[1216] Cf. the fragment entitled Méthode de Conciliation ou de Synthèse, in the Études d’Économie sociale. Henry George in his preface to Progress and Poverty writes thus: “What I have done in this book … is to unite the truth perceived by the school of Smith and Ricardo to the truth perceived by the school of Proudhon and Lassalle; to show that laissez-faire (in its full, true meaning) opens the way to a realisation of the noble dream of socialism.”
[1217] Études d’Économie sociale, p. 239.
[1218] See the charming sixth lesson of the Théorie générale de la Société in the Études d’Économie sociale.
[1219] “In order to justify a measure involving a slight diminution in the rent of landed proprietors, it is hardly necessary to invoke the fact that rents have a faculty of growing continuously without the co-operation of the proprietor. We need scarcely point out that this increase in rent over a certain period cannot enter into the price of land simply because it cannot be calculated. Consequently, when a buyer buys under the system of guarantee afforded by the State he has at the same time undoubtedly bought a claim to all the variations of rent which may ensue.… Even if the landed proprietor is indemnified by being paid a perpetual rent equal to the rent of his land at the time of confiscation, as is done to-day in the case of compulsory purchase, the injustice will not be as great as it otherwise would be, but it will not be removed altogether.” (Gossen, Entwickelung der Gesetze, pp. 257-258.)
[1220] Gossen gives reasons for thinking that the State, owing to its superior position as compared with individuals, might offer better terms to the proprietors than ordinary buyers could—among others, that the State can borrow cheaply and could consequently offer a better price.
[1221] A similar idea underlies Gide’s proposal in an article contributed to the Journal des Économistes for July 1883. “The State would offer to buy the land and pay for it on the basis of ninety-nine years’ purchase. There is reason to think that hardly a buyer would be found who would refuse such an offer coupled with a slight compensation, for ninety-nine years is the equivalent of perpetuity as far as the individual is concerned. There would be nothing mean about such a price; really it would be more of a gift to the proprietor.”
[1222] Walras, Études d’Économie sociale, p. 368. A mathematical discussion of the theory is contained in the Théorie mathématique du Prix des Terres. The same argument expressed in ordinary language may be found in the article entitled Un Économiste inconnu (Études d’Économie sociale, pp. 365 et seq.), and it is still more simply summed up in the Problème fiscal, pp. 446-449.
[1223] “The same considerations would apply in the case of mines, railways, monopolies of every kind, natural and otherwise, where the principle of free competition is in operation or where any surplus value exists.” (Études d’Économie sociale, p. 347, note. Cf. also pp. 237 et seq.)
[1224] Cf. Escarra, loc. cit., p. 224. See also Laveleye, Le Socialisme contemporain, 8th ed., Appendix I.
[1225] Métin, Le Socialisme en Angleterre, p. 179 (1897).