Social Problems

by Henry George

This book by the author of 'Progress and Poverty' will doubtless be read with much interest on this side of the Atlantic. The name of Mr. Henry George is now a familiar one to both sections of the Anglo-Saxon race, and they really have no reason to be ashamed of so robust and genial a son, sadly mis guided on many points though he is. Enthusiasts there will always be with an easy method of curing social discontent — men who do not take sufficient account of the difficulties and real conditions by which life is circumscribed, and who dream that by uttering a new formula the gathering evils of the world can be charmed away. Naturally, it is to be regretted that such men have not more of the judicial faculty, which can see all the sides of a complicated question. But enthusiasm and the judicial faculty are seldom associated in the same mind ; and, as we cannot do without the enthusiast, let us be thankful for Mr. George, who is a sincere and noble man, proclaiming earnestly what he believes to be saving truth. For those who may think of reading this book, we hope it is unnecessary to state that Mr. George has no sympathy with the blood-red anarchy which seeks to overturn altar and family and all the existing institutions of civilized society. Instead of disturbing the sacred traditions, Mr. George is evidently a man of strong religious faith, who in all sincerity supports his theories of social reform with quotations from Scripture. Throughout his book there runs a vein of cheerful optimism ; of the cynicism and scepticism which mark so many of the revolutionary class there is scarcely a trace. Nor can we agree with those who think that Mr. George's pet idea, which here reappears, of the nationalization of land by the confiscation of rent is a dangerous one. In a country like ours such a proposal is so extravagant and unpractical that it may be dismissed as harmless. The real danger seems to be of a very different kind — the danger, namely, that the colossal blunder of Mr. George may hide from us the valuable truths or suggestions of truth that may undoubtedly be found in this book. 'Social Problems' consists of twenty-two chapters, each of which treats of a phase of our social condition. It is written from the American standpoint, and a number of questions are discussed which can be rightly appreciated only by those who have an intimate acquaintance with American affairs. But most of it will be quite as interesting to Englishmen as to Americans. The treatment is more popular than in Progress and Poverty ; it is less labored and controversial, and, it must be said, less sophistical. The book is marked by the same eloquence, the same sympathy with the claims of labor, and the same wide and often true insight into the great industrial movements of our time. In these qualities, and not in his theory of the land, lies the strength of Mr. George. He has evidently been a shrewd and sympathetic observer of the social condition of his own country and of ours. He is inspired with the poetry of labor, often tragic to a terrible degree; he has felt its pathos, and knows its dreary monotony, and its subjection to vast economic influences over which it has no control — all the anarchy, in short, that results from the free play of individualism and of unrestricted competition. Mr. George has watched with his own eyes the effects of the most extraordinary development of industry and population that the world has ever seen.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Politics, History, Sociology

308 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land. He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, whose main tenet is that people should own what they create, but that everything found in nature, most importantly the value of land, belongs equally to all humanity. His most famous work, Progress and Poverty (1879), is a treatise on inequality, the cyclic nature of industrialized economies, and the use of the land value tax as a remedy.

Reviews

[Bella Bah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry George remains my favorite writer on political economy. Some might consider him and his thoughts idealistic, but it's precisely that sensible and optimistic humanism that so moves me.

A collection of essays, Social Problems, expands on George's critique of economic inequality and the failures of existing institutions in addressing poverty despite various societal and technological advancements: "The Paradox of Progress". In it, George delivers prescient analyses on role of government and democracy, the "land question", social reform and education, and the tendency to industrial concentration/monopoly, all the while maintaining his through, clear, and engaging writing throughout.

Everything reads as so sensible that I wouldn't be shocked if you walk away thinking "how are we not already doing all this??"

I'd recommend reading this before wrestling with his seminal Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry in the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth... The Remedy, and after having read some cursory (e.g. Wikipedia) article on "Georgism".

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

FURTHER THOUGHTS BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘PROGRESS AND POVERTY’

Henry George wrote in the introductory ‘Note,’ “This book was written in New York in 1883… My endeavor has been to present the momentous social problems of our time, unencumbered by technicalities and without that abstract reasoning which some of the principles of political economy require for thorough explanation. I have spoken in this book of some points not touched upon, or but lightly touched upon, in ‘Progress and Poverty,’ but there are other points as to which I think it would be worth the while of those who may be interested by this book to read that.”

He states in the first chapter, “A civilization which tends to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a fortunate few, and to make of others mere human machines, must inevitably evolve anarchy and bring destruction.” (Pg. 8) He continues, “In a ‘journal of civilization’ a professed teacher declares the saving word for society to be that each shall mind his own business. This is the gospel of selfishness… But the salvation of society, the hope for the free, full development of humanity, is in the gospel of brotherhood---the gospel of Christ. Social progress makes the well-being of all more and more the business of each.” (Pg. 9)

He asserts, “Democratic judgment in more than name can exist only where the great mass of citizens are personally free and independent, neither fettered by their poverty nor made subject by their wealth. There is, after all, some sense in a property qualification. The man who is dependent on a master for his living is not a free man.” (Pg. 15)

He observes, “Nor because there are differences in human qualities and powers does it follow that existing inequalities of fortune are accounted for… Between normal men the difference of a sixth of seventh is a great difference in height---the tallest giant every known was scarcely more than four times as tall as the smallest dwarf every known, and I doubt if any good observer will say that the mental difficulties of men are greater than the physical differences. Yet we already have men hundreds of millions of times richer than other men.” (Pg. 51)

He suggests, “Consider how intemperance and unthrift follow poverty. Consider how the ignorance bred of poverty lessens production, and how the vice bred of poverty causes destruction, and who can doubt that under conditions of social justice all might be rich?” (Pg. 79)

He proposes, “I would put no limit on acquisition. No matter how many millions any man can get by methods which do not involve the robbery of others—they are his: let them have them. I would not even ask him for charity, or have it dinned in his ears that it is his duty to help the poor. That is his own affair. Let him do as he pleases with his own, without restriction and without suggestion. If he gets without taking from others, and uses without hurting others, what he does with his wealth is his own business and his own responsibility.” (Pg. 87)

He argues, “what determines the demand for labor and the rate of wages in agriculture is manifestly the ability of labor to employ itself---that is to say, the case with which land be obtained. This is the reason that in new countries, where land is easily had, wages, not merely in agriculture, but in all occupations, are higher than in older countries, where land is hard to get. And this it is that, as the value of land increases, wages, fall, and the difficulty in finding employment arises.” (Pg. 137)

He states, “The institution of public debts, like the institution of private property in land, rests upon the preposterous assumption that one generation may bind another generation.” (Pg. 162) He adds, “The corrupting effects of indirect taxation are obvious wherever it has been resorted to, but nowhere more obvious than in the United States. Ever since the war the great effort of our National Government has not been to reduce taxation, but to find excuses for maintaining war taxation.” (Pg. 168)

He argues, “The American Republic has no more need for its burlesque of a navy than a peaceable giant would have for a stuffed club or a tin sword… In peace it is a source of expense and corruption; in war it would be useless. We are too strong for any foreign power wantonly to attach… If war should ever be forced upon us, we could safely rely upon science and invention, which are already superseding navies faster than they can be built. So with our army. All we need… is a small force of frontier police, such as is maintained in Australia and Canada.” (Pg. 172)

He explains, “It seems to me that in regard to public affairs we too easily accept the dictum that faithful and efficient work can be secured only by the hopes of pecuniary profit, or the fear of pecuniary loss. We get faithful and efficient work in out colleges and similar institutions without this… our railroads are really run by men who... have no pecuniary interest in the business other than to get their pay… and hold their positions. Under governmental ownership they would have, at the very least, all the incentives to faithfulness and efficiency that they have now, for that governmental management of railroads must involve the principles of civil service reform goes without saying.” (Pg. 187)

He suggests, “The natural progress of social development is unmistakably toward cooperation, or, if the word be preferred, toward socialism, though I dislike to use a word to which such various and vague meanings are attached. Civilization is the art of living together in closer relations. That mankind should dwell together in unity is the evident intent of the Divine mind---or that Will expressed in the immutable laws of the physical and moral universe which reward obedience and punish disobedience.” (Pg. 191)

He contends, “What more preposterous than the treatment of land as individual property? In every essential land differs from those things which being the product of human labor are rightfully property. It is the creation of God; they are produced by man. It is fixed in quantity: they may be increased illimitably.” (Pg. 204)

He argues for his single-tax proposal: “The equalization in the distribution of wealth that would thus result would effect immense economies and greatly add to productive power. The cost of the idleness, pauperism and crime that spring from poverty would be saved in the community…the greater incentive to invention and to the use of improved processes that would result from the increases in wages, would enormously increase production. To abolish all taxes save a tax upon the value of land would at the same time greatly simplify the machinery and expenses of government, and greatly reduce government expenses.,, The corrupting effect of indirect taxation would be taken out of our politics.” (Pg. 211)

He observes, “when we consider the phenomenon of rent, it reveals to us one of those beautiful and beneficent adaptations, in which more than in anything else the human mind recognizes evidences of Mind infinitely greater, and catches glimpses of the Master Workman.” (Pg. 216-217)

He says, “The monopoly of land broken up, it seems to me that rural life would tend to revert to the primitive type of the village surrounded by cultivated fields, with its common pasturage and woodlands. But however this may be, the working farmer would participate fully in all the enormous economies and all the immense gains which society can secure by the substitution of orderly cooperation for the anarchy of reckless, greedy scrambling.” (Pg. 239)

This book will be of interest to students of the history of social and economic science.

[Curtis Havens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful and 100% relevant to this day. Can't wait to read George's other works.

[Chris Beiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work doesn't have the grand scale and ambition of Progress and Poverty. It's not the most complete justification of George's philosophy, and there are a couple essays and themes that have aged poorly, if only by transforming from provocative statements into banalities.

That said, it's still excellent, and it's much more digestible than P&P. It has several incredible essays; my favorite is likely "That we might be rich."