Page:Oscar Ameringer - Socialism for the Farmer (1912).djvu/21

 house and laid field on field until you dwell as strangers in the land of your own."

From all this it may be seen that the Heavenly Father was bitterly opposed to the landlord, and the language in which he condemned the private ownership of land was plain enough and strong enough for most people to understand. So strong, in fact, that if a modern preacher repeated the utterances of the Lord on the land question before a congregation of Christian landlords he most likely would lose his job.

The Old Testament is rather hard on the private ownership of the land and the New Testament holds still less consolation to the landlord.

Long before the war there lived a man in the Holy Land by the name of Ananias. This man must have been a great admirer of Theodore Roosevelt, for the latter named many of his friends after him. About that time Christianity got started, and Mr. Ananias, who was somewhat of a progressive, concluded to join the new party. Now, these early Christians were a queer set, and nothing like them has ever been seen again in Christendom. In the first place, they believed in dividing up, going even so far as advocating the common ownership of clothing. "We hold everything in common except our wives," said one of them. At meal time they assembled around the common table. Everyone brought all he had to the table, and if the fellow who fetched the least eat the most no one raised a kick. This looked mighty good to Mr. Ananias and he decided to get in on the ground floor.

Now, the by-laws of the organization stipulated that those who had land must sell it and bring the proceeds thereof to the common table. Well, this Ananias man owned a good farm in Palestine County, and he sold it. But when it came to fetching the money to his Christian brothers he hedged. "No one knows how much I got for my farm except the man who bought it, and I told him to keep mum," said Ananias to himself. So he knocked down some of the money.

But it appears that St. Peter, the chairman of the meeting, smelled a rat, and he spake unto the new convert thusly:

"Ananias, is this all the boodle thou got for thy farm?

And Ananias looked Peter square in the eyes, and said, "Sure, Pete." Thereupon God smote him dead, and some young fellows wrapped him in a blanket and dumped him on the outside.

Then they called in Mrs. Ananias and cross-examined her. And she swore up and down that the money on the table was