Copy of a letter sent in 1945 to a prominent college professor The basic power in modern money-rent feudalistic America of who in a New York newspaper article advocated collectivism. those on top of the heap, comes from title to valuable locations on mother earth, by which title holders by the mere fact of their title In the reply will be found an answer to Marxism, including a to legal privileges, without any labor by them (being non-pro- scientific answer to America's economic problems. This "oppo- ducers), are able to tax all who work for a living, by what amounts site" to Marxism has been suppressed in the teaching of "eco- to-private, invisible, monopoly taxation and which grows in amount as civilization advances. nomics" and "government finance" in America's colleges. To abolish unemployment, raise the wages of labor to its full By suppressing this "opposite" to Marxism, America's colleges possibilities, advantage all citizens in line with the advances in have helped Marxism to grow and the U.S. economy to drift the arts and sciences, does not require anything from the abstract towards great danger. thing called government. It does require understanding by the leaders of thought as to economic fundamentals not yet popular. The objective desired is a cooperative commonwealth, inde- New York, N. Y. pendent of government; government-local, state and federal be- March 30, 1945 ing defined as but the management and working-force for carrying Dear Professor: out the local, state and federal business that the people find more Your paper "11:59" published in March 26th PM, caught advantageous to do as a collective group. my attention. I blue pencilled certain words and passages. The A cooperative commonwealth independent of government, blue pencilled part gives me your basic economics concept by can be achieved by the abolition of all taxes and the collection of which you interpret the economic and political happenings of the full rental value of land. Collecting the full rental value of society. land, society's service charge for civilization's advantages delivered You state: "Power in earlier eras was founded on land; later at a location of land, would make the selling price of land zero, as it was based on finance, the control of free capital; but today the there would not be any net rent to capitalize. Land would be free basic power is control over technology." You would solve the for the payment of ground rent. With land monopoly abolished, mess civilized society finds itself in by the state taking over the with free access to nature, a condition would arise of more jobs economy and: "socialize it, and run it for the welfare of the mass than applicants for jobs. of the people." Since on this earth there are only three ways to make a living: By your use of the words, "private capitalism," you infer that by labor, by theft from labor and by charity from labor, and since we live under a "robbery system," where the laborer is robbed of under the plan outlined above-theft and charity would not exist part of his production by capital in general and the employer of in its economic sense; then labor only-would be the means of labor in particular. When you use the words: "private capitalism," obtaining a living. With theft and charity abolished-all who or: "capitalism," you are using a counterfeit term made popular labor would get the full product of their toil. by the Marxists. There is a "robbery system" in existence but it is I am in the printing business. In 1943 my firm hired a 65- not "capitalism." year-old pressman and a middle-aged negro to go on errands. In Karl Marx in "Capital," volume I, stated that capitalism suc- 1941 we would never have hired them. In 1943, with a condition ceeded feudalism. In my humble opinion this was not a very of more jobs than applicants for jobs, our great worry was that bright statement. The entire structure of feudalism rested on labor- they would leave us as employers began to steal employees, by rent. The common man in England for permission to use the offering more money. Creator's earth had to give a labor-rent to his lord. Just prior to Today labor is robbed as follows: (a) by the private collec- the Black Death in 1348, a drastic change began to take place in tion of economic rent, which is really public property; (b) by the status of English villeins. They were freed from their tie to taxation: federal, state and local; (c) by public charity to the the soil. They could work for whoever they pleased and instead of victims of (a) and (b) and which comes out of the worker's pay a labor-rent they were required to pay a money-rent. This change envelope; (d) graft and corruption of all kinds; (e) war and the had not come about because the manor lords had grown benevo- preparation for war; and (f) cost of complying by business and lent, but because population had increased and it was more profit- individuals with the tax laws of the various levels of government. able to them. With a society of more jobs than applicants for jobs, arrived Labor-rent feudalism thus changed to money-rent feudalism at by the plan outlined, poverty and its by-product war, would not exist. Also non-existent would be most of the ills that afflict and it was this money-rent feudalism which came over with the first English settlements in America (see the "History of Great America today such as: labor strikes, farm problem, landless American Fortunes" by Gustavus Myers). Instead of calling pres- farmer problem, abnormally large cities, slums, housing shortages, ent society, "capitalism" I would label it, "money-rent feudalism." race prejudice, sub-standard education (elementary, high school Among the largest corporations in America is the United and college), trashy Hollywood movies, piffle-slanted newspapers States Steel Corporation. In 1901, shortly after it was formed, its with large circulation, etc. It is well to remember that labor is only a means to an end. president was haled before an investigation commission at Wash- The end to be desired is to lead a healthy and happy life, ad- ington and he stated that the assets of the corporation were, vantaged by the never-ending advancement of the arts and sci- $1,400,291,000. Of the total assets given, $700,000,000 was for iron and Bessemer ore land owned; $100,000,000 for coal and ences, on this revolving earth which speeds through the heavens around the sun. coke land; $24,000,000 for natural gas and limestone land. Sincerely yours, An expert for the commission testified that in his opinion, of H.ELLENOFF the entire capitalization the amount of $300,000,000 represented the real assets, the balance was water based on the special privi- lege of land monopoly-of title to land required in the making of steel. (See pages 164, 165, 201, 443 of "The Truth About the Present address: 3926 Buckingham Road, Los Angeles 8, Calif. Trusts" by John Moody.)