they are knaves. The utmost sympathy which they can demand, is, that they should be placed under the curative treatment of disordered minds.'

And so it is those self-styled friends of law and order may rob the poor, the ignorant, the weak and defenceless, of the elements of nature, and of the fruits of their labor and toil-reduce them to beggary, and, finally, starve them to death, and yet be patterns of piety, lovers of justice, and entitled to honor and respect;-while, if the poortheir oppressed and plundered victims-do but endeavor to devise a plan for the purpose of effecting a restoration of their long-lost rights to a free use of the elements, and the ownership of the fruits of their own labor, they are stigmatized as villains, traitors, rebels, thieves and robbers. Those self-styled friends of law and order may rest assured that their days are numbered; the end of their power and influence is at hand; they must shortly mend their ways, or give place to other and better men; themselves pass to the shades of oblivion, and be numbered with the things that were.

Producers of wealth, it is for you to decide who are the greatest thieves and robbers: those who have deprived you of God's elements, and stripped you of the fruits of your industry, thereby making you beggars and paupers, or you who suffer the injustice. How long will you suffer yourselves to be cajoled and flattered by the cant and hypocrisy of your money-serving, false moral teachers? Do you not know that if a man is stolen from his land, he becomes a slave? and if the land is stolen from the man, he becomes equally one? Do you not know, that you have the same right to the free use of the soil as you have to breathe the atmosphere, or enjoy the light and heat from the sun? Whoever has the right to make merchandise of the earth, has an equal right to buy and sell your body; and, without the free use of the soil, no man can possibly exist a freeman. Come, then, producers of wealth-wake up, organize your forces, march boldly up to the ballot-boxes, and strike the mighty blow: make the public lands free, and every man's homestead inalienable, and half your work of reform is done.

We conclude this chapter with a quotation from the Cincinnati Chronicle, as before mentioned; first premising that mány good men think that the editor stands about as pro

minent in the world as he considers "The World's Convention" did. At the commencement of his article, he says:

"Small [men or] things in this globe sometimes make as much noise as great ones, as every one knows who has had a gnat about his head in a summer night. It is not what these little ones do, so much as what they say, that is annoying or troublesome. Pat, an Irishman, was one night abusing the musquitoes. Some one said he was surprised that he should care so much about a musquito bite. Faith,' says Pat, an' it isn't I that cares about the bite, if they didn't brag so much.' So it is with the modern as well as the ancient pretenders to superior wisdom [and moral excellence.] They never do anything [good,] but they brag so loud that we are obliged to hear them."

on.

6

Producers of wealth, let those little fellows bite and brag Heed them not. Let them brand you as "rebels, traitors, thieves and robbers;" it is nothing but what you may expect. It is consoling to reflect, however, that their little venomous bills are being extracted by the dexterous hand of Truth, and, ere long, will become as harmless as young lambs or sucking doves. Let them have their way, -they can do us no harm nor themselves any good, by the methods they have adopted to prevent the progress of "National Reform."

To be sure, those little fellows-the guardians of public morals-do not always write nonsense. As an instance, the very best advice, and the proper course for "National Reformers" to pursue, is correctly laid down in a number of the very paper which stigmatizes them as "thieves and robbers." It is as follows:

"Perform fearlessly what you believe to be right. Never mind the opposition made by your enemies: they cannot har you. The thrusts of those who hate or envy you, will never hurt you if you are faithful to your duty. Let truth, justice and integrity, be on your side, and you may resist a host: with these, one may chase a thousand, and two can put ten thousand to flight."

In this chapter it has been clearly shown, that for the poor to endeavor to devise a plan by which they may obtain justice, is treason and rebellion!-but when the rich devise a plan to starve the poor to death, it accords with religion and morality!

CHAPTER XVIII.

HOUSE RENT.

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VERY few persons indeed are aware of the unjust and oppressive nature of house rent. If you buy a coat, a hat or a pair of shoes, you pay for them but once; you have the pleasure of wearing them out or of disposing of them, at all times, as you please. Not so with a house. Suppose you engage a hatter to make you a hat to cost six dollars, and which would last you one year. Suppose, further, if, on going for your hat, you could not pay the whole amount down, and the hatter should offer to accommo date" you with the use of the hat, on the following conditions, viz: to pay him twenty-five cents per week, or one dollar per month, for the use of the hat, and at the end of the year return it to him, be it good or bad. You would, no doubt, think it a very strange kind of proposition. But 't is not half so extravagant as the conditions imposed by a landlord upon his tenants. At twenty-five cents per week, the hat would amount to thirteen dollars; at fifty cents per month, only twelve dollars: double the cost price of the hat. But, in the case of a house, the discrepancy between the cost price of the thing, and the amount actually paid for the use of it, is much greater.

Many houses rent for five hundred dollars a year, that have not cost more than two thousand five hundred dollars. All are aware of this. Now, about two per cent. on the original cost will keep a well-built house in good repair at least sixty years, and, at the end of that time, will still be a house having some value; and, in a good business place, if sold, would bring twice, perhaps three times the amount of money it cost, originally, to build it. Five hundred dollars a year, in sixty years, will amount to thirty thousand. And this sum will build twelve houses equally as good as the one that thirty thousand dollars has been paid for the use of! You see this is six times more extravagant than the case of the hat-the hatter getting but two hats for the use of one, while the landlord gets

twelve houses for the use of one. There must be some great error somewhere, or such results could not be effected. The thing is too glaringly absurd; because nothing-neither a hat, nor a house, nor a dollar-can ever be worth more than itself. The just rent for the use of anything, is an equivalent for whatever portion is used or consumed by him that uses it-no more. Anything demanded beyond this, is tyranny, oppression, cannibalism. And if the laws making legal value in the elements were abolished, and all men were alike free to compete with each other on perfectly equal grounds, such instances of injustice and tyranny (keeping the aggregate in view,) could never be effected; because, the elements being equally free to the use of all, no man would submit to the imposition. At least one-half of the money paid in the form of house rent, is predicated on the money value of the land; which might as well be predicated upon the atmosphere, or the rays of the sun. Abolish, therefore, the legal money value of the elements, and one-half the tyranny and oppression of the world will at once cease.

We do affirm, and that, too, without fear of refutation, that the grand source of all the evils of which the producers of wealth have any just cause of complaint, arises chiefly from the practice of governments in confounding the elements of Nature with the products of human labor, and by legalizing traffic in the elements alone, especially in land and human flesh. It is the immediate cause of Slavery in all its forms, and has filled the world with crime and confusion. Furthermore, we affirm that the capital of the world never could have been accumulated into the few hands it is, but by the mighty power and influence of LAND MONOPOLY. This is the grand lever by which it has been accomplished. Let the removal of this bane of human happiness, be the first object to engage the attention of "National Reformers," in their march of progress, and millions yet unborn will have abundant cause to rejoice in their victory

THE TEMPERANCE CAUSE.

It appears by the "Temperance Papers," that a movement is being made among the friends of Temperance, to combine their influence to procure the passage of a law making the sale of ardent spirits criminal, on the ground of its being destructive to human life and happiness. We are not in the least disposed to controvert the position assumed by those gentlemen, and not doubting but that the desire to do it arises from the purest feelings of humanity, philanthropy and benevolence. But have they duly considered to what the introduction of such a principle would lead? They surely would not stop at that point, but would be consistent, and go on. All those who have examined the subject, are convinced that where the use of ardent spirits destroys the happiness and life of one human being, Land Monopoly destroys thousands. And at this moment the "Land Gods" of Europe are starving the people to death by millions. And, therefore, if it be criminal to buy and sell ardent spirits, to buy and sell land must be a thousand times more so. Now, if the gentlemen above alluded to intend to carry out the proposed measure, let them be consistent-make it criminal to sell land, as well as ardent spirits, and not “strain at a gnat and swallow a camel."

There is another point which is worthy of consideration about this matter, and is a fact that cannot be denied, that a great portion of those who ruin themselves and families by the use of ardent spirits-perhaps nine out of every ten-are directly or indirectly driven or tempted into the practice by the influence of"Land Monopoly," by allowing some to spend their time in idle uselessness, and are thereby tempted to dissipation, Satan always finding mischief for idle hands to do; while many others are driven to the bottle by a keen sensibility of their hard and toilsome lot, and destitute condition, brought upon them by the stony heart and iron hand of pauper-making "Land Monopoly."

Let us all, therefore, reflect deeply upon these things, and if we come to the conclusion that there is wisdom in making it criminal to sell ardent spirits, there will be much more wisdom in making it criminal to sell land; which all men have the same right to use, that they have the atmosphere, without money and without price