Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1372

Carbon of a letter from Heath to Lawson Purdy, 640 West 158th Street, New York NY

March 25, 1941

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Purdy:

 

     Considerable time has elapsed since I either saw you or brought to your attention any of the ideas I have been developing concerning the institution of property in land.

As you know, this institution is very imperfectly understood. Private property since Herbert Spencer and before, has been regarded from the standpoint of the right and interest of the proprietor; it has never been examined with a view to the interest of the community, the customers, the clients, etc. in whose interest the property is being administered and who are being served by it.

 

     I am at present drawing attention of various persons interested in real estate to the possibilities of rehabil­itating its income and value through real estate owners en­gaging themselves in the interest of their tenants and pur­chasers, both present and prospective. The real estate interest is already making contractual distribution of sites and resources so that the desired portions of the earth can be held free of anarchy, on the one hand, and of despotism and monopoly, on the other, as would necessarily be the case under a political allocation of sites and resources.

    

     I wish you would engage your ripe and wise talents with an examination of the analysis of the institution of private property in land that I have made, and am sending to you in printed form, and also with the practical steps I am proposing to organized land owners for re­storing the value of their property by the giving of protective services to their communities, this protection to be directed against the mounting taxation and restric­tion of industry which, as Henry George says, is draining the life blood of labor and capital as the vampire bat is said to suck the blood of its victims.

 

     It seems unfortunate that Henry George did not realize that the taxation of industry, by its direct effects and especially by its indirect inhibitions on production, is the great destroyer of the income pro­duced by the use of land and, therefore, of its rents and values.

 

     As a practical administrator of real estate, and as a man of public spirit and vision, you are in a position to understand and appreciate my proposed exten­sion of real estate administration into the protection and services of its tenants and purchasers upon whose productivity all of its income and value depends.

 

     I am also enclosing, for your possible interest, some material I have prepared to explain why the Henry George idea does not prevail.

 

     I was pleased to hear your name mentioned several times by different speakers at the Snag Club which I attended last night as the guest of Mr. Harold S. Buttenheim. I should certainly have been happy to meet you again if you had been there.

Trusting that your health continues excellent and your vigor well sustained, I am,

                            Sincerely yours,

Spencer Heath

SH:ML

 

Enc.

Inspiration of Beauty

3 Real Estate pamphlets

“Why the Henry George Idea Does Not Prevail”