.
[An excerpt from a speech delivered in
1918. See:
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~tcast/documents157/debscanton.htm]
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And now among other things they are urging you to "cultivate"
war gardens, while at the same time a government war report just
issued shows that practically 52 percent of the arable, tillable soil
is held out of use by the landlords, speculators and profiteers. They
themselves do not cultivate the soil. They could not if they would.
Nor do they allow others to cultivate it. They keep it idle to enrich
themselves, to pocket the millions of dollars of unearned increment.
Who is it that makes this land valuable while it is fenced in and kept
out of use? It is the people. Who pockets this tremendous accumulation
of value? The landlords. And these landlords who toil not and spin not
are supreme among American "patriots." . . .
"This lord who practically owns the earth tells you that we are
fighting this war to make the world safe for democracy--he who shuts
out all humanity from his private domain; he who profiteers at the
expense of the people who have been slain and mutilated by multiplied
thousands, under pretense of being the great American patriot. It is
he, this identical patriot who is in fact the archenemy of the people;
it is he that you need to wipe from power. It is he who is a far
greater menace to your liberty and your well-being than the Prussian
Junkers on the other side of the Atlantic ocean. Fifty-two percent of
the land kept out of use, according to their own figures! They tell
you that there is an alarming shortage of flour and that you need to
produce more. They tell you further that you have got to save wheat so
that more can be exported for the soldiers who are fighting on the
other side, while half of your tillable soil is held out of use by the
landlords and profiteers. What do you think of that? . . ."
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