d
to-day in private ownership? Distasteful as it may be, to realize that
what has been considered a fundamental principle of civilized society is
here challenged and put upon the defensive, the fact remains that the
defence must be made, and must be based only on what is just and wise
to-day, for the opposing side may properly reject arguments based on the
wholly different conditions under which past generations lived.

The question of the rights of property in the products of labor we may
pass briefly, as it is almost undisputed; and while certain thinkers
have asserted that there is no such thing as a natural right to the
ownership of property of any sort, it seems certain that this is true
only in a technical sense; and that a man's right to hold, control,
dispose of, and enjoy the fruits of his own strength or skill is as
certain as his right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,"
and follows from that right as a natural sequence. The most radical
revolutionist hardly ventures nowadays to argue against this fact. Thus,
though it is recognized that private property even in one's own strength
and skill must, at times, be subjected to the higher law of public
necessity--as when in time of war a man may be obliged to give up his
time, strength, and even life for the public welfare--in general the
right to hold the results of labor as private property is well
established, on the grounds both of natural right and public expediency.

But when we consider the private ownership of the gifts of Nature and of
public franchises, it is apparent that we are on very different ground.
These forms of property, which constitute a great proportion of the
world's total wealth, are not created by labor. Nature's gifts were not
stored up to enrich and benefit any one man, but the whole race. It
follows, therefore, that they are always, in the first instance, public
property.

The argument presented to prove any inherent right of the private owners
to any form of natural wealth seem to be insufficient to prove the case.
The fact seems to be that the inherent right to the benefit of every one
of Nature's gifts is vested, if perfect equity were established, in the
whole human race; or, as a reasonable approach to this, in that portion
of the public to whom this gift is a direct benefit. The title which the
public holds may be transferred to private individuals, as a matter of
expediency; but the public must still retain a prior