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SCI LIBRARY

A Remembrance of Joseph Dana Miller

Frank Chodorov


[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, May-June 1939]


A truth becomes no truer because of the garb in which it is presented; but the readiness with which it is perceived, and perhaps accepted, is enhanced thereby. I recall vividly that the literary qualities of Progress and Poverty impelled my reading of that book before I had any idea of its economic or philosophical content.

Because of the remarkable style of Henry George one would be inclined to expect men of marked literary abilities to be attracted to his philosophy, and to use their gifts in the propagation of his theories. And there were a number who wielded the pen well in the cause of Georgeism. There were Louis F. Post, John S. Crosby, Ernest Howard Crosby, Herbert Quick, Henry George, Jr., Luke North and others whose various literary talents enriched our literature. Those who emphasized the fiscal reform were legion, and while this phase of the subject does not lend itself to literary heights, much of an informative character, good for argumentative purposes, has been left by these men ; the field for such informative work is still unscratched, and much valuable research work must be done.

George Raymond Geiger, Graham Peace, Harry Gunnison Brown, among others still with us, have done some good writing. And Albert Jay Nock, one of the foremost living essayists, has just completed a remarkable word portrait of Henry George, which will be issued in August.

But, in the quarter century I have been connected with the movement, my impression has been that the orator rather than the writer has been developed. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the movement was nurtured in the political arena, and in a period when verbal pyrotechnics from the tail of a wagon was the accredited means of political propaganda.

However, there was one writer who for nearly forty years did yeoman service for the movement, of whom the movement may well be proud. He was a mid-Victorian, in the best literary sense. Always he knew the phrase that would best express the thought, the correct word, the proper sentence structure. But though he was a consummate craftsman, he was much more than that. He never submerged or minimized the thought, or the message, in his art. His talented pen was always the obedient slave of his ideas.

For over twenty years I have looked forward to the bi-monthly "Comment and Reflection" of Joe Miller. Always this well-turned commentary on current problems or moot doctrinal questions or matters of method made me feel that this bright beacon light was an assurance that Henry George would not die. I travelled much during these years, and my heart was frequently heavy with the realization that the philosophy of freedom was little known in these United States. Sometimes the density of this darkness seemed impenetrable, and courage to keep on teaching ebbed. Then came a new "Comment and Reflection," and, taking my cue from this seemingly inextinguishable light, I carried on.

But, at long last the light is extinguished. We who knew Joe loved him. In the privacy of our hearts only will that loss find expression. But the movement as a whole will be poorer because the literary genius of his "Comment and Reflection" is gone forever.