How Robert Ingersoll Wobbled
on the Land Question

Joseph Dana Miller

[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, November-December 1930]

A little while ago, I came across a lecture delivered by that great agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll, in 1886. Here are some of the things he said. They are interesting in view of the conclusion that he reached.

"No man should be allowed to own any land that he does not use."

"I have owned a great deal of land, but I know just as well as I know I am living that I should not be allowed to have it unless I use it."

"Now, the land belongs to the children of Nature. Nature invites into this world every babe that is born."

"What would you think of me, for instance, tonight, if I had invited you here and when you got here you had found one man pretending to occupy a hundred seats, another fifty, and another seventy-five and thereupon you were compelled to stand what would you think of the invitation?"

"Every child of Nature is entitled to his share of the land, and he should not be compelled to beg the privilege to work the soil of a babe that happened to be born before him."

"It is not to our interest to have a few landlords and millions of tenants."

And then he says:

"I would not take an inch of land from any human being that be- longs to him. If we ever take it, we must pay for it condemn it and take it do not rob anybody. When a man advocates justice, and robbery as the means, I suspect him."

Here is a strange mingling of thought and thoughtlessness. What he said in substance is this: Every one is entitled to his share of the land provided he buys it at the market price from a fictitious owner. "Don't rob anybody" may be good advice, but the present owners of land trace their titles to men who were not so particular.

WTioever advocated taking land away from the ones it belongs to? The question is, "To whom does the land rightfully belong?" land that Nature created and that the presence of people made valuable.

Thomas Paine was regarded by Ingersoll as a most profound thinker, but apparently Ingersoll is not willing to follow in his views on the land question. Paine, at least, was consistent. He trod the path that reason lit and was not frightened because it led to a conclusion that run counter to the prevailing prejudice.

Here is what he said:

"The Deity created the earth . . . and any one who would show good title to land must trace his title to the Deity."

And then he added,

"So far as I know, the Deity never opened a land office from which title deeds were issued."

The fact of the matter is that no one wants to take any land away from anyone. All we say is that payment of a so-called purchase price to an illegitimate owner is no reason for failure to pay legitimate owner the community the fair rental value of the land used.