree as we go on, so that if we should at any time disagree, we do not need to go far back to find where our difference began. The earth is the property of men in common, and each has an undivided share in its possession. _Phædo_--That is another thing too plain to be disputed. _Socrates_--And when men hold property in common, each has as much right to all parts of it as another. _Phædo_--To be sure. I do not see why we need waste time in mentioning things so plain and so trivial. _Socrates_--And when men own property they may do with it as they please, and property which men own jointly they may visit and remain upon, the one as much as the other.