"  I  set  out  on  this  ground,"  said  he,  "  which  I  suppose  to  be
self-evident,  that  the  earth  belongs  in  usufruct  to  the  liv-
ing; that  the  dead  have  neither  powers  nor  rights  over  it.
.  .  .  This  principle  that  the  earth  belongs  to  the  living
and  not  to  the  dead  is  of  very  extensive  application  and
consequences  in  every  country  .  .  .  and  it  renders  the
question  of  reimbursement  a  question  of  generosity  and
not  of  right."  2

Jefferson  saw  no  need  of  announcing  the  principle  of
equal  rights  to  land  more  prominently,  —  in  the  Declara-
tion of  Independence,  for  instance,  —  for  he  never  dreamed

1  Jefferson's  Writings,  Ford  Edition,  Vol.  VII,  p.  36.
3  Ibid.,  Vol.  V,  pp.  116-122.
C


i8  The  Menace  oj  Privilege

of  the  astounding,  wholesale  appropriation  which  has  oc-
curred. He  thought  that  for  "ages  to  come"  there  would
be  enough  and  plenty  for  all  who  wanted  good,  accessible
land.  But  the  then  generally  adopted  principle  of  pri-
vate property  in  land,  taken  with  the  later  special  enact-
ments to  get  owners  for  the  public  domain,  has  resulted
precisely  as  if  particular  laws  had  been  passed  for  the
advantage  of  such  individuals  as  chanced  to  be  first  and
to  the  disadvantage  of  all  coming  afterward.
