Spencer Heath Archive

Item 1080

Typed pages from Charles G. Baldwin

October 6, 1936

The Law of Human Association

Men are gregarious. The nomadic tribes exist where there is no ground rent, or if there is a ground rent, it is paid by the patriarch of the tribe and charged as part of the government expenses. When, however, a tribe attaches itself to the soil, the various parcels of land immediately have a different value, according to their various locations, fertility, and population. It then becomes the duty of the patriarch to collect the ground rent according to the value of the several parcels of land, and out of this to defray all expenses of government which he administers and which he must administer to the satisfaction of his fellow tribesmen. Otherwise, they will seek a better place to live.

When communities are joined together and located so that there are many patriarchs in one community, the patriarchs should organize and elect officers and adopt by-laws, each patriarch having as many votes as the number of dollars of rent which he collects, including the annual value of the land he himself occupies. The patriarchal officers or board of directors of patriarchs should collect sufficient rent to pay the costs of government which they administer, and all the rent that tenants are willing to pay.

The government administers only public lands, streets, and improvements. The tenants have all to do only with private improvements, and no rent is paid for private improvements but only for the use and benefits of public lands, streets, services, and improvements, which is evidenced by land rent. Communities then become artificial entities, and the individuals may change, but the constitution of the community remains the same.

This is the normal constitution of human association towards which all communities should seek to conform as far as possible. At the present time, no large community conforms in any respect, and nearly every large community deliberately deforms itself and tends to violate more and more the law of human association. It is this deformation which causes poverty and warfare.

 

The development of the human race depends on exchange of commodities and services, and the above formula encourages the exchange of commodities and services more than any other formula possibly can.

The production of public services is the duty of government, and it is the duty of the proprietors of the land to pay the costs of the government and to collect it from the tenants of the land in proportion to the value of the land.

A true democracy requires homogeneous electors. Land owners are such only when voting in proportion to the rental value of their land.

The law of human association requires administration of the government by a responsible body. The only available responsible body is the democratic organization of land owners, voting according to their respective land rents.