"In material things there can be no individual security
without individual property.
"The independent farmer is secure.
"He cannot be
sacked. He cannot be evicted. He cannot be bullied by landlord or employer.
What he produces is his own: the means of production are his own.
"Similarly the
independent craftsman is secure, and the independent shopkeeper.
"No agreements,
no laws, no mechanism of commerce, trade, or State, can give the security which
ownership affords.
"A nation of peasants and craftsmen whose wealth is in their
tools and ski and materials can laugh at employers, money merchants, and
politicians.
"It is a nation free and fearless.
"The wage-earner, however sound
and skilful his work, is at the mercy of the usurers who own that by which he
lives.
"Moreover, by his very subjection he is shut out from that training and
experience which alone can fit him to be a responsible citizen.
"His servile
condition calls for little discretion, caution, judgment, or knowledge of
mankind.
"The so-called 'failure of democracy' is but the recognition of the
fact that a nation of employees cannot govern itself."
These are strong words, but we need to seriously consider
them.
Social Leader Daily by Oliver DeMille
