Watson's Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 2, April, 1906Various
History
Watson's Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 2, April, 1906
Various
United States -- Politics and government -- Periodicals
Having established him in his security of possession, which I say is
tantamount to title, suppose that laborer wants to change his farm for
a stock of manufactured goods, or for silver and gold, or for horses,
or for another piece of land, do you mean to say he shall not have the
right to do it? If so, you limit his title, and you have not the right
to do so. _That which he made he ought to have the right to dispose of
on such terms as please him._ His title having originated in the sacred
rights of labor, you should not limit his enjoyment or his disposition
of that which his labor created. If you recognize his right to exchange
one product of his labor for another, you recognize his right to exchange
all products of his labor for others. In other words, by plain course
of reasoning, you arrive at the principle that the bargain and sale of
lands is founded upon the right of the laborer to exchange the product of
his labor with those who may have product of labor which he could use to
better advantage than he can use his own.
Now, let us see. The laborer who made the farm dies. What shall become of
it? Away back in the origin of property, OCCUPANCY was the first title
recognized. As long as one individual, or one tribe, occupied a certain
spot their right to use it was recognized, but no longer. When possession
was abandoned, the next individual, or the next tribe who occupied that
spot, had the right of possession. When tribes ceased to wander about,
the occupancy of the spot which the tribe had taken possession of became
permanent.
Therefore, the title to that spot grew up in the tribe along with
permanent possession. _No civilization was ever created by wandering
tribes._ It is only when the tribe fixes its permanent residence in
some particular spot, recognized as exclusively its own, that there is
any such thing as law and order and civilization. It is clear enough
when we consider one tribe in its relations to other tribes. Let us
consider the tribe in its relations to its members. Each individual in
the beginning had a title _by occupancy_ to the spot which he cultivated,
and this security of possession lasted so long as the occupancy lasted.
If the tribesman abandoned his spot of land, with the intent to surrender
the same, then the next fortunate tribesman who came along could take
possession of it and hold it. But, in the course of time, this created
great inconvenience, because, as favored spots became more desirable,
the competition to get them was fiercer. Hence, there were feuds, bloody
struggles, disorders in the tribe. Consequently, by natural evolution
society was forced, first, to recognize the right of the individual as
long as he wished to occupy the spot which he had taken possession of;
second _to provide for the succession to that title when the spot became
vacant_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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