Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/284

 GEORGE

GEORGE

such was the influence of the pamphlet that no subsidies have since been granted to raih-oads in California. The growth of poverty side by side with the rapid strides in industrial progress as witnessed by him in the east during his recent visit attracted his attention and in 1871 he wrote a pamphlet, " Our Land and Land Policy: Na- tional and State," in which he first advocated the raising of all revenue by placing the whole burden of taxation upon the value of land, in- cluding improvements; arguing that this value, which the economists call "economic rent," springs entirely from the community at large and should, therefore, go to the comnnmity for common purposes. In 1872, with two partners, he established the San Francisco Evening Post, the first penny paper on the Pacific coast. The venture proved a success and through money vol- untarily loaned by .Senator John P. Jones, a web perfecting press was purchased in Philadeljihia, the first used in California. In August, 187.J, the partners established a morning paper, the Led'jPi; with an illustrated Sunday edition, also a pioneer movement. The failure of the Bank of California and a local panic affected the pros- perity of the paper and Senator Jones's notes becoming due, he took the paper and Mr. George and his partners retired. He stumped the state for Tilden and Hendricks in the campaign of 1876. Governor Irvin appointed him inspector of gas meters which position he held, 1875-79. He was through this office enabled to write his celebrated book, " Progress and Poverty." In 1879 he sent the MS. of this book to New York, but it was refused by every publishing house. He then accepted the offer of his former part- ner, William M. Hinton, to print an edition, Mr. George assisting in its composition. The author's edition, selling at 53.00 per cop}-, paid for the plates, and the next year D. Appleton & Co. of New York, printed an edition from the plates, I)ringing it out in January, 1880. It at first had little sale, but the newspapers at length noticing it, the sales began to increase and in 1882, being put in 20-cent library form in New Y''ork and in six penny form in London, it had a run in both countries that not only surpassed all other eco- nomic works ever printed, but outstripped the popular novels. This brought the author little more than fame, however, as he had sacrificed his copyright to the end of getting for the book a wide reading. In the New Y'ork maj'oralty campaign in 1886, Mr. George made a remarkable, although unsuccessful canvass, receiving 68,000 votes, while Mr. Roosevelt received 60,436 and Mr. Hewitt 90..5.i2. In 1881 Henry George went to Great Britain as a special newspaper corre- spondent and took an active part in the Land League agitation, being arrested twice as a

" suspect " while in Ireland. He subsequently- made several lecturing tours through Great Britain. In 1887 he started a weekly newspaper, the Standard, and in the fall of that year ran for secretary of state in New York, but was defeated. He advocated the adoption of the Australian bal- lot system and found a firm disciple of his single tax theories in Father McGlynn of St. Stephen's R.C. church, whose friendship for the political reformer cost McGlynn his parish and a tempo- rary excommunication by Archbishop Corrigan, but he was restored bj- the Pope, through the influence of Monsignor SatoUi. Mr. George sup- ported Grover Cleveland each time he ran for the Presidency, and William J. Bryan in 1896. In the political contest for mayor of Greater New Y'ork Mr. George was again the candidate of the laboring classes under the party name of Jeffersonian Democrats. He carried on an ag- gressive canvass which overtaxed his strength and a few days before the election he died sud- denly of apoplexy at his hotel. His son, Henry George, Jr., was placed upon the ticket in his stead, but he could not command his father's probable vote. Mr. George's funeral was one of the largest ever accorded to a private citizen and the laboring classes were his conspicuous mourn- ers. A public subscription for the widow being opposed by her, a few friends and admirers of the dead man privately made up and presented a small fund; and a monument, designed by his son Richard, was erected by the voluntary con- tributions of other friends, through one of the New York newspapers, over his grave on Ocean Hill in Greenwood cemetery, N.Y^. It was un- veiled on Decoration Day, May 30, 1898. His published works include: Progress and Poverlii (1879); 77(6 Irish Land Question (1881); -Sbera; Prnhlems {\mi); Protection or Free TVade (1886);. The Conditions of Labor: An Open Letter to Pope Leo XI 11. (1891); A Perplexed Philosopher {1S92): and The Science of Political Economy, which he had practically finished at the time of his death, and which was afterward published. Henry George died in New Y'ork city, Oct. 29, 1897.

QEORQE, Henry, editor, was born in Sacra- mento, Cal., Nov. 3, 1862; son of Henrj- and Annie C. (Fox) George; and grandson of Richard Samuel Henry and Catharine Pratt (Vallance) George. He was educated in the public schools and when seventeen years old went to work as a printer. He was also amanuensis to his father, copying by hand almost the entire book manu- script of "Progress and Poverty." He was a reporter on the Brooklyn Eagle in 1881, and be came a staff editor and special correspondent at Washington and London, of New Y'ork and other newspapers. On the sudden death of his father, Oct. 29, 1897, during the progress of the Greater