The Prophet of San Francisco
Louis F. Post
[Condensed from The Prophet of San Francisco,
published in Chicago, 1904]
Henry George was born in Philadelphia on 2nd September, 1839. Passing
from the public school into the high school, he remained in the latter
only five months. He worked for two years as an office boy, after
which at the age of sixteen he shipped as a sailor before the mast on
board an East Indiaman. Having made a voyage as far as Australia and
back, he learned the printers' trade in Philadelphia and then went to
sea again.
His voyages brought him to California. From San Francisco he worked
his way to British Columbia to join the gold-seeking adventurers of
1858 on the Frazer River. The expedition failed and he returned to San
Francisco, where he soon afterwards married and where all his children
were born.
For many years he endured galling poverty, which could not be charged
to indolence or thriftlessness. He was a hard worker, and was given to
no vices unless smoking is a vice. As he began to use his pen,
however, his circumstances improved. For this change he was well
equipped. During all the years since his withdrawal from the
Philadelphia High School he had read widely, and had trained himself
by close study and arduous practice in clear and forcible as well as
inspired writing on serious subjects.
In a visit he paid to New York in the late '60's, his mind was fully
awakened to the enormity of the social problem. As the centre of
American progress, New York was to his patriotic imagination the place
where the beneficent effects of progress should be most pronounced and
most plainly visible. Whoever knows New York from the inside can
appreciate the depth of his disappointment. Material prosperity he
found, not only up to his expectations but far beyond them. Wealth was
abundant and comfort luxurious. But the wealth was not distributed;
the comfort was not diffused. At one extreme were fabulous riches; at
the other was poverty so degrading that its victims had lost all hope
of escape and much of the desire for it; while between the two were a
harrowing fear and a paralysing dread of poverty which seemed worse if
possible than poverty itself.
George's literary abilities were recognized by Noah Brooks, who
called him in 1866 from a printer's case on the San Francisco Times to
a reporter's desk. In a little while the new reporter had become an
editorial writer for the paper; and, under the editor-in-chief who
succeeded Brooks, had risen in six months to the post of managing
editor. He wrote also for the magazines, and an article in the
Overland Monthly in 1868 gave the first indication of the views with
which his name was later to be associated.
At the end of 1871 George with the aid of William M. Hinton
established the San Francisco Evening Post. It was the first paper
west of the Rockies to sell at one cent. The success of the newspaper
was so great that the resources of the proprietors were strained, and
with their limited capital they were unable to enlarge the plant. A
millionaire senator offered to lend the money required. After the
paper had been running successfully for four years, at a time of
temporary financial stringency in San Francisco, the senator demanded
instant repayment of his loan or immediate possession of the paper.
The reason for this was not a business one. Tight as money was with
others it was not so with him. He offered to continue George in the
editorship on condition that he reversed its policy toward the Pacific
railroad ring and supported that monopoly. George declined the offer.
Later, Governor Irwin appointed him to a post in a State department.
It gave him comparative leisure, and he applied himself industriously
from August, 1877, till March, 1879, to the writing of Progress and
Poverty.
At first his manuscript was rejected by publishers, and he was
compelled to resort to an author's edition, much of the type of which
he himself set. This brought at last one publisher's offer in the
United States, and that brought one from England. The book went slowly
at first but soon gained headway, and within four years it had sold to
the extent of hundreds of thousands of copies in both countries. It
has been translated into nearly every civilized tongue.
The Irish Land Question, now called The Land Question,
soon followed. After that Social Problems appeared. This is a series
of essays which were first published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated
Newspaper. His next book was Protection or Free Trade. It had
been delayed by the loss of the manuscript when the first draft was
nearly completed. Some years later came The Condition of Labour,
an open letter to Pope Leo XIII in reply to his Encyclical on Labour.
His next book was A Perplexed Philosopher, a criticism of
Herbert Spencer and a review of his philosophy in so far as it
concerned the land question. Finally, but not until after the author's
death, The Science of Political Economy was published by his
son.
In 1881 George moved from San Francisco to New York. Afterwards he
travelled through England, Scotland, Ireland and Australia, speaking
before large audiences in all those countries.
In 1886 he became the candidate of the labour organizations of New
York for Mayor of that city. His nomination was made in response to a
petition signed by 34,000 voters. Alarmed by this, the two branches of
the Democratic Party sank their differences to nominate Abram S.
Hewitt. The election resulted in a victory for Hewitt with 90,552
votes. Theodore Roosevelt, afterwards President of the United States,
received 60,435; George received at least 68,110 - but his friends had
good reason to believe that the corrupt electoral machine had him
counted out.
In 1897 on the creation of Greater New York he became again the
candidate of the labour organizations to oppose Tammany Hall. The
incessant exertions of writing, travelling and speaking had greatly
enfeebled him. His doctor warned him that the campaign in all
probability would be fatal to him. Yet he went into the fight partly
because the working men urged him to it, and partly because he
believed that his candidacy would save the city from dishonour and
would promote the cause that was always uppermost in his mind.
The strain was too great. Early in the morning of 29th October, 1897,
four days before the election, the end came. He had spoken at several
meetings the previous evening. At one the chairman introduced him as "the
great friend of labour." George was no demagogue. He played
neither to the gallery nor to the boxes. Coming feebly forward, his
voice gaining power, however, and expanding till it filled the hall,
he exclaimed: "I have never claimed to be a special friend of
labour. Let us have done with this call for special privileges for
labour. Labour does not want special privileges. I have never
advocated nor asked for special rights or special sympathy for working
men. What I stand for is the equal rights of all men."
***
This account is mainly condensed from The Prophet of San
Francisco, by Louis F. Post, Chicago, 1904.
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