Editing Henry George (section)

==Legacy==
{{See also|Georgism}}

Henry George's ideas on politics and economics had enormous influence in his time. His ideas gave rise to the economic philosophy now known as [[Georgism]]. However, his influence slowly waned through the 20th century. Nonetheless, it would be difficult to overstate George's impact on turn-of-the-century reform movements and intellectual culture. George's self-published ''[[Progress and Poverty]]'' was the first popular economics text and one of the most widely printed books ever written. The book's explosive worldwide popularity is often marked as the beginning of the [[Progressive Era]] and various political parties, clubs, and charitable organizations around the world were founded on George's ideas. George's message attracts support widely across the [[political spectrum]], including labor union activists, socialists, anarchists, libertarians, reformers, conservatives, and wealthy investors. As a result, Henry George is still claimed as a primary intellectual influence by both [[classical liberalism|classical liberals]] and [[socialists]]. [[Edwin Markham]] expressed a common sentiment when he said, "Henry George has always been to me one of the supreme heroes of humanity."<ref>The Single Tax Review Volume 15. New York: Publ. Off., 1915</ref>

A large [[Georgism#Lists of Georgists|number of famous individuals]], particularly Progressive Era figures, claim inspiration from Henry George's ideas. [[John Peter Altgeld]] wrote that George "made almost as great an impression on the economic thought of the age as Darwin did on the world of science."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Altgeld |first1=John |title=Live Questions |date=1899 |publisher=Geo. S Bowen & Son |url=http://darrow.law.umn.edu/documents/Altgeld%20on%20Henry%20George.pdf |access-date=February 3, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924001239/http://darrow.law.umn.edu/documents/Altgeld%20on%20Henry%20George.pdf |archive-date=September 24, 2014 }}</ref> [[José Martí]] wrote, "Only Darwin in the natural sciences has made a mark comparable to George's on social science."<ref>{{cite book |last=Martí |first=José |title=José Martí : selected writings |publisher=Penguin Books |location=New York |year=2002 |isbn=0142437042}}</ref> In 1892, [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] stated that George's ''Progress and Poverty'' was "undoubtedly the most remarkable and important book of the present century," implicitly placing it above even ''[[The Origin of Species]]'', which he had earlier helped develop and publicize.<ref>Buder, Stanley. ''Visionaries and Planners: The Garden City Movement and the Modern Community''. New York: Oxford UP, 1990.</ref>

[[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] praised George as "one of the really great thinkers produced by our country" and bemoaned the fact that George's writings were not better known and understood.<ref>Fox, Stephen R. "The Amateur Tradition: People and Politics." ''The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and His Legacy''. Madison, WI: U of Wisconsin, 1985. 353.</ref> George's views influenced the [[New Deal]].<ref name="Crean">{{Cite book |last=Crean |first=Jeffrey |title=The Fear of Chinese Power: an International History |date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-23394-2 |edition= |series=New Approaches to International History series |location=London, UK |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=27}} Yet even several decades earlier, [[William Jennings Bryan]] wrote that George's genius had reached the global reading public and that he "was one of the foremost thinkers of the world."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bryan |first1=William Jennings |title=William Jennings Bryan: Henry George One of the World's Foremost Thinkers |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1897/10/30/105956689.pdf |access-date=December 23, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 30, 1897}}</ref> Former President [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] said of him: {{blockquote|Henry George is strong when he portrays the rottenness of the present system. We are, to say the least, not yet ready for his remedy. We may reach and remove the difficulty by changes in the laws regulating corporations, descents of property, wills, trusts, taxation, and a host of other important interests, not omitting lands and other property.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hayes |first=Rutherford B. |date=1922 |editor-last=Williams |editor-first=Charles Richard |title=The Diary and Letters of Rutherford B. Hayes, Nineteenth President of the United States |publisher=Ohio State Archeological and Historical Society |location=Columbus, Ohio |url=https://archive.org/details/diarylettersofru04haye/ |volume=4 |page=354}}</ref><!--|Swint|1952|2pp=46–47}} necessary? -->
}}

[[John Dewey]] wrote, "It would require less than the fingers of the two hands to enumerate those who from Plato down rank with him," and that "No man, no graduate of a higher educational institution, has a right to regard himself as an educated man in social thought unless he has some first-hand acquaintance with the theoretical contribution of this great American thinker."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wealthandwant.com/HG/PP/Dewey_Appreciation_HG.html|title=John Dewey: An Appreciation of Henry George|website=www.wealthandwant.com}}</ref> [[Albert Jay Nock]] wrote that anyone who rediscovers Henry George will find that "George was one of the first half-dozen [greatest] minds of the nineteenth century, in all the world."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wealthandwant.com/docs/Nock_HGUA.htm|title=Albert Jay Nock – Henry George: Unorthodox American|website=www.wealthandwant.com|access-date=September 13, 2014|archive-date=September 27, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201307/http://www.wealthandwant.com/docs/Nock_HGUA.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The anti-war activist [[John Haynes Holmes]] echoed that sentiment by commenting that George was "one of the half-dozen great Americans of the nineteenth century, and one of the outstanding social reformers of all time."<ref>A sermon that first appeared as No. VIII, Series 1944–45 of the Community Pulpit, published by The Community Church, New York City. Reprinted as a pamphlet by the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation <{{cite web |url=http://www.cooperative-individualism.org/holmes-john_henry-george-1945.html |title=John Haynes Holmes / Henry George -- 1945 |access-date=September 16, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222100358/http://www.cooperative-individualism.org/holmes-john_henry-george-1945.html |archive-date=December 22, 2015 }}></ref> [[Edward McGlynn]] said, "[George] is one of the greatest geniuses that the world has ever seen, and ... the qualities of his heart fully equal the magnificent gifts of his intellect. ... He is a man who could have towered above all his equals in almost any line of literary or scientific pursuit."<ref>Louis F. Post and Fred C. Leubusher, ''Henry George's 1886 Campaign: An Account of the George-Hewitt Campaign in the New York Municipal Election of 1886'' (New York: John W. Lovell Company, 1887)</ref> Likewise, [[Leo Tolstoy]] wrote that George was "one of the greatest men of the 19th century."<ref>{{cite book |last=Sekirin |first=Peter |title=Americans in conversation with Tolstoy : selected accounts, 1887–1923 |publisher=McFarland |location=Jefferson, NC |year=2006 |isbn=078642253X}}</ref>

The social scientist and economist [[John A. Hobson]] observed in 1897 that "Henry George may be considered to have exercised a more directly powerful formative and educative influence over English [[Radicalism (historical)|radicalism]] of the last fifteen years than any other man,"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/social-sciences-and-law/economics-biographies/henry-george|title=Henry George &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> and that George "was able to drive an abstract notion, that of economic rent, into the minds of a large number of 'practical' men, and so generate therefrom a social movement. George had all the popular gifts of the American orator and journalist, with something more. Sincerity rang out of every utterance."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hobson |first1=John A. |title=The Influence of Henry George in England |journal=The Fortnightly |date=1897 |volume=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwoeAQAAIAAJ |access-date=August 15, 2015}}</ref> Many others agree with Hobson. [[George Bernard Shaw]], who created socialist organizations such as the [[Fabian Society]], claims that Henry George was responsible for inspiring 5 out of 6 socialist reformers in Britain during the 1880s.<ref>Henderson, Archibald. George Bernard Shaw, His Life and Works. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1911.</ref> The controversial [[People's Budget]] and the ''Land Values (Scotland) Bill'' were inspired by Henry George and resulted in a constitutional crisis and the [[Parliament Act 1911]] to reform of the [[House of Lords]], which had blocked the land reform. In Denmark, the [[Justice Party of Denmark|Danmarks Retsforbund]], known in English as the Justice Party or Single-Tax Party, was founded in 1919. The party's platform is based upon the land tax principles of Henry George. The party was elected to parliament for the first time in 1926, and they were moderately successful in the post-war period and managed to join a governing coalition with the Social Democrats and the Social Liberal Party from the years 1957–60, with diminishing success afterwards.

Non-political means have also been attempted to further the cause. A number of "Single Tax Colonies" were started, such as [[Arden, Delaware]] and [[Fairhope, Alabama]]. In 1904, [[Lizzie Magie]] created a board game called [[The Landlord's Game]] to demonstrate George's theories. This was later turned into the popular board game ''[[Monopoly (game)|Monopoly]]''. [[File:Landlords Game board based on 1924 patent.png|thumb|right|250px|''Landlords Game'' board, based on [[Lizzie Magie|Lizzie Magie's]] 1924 US patent (no. 1,509,312).]]

[[Joseph Jay Pastoriza|Joseph Jay "J.J." Pastoriza]] led a successful Georgist movement in [[Houston]]. Though the Georgist club, the Houston Single Tax League, started there in 1890, Pastoriza lent use of his property to the league in 1903. He retired from the printing business in 1906 in order to dedicate his life to public service, then traveled the United States and Europe while studying various systems of taxing property. He returned to Houston and served as Houston Tax Commissioner from 1911 through 1917. He introduced his "Houston Plan of Taxation" in 1912: improvements to land and merchants' inventories were taxed at 25 percent of appraised value, unimproved land was taxed at 70 percent of appraisal, and personal property was exempt. However, in 1915, two courts ruled that the Houston Plan violated the Texas Constitution.<ref name=davis>{{cite news|url=https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Stephen-Davis-Joseph-Jay-Pastoriza-and-the-Single-Tax-in-Houston-1911-1917.pdf |title=Joseph Jay Pastoriza and the Single Tax in Houston, 1911{{endash}}1917|publisher=Houston Review: history and culture of the Gulf Coast|year=1986|last=Davis|first=Stephen|volume=8|number=2}}</ref>

Before reading ''[[Progress and Poverty]]'', [[Helen Keller]] was a socialist who believed that [[Georgism]] was a good step in the right direction.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wonder Woman at Massey Hall: Helen Keller Spoke to Large Audience Who Were Spellbound. |url=http://www.billgladstone.ca/?p=6485 |access-date=October 31, 2014 |agency=Toronto Star Weekly |date=January 1914}}</ref> She later wrote of finding "in Henry George's philosophy a rare beauty and power of inspiration, and a splendid faith in the essential nobility of human nature."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kKFQdRePRBYC&q=Helen+Keller+henry+george&pg=PA262 "Progress & Poverty"]. ''Robert Schalkenbach Fdn.''.</ref> Some speculate that the passion, sincerity, clear explanations evident in Henry George's writing account for the almost religious passion that many believers in George's theories exhibit, and that the promised possibility of creating heaven on Earth filled a spiritual void during an era of secularization.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mulvey |first1=Paul |title=The Single-Taxers and the Future of Liberalism, 1906–1914 |journal=Journal of Liberal Democrat |date=2002 |issue=34/35 Spring/Summer |url=https://www.academia.edu/198736 |access-date=August 15, 2015}}</ref> [[Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood|Josiah Wedgwood]], the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] and later [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician wrote that ever since reading Henry George's work, "I have known 'that there was a man from God, and his name was Henry George.' I had no need hence-forth for any other faith."<ref>{{cite book |last=Mulvey |first=Paul |title=The Political Life of Josiah C. Wedgwood: Land, Liberty and Empire, 1872–1943 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK; Rochester, NY |year=2010 |isbn=978-0861933082}}</ref>

Although both advocated worker's rights, Henry George and [[Karl Marx]] were antagonists. Marx saw the Single Tax platform as a step backwards from the transition to communism.<ref name="marx">{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1881/letters/81_06_20.htm|title=Letters: Marx-Engels Correspondence 1881|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> On his part, Henry George predicted that the forced introduction of [[socialism]] "would, if carried to full expression, mean Egyptian [[despotism]]."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Moss|first=Laurence S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Mc2VTB76iYC|title=Henry George: Political Ideologue, Social Philosopher and Economic Theorist|date=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1444307061|page=85|language=en}}</ref> [[Leo Tolstoy]] deplored that a silence had fallen around George, for he viewed [[Georgism]] as reasonable and realistic, as opposed to other utopian movements,<ref>L. Tolstoï. Où est l'issu? (1899) ''In'' Les Rayons de l'aube (Dernières études philosophiques). (Tr. J-W Bienstock)  Paris; P.-V. Stock Éditeur, 1901, chap. xxiii, pp. 393–411.</ref> and as a "contribution to the enlightenment of the consciousness of mankind, placed on a practical footing,"<ref>[[Wikisource:Letter on Henry George (I)]]</ref><ref>[[Wikisource:Letter on Henry George (II)]]</ref> and that it could help do away with what he called the ''Slavery of Our Times''."<ref>[[Wikisource:The Slavery of Our Times]]</ref> Upon Marx's death, George admitted he has not read any of his works, which were untranslated into English at the time, but described hims as a man who "so steadfastly, so patiently, and so self-sacrificingly labored for the freedom of the oppressed and the elevation of the downtrodden".<ref name="Oatman 2012 j893">{{cite web | last=Oatman | first=Bruce | title=Henry George's Letter at the Funeral of Karl Marx | website=georgistjournal.org | date=2012-09-25 | url=https://georgistjournal.org/2012/09/25/henry-georges-letter-at-the-funeral-of-karl-marx/ | access-date=2023-11-15}}</ref>

Henry George's popularity waned gradually during the 20th century. However, there are still [[Georgism|Georgist]] organizations. Many influential people who remain famous, such as [[George Bernard Shaw]], were inspired by George or [[Georgism#Lists of Georgists|identify as Georgists]]. In his last book, ''[[Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?]]'', [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] referred to Henry George in support of a [[guaranteed minimum income]]. [[Bill Moyers]] quoted Henry George in a speech and identified George as a "great personal hero."<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/Za-TYGOE1O0 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110501091851/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za-TYGOE1O0 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za-TYGOE1O0&t=38m0s |title=Bill Moyers at the Howard Zinn Lecture |publisher=YouTube |date=November 12, 2010 |access-date=July 26, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> [[Albert Einstein]] wrote that "Men like Henry George are rare unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation. The spreading of these works is a really deserving cause, for our generation especially has many and important things to learn from Henry George."<ref>http://www.cooperative-individualism.org/einstein-albert_letters-to-anna-george-demille-1934.html{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[Mason Gaffney]], an American economist and a major Georgist critic of [[neoclassical economics]], argued that neoclassical economics was designed and promoted by landowners and their hired economists to divert attention from George's extremely popular philosophy that since land and resources are provided by nature, and their value is given by society, land value{{snd}}rather than labor or capital{{snd}}should provide the tax base to fund government and its expenditures.<ref>Gaffney, Mason and Harrison, Fred. ''[[The Corruption of Economics]].'' (London: Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd., 1994) {{ISBN|978-0856832444}}  (paperback).</ref>

[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|British MP]], [[Andrew MacLaren]] believed George's ideas of land taxation would bring about economic justice and argued in favour of them in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. Together with his son [[Leon MacLaren]] he founded the [[School of Economic Science]], a global organisation teaching Georgist principles.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Standing for justice : a biography of Andrew MacLaren, MP|last=Stewart|first=John|date=2001|publisher=Shepheard-Walwyn|isbn=0856831948|location=London|oclc=49362105}}</ref>

[[Joseph Stiglitz]] wrote that "One of the most important but underappreciated ideas in economics is the Henry George principle of taxing the economic rent of land, and more generally, natural resources." Stiglitz also claims that we now know [[land value tax]] "is even better than Henry George thought."<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cleveland | first1 = M. M. | year = 2012 | title = The Economics of Henry George: A Review Essay | journal = American Journal of Economics and Sociology | volume = 71 | issue = 2| pages = 498–511 | doi = 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2012.00832.x |url=http://www.mcleveland.org/publications/Bryson_Henry_George_review_AJES_4-12.pdf }}</ref><ref>Stiglitz, Joseph; Presentation at a Institute for New Economic Thinking conference on Apr 8, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg6UwAQJUVo</ref>

The [[Robert Schalkenbach Foundation]] publishes copies of George's works and related texts on economic reform and sponsors academic research into his policy proposals. The [[Lincoln Institute of Land Policy]] was founded to promote the ideas of Henry George but now focuses more generally on land economics and policy. The Henry George School of Social Science of New York and its satellite schools teach classes and conduct outreach.

===Henry George theorem===
{{main|Henry George theorem}}
In 1977, [[Joseph Stiglitz]] showed that under certain conditions, spending by the government on [[Public good (economics)|public good]]s will increase aggregate land rents by at least an equal amount. This result has been dubbed by economists the [[Henry George theorem]], as it characterizes a situation where Henry George's "single tax" is not only efficient, but also the only tax necessary to finance public expenditures.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Arnott |first=Richard J. |author2=Joseph E. Stiglitz |title=Aggregate Land Rents, Expenditure on Public Goods, and Optimal City Size |journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics |date=Nov 1979 |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=471–500 |jstor=1884466 |doi=10.2307/1884466 |s2cid=53374401 |url=http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/download/fedora_content/download/ac:160390/CONTENT/4624867.pdf |access-date=April 20, 2018 |archive-date=August 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817083741/https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/download/fedora_content/download/ac:160390/CONTENT/4624867.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>