Land And Liberty: The First 100 Years

A Centenary of Progress and Struggle, 1894-1994

Julia Bastian

[Reprint of a pamphlet published in 1994]

Henry George made a second visit to Britain in 1890. The American reformer's book, Progress and Poverty (1879), was rapidly becoming a global bestseller, and be was being received by large crowds everywhere that he spoke, the length and breadth of the country.

At that time Glasgow was the centre of the land tax movement. Two young men, John Paul and his elder brother, were captivated by the idea of an annual tax on the site value of all land. They regularly attended meetings of the Scottish League for the Taxation of Land Values, established to promote the ideas of Henry George.

In June 1894 the first issue of a monthly organ, The Single Tax, appeared in Glasgow. John Paul was editor. It was a simple affair of four pages, compiled in a small office at the Land Restoration Union in Montrose Street. Copies were made available via a dozen men who would distribute them to colleagues and neighbours. At that time Michael Davitt was sounding out on low wages, strikes and social misery, all of which he believed were traceable to a single source -- the private appropriation of rent by landlords.

EARLY issues of the journal highlighted the plight of the Scottish crofters. There were reports from the United States, and deicriptions of how a land value tax was already operating in New Zealand. Articles by Henry George, Herbert Spencer, Sir George Grey and other pioneer single taxers soon appeared and later the pages were enlivened by political cartoons and poems.

By June 1898, on the death of Mr. Gladstone -- "a faithful servant of the people" -- an editorial thanked him for helping the cause of taxing land values. The following year John Paul moved his small staff to 13 Dundas Street in Glasgow, a more central location, and readers were invited to come and admire the spacious accommodation. In November a Conference on Taxing Land Values brought delegates to Glasgow from all over Scotand, and the magazine provided coverage with photographs of personalities and larger typescript, which made it an easier read. Advertisements were relegated to a back page.

TO RAISE funds in these early days there were Single Tax Bazaars which brought in cash to extend the work and supplement the literature. All readers were invited to help -- especially the ladies. The Lord Provost of Glasgow, a single taxer himself, became Patron of the first Bazaar.

By 1902 the journal was expanding and a new title was adopted as more appropriate. Land Values was only 1d. and readership was growing apace, attracted not only by the writings of Henry George, who had died in 1897, but also by the reporting of Parliamentary debates on land issues. In the twelth year of publication it could boast 20 pages packed with interesting articles and reports. Leo Tolstoy wrote on "The Fruits of Land Monopoly" and Andrew Carnegie on how great fortunes were being made.

In August 1907 John Paul produced an important supplement on the Land Values (Scotland) Bill, the debate in the House of Commons and Press coverage in national newspapers; this was to be the first of many supplements. The following year the journal organised a petition to the Prime Minister. It was presented by J.C. Wedgwood MP and signed by an impressive number of MPs, urging the government to include a tax on land values in the following year's budget.

Meanwhile, the pages were filling up with numerous reports about the work of the English League, and with listings of countless meetings taking place all over the country. In March 1909 the National Conference in London was reported with no less than nine pages of debate.

Later issues contained statements by Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and criticism of the "People's Budget", which sought to impose a variety of charges on land; the rates were low, but the hostility from the aristocratic landowners in the House of Lords was so intense that the Bill provoked a constitutional crisis. The Liberal Government won the day, however, with the backing of the electorate.

THIS WAS a time for land songs. In January 1910 the full text of The Land Song was printed and was sung by land taxers at many rallies and meetings. By August the Danish Land Song was printed in translation.

Women took up the cry for taxing land values. Mrs. Edward Pease gave a series of lectures to women Liberals -- a dozen lectures around the country in October and ten more in November -- and was commended at the AGM of the Home Counties Union of Women Liberal Associations for her dedication. Women were writing too, and raising money in other ways, as illustrated in the many book reviews and correspondence carried by the journal.

Editor John Paul found time to get married in September l911 and the event was covered with an article on his work by Frank Verinder, author of My Neighbour's Landnark. Soon both husband and wife were involved in a Land Values Conference in Glasgow.

By December of that year study groups were being held in Glasgow by F. C.R. (later Lord) Douglas. They were extended to Leeds, Huddersfield and Sheffield.

In 1912 the loss of the Titanic brought forth this statement: "Man builds ships which are 'unsinkable' -- Man has not yet conquered Nature..."

Glasgow's battle with the slum was foremost in the minds of the city elders: "104,000 persons lived in one-roomed homes, but our hands are tied by land monopoly", thundered R.L. Outhwaite. It seemed essential to press people to read Progress and Poverty, unabridged copies of which were selling at 4d., but readers were invited to send for a sample copy at no charge!

DESPITE rumblings of war, political and economic discussions continued at Young Liberal conferences all over Britain. A list of LVT Leagues was published, showing their wide nationwide distribution, and regular reports appeared showing how active they were.

Single tax literature was pouring into the country from America and Canada, "1s. for a bumper bundle." Every reader of Land Values was called upon to find one more reader, and to spread the word.

In January 1914 the Duke of Bedford sold his Covent Garden estate for many millions - "every penny unearned increment" - rich material for cartoons.

At the outbreak of war the House of Commons tried to set the land question into political cold storage. Not so John Paul, and editions of the journal continued to report on the work of the movement, which he said was not less, but more important in time of war. There was much comment on wartime measures related to the state control of rents and mortgages of dwelling houses, and with the minimum agricultural prices set to stimulate food production.

The war issues were taken up with articles on the production of food for the nation, pensions and rebuilding the country. Top writers including Henry Ford, who wrote "Land Belongs to the People", drummed up tremendous interest in the Land Question. The editorial offices were now at 11 Tothill Street, London SW1. The journal still cost only 1d. monthly, or 2s. per annum. Many copies were crossing to the United States and Canada at 50 cents. Parcels of books and pamphlets at reduced prices were sent out to soldiers, club libraries, and YMCA huts.

In 1920 the repeal of the Lloyd George land taxes was a bitter blow to the movement, although it was not the taxation of land values as understood by its advocates. A valuation of all land was begun, however (the results of which were to be buried deep in the recesses of the Whitehall filing system: do they still exist?). Thousand walked thorugh Westminster to protest against the Budget and the omission of LVT. By December local rates had been increased. The journal, now costing 3d. per issue, celebrated its 25th birthday in June by changing its name to Land & Liberty.

Crisis in 1910

The two general elections in 1910 gave ample material for extensive Parliamentary debate, faithfully recorded for readers in The Single Tax. This was serious work: democracy was at a crossroads, with the Commoners fighting the Lords for ultimate control over the public purse' 'hiring this period there was no sign of a cartoon or a cheerful poem in the journal, as in the past. Among many fine leading articles was one entitled "King Edward's Great Work", on the occasion of his funeral. As Prince of Wales he had signed the report of the Royal Commission on Housing the Working Classes. Bad housing had been an issue for years. A typical advertisement in the journal must rated a small home with the words: "1 Os. monthly enables you to purchase a house worth £300". Yet farm workers could not even afford that.

A give-away leaflet entitled "Would the Single Tax cure Unemployment?" was included in the April and August issues, and readers were alerted to the forthcoming National Conference on Rating of Land Values in Glasgow in October 1921.

In June 1922, John Paul called for a thousand new readers, an appeal that did not go unanswered. The Society of Friends was among many groups to join forces with land taxers to demand a better deal.

1923 began well with the International Conference at Ruskin College, Oxford, at which 200 delegates from all over the world congrated. Harold Asquith MP addressed the meeting and papers were published in a subsequent issue of Land & Liberty. Following the General Election of that year, the protectionists were defeated, 198 MPs supported LVT, each on listed in the journal with a selection of testimonials. Among these supporting MPs was Andrew Maclaren, the founder of the School of Economic Science.

There was now a chance that the Labour Party might bring in LVT. Parliament had its own Land Values Group and proposals were made by no less than 221 MPs. Philip Snowden's reply was given great prominence in the journal and later his Financial Statement and Budget Proposals were printed.

By October 1924 the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, was writing on Economic Rent, quoting from his two books The Socialist Movement and Socialism, Critical and Constructive. But after the General Election MacDonald was out of office and Baldwin was in.

MEANWHILE the pages of the journal were regularly reporting news of land reform proposals in other parts of the world -- Brazil, Argentina, USA, Canada, Queensland, New Zealand -- with rating triumphs everywhere except the UK. But there was also news of a new International Conference in Denmark, to be held in July 1926. In March of that year the Danish Land Value Taxation Bill was carried into law and several issues were lull of Danish news, with the Danish Houses of Parliament in Copenhagen featured on the front page.

This third International Conference was shared with the United Committee for the Taxation of Land Values -- created to represent and lobby for Georgist -- and the Danish Land Values Committee. The Presidential Address by the Hon. Charles O'Connor Hennessey was printed, together with the Danish National Hymn. There were lessons to be learned from the Conference and resolutions to be adopted. The new badge of the movement to be used on publications and stationery also became available as a lapel pin and these were sold at 5s. each.

In July l927 John Paul announced an abridged edition of Progress and Poverty in a bid to encourage more readers to buy a copy and join the movement. At this time he was writing regular leaders on important subjects - "The Menace of Privilege"; "The Law of Progress" -- and stirring controversy in Parliament The Land Values Parliamentary Group had recently been revived with 59 members.

International news pages were now extensive, and the use of land value maps, first seen in Denmark, were becoming more widely understood.

By 1928 A.W. Madsen, who had been assistant editor for some years, was writing lead articles. Others like Ramsay MacDonald, writing on unemployment, and George Bernard Shaw on his Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, were allocated priority space. The following year The Land Song (to be sung to "Marching through Georgia") was reprinted as a pullout and, indeed, the country was singing it down many a country lane.

The next World Conference was due to be held in Edinburgh during the summer of 1929 and another pullout listed a set of Questions suitable for election candidates -- ten carefully worded questions to put at local meetings. "Tax Land, not Food" was the cry. John Paul invited readers to purchase the new abridged edition of Protection or Free Trade and there was further celebration for the 50th Anniversary of Progress and Poverty.

Another good idea from the editorial team was the promotion of a reproduction oil painting of Henry George, to be sold at 4s. each. Many thousands were despatched and funds benefitted.

1930 saw the National Conference at Manchester, and a new shilling copy of Progress and Poverty, prior to the announcement of an essay competition with prizes. John Paul also suggested that land taxers could leave money to the movement; he made things easy for them by providing a standard Form of Bequest.

1931 was a stormy year following the General Election with Ramsay MacDonald again Prime Minister. Snowden produced a land taxing Budget which failed because of a political crisis, all faithfully recorded in Land & Liberty. A National Government ploughed a new furrow with MacDonald still Prime Minister until 1935. Despite the economic crisis of the '30s there were good stories to print Garden Cities and land values were popular subjects. John Paul brought out a new edition of The Science of Political Economy and was still attracting top people to write for the journal.

WITH THE Liberals and Snowden forced to resign from the National Government, it was inevitable land valuation and taxation proposals should be repealed. Editorials were gloomy.

The talk in 1935 was of the Crusade Against War. Arthur Madsen ran an Open Letter to an Economist (Beveridge) and a lead article pointing to the causes of war. But by the summer of 1936 the Budget report was followed by a leader on the Arms Race, while a 5th International Conference was being planned for London. Madsen's Assistant Editor, F.C.R. Douglas, was writing good leaders. "The Haves and Have-riots" high-lighted the ever-present problems of poverty.

Civil wars were raging in Spain and Brazil. Both countries were short of an answer to their respective land questions.

1937 - following the I.U. conference the Henry George School of Social Science was founded. F.C.R. Douglas became its Hon. Secretary, coordinating a dozen or more classes in various cities. With more new classes up and down the country, the journal called for teachers to take on these new discussion groups.

Snowden died in the summer, and by the autumn, Attlee and the Labour Party were preparing to tackle the coming slump.

The leaders in these issues were mainly from the pen of Douglas, who tackled grave subjects with skill and elegance, such as "The Key to Social Prosperity" in January 1938.

The editorial team moved to 34 Knightrider Street, St. Pauls, EC4, A new look was given to the front page, with a stylish contents list. During the summer, Random House printed 5,000 copies of Progress and Poverty as the Book of the Month Club choice, and this edition was given free to all subscribers of Land & Liberty.

That year saw the Marquess of Bute sell half of Cardiff, which had been part of his estate, and this story attracted a lot of attention in the press. Land Value Rating was debated in the columns of The Times, while Douglas's fine leader "Social Justice and the Way of Peace" was widely acclaimed.

At the start of 1939 the journal was discussing London County Council and its proposals to tax land values, and by March the London Site Values Rating Bill had been drawn up.

The next National Conference was due to take place at Liverpool in September, to coincide with the Henry George Centenary (1839-1939); an International Conference was booked for New York in August. By September war was imminent. A talk on the BBC on Henry George by Professor C.R. Fay scheduled for Sept. 2 was cancelled (see page 19); all banquets, social gatherings, talks and other celebrations never took place. Douglas, however, managed to make it to New York, where he addressed the Conference on Henry George's Teachings and the Crisis". Hitler was now on the world stage.

Emergence of Land & Liberty

The urgent need for funds came to a head in 1918, with John Paul's appeal for £25,000 for the continuation of the campaign. Advertisements were published in 18 national newspapers. By May 1919, with the coming of the Labour Party, the journal's name was changed to Land & Liberty. The follow-on slogan "Free land, Free Trade, Free Men" reflected the mood of the hour. A new regular feature was a page of land prices and housing schemes. Land values were rising rapidly in these years and speculation was encountered everywhere. The Sustension Fund continued to request support, mainly for the printing of 100,000 new pamphlets.

THE WAR YEARS for Arthur Madsen and his staff were not easy ones.

Although good writers were still prepared to submit articles, the subjects were depressing. These included "The Agony of Denmark", 'The Iniquity of the Purchase Tax", "The Land Question in Germany" and "Why the German Republic Fell". Churchill wrote a historic piece on Land Monopoly which the journal published, and Charlie Chaplin's speech in Modern Times on liberty and peace was printed.

Correspondence courses were started with advertisements in the journal to Study Economics at Home - free - just 1s.6d. for the textbook, Progress and Poverty. The classestook off and provided much stimulus for people stuck behind the blackout.

The journal was back again to slim issues, with the main topics concentrating on the Uthwatt Report, on Beveridge Reports and the Lords debating on land and planning after the war. Herbert Morrison was making speeches and there was much to say about combines and cartels. During the war the office was obliged to move several times, finally ending up in a prefabricated building at 4 Gt. Smith St.

In September 1945 the lead story - "Freedom, Peace and San Francisco" - was about 50 nations signing a Charter for a new world organization. By 1946 it was hoped the King would announce in his speech something positive about land values and local taxation. He spoke of betterment proposals but no mention of LVT because the Inland Revenue claimed it did not have sufficient staff or a valuation of the whole country. This was a severe blow.

The following year the journal reported the Town and Country Planning Act, including the Development Charge, and much comment on the soaring price of land.

In 1947 Vic Blundell, who had joined the office as assistant to Mr. Madsen, started the Henry George School classes on a formal basis at 4 Gt. Smith St.

MEANWHILE, following a general election in Denmark, the Justice Party gained ground. A new feeling of hopefulness filled the pages. Weekend schools and small conferences were arranged and the journal regularly reported these activities.

In 1949 the 7th International Conference took place in Derbyshire, broadly based on the themes of the United Nations and Human Rights, amid much political confusion, liberal coercion and loose trains of thought in the British parliament about land value. The value of the £ was falling. The journal was asking "Whose Welfare State?" and with Keynesian economics capturing the moment and agriculture "feather-bedded", Britain prepared for another general election.

With a Conservative government in office, and Churchill again holding the reins, it was not long before the journal joined in the demand for the repeal of the dreaded Development Charge, which eventually took place in 1953. A broadcast in Esperanto about LVT brought in a flood of letters from all round the world. Overseas interest generated reports from Italy. Spain, Pennsylvania and Jamaica. soon to adopt a measure of LVT. Tangier was proposing legislation and always there was poverty in the Orient. The Human Rights work highlighted the Asiatic and African land tenure systems and much was written about the dispossessed in India, the Philippines. Basutoland and Kenya.

At this time the journal was reporting on open air meetings organised by Georgists in London.

During the summer 47 cities in Pennsylvania- were given power to rate land values, and many soon did so, at a higher rate than improvements.

IN 1951 a United States delegate to UNESCO submitted a resolution designed to place the question of land reform on the agenda of the United Nations; the Resolution remains in place to this day.

Henry Ford, among others, was calling for free trade. Land & Liberty pointed out that free trade without tackling the land question was not enough.

Many important initiatives were taken by the journal, in cooperation with the International Union for Land Value Taxation and Free Trade. For example: the I.U.'s open letter to General Neguib on the subject of land reform in Egypt, set out how best the problem might be solved.

Well argued leaders pointed out the folly and iniquity of purchase tax. There were dire warnings about "a planned economy". Throughout Britain rates rises had been unprecedented, the upward trend clearly the result of Welfare State legislation. And by 1954 there were more tariffs on food and new rates of purchase taxes were announced. In vain die journal sounded out the basic causes of the housing problem: high land prices, tariffs, taxes on building materials.

Butler's budget brought new taxes on industry, trade, incomes from all sources, imports and goods and services of all kinds, but, Land & Liberty was quick to point out, special support was to be given to the chicory growers in the UK -- the Chancellor's only gift!

The 9th International Conference, this time in St Andrew's, Scotland, enjoyed extensive coverage, including a splendid article on "What the Land Question Means" by the President of the Union. Hon. Frank A. W. Lucas, QC. Another famous paper - "Can Taxation be Constructive?" - gave rise to a remarkable response from the public. Reprints were made available and readers invited to distribute copies.

Dedicated Founder Dies

In May 1933 the journal published a glowing appreciation of editor John Paul, on his death. Arthur Madsen, who was destined to take the reins, wrote movingly of his tremendous contribution and dedication to the movement. The following issue was taken up almost exclusively with testimonials from his many friends and colleagues around the world. Small, uncertain issues followed. As a memorial to John Paul's great work there was a world wide call for funds and again much money floated in. An Australian reader promised to match pound for pound to help the cause.

In the summer of 1955 the Labour Party produced a discussion paper on the rating of site values, written by one of its MPs, R.R. Stokes. Two weeks before the General Election the journal addressed a questionnaire to move than 1,350 candidates. Readers were invited to canvass attitudes on LVT and to ask questions at public meetings. The response by MPs was gratifying.

AFTER the death of A.w. Madsen in 1956, P.R. Stubbings, a former student of the Henry George School, became editor. From January 1957 the journal took on a bright modern look with red and white covers and an up-dated layout with shorter, narrower columns and a new subhead: "Land Value Taxation; Free Trade and Personal Freedom". It was Land & Liberty's 64th year.

A long lasting series of profiles entitled "Personally Speaking" was introduced. Frank Dupuis, who had been contributing articles for many years, started off with "The Planter's Story", illustrating how he came to discover the Georgist philosophy. Many Georgists were to follow with their own stories. A nugget of Georgist philosophy was set out in a panel on the back page.

Articles in the journal centred around proposals for a Common Market and a European Free Trade Area, together with the usual comments on "mess, muddle and tangle" in local government finances.

Potential authors were invited to write a film script about the philosophy of Henry George: "Write a script for a Georgist motion Picture!" By November 1957 24 scripts had been submitted and numerous valuable ideas from many countries had been received.

In 1958 the journal printed a resolution of the International Union printed subsequently as the Declaration of Human Rights based on Equal Freedom.

In June readers were shown a picture of new premises -- 177 Vauxhall Bridge Road, in Victoria -- which were soon to be the home of the journal. Following further inflation the price had moved up to 8s. per issue by post but under Peter Stubbings, the circulation had risen steadily -- despite rising costs and increased postage rates.

Editorial comment set out the purpose of the journal: to win new support for the Georgist philosophy, to serve and unite scattered members of the movement, and to attempt to influence legislation. Of this threefold aim, the first two were being achieved. There was a call for more new readers. Circulation could be doubled if each reader would sign up just one new subscriber. Land & Liberty was for the first time now available from Wyman & Sons Ltd, on a regular order.

The IU held its next conference in Hanover in 1959. The German translation of the abridged edition of Progress and Poverty which Erich Zincke had made in 1953 was given a big launch.

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) had been proposed and this gave rise to extensive Press coverage, cuttings displayed in the journal as well as numerous letters to the Editor.

Prior to the forthcoming election several regular writers were planning to stand as candidates, notably David Mills (Lib., Ilford North) and Oliver French (Lib., West Ham N) and their election addresses offering economic justice provided a double page spread.

1960 saw Peter Stubbings launch the Rating Reform Campaign, with over 45 local representatives. This focused public attention on the urgent need for land value rating legislation in the light of escalating land prices which put house ownership beyond the reach of many. The Campaign attracted eight Labour and Liberal MPs as sponsors, and eventually 61 local Representatives from Accrington to Woolwich.

In due course, however, the Rating Reform Campaign was attacked by the Association of Land and Property Owners but found support from The Master Builder and other journals.

By now, the classes in economics were expanding. Enrolments were impressive. The Cardiff branch, for one, recorded a record attendance of 60 students tutored by Fred Giggs, Edgar Buck and Fred Jones.

In August a statement from the United Committee, entitled "The Land Crisis", was sent to all Members of Parliament. Land & Liberty followed this by a ten-page report on the debate in the Commons on the high prices and use of land; the "solution "was to build more new towns.

THE RATING and Valuation Bill was making its way through Parliament in 1961 and in April the subject of Land Value Rating was aired on BBC's "Any Questions?" Jo Grimmond MP on the panel spoke up well for its adoption.

In June the journal announced a Korean translation of Progress and Poverty. At the end of that year the journal printed a farewell message from Peter Stubbings, who had been editor for some eleven years.

Vic Blundell, who then added the editorship of Land & Liberty to his other duties, took the magazine immediately into a new look, with brightly coloured covers, new type face and many small sketches breaking up the solid text. There was humour on the pages with Mr. Mugglethorpe's regular entertaining comments spoken down a telephone, and the occasional cartoon by Reg Smith.

Peter Middleton, a regular contributor, returned to Australia but continued to file reports on the Australian scene.

The "Old Warrior" Goes Down Fighting

The 75th birthday of Arthur Madsen, who was still the active editor, was celebrated with a party to which a large number of friends and contributors were invited. The "old warrior" gave a fine speech, but it was to be his last. In April 1956, during a weekend conference, Arthur Madsen collapsed and died while taking part in the discussions as Principal of the School. As an economist, linguist, plhilosopher, statistician, statesman, colleague and friend, his contribution to the movement had been immense. Hundreds of tributes poured in from all over the world and many were published in the following editions of the journal, now in the hands of Peter Stubbings as editor.

A series of philosophical essays written by Frank McEachran were published over seventeen issues criticising not only the State but also the Church and other organised bodies of officials. It attracted many tributes. These essays were later published as a book entitled Freedom the Only End.

In 1963 the Research Project conducted by the Rating and Valuation Association (RVA) at Whitstable in Kent was underway. Fieldwork was done by volunteer staff over several months measuring and compiling information. The Whitstable Report published early the following year, described as "political dynamite", produced gratifying results and was given wide circulation in political and municipal circles. By assessing the annual land value of each separate site in the town, a comparison with the present rates could be made. Land & Liberty reported the research fully.

The next IU conference took place in New York in 1964.

Meanwhile the Liberals were advocating an increment tax on land values and editorials were tackling Rachmanism, high rents and house racketeering all over the country.

In January 1964 Richard Grinham joined as Assistant Editor, in time to cope with the huge volume of correspondence, press reports and reviews of the Whitstable exercise.

Tributes to the late Winston Churchill with extracts from his important speeches on the evils of land monopoly and the justice of LVT appeared in January 1965.

By the end of 1966 Britain was in the grip of a wage freeze while Labour's Land Commission Bill was being fought through Parliament. Editorial comment was putting the case against entry into the Common Market, and AJ. Carter's six-part serial discussed overcrowding and unemployment. By September readers were hearing about "tons of food destroyed by EEC" while there was alarm and despondency about the Land Commission Act, the balance of payments, devaluation, inflation, cuts and economies. The "Gnomes of Zurich" were being made into scapegoats.

The seaside I.U. conference in Caswell Bay, South Wales, was held in September 1968.

About this time a new name was appearing in the pages of the journal: Fred Harrison was biting off big subjects. His series on the United Nations ran through several issues. Other writers took as their subjects the fracas over pensions, health charges and education, all of which were causing concern.

Research reports from the Economic Study Association and from the Institute of Economic Affairs were considered in depth, analysed and contested. Ray Linley, a new Assistant Editor, wrote a probing piece entitled "Malpractices of the Common Market" and protests and complaints against the Government's Land Commission had become commonplace The Labour government's grants-to-hotels scheme had caused land prices to rise and builders thought it had created more problems than it had solved. In 1971 the Keep Britain Out Campaign took a full page advertisement to attract support, blazing in bold print that the "freehold of the British Isles was for sale by Rome Treaty".

Christopher Frere-Smith, writing on the EEC, questioned whether a referendum or a general election would be sought. "Is Britain heading for a depression?" asked Peter Hudson. The letters pages continued to be crammed with much critical observation including extensive comment on the Government's plan to reorganise local government.

ENOCH Powell MP, writing in 1972, spoke out against the steady growth in unemployment, noting that it coexisted alongside inflation -- "prices and unemployment rising together". Richard Body MP held forth on starvation and over-production and Roy Douglas asked, hopefully, "Is Henry George becoming fashionable?"

Parliament had not yet decided upon British entry into the Common Market, and yet more debates were held in the House.

In the United States, Perry Prentice was calling for a uniform statewide tax on land in a House & Home well illustrated editorial. This was reprinted and sold as a supplement.

Germany had recently debased the currency which attracted comment that summer and the buzz words of the moment were incomes policy, social contract and pay restraint.

As Britain entered the Common Market in 1973, with about one in three of the population in favour of the move, Land and Liberty remained unconvinced. One leader warned "this policy is utterly wrong in principal and will be proved to be so in time". A host of new rules and restrictions were about to draw comment from these pages: decimalisation of the currency, metrication of weights and measures, the use of centrigrade temperature scale, continental heavy lorries and worst of all, the value added tax.

Fred Harrison began his 'Thin End of the Wedge" series of articles and Enoch Powell's speech in the Commons spoke of the obsession with betterment levies.

Prominence was given to Agnes de Mille, granddaughter of Henry George and widely aclaimed as "the first lady of the dance". Her book Speak to Me, Dance with Me was well reviewed and her belief in her grandfather's philosophy quoted.

The I.U. Conference on the Isle of Man in September 1973 tackled land economics, free trade and the problems facing islanders living in a tax haven.

The year 1974 opened with fresh green and white covers, a new price of 20p per issue, and extensive coverage of the Second Whitstable Survey, the Report. this time by the Land Institute, with updated figures and findings from the first pilot study carried out by the Rating and Valuation Association in 1963. Frank Othick had again taken charge and the valuer was again Hector Wilks. Extracts from both reports demonstrated beyond doubt that LVT was widely beneficial. Frank Othick wrote a frank statment: "A Challenge to Valuers", in a bid to urge valuers to support site value rating. Geoffrey McLean's article: "Positive policies for Land Use", reprinted from his address to The Land Institute Conference, was along the same lines.

Meanwhile the government was embracing quotas, subsidies and an orgy of deficit financing. Editorials that winter looked at Labour's White Paper Land which once again had thrown away the chance to collect land values for the community, or to end land speculation and windfall gains. It failed to bring down the selling price of land on the market or to make more land available. The Government had done nothing to prom6te the highest and best possible use of all land.

Before the year end Britain's membership of the EEC was to be set before the public again, a public deeply dissatisfied with the existing economy, and in particular with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The cap did not fit!

1975 opened with bright changes of cover design which included not only a witty cartoon by Reg Smith but text of a lead story. Each issue for that year had its own colour and humorous touches.

An article by Bruce Kinloch ("Why look further than a direct tax on land values?") was reprinted from The Daily Telegraph. Damaging legislation, including the Community Land Bill leading Britain into a fully socialist state were, so the lead story said, "frightening". Many voices were raised in protest at these moves towards state monopoly. Labour's socialism was moving faster than Tory socialism had done. In February Edward Heath resigned.

Through the decade these issues were well laced with articles by excellent writers, among them A.J. Carter, R.J. Rennie, Frank Dupuis, Robert Clancy writing from the USA, and Robert Miller. In July a chorus of disapproval was reported using extracts from proceeedings at a professional meeting on the Community Land Bill, a highly controversial bill that dragged on through committee stages with amendments, redraftings, compromises, concessions and much patching and all the tarting up processes which such ill-conceived legislation invites. Meanwhile land transactions had come to a standstill. Objections to the Bill had come from all quarters; it was a "prescription for general stagnation".

Through the autumn the public were being harangued with protectionist policies, and a "Buy British" campaign was in full spate.

By 1976 the annual price of the journal jumped to £2.50 to keep pace with increased costs of production and postal rates: it remained a non-profit making journal and continued to attract new readers. In September Ray Linley became editor and Vic Blundell took up the position of managing editor.

The Government was pushing through the mis-named Community Land Act and writers predicted that it would cause 'severe disruption". Expansion of the Letters to the Editor pages proved this was the case. Meanwhile in Europe beef and butter mountains and wine lakes were forming and the Department of Applied Economics at Cambridge University issued their second Economic Policy Review which painted a dark picture of "the very grave economic condition in Britain".

THE Layfield Committee, which had been sitting for two years, was described as a "damp squib". The Committee of Enquiry in to Local Government Finance totally rejected site value rating in its summary of conclusions. The following issue printed the United Committee's reply.

The autumn saw the start of A.J. Carter's series "The Arrogance of Man". Mason Gaffney's address, "What is Site-value Taxation?" delivered at the Canadian Tax Foundation in Quebec was printed in parts. The year ran out with a wave of criticism about Britain's economic plight: unemployment, failing and ailing industries, sterling crisis, record high interest rates and talk of a siege economy.

The heat and acrimony of the political row concerning public expenditure and taxation ran over into the first issue of 1977 with Labour politicians rehearsing for an incomes policy drama and another year's pay restraint.

The death of Ashley Mitchell, President of the I.U. at the age of 90, prompted a reprint of his memoirs. A traditional Liberal of the old school, he believed passionately in the policies of free trade, taxation of land values, stable currency and individual freedom.

Following the Requiem for the Community Land Act, now a dead duck, the Development Land Tax Act was analysed; it clearly would contribute to the drying up of supply of development land. Both acts were doomed to follow into oblivion the development charges of 1947, the Town and Country Planning Act and the Betterment Levy of the 1967 Land Commission Act -- "and no tears should be shed". Their demise had also been predicted by many professional bodies.

The British building industry was having a specially hard time, and 1978 opened with a feature on inner city decay and proliferation of vacant sites -- illustrated by Reg Smith with a brilliant cover cartoon. The annual subscription had moved to £4 per copy and $7.50 in USA and Canada.

BY 1978, the house-price boom had taken off. Gazumping had raised its ugly head for house buyers in the highly unstable market for homes. In May that year Fred Harrison took over as Editor and Vic Blundell continued as managing editor. The journal took on a new stylish layout, glossy paper ideal for photo-graphic reproductions and a more "fleet Street" look. Covers featured a large photo of the personality or the scene of the moment and there was wide photographic coverage of land issues in other countries.

David Steel, cover personality that September, was chosen because the Liberals were reported to be at the crossroads. The electorial system was under attack. Few Parliaments recently had run their full 5-year course and stop-go cycles had contributed to destablise the British economy. By November, Jim Callaghan's income policy was the big talking point supposedly to control the money supply and reduce public spending. An important open letter in the journal to the Archbishop of Canterbury called for his attention in connection with property and the church lands.

The centenary of Progress and Poverty coloured the year 1979 with Henry George on one cover looking dignified. Vic Blundell re-examined the contents of the book and wrote: "His philosophy offers the alternatives to violence and revolution". A new edition of the condensed version was to be published that year. A centenary weekend was organised in Aylesbury with lectures and discussions covering booms and slumps, rents, property rights and much else, including fun.

Events around the world still reflected much violence and revolution. Premier Ian Smith was leaving the white dominated Rhodesian Parliament and the prospects for peace and justice in Zimbabwe were explored. Reform of property taxes were a hot political issue in USA and a land rights fight was taking place in Ecuador.

The cover personality for July was economist Milton Friedman who was quoted as saying: "In my opinion the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land, the Henry George philosophy of many years ago". In September Land & Liberty examined the issue of Church v. State -- with a long hard look at Ayatollah Khomeini, the Shah of Iran and the Pope.

The next decade opened with an oil spout, drawing attention to sky high profits in the oil-rent racket as OPEC pushed up the price of crude oil, to be pumped into private pockets. There was a Special Report on Land and a look back at the upsurge of interest in the crucial role played by land during the 1970s.

By spring, interest turned to the narcotics trade and the carve up of the forests. Widespread felling of trees was causing ecological imbalance by disturbing water tables. Other issues, including starvation and malnutrition were tackled; land reform was seen as a moral as well as a technical issue, especially land reform in Latin America.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was cover girl in July, a champion of free trade, while inside pages printed criticism of Sir Geoffrey Howe's enterprise zones.

The first World Congress on Land Policy, held in USA by the Lincoln Institute, was reported in the September issue, commentmg on soaring land prices, speculation and urban sprawl. Land value taxation and its alternatives had been discussed.

In 1981 the journal expanded its pages from 16 to 20, reaching out to more readers, following financial help from two New York based organisations. Subscription rates remained the same (£4). Bob Clancy continued to contribute regularly from New York, often appearing on the back page with pertinent statements and lively humour.

ROUND THE WORLD coverage was impressive: Tanzanian President Nyerere and Cuba's Fidel Castro, Bangladesh problems, the attempted assassination of the Pope and global recession, while Prof. F.A. Hayek was writing about British agriculture "in a mess". At home, Bert Brookes, Henry Law and Tony Carter were among the regular writers. Fred Harrison was in Florida investigating land booms.

On the death of Frank Dupuis, his impressive article "On the Rights of Man" was re-run as a tribute to his memory.

By the autumn of 1982 there were new crisis developments on which to comment. Revolution was taking place in China, bankruptcy was widespread in several Third World countries, Reaganomics was collapsing in USA. In the UK, Geoffrey Howe was embarrassed by the failure of his enterprise zones but more importantly, Land and Liberty predicted a housing crash in 1984.

By the Spring of 1983 inflation was worrying everybody. Later that year, following an important editorial in Fortune Magazine which had highlighted Wmston Churchill and Leo Tolstoy's appreciation of the Georgist philosophy, and had trumpeted "We need a tax on land", their contribution to the debate had been reproduced in Land and Liberty. By way of contrast, Margaret Thatcher's view on the land tax was also printed.

Meanwhile, Fred Harrison had been writing Power in the Land, a far-sighted book reviewed by Roger Sandilands.

Events continued to astonish economists across the world. Some 48 banks in the United States had gone bust. In Japan, climbing out of recession, there was a land price explosion. Britain failed to reform the CAP and house prices (land prices) were at record high levels having risen 80% during the previous year.

The May/June 1984 issue was devoted to property taxes in America with erudite articles by Henry S. Reuss and Walter Rybeck showing that land was the key to economic recovery. Steven B. Cord recorded a significant contribution in Pennsylvania, Stan Frederiksen in Missouri plus others all rooting for LVT in USA. George Collins reported on how developers were exploiting tax inducements. Bob Clancy, writing from New York, invited readers to look at George Orwell's assessment of the year in the light of current realities. The Orwellian vision of 1984 came across painfully to Land & Liberty readers.

In September the focus had moved to Latin America, its poverty and conflict, and had thrown a searchlight across the $700 billion world debt crisis. A three-part analysis by James Busey made plain that Marxism and corruption were the two main obstacles to land reform. A later issue that year featured Prof. Donald Denman's "LVF in Deep Water", a look at the seabeds, our last frontiers of common ground. Mary Rawson in Canada took as her subject mass transit systems and how to pay for them -- out of land value.

Some issues that year attracted space sales including a full page advertisement paid for by The Economist, and another by Butterworth Scientific Ltd, to advertise their book Land Use Policy. The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, USA's leading publisher of works on LVT since 1925, took space to list their many books, pamphlets and films, with some much needed funding filtering into Land and Liberty accounts.

LIBERATION theology was the topic for January 1985. Was it the answer to prayers? Bert Brookes explained why the Pope was not amused. Another important statement was made by John D. Allen on revenue from North Sea oil, a taxation survey that covered new ground, while Oliver Smedley looked into issues affecting UK, EPTA and EEC, simplifying a complicated subject. Henry Law's illustrated article "How we can return to full employment" was so persuasive that it was circulated as a reprint.

Special issues that year attracted comment. The one on Land and War highlighted the root causes of war, the principal one being lack of access to land. Roy Douglas warned that we were continuing to recreate conditions that could give rise to another Hitler: "1f goods cannot cross frontiers, then armies will". Fred Foldvary's land plan was designed to end the Arab-Israeli war while the journal took a critical look at Cyprus and its long4asting conflicts.

In September it was time to laugh, with a splendid cartoon on the cover and much wild talk about introducing a poll tax, along with several articles on UK rating reform and how it should be done.

In 1986 the Duke of Westminster showed up in Court, attempting to hang on to his land interests. He lost his case. By contrast readers were shown current levels of poverty in the Third World, and also in Ireland. A difficult subject was tackled by Richard Mernane who reviewed the government Green Paper on the future of broadcasting and the collection of rent of airwaves: another frontier of common ground.

The special issue in November was devoted to Henry George who again appeared on the cover. Steven Cord compared the philosophies of George, Adam Smith and Karl Marx. Guest editor for this issue was Stan Rubenstein, then Director of the Henry George School in New York. The first issue of 1987 was again packed with American interest: tax cuts, poverty and the aims race, and Bob Clancy on tax reform.

In May the journal told readers why Georgists should be "green" and why the Greens should be Georgists. By July the School of Georgist Economics was being compared with that of Leo Tolstoy, while Sun-Yat Sen's version of the land tax, fully discussed, did not forestall Parliament in the UK from introducing the Poll Tax (euphemistically called Community Charge) in place of the rating system based on property, before autumn turned to winter.

THE GREAT CRASH of 19 October 1987 prompted the editor to review the various stock market shake-outs, including the last one in 1974 and to analyse the various recessions. Doomsday in 1992 was predicted!

Godfrey Dunkley reported from Johannesburg on how to encourage a healthy economy within an ethnic mix, and Nigeria expressed the need for a tax on vacant land.

In the spring of 1988 the Editor took a trip to Denmark "to appraise the tax policies of an enlightened country, after 70 years of LVT". Later he met and talked with influential Russians, including Gorbachev's economic Guru, and warned readers that the Russians would soon be "trading in world bazaars..."

During the summer Australia celebrated a bi-centennial and the July issue was packed with Australian problems and successes: the Aborigines and their land rights, the drugs menace and trade in narcotics, as well as the prosperity of areas where LVT was already in place. Meanwhile work went on inside the Channel Tunnel and the effects of land deals along the Kent coast were described.

1989 opened with the Prince of Wales' criticism of property dealers and the great architecture rumpus. Despite dissatisfaction in most quarters and the many "quirks" about the poll tax, the Lords were whipped in from the extremities of Britain to vote urgently in favour of it and the new head tax became law. Land & Liberty spoke out fiercely in opposition. By May Paddy Ashdown's article in the national press was reprinted. It was a plea for LVT -- but far too late.

Maggie was again cover personality that summer. The British economy "was under siege" according to the team behind Costing the Earth (Shepheard-Walwyn, 1989). This was a major study to estimate the value of the nation's total land and natural resources in modern times. It was convened by the Editor and seven contributors took part. The book, reviewed in the journal, sold well and its tide was quickly adopted both by a popular radio programme on conservation and a special insert in The Economist.

Dealing with the folly of "set-aside" policy, it was revealed that Lord Sainsbury received £30,000 a year for doing nothing on his many acres, in a bid to reduce surplus food stocks.

In September 1989 one of the early reports appeared on the Soviet Unions' unique chance to move to land value taxation. Subsequently, the editor and several colleagues were to make frequent trips to Russia in an effort to educate, advise and lecture to a growing number of supporters of LVT in that vast country.

THE GREEN Party enjoyed a welcome success in the Euro-elections, gaining 15% of the vote; their Charter, which included LVT, was published in the journal.

The US bank crisis followed the house-price crisis. As the crash of 1992 approached the Editor warned that British banks were also at risk.

"Planning gain" became the fashion in municipal circles as the decade opened and Dr. Francis Smith's assessment of planning gains and property rights revealed a secret tax" that enabled councils to get what they wanted without paying for it. The Church was again in the public eye. Fred Harrison met the Rt. Rev. John Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, and discussed with him alternatives to Marxism and capitalism. The Bishop got himself a place on the September 1990 cover as a supporter of LVT. The Church and the land problem continued through to the November issue with David Redfearn analysing some gospel truths and Geoffrey Lee looking at the causes of homelessness and the property slump.

The first issue of 1991 printed an open letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, signed by no less than 29 top economists, including three Nobel prize winners. Together they urged the Soviet President to retain land in public ownership and to raise government revenue by charging rent for the use of land. The debate in Moscow continued to turn on property rights, now the heart of perestroika. Georgists all over the world were taking note. Land & Liberty spelt it out: with land in social ownership the State could grant individual use rights within a market economy. Prof. C. Lowell Harris of Columbia University, New York, one of the signatories of the Gorbachev letter, described in an article the community package which could benefit everyone.

The March/April edition became a Washington and New York Special. Fred Harrison, who had been in Seattle writing on sensitive tensions about ecology, now put his pen to describe a property tax storm, derelict residential areas and the impact of the tax on the sociology of cities.

By May the journal was showing how the poll tax was putting the British nation under strain. Margaret Thatcher had to deal with the Scots who were furious, and with riots. Over 350,000 people failed to pay the poll tax in protest.

Airwaves were also presenting worries and plans were discussed on ways to raise revenues by tapping the rental value of the air.

By July the editor was reminding his readers of his prediction that 1992 would be the year of depression. Town planner Alan Spence wrote on rebuilding Russian cities and proposed a plan for creating new towns in the Soviet Union by capturing the economic rent of land to finance the renewal of the urban environment, especially in Armenia which had been devastated by an earthquake. The Garden City concept, developed by Ebenzer Howard at the end of the last century, had been inspired by the fiscal policies of Henry George.

The Soviet empire continued to crumble through that summer and disputes over the share out of the rental value of natural resources took up space in the journal.

Meanwhile the Editor was reviewing the experience of oil rich Alaska and looked at the rent-boom in a country where there was no state or local tax. By contrast, a book by Sir Richard Body MP, reviewed by Ian Lambert, showed how the average food bill in Britain was being inflated. The part played by the CAP was under fire.

The year ended with the searchlight on South Africa, now a powder keg as the different races and tribes fought for power in the post-apartheid era.

In 1992 the cheerful coloured covers of Land & Liberty disappeared, to be replaced by black and white covers and a new look to the journal with the inclusion of Economic Intelligence contributed by the Centre for Incentive Taxation. The appeal now had swung towards the economist, the business man and forecasters, rather than to the general reader. The Editor was flying about the world, in Tokyo to study land prices and their new land-value tax squeeze on Japan's speculators, to Russia again and then to South Africa.

Readers were now looking for the regular Land & Liberty Essay which kept up a consistently high standard of essay writing. David Redfearn's piece on the causes of war homed in on the bloody Balkan warfare which illustrated the folly of mankind and threatened our extinction. David Richards took as his subject, the claims of nations on natural resources and created wealth. This was written following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992, attended by heads of state and ministers from 178 countries. The Summit was arranged after a hole had been detected in the ozone shield that protects the Earth.

The end of the year saw Fred Harrison back in Russia, visiting Sasnovy Bor to report on the Russian "revolution" and a people actively searching for a new identity. "From the ashes of communism could spring the first rent-as-public-revenue society," he wrote. In Moscow he interviewed the Head of the Department of Urban Land, a division of the federal government's Land Reform Committee. Russia's land rent had become the strategic weapon that might yet compete in western markets.

By March/April Russia was featured in the journal with Yeltsin's government receiving bad advice from the West, Together with Tamara Chystyakova, Director of Eco-Grad, a private research centre in St. Petersburg, the Editor of Land & Liberty published an important document on the strategic importance of land-rent in Russia's future international relationships. Readers expecting a new tax strategy to take off were disappointed. Although no less than 80 cities had said "yes" to LVT and declared in favour of a reform of the system of public revenue, by July/August 1993 the IMF and the World Bank had blocked the rent revenue strategy. Shells from Boris Yeltsin's tanks on 5th October had blown much good work apart. Nevertheless the Union of Russian Cities, led by the city of Novgorod, were determined to cut taxes and make up the shortfall in revenue from land rents. CIT helped to prepare the ground work.

The United Nations had affirmed "the worst slump since the 1930s" while Land & Liberty was running reviews on a number of academic works, notably Public Revenue without Taxation by Ronald Burgess, which set out the problem and the solution in plain terms. "Only one policy can remove land speculation -- a tax on the annual rental value of land." Britain was slowly emerging from a depression caused by the latest phase of land speculation.

WRITING from the United States, Professor R.V. Andelson contributed "Henry George -- a prophet whose time has come", which spelt out the belief that George's philosophy was assuming a new significance.

Nicholas Dennys' analysis of land rights for the Cossacks analysed the problems that undermine indigenous peoples of the Soviet north, making reference to the work of Survival International.

A bumper double issue at the turn of the year was again dominated by Russia and the possible move towards the Single Tax. A Plan had been drafted by Sir Kenneth Jupp, a judge in the English High Court for 15 years who was well versed on land law and privatisation. This was to be presented to Russia as a Bill to collect the rent of land and thus pave the way for a reduction in taxes on wages and profits.

Meanwhile the editor was in South Africa where plans for the first democratic election were moving forward. In his emotional article "Africa: Cry for Freedom", he wrote about the vision of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, negotiations with President de Klerk and the new constitution that would emerge after the election. "Someone," he concluded, "has to explain how a fair system of public finance will bring everyone benefits."