A WORKING MAN'S ANSWER TO GEORGE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1741, 21 July 1884, Page 2

A WORKING MAN'S ANSWER TO GEORGE.

v The following reply to the anther of "Progress and Poverty" appeared in a London paper. It is from the pen of a resident of Glanmorganshire, who discusses the matter in his own personal experience : " I am'" he says'" a working man in the most literal sense of the term. I commenced working on the very day the West Bute Dock at Cardiff was opened, and that was in Novembor, 1839. At that time I worked fourteen hours a day, and my wages were 2d for each day's work. Soon after that I was advanced to 4d per day. I was then ten years of age. When I was fourteen years old I earned 10s a week; but, in conse-. quence of being supplied by my good father with my own bed and bedclothes, I was only charged 6s a week for my board and lodging. Of the remaining Os T spent 2s 6d a week in clothes, boob, and other personal requirements, and saved the remaining half-crown. I was often tempted to break into the little store I had gradually accumuhted. When I saw others enjoying pleasures and luxuries from which I was debarred only by my own determination to save, I often felt the teal meaning of the term ' self-denial,' Persevering, however, in my determination to accumulate, I ultimately saved enough money to buy, not one, but many acres of land, which I now possess, Some of this land I bought in an uncultivated state at a nominal price. Buying in a bulk, I was able to deal with it advantageously. But suppose I .bought an acre only I What would the cost have been to me of bringing it into cultivation ? In the first place the fencing of it would have formed a considerable' item.' - Banking and qnicks are worth 4s a perch (a perch is equal to 5J lineal yu'ds), Many of these quicks would have had to be replanted when they failed for years afterwards, and gaps in the bank, which from one cause and another will occasionally occur, wanted to be repaired. I calculate, therefore, that an acre of land will cost at least Is a yard for fencing, which in itself amounts to over £8 per we. This is assuming that a single acre only is enclosed. Now, the land that I bought was covered with stunted trees, and was in an exceedingly rough and scrubby condition. I calculate that it would cost from £lO lo £l2 an acre to clear such land. If, as in my case, drainage was required to make the soil fairly produ stive, an' additional cost of £1 per acre would be added to the outlay. Now, it cannot re isonably be expected that this typical acre would produce any crops unless thoroughly lined, aud that operation would cost not less than £4 per acre, I thus arrive at this fact t'uat the total outlay for fencing, clearing, draining, and bringing into, a fit state of cultivation, a single acre of land is L 32. Now every farthing of that L 32 is expended upon' labor, without which the soil itself would be practically valueless. And who is this American gentleman who comes to England and urges the working class to confiscate the capital, which, whatever Mr George may say, is accumulated labor, that I have invested in my land ?, What makes the injustice, the-wicked wrong of Mr George's proposals the : more obvious, is the fact that, in looking baok. upon my career, I can recall instances of many of my comrades who, when'we started life together were in a far better condition to get on in the world than I was, But they were careless and indifferent and self-indulgent. Because I have been careful and self-denying, am I now to be called upon to divide what I have, saved with my lazy,, indolent comrades ? Is there any sense, let alone any justice, in the proposition? I say, let ns not destroy a system which enoourages every man to thrift and self-denial, but repudiate at onoe

dootrines which are as shamelessly dishonest as they are foreign to. the genius of the people who inhabit these Islands', lam told that Mr George is a great authority on economical I. trust that he has, at air events, studied the soience of. economy sufficiently profoundly to have taken- a return ticket from America to England, for lam sure it will be better for; him and for his "country that he bhould speedily avail himself of the siomdhalfofit. 1 '