Problems of Today (1908)

In all other English speaking countries, the people work the land; in Britain the landlords work the people. When the interests of the masses of the people require change in land tenure, the few owners can justly be required to forego their preferences, or submit to increased taxation if they decide to enjoy privileges injurious to the community as a whole. The greatest amount of wealth created in any branch comes from enhanced values of real property. The obvious creator of this wealth is not the individual, but the community. No other form of wealth should contribute to the nation so generously. The most comfortable, but also the the most unproductive, way for a capitalist to increase his fortune is to put all his monies in sites and await that point in time when a society, hungering for land, has to pay his price. Andrew Carnegie, (1835-1919) US steel magnate

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

You cannot make the poor rich by making the rich poor. The land, the earth that God gave to man for his home, his sustenance and support, should never be the possession of any man, corporation, society or unfriendly government, any more than the air or water - if as much. An individual or enterprise requiring land should hold no more in their own right than is needed for their home and sustenance, and never more than they have in actual use in the prudent management of their legitimate business, and this much should not be permitted when it creates an exclusive monopoly. All that is not so used should be held for the free use of every family to make homesteads, and to hold them so long as they are occupied. A reform like this will be worked out some time in the future. An individual or company should never hold more land than they have in actual use. “I destroy my enemy by making him my friend”