Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1330

Carbon of letter to J.H.L. Patterson, 104 Glengowan Road, Toronto, Canada

January 17, 1941

Dear Mr. Patterson:

Miss Edith C. Thompson advises me that you might be interested in making a study of some of the matters I have put in written and printed form with reference to the practical application of the Philosophy of Freedom of Henry George. It is with a great deal of pleasure, therefore, that I am sending you several copies of the small booklets some of which I left in Toronto last summer and to which Miss Thompson refers.

I had a great deal of pleasure in meeting with the Toronto group last July and their informal contacts with various members among whom I regret very much you were not included. I hope for another visit to Toronto again within the next few months and have the opportunity of making your personal acquaintance.

You will probably observe that the printed matter which I am sending is not addressed specifically to Henry George men but rather to the general public and, in the case of two of my booklets, specifically to those persons and interests who are concerned with the adminis­tration of land and real estate.

I happen to have, however, an extra carbon copy of a letter with an amplified statement attached which I sent to the Director of the Henry George School in New York City last August. This letter and statement approaches the proposition of Henry George from the same general direction as the physiocrats and of John Locke, who so definitely recommended it to the interest of land owners that they should look after the economic interest and welfare of those on whom they depended for their incomes and values. I am sending this letter and statement to you for whatever it may be worth and, particularly, because it is addressed specifically to those who have received their inspiration towards freedom by way of Henry George.

     I am gratified at the interest my ideas may have created in your part of the world (as they are also in other places as well), and hope very much to communicate with you further and to have the benefit of your criticism and general reaction to what I have put out. I feel that you already understand that my attitude is not one of antagonism but rather one seek­ing intellectual growth and development looking to a more complete understanding and more rapid progress toward the realization of the Georgian ideal.

Yours very sincerely,