Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1195

Carbon of letter from Heath at Butler Hall, 88 Morningside Drive, New York City, to Benjamin W. Burger, Henry J. Foley, John Luxton, and Raymond V. McNally. Part of letter missing. Also condensation of same letter, likewise part missing

January 8, 1938

 

 

Gentlemen:

Please let me give you my heartiest endorsement of the first five paragraphs of Mr. Burger’s letter of December 31. Their wisdom and truth is timely and could not be better expressed.

Henry George was an apostle of liberty in thought as well as in deed — the unbound mind before the unbound man. And he knew that nothing binds us as does our fears — fears that there may be no light, no land, beyond. He left us with a sovereign prescription: Abolish all taxation, save that on rent. This is his precept. How shall the world be persuaded to its acceptance?

We must not swaddle this precept of Henry George forever in the unaccepted conceptions of years ago; we must clothe it in garments of living light pertinent to the visions and conditions of today. To do otherwise is not to honor the man but to betray his trust. Too long have we buried and mourned over the talent whereof we have given, even until now, such poor account. We must not smother this vital spark in vain repetitions of moral sophistries that exacerbate the feelings but do not persuade the mind. We must not stunt the living truth of Henry George in the worship of garments it can no longer wear.

As the babe must leave the womb to grow, the child the bosom to walk alone, so must the child of his dream go forward in its own strength, no longer weakened by the hopes and fears of our cherishing arms. The earnest of our faith should be its fearlessness.

The basic principle of Henry George is the principle of exchange — that just as all sound business is the trading of service for service, of value for value, so must the public seizing of private property be discontinued and the rent that is paid for public services and advantages be applied to meet all the costs of supplying these. To make practical application of this principle, Henry George proposed, To abolish all taxation save that on rent or land value. On this all Georgians agree. Their differences are not on what the principle is, nor on how Henry George would apply it, but in the kind of arguments they advance in support and justification of the principle, and this is because there are two opposite and contrary modes of approach­ing it. One is by feeling and the other is by thought. The one is moral, reformatory, retributive; the other is mental, scientific and evolutionary. One is hot reaction against the evil and ugliness that disintegrates the world; the other is pursuit and enjoyment of the beauty that unites the world and under which it moves forward to all things that are attained. Henry George reflected both of these views.

Now it happens that many of us (betraying our animal origin) have more feeling for transitory evil and pain than we have for the beauty that alone is the strength and permanence of life. They it is who would attack and destroy, mistaking it for evil, even the permanent in life, and would punish whomever they feel to be evil doers and even love to help the executioner wield his axe. Thus beauty stifles in the dust of conflict and on a thousand crosses bleeds.

It must be admitted that the Henry George School, in urging the practical principle of Henry George, tends to support it by arguments that are moralistic and retribu­tive and therefore destructive — that contemplate destruction of values and institutions, rather than their perfection and their fulfillment. This honors Henry George more as avenger than as a liberator of men.

It is not in the fervor of moral indignation and destructive emotions but in the light of knowledge and science that freedom is gained. The sound principle of Henry George should be maintained by the strongest and clearest of the arguments that he advanced, and if his better arguments can be extended to higher and firmer grounds in support of his principle and thus bring it into higher and wider circles of acceptance and adherency, this is the enterprise of the highest loyalty to the great leader and that his living spirit would most deeply commend.

There are grounds for hope that Henry George may yet be rescued from his friends and that his positive and creative proposal may yet shine in the full light of its pure constructiveness. Those of us who have been searching for its full truth and beauty should try to learn from each other and let others learn, if they will, from us.

But we must not fall into the error of condemning the School. Institutions, like men, must be appraised by what they accomplish and not by how much they fall short. We must be thankful that the School, at the least, has brought some order and system and better organization to our cause. If it gives only a factual knowledge of what Henry George wrote, that alone is a valuable work upon which the largest numbers can unite and that we ought to encourage and applaud. If there are further and higher labors they can have no better foundation than this. Men in large numbers always need some kind of scriptures for their reliance and guide, and men in small numbers …

 

 /Condensation by Heath of Item 1195 — Incomplete./

 

Gentlemen:

 

Please let me give you my hearty endorsement of the first five paragraphs of your letter of December 31.

Henry George was an apostle of liberty in thought as well as in deed — the unbound mind before the unbound man. He left us a sovereign prescription: Abolish all taxation save that on rent. This is his practical precept. How shall the world be persuaded to its acceptance?

We must clothe it in garments of living light pertinent to the visions and the conditions of today. To do otherwise is not to honor the man but to betray his trust.

As the babe must leave the womb to grow, the child the bosom to walk alone, so must the child of his dream of peace go forth in its own strength, no longer weakened by the hopes and fears of our cherishing arms. The earnest of our faith should be its fearlessness.

The basic principle of Henry George is the principle of exchange — that just as all sound business is the trading of service for service, of value for value, so must the public seizing of private property be discontinued and the rent that is paid for public services and advantages be applied to meet all the costs of supplying these.

To make practical application of this principle, Henry George proposed, To abolish all taxation save that on rent or land value. On this all Georgians agree. Their differences are not on what the principle is, nor on how Henry George would apply it, but in the kind of arguments they advance in justification of the principle.

This is because there are two opposite and contrary modes of approaching it. One is by feeling; the other is by thought. The one is moral, reformatory, retributive; the other is mental, scientific and evolutionary. One is reaction against the evil and ugliness that disintegrates the world; the other is pursuit of the beauty that unites the world and under which it moves forward to all things that are attained. Henry George reflected both of these views.

Now it happens that many of us (from our animal origin) have more feeling for transitory evil and pain than we have for the beauty that alone is the strength and permanence of life. They it is who, mistaking it for evil, would attack and destroy even the permanent in life. Thus beauty stifles in the dust of conflict and on a thousand crosses bleeds.

Many of us have become enamored of arguments that are …