Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1352.

Carbon of a letter from Heath to Louis Wallis, Kew Gardens, New York NY.

February 18, 1941

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Wallis:

 

     I do not know how many people have inquired whether or not I knew you or how many have recommended that I should, but it is a considerable number.

 

     It was my good fortune to assist Oscar Geiger at the inception of the Henry George School and to be its first contributor, as well as one of its instructors during the last two years of Mr. Geiger’s life and for some time thereafter.

      

     I am fairly familiar with your general point of view and method of presenting what I think we now all prefer to call “the Henry George Philosophy of Freedom.” Lately I purchased from Miss Peterson two of your recent books which I have already examined and expect to read more thoroughly.

 

     Thinking you may be interested in what Henry George called “the development of ideas” and in “making further application” of the general principles laid down by him, I am enclosing two modest contributions of my own.

 

     The first, entitled “The Inspiration of Beauty,” sets out what I believe to be the necessary psychological approach before one can be either objective or intelligent in his examination of any field of phenomena.

     The second, “Private Property in Land Explained,” is a functional analysis of that basic social institution, property in land, to which Henry George in his early writings so stoutly adhered as a “condition of civilization” which must be retained if we would keep from relapsing into barbarism (Our Land and Land Policy, p. 88) and which he defended against the so-called “socialization” proposed by the land nationalizationists and others following under the Marxian perversion of view concerning the function of private ownership with respect to both private and public capital as we have it now.

     This functional explanation of property in land runs wholly counter to the static analysis of Herbert Spencer in his Social Statics only by reason of its proceeding from wholly different and more realistic assumption of facts. Spencer tried to analyze ownership in terms of relation of exclusiveness between the owner and all other persons instead of a relation of inclusiveness through a contractual administration of his property for the benefit of present and prospective tenants and purchasers.

The two articles entitled, “Real Estate — How to Raise and Restore Its Income and Value,” are for the practical application of the sound principles of ownership and service in the administration of community services and properties.

You will observe that what I am presenting to you is the business philosophy for a further application of the most general principles of freedom laid down by Henry George and the practical application of which he proposes in his formula to “abolish all taxation save that on land value.” I have taken this abolishment of all taxation — save that on land value — as the great community service of which there is most pressing need, and I am proposing that this great service to freedom be performed by the proprietary interests themselves with a view to the great recompense in rents and values that is bound to accrue to them in exchange for their performing it.

     Since what I have written is not a call to action but is, instead, the presentation of ideas and relation­ships, I am presenting it to you only to give you the pleasure of considering it and not with any necessary expectation of your early acceptance. The most important thing of all is that we see things not only in their true but in their full relationships. It is safer to have vision without action than to have action without vision.

    I expect to be in New York City again for most of the week beginning February 24^th. I will stop, as usual, at the Woodstock Hotel, 127 West 43^rd Street (Bryant 9-3000). If you happen to be in New York or otherwise accessible during that time, it will give me great pleasure to make your acquaintance and discuss our common interest.

    It may interest you also to read a brief letter and appended statement submitted by me to the director of the Henry George School some time ago. This also I enclose.

    Hoping for the pleasure of meeting you at some early date, I am,

                       Sincerely yours,

 

                          Spencer Heath

 

SH:ML

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