Excerpt from The Distribution and Control of Wealth Personal and private ownership, up to a point where it remains personal and private, must be regarded as wise regulation. The possession and use Of vast accumulations can never remain personal and private, it must affect the whole people and consequently be its affair. Agitation is one thing, definite measures are another. Offenders have come to look with complacency upon agi tafion. Experience has taught them that they have noth ing to fear. As long as certain traditions are maintained they can defy public pressure. It is therefore a question about the traditions. The monopolizers of wealth in the early history of what we call civilization, with armed retainers took the land away from the freeholders, and subjected these to forms Of slavery, bondage or serfdom. The land being the, principal source of wealth, they acquired nearly a monopoly of this; but not content therewith, they established themselves as lords over the souls and bodies of men as well, preventing freedom of thought and action. Towards modern times came the cry for liberty, and after fierce struggles a measure of this was granted the people. We generally speak as though the battle has been won in civilized countries, but it has only been won in a measure. The monopolizing class not only has special privileges, but retains the plunder of earlier days. The land is generally held by them as owners to be disposed of at their pleasure. The people that till it are but tenants; the profits of their toil, beyond a mere maintenance, go to the monopolizer; who, besides has vast tracts retained for special purposes, pleasure grounds, etc. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.