V.—Property in land in the United States 383 BOOK VIII.—APPLICATION OF THE REMEDY. Chapter I.—Private property in land inconsistent with the best use of land 395 II.—How equal rights to the land may be asserted and secured 401 III.—The proposition tried by the canons of taxation 406 IV.—Indorsements and objections 420 BOOK IX.—EFFECTS OF THE REMEDY. Chapter I.—Of the effect upon the production of wealth 431 II.—Of the effect upon distribution and thence upon production 438 III.—Of the effect upon individuals and classes 445 IV.—Of the changes that would be wrought in social organization and social life 452 BOOK X.—THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. Chapter I.—The current theory of human progress—its insufficiency 473 II.—Differences in civilization—to what due 487 III.—The law of human progress 503 IV.—How modern civilization may decline 524 V.—The central truth 541 CONCLUSION. The problem of individual life 553 INTRODUCTORY. THE PROBLEM. Ye build! ye build! but ye enter not in, Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin; From the land of promise ye fade and die, Ere its verdure gleams forth on your wearied eye. _—Mrs. Sigourney._ INTRODUCTORY. THE PROBLEM. The present century has been marked by a prodigious increase in wealth-producing power. The utilization of steam and electricity, the introduction of improved processes and labor-saving machinery, the greater subdivision and grander scale of production, the wonderful facilitation of exchanges, have multiplied enormously the effectiveness of labor.