Henry George, A Remembrance

John Sherwin Crosby

[An address delivered at the funeral of Henry George, 31 October 1897. Repinted in the booklet, Addresses at the Funeral of Henry George, compiled by Edmund Yardley in 1905 and published by The Public Publishing Company, Chicago]

Now followed a scene that will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it The ceremonies were over, -- at least so the audience thought. The impressive tones of McClynn's voice and the applause that followed his speech were dying away. It was a fitting climax, so it seemed, that the last words over the great leader dead, should be said by one who stood so close to him in life as the eloquent priest of St. Stephen's. Some on the outer seats rose to go, when a man who was a stranger to most of the assembly stepped to the front of the platform. Who could this be that dared to follow McGlynn? Surely he did not realize the task he had undertaken. Yet the fine presence of the man, the resonant tones of his voice immediately commanded attention. The speaker was John Sherwin Crosby, who had been selected by the committee, with excellent judgment as it proved, to close the ceremonies. Those who had risen, turned around, - listened, - sat down. In a moment the applause was renewed, wilder, more enthusiastically than before. Not cheering, as some of the papers had it, - those who longed to cheer were restrained by the presence of the dead, - but tumultuous hand-clapping. The unknown orator had captured his audience as no other had that day, and they responded to his eloquent words as the tree-tops sway to the gale. It was no longer of Henry George the man, that the orator spoke, but of Henry George the fallen leader in a great cause - a cause dear to his hearers' hearts; and the applause that went up was as the shout of a host rushing to the battle. It was exultant, defiant; the orator before them breathed their spirit, spoke with their voice, and they went wild with enthusiasm.

I should not, my friends, even if there were time, here attempt any eulogy of the dear friend whose loss we mourn. I have not the command of language or of feeling requisite to an adequate expression of any part of the measureless praise that is due and will be accorded to this brave tribune of the people. Standing here in his presence, as it seems to me, I feel that if those mute lips could break the silence that enchains them we should hear him say: "Speak not of me, but of the principles I have advocated. I have laid down my life in the struggle to secure their practical recognition in the politics of my country. I call on you who remain upon the scene of action to continue that struggle; to keep up the fight until victory is won " [The audience burst into applause.]

Here on this sad Sabbath day, the day that was made for man, at the open-standing portals through which our beloved leader has passed from time to the eternity that awaits us all, let us ask, and answer if we can, this question: Why is it that at the death of this plain, unassuming man, who, although known throughout the world, never held station of worldly honor; whose writings have seldom appeared in dress more pretentious than a cheap paper cover, having been slighted and discredited by concerted action of those whose office it is to make known whatever truth may be discovered; why is it that thousands of men and women are today assembled, not only here at his funeral by the Atlantic, but on the other side of the continent by the Pacific, at this same hour, in that very hall in San Francisco where he first gave public utterance to his sublime theories? [Applause.] Why is it that not only in this country but throughout all lands there is this unprecedented manifestation of a universal, common sorrow at his loss? Is it because he was a good man? He was a good man. No whiter soul ever winged its way to regions of celestial peace. But other good men have died, are dying every day, and yet we see no such demonstration as this. An able man? Men of the greatest ability are constantly passing away, but they are paid no such tribute as that accorded to this man. Why, then, this world-wide mourning?

This man had a theory - was said to be a man of one idea. If that theory be false, that idea a mere vagary, why, as he passes away, does the world rise and stand uncovered in honor of the man who proclaimed it? It is the natural, universally spontaneous recognition of Henry George's theory as an essential part of God's eternal truth. [Tremendous applause.]

One word about this theory of his. Much has been truly and eloquently said in regard to the probable effects of its adoption. He believed that when put into practice it would, by removing the cause, eventually result in the abolition of involuntary poverty. There are those who say that he was over sanguine as to results, which they assert could not be so beneficent and far-reaching as he thought. But it matters not, my friends, what the result would be. That is not your business or mine. Shall we stop to discuss results before doing what we know to be right? If so, how long? Henry George has demonstrated beyond all question that what he demands, that all he asks, is simple justice. [Great applause.]

It has been said that he threatened established institutions. Threatened? He has not only threatened them; he has shaken them to their foundations. [Prolonged applause.] Threatened your institutions, has he? To whom have you built statues in your cities but to men who threatened your institutions? Your Garrisons and Phillipses, your Lincolns, Sumners and Sewards, all threatened institutions defended in their time by pulpit and press, as you know. Yes, Henry George has threatened established institutions, and they are now tottering to their fall, because not founded on the eternal rock of justice, but built upon the shifting sands of expediency.

Henry George believed in the Declaration of Independence; accepted the self-evident truth of its sublime preamble that every man has, by the very nature of his being, certain inalienable rights; rights derived not from governments; rights, of his absolute, indefeasible title to which no government or established order can deprive him; rights, chief among which is the right to a place on earth. [Great applause.] He saw that one man has as much and the same right on earth as another, and that if one man has as much right as another, no man can have any more right than another. [Applause.]

This man was no dreamer. He had no plan for remodeling the state or reconstructing society. Plato in his "Republic," More in "Utopia," Bacon and Bellamy have given us visions of society arbitrarily moulded according to man's finite conception of what it ought to be. They proposed to deal with results rather than causes - giving little thought as to the feasibility or justice of means by which their dreams were to be realized. Henry George, on the other hand, in his great book "Progress and Poverty," beginning with fundamental principles, absolute truth, with axioms, as in mathematics, proceeds by logical deductions to inevitable conclusions. And no man yet has ever answered him. [Great applause. A voice: "And no man ever will."] Exalted as he was in sublimity of political wisdom, he held himself not aloof from the uncongenial associations incident to practical politics, and shirked no humblest duty of the citizen. To the very last hour he was earnestly endeavoring to arouse all men, men of every class and station, the men of this great metropolis and of the world, to a sense of personal responsibility for the continuance of institutional wrongs; urging them to demand at every point that justice be done by the government we are all compelled to uphold. [Great applause.]

There lie the remains of a man who was Thomas Jefferson reincarnate. [Sensation.] Greater even than Jefferson, for, although the latter saw the injustice and denied the right of so-called private property in land, not to him but to this man was it given to demonstrate to the world how the natural, common, equal, inalienable right of all men to the earth may be secured to all without injury to any, and without disturbance to society. He demonstrated, moreover, that unless that right be secured it is in vain that we pray "Thy kingdom come." [Great applause:] When we pray for the coming of God's kingdom, and the doing of His will upon earth, do we expect the answer to come all at once? Through some change in the climate or the order of the seasons? By any standing still of the sun? It must come, if at all, through some change in the institutions, customs and laws that we ignorantly maintain in opposition to the will of God. By whom is that will to be done on earth if not by the men and women living upon it? Emerson has said that every great reform was once a thought in the mind of some one man. What was once but a thought in the mind of this one man has become a force that moves the world today. [Vociferous applause.]

As Paul stood on Mars Hill and proclaimed to the Athenians the Unknown God whom they ignorantly worshipped, so this man for the last quarter of a century has stood aloft proclaiming democracy to democrats. I speak not of any party, but of all men who, with Jefferson and Lincoln, still ask: "If we cannot trust the people to govern themselves, whom can we trust to govern them?" Speaking to such men, Henry George has been saying: "Jeffersonian democracy which you ignorantly worship, that I declare unto you." The political party, be it called Democratic or Republican, or by any other name, that does not recognize the equal right of every man to a place on earth - the government that fails to secure that right - must eventually go down, as parties, governments and civilizations have gone down in the past. [Tremendous applause.] But I will not detain you. [Cries of "Go on," "Go on," and applause.]

If I thought that things were to go on as they are - and as some in high places tell us that they must, in the order of Providence, continue to go on - my prayer would be for God to stop the multiplication of a race, the majority of whom are to know only poverty, degradation and shame. That is what we should pray for if we believe the existing social disorder to be the natural order. But if we have faith in God, and believe that whenever He makes a thing right He also makes it practicable, then may we pray, hope and work, as did Henry George, for the coming of the kingdom. [Great applause.]

Newton's discovery of the law of gravitation was not more essential to an understanding of physical phenomena than is the theory of Henry George to an intelligent comprehension of the principles of political economy and civil government. The single tax, or "natural taxation," is in reality not a tax, not a taking of private revenue, but simply an appropriation by the public of a revenue which, in its very source and nature, is essentially public, and therefore belongs to the public. Long ago in the book of Ecclesiastes was it written: "The profit of the earth is for all"; long ago in the book of Proverbs: "In all labor there is profit"; and the problem of all the centuries since has been how to effect a just distribution of these two kinds of profit. It was the mission of Henry George to solve that problem - the problem of poverty, the labor problem, the problem that underlies all other social problems. And he has solved it. He has pointed out the way, the only way, in which the profit of the earth may be shared by all, the only way in which the profit of labor can be secured to the laborer. His work finished, his mission ended, he hears the welcome summons: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

The body of Henry George lies here. His soul has gone to the bosom of his Father. And soon his body, by gentle hands uplifted and followed by loving hearts, will be borne to peaceful Greenwood, there to rest upon the bosom of his mother Earth, her child, the one who above all others of his time realized and recognized the common, equal brotherhood of all her children. [Prolonged applause.]