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 HB171 
G348c 
v.9 

THE LIBRARY OF 
THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

I 

 THE LIFE 
OF HENRY GEORGE 

 " . . . . the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, 
Here am I. 

And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thon 
calledst me. And he said, I called not, lie down again. 
And he went and lay down. 

And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel 
arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou 
didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son ; 
lie down again. 

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was 
the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. 

And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. 
And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for 
thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord 
had called the child. 

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it 
shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, 
Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and 
lay down in his place. 

And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other 
times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; 
for thy servant heareth. 

And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a 
thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that 
heareth it shall tingle." 

First Book of Samuel. 

 BY HIS SON 
HENRY GEORGE, JR. 

THE LIFE OF 
HENRY GEORGE 

FIRST AND SECOND PERIODS 

NEW YORK: DOUBLEDAY 
PAGE & COMPANY 3 1904 

 Copyright, 1900, by 
HENRY GBOKOB, JR. 

 TO ALL WHO STKIVE FOE 
THE EEIGN OF JUSTICE 

 For it is not for knowledge to enlighten a soul that is 
dark of itself; nor to make a blind man to see. Her 
business is not to find a man eyes, but to guide, govern 
and direct his steps, provided he have sound feet, and 
straight legs to go upon. Knowledge is an excellent 
drug, but no drug has virtue enough to preserve itself 
from corruption and decay, if the vessel be tainted and 
impure wherein it is put to keep. 

 FIRST PERIOD. 

FORMATION OF THE CHARACTER. 

SECOND PERIOD. 

FORMULATION OF THE PHILOSOPHY. 

THIRD PERIOD. 

PROPAGATION OF THE PHILOSOPHY. 

 His form and cause conjoined, preaching to stones, 
Would make them capable. — Hamlet. 

 CONTENTS. 

FIRST PERIOD. 

CHAPTER I. 
BIRTH AND EARLY TRAINING (1839-1855)........ 1 

CHAPTER II. 
BEFORE THE MAST (1855-1856).................. 19 

CHAPTER III. 
LEARNS TO SET TYPE (1856-1857)................ 40 

CHAPTER IV. 
WORKS His PASSAGE TO CALIFORNIA (1858)....... 53 

CHAPTER V. 
AT THE FRAZER RIVER GOLD FIELDS (1858)...... 69 

CHAPTER VI. 
TOSSED ABOUT BY FORTUNE (1858-1859).......... 83 

 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VII. 
Six PRINTERS AND A NEWSPAPER (18GO-18G1)..... 99 

CHAPTER VIII. 
COURTSHIP AND RUNAWAY MARRIAGE (1861)...... 121 

CHAPTER IX. 
SUFFERS EXTREME PRIVATION (18G1-18G5) ........ 135 

CHAPTER X. 
BEGINS WRITING AND TALKING (1865-18G6)....... 154 

CHAPTER XI. 
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT (18G6-18G9) 173 

SECOND PERIOD. 

CHAPTER I. 
COMMENCES THE GREAT INQUIRY (1869).......... 191 

CHAPTER II. 
STEIFE AND THE NATURAL ORDER (1869-1871)..... 204 

CHAPTER III. 
ANSWERS THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX (1871)..... 219 

J 

 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV. 
THE "SAN FRANCISCO EVENING POST" (1871-1875). 230 

CHAPTER V. 
DOMESTIC LIFE (1873-1876).................... 250 

CHAPTER VI. 
FIRST SET POLITICAL SPEECH (187G-1877)........ 262 

CHAPTER VII. 
LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (1877) 274 

CHAPTER VIII. 
A FOURTH OF JULY ORATION (1877) .............. 282 

CHAPTER IX. 
"PROGRESS AND POVERTY" BEGUN (1877-1878) ..... 289 

CHAPTER X. 
"PROGRESS AND POVERTY" FINISHED (1878-1879)... 301 

THIRD PERIOD. 

CHAPTER I. 

"PROGRESS AND POVERTY" PUBLISHED (1879-1880). 315 

 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER II. 
COMMENCING THE NEW YORK CAREER (1880-1881). 335 

CHAPTEE III. 
THE IBISH LAND LEAGUE MOVEMENT (1881-1882).. 358 

CHAPTEK IV. 

STARTING THE REVOLUTION IN GREAT BRITAIN 
(1882) ..................................... 378 

CHAPTER V. 
KINDLING THE FIRE AT HOME (1882-1883)........ 400 

CHAPTER VI. 
BRITISH LECTURE CAMPAIGN (1884)............. 419 

CHAPTER VII. 
"PROTECTION OR FREE TRADE ?" (1884-1886)....... 442 

CHAPTER VIII. 
CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR OP NEW YORK (1886)...... 459 

CHAPTER IX. 

"THE STANDARD" AND THE ANTI-POVERTY SOCIETY 
(1886-1887) ................................ 482 

CHAPTER X. 
PROGRESS THROUGH DISSENSIONS (1887-1889)..... 504 

 CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE XI. 
AUSTRALIA AND AROUND THE WORLD (1890)....... 522 

CHAPTEE XII. 
PERSONAL AND DOMESTIC MATTERS (1891-1897).... 543 

CHAPTEE XIII. 
THE LAST BOOKS (1891-1896)................... 563 

CHAPTEE XIV. 
THE LAST CAMPAIGN (1897).................... 584 

INDEX. .......................................... 613 

 Now I saw in my dream that they went on, and 
Greatheart before them. 

Eunyan's " Pilgrim's j 

 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACINO 
PACK 

HOUSE WHERE HENRY GEORGE WAS BORN, EAST SIDE 
OF TENTH STREET, SOUTH OF PINE, PHILADELPHIA 2 

HENRY GEORGE AT ABOUT FIVE. FROM DAGUERREO 
TYPE TAKEN IN PHILADELPHIA. ................ 6 

FROM DAGUERREOTYPE TAKEN ABOUT THE TIME THAT 
HENRY GEORGE, LESS THAN FOURTEEN, LEFT SCHOOL 
AND WENT TO WORK. ........................ 12 

FROM DAGUERREOTYPE TAKEN MARCH 31, 1855, JUST 
BEFORE GOING TO SEA........................ 24 

HENRY GEORGE'S MOTHER AND SISTER JENNIE. FROM 
DAGUERREOTYPE TAKEN ABOUT 1850............. 36 

HENRY GEORGE WHEN LEARNING TO SET TYPE IN 
PHILADELPHIA. FROM DAGUERREOTYPE, 1857.... 42 

HENRY GEORGE'S FATHER, EICHARD SAMUEL HENRY 
GEORGE. FROM DAGUERREOTYPE TAKEN IN THE 
MIDDLE FIFTIES ............................. 62 

ANNIE C. Fox (MRS. GEORGE) AT SEVENTEEN. FROM • 

DAGUERREOTYPE TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1860. . 106 
FROM DAGUERREOTYPE TAKEN IN 1865, SHOAVING MR. 

GEORGE AT 26, JUST AFTER JOB PRINTING OFFICE 
EXPERIENCE ................................. 150 

FROM PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1871, SHOWING MR. 

GEORGE AT 32, WHEN HE WROTE "OuR LAND AND 
LAND POLICY/'. ............................. 220 

 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

FROM PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN SAN FRANCISCO 
SHORTLY AFTER WRITING "PROGRESS AND POVERTY" 302 

FROM LONDON PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN DURING LECTURE 
TOUR OF 1883-84............................. 424 

MRS. GEORGE. FROM PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1898.. 514 

WORK-ROOM IN THE OLD HOUSE AT FORT HAMILTON 
WHERE MUCH OP "THE SCIENCE OP POLITICAL 
ECONOMY" WAS WRITTEN. .................... 558 

EXTERIOR OF OLD MANSION AT FORT HAMILTON, 
WHICH WAS THE FIRST GEORGE RESIDENCE THERE, 
BEFORE THE SHORE ROAD IMPROVEMENTS. ....... 588 

LAST PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN, OCTOBER, 1897. ......... 602 

 FIEST PERIOD 
FORMATION OF THE CHARACTER 

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" Progress and Poverty," Book II, Chap. III. 

 CHAPTEE I. 

BIETH AND EARLY TRAINING. 
1839-1855. To THE 16iH YEAR. 

HENRY GEORGE was born on September 2, 1839,1 
in a little two story and attic brick house, yet stand 
ing in a good state of preservation, in Philadelphia, Pa., 
on Tenth Street, south of Pine, not half a mile from the 
old State House where the Declaration of Independence 
was signed. 

His father's blood was English, with a tradition of 
Welsh; his mother's blood English and Scottish. In 
the main he came of middle-class stock. The only persons 
among his ancestors who achieved any distinction were his 
grandfathers; on his mother's side, John Vallance, a na 
tive of Glasgow, Scotland, who became an engraver of 
repute in this country in the early days of the republic 
and whose name may be seen on some of the commissions 
signed by President Washington; and on his father's side, 
Richard George, born in Yorkshire, England, who was one 
of the well-known shipmasters of Philadelphia when that 
city was the commercial metropolis of the new world. 

Captain George married Mary Reid, of Philadelphia, 
and to them were born three children, the youngest of 

1 John Stuart Mill was then in his thirty-fourth year and 
Adam Smith had been forty-nine years dead. 

 2 LIFE OP HENKY GEORGE [1839-1855 

whom, Kichard Samuel Henry, in New Brunswick, New 
Jersey, in 1798. This Richard Samuel Henry George 
became the father of Henry George, the subject of the 
present volume. In 1873, on the day preceding his 8ev- 
enty-fifth natal anniversary, he wrote his son Henry a 
letter of reminiscences, of which the following serves to 
show the man and the early conditions in Philadelphia: 

"I have seen all the Presidents, from Washington down 
to the present, Grant—that is, I cannot say I saw Wash 
ington, who died in December, 1799, but I think, al 
though an infant, that I saw his sham funeral. . . . 

"I go back to 1810, during Jefferson's long embargo. 
Then Front Street, Philadelphia, was what Chestnut 
Street is now—the fashionable thoroughfare of the city. 
All the principal merchants lived on Front Street and 
on Water Street above South. Below South lived mostly 
sea captains, all hand}' to business. 

"Your grandfather had two ships, the Medora and 
Burdo Packet, and during the embargo and the war with 
England they were housed in; and from the navy yard 
down to the Point House, now called Greenwich, all the 
principal ships in port were housed in and hauled up on 
the mud, with noses touching the bank. 

"Although times were hard, I did not feel them. I 
had a pleasant, happy home, let me tell you. The first 
thing to be done was to provide for winter. Wood was 
burned for cooking and heating. Your grandfather 
would purchase a sloop-load of wood, so that I had a 
good time helping to throw it down cellar. We would 
have enough to last all winter and late into the spring. 
Then there was a supply of beef to corn and two or three 
hogs to cut up. That was a grand time! We had a 
smokehouse at one corner of the yard, and when father 
had cut up the hogs we would have a number of hams to 
smoke and cure. I do not taste such now, nor ever will 
again. At hog time mother made all sorts of good things 
—scrapel, sausage and all that hog could do for man. 
And didn't I go in for it all with the rest of the boys, 

 House where Henry George was bom, 
east side of Tenth Street, south of Pine, Philadelphia. 

 To 16th year] HENEY GEORGE'S FATHER 3 

for father had four 'prenticed boys and two girls in the 
kitchen, all in good tune and happy. We had all sorts 
of songs and wonderful stories, both of the sea and of 
the land. 

"It was at this time (I am sorry I have no dates) that 
my father arrived at Almond Street wharf from France, 
to which he had gone with a flag of truce, carrying out 
a lot of passengers and bringing back a lot. Well, it was 
Sunday morning, about light, when I was waked up by 
mother. I asked what was the matter. She said that 
pop had arrived and that he had on board of the ship 
General Moreau and family from France;1 and she 
wanted to get some fresh provisions for their breakfast. 
So I took on board lots of things—nice fresh milk and 
cream, butter, nice bread, chickens, etc.—for the general 
and his family. I tell you it was hard work getting on 
board, the crowd was so dense. On Almond Street from 
Second clear down to the wharf was a line of private car 
riages with invitations of hospitality. The boys crowded 
me hard, and one or two fellows I had to fight before I 
could pass. 

"Going so often to the ship, I found I was as much 
noticed as the general himself. It gave me a big lift 
among the downtown-gang. I was made captain of a 
company and had to fight the Mead Alley and Catherine 
Street boys every Saturday afternoon. Many bricks I 
got on the head while leading my men (or boys) into 
battle. . . . 

"One fight I had built me right up, and afterwards I 
was A No. 1 among the boys, and cock of the walk. I 
went on the principle of do nothing that you are ashamed 
of and let no living man impose on you. 

"In my youth I could swim like a duck and skate well. 
And I was considered a good sailor. I could handle a 
boat equal to anybody. I got a good amount of praise, 
both on the Delaware and the Mississippi, for my sea- 

*Jean Victor Moreau, the Republican French general, made famous 
by the extraordinary retreat through the Black Forest and the brilliant 
Battle of Hohenlinden, and afterwards exiled by Napoleon's jealousy. 

 4 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1839-1855 

manship. I could go aloft as quick and as handy as any 
seaman. Going to New Orleans, I often lent a hand on 
topsails, and could do as well as most of them." 

R. S. H. George made this trip to New Orleans when a 
young man, and there engaged in the dry goods business. 
Returning to Philadelphia, he settled down and married 
Miss Louisa Lewis, by whom he had two children, one of 
whom died while an infant, and the other, Richard, while 
at boarding school in his twelfth year.1 Within four or 
five years after marriage this wife died, and several years 
later R. S. H. George married another Philadelphia lady, 
Catherine Pratt Vallance. As has been said, her father 
was John Vallance, the engraver, born in Glasgow, Scot 
land. Her mother was Margaret Pratt, born in Philadel 
phia, but of English extraction. John Vallance died in 
1823 leaving his widow, seven daughters and one son in 
modest means, which Henry Pratt, a wealthy merchant 
of Philadelphia and first cousin of the widow's father, im 
proved by giving to each of the seven girls a small brick 
house. These girls received a good boarding school edu-. 
cation, and Catherine and Mary were conducting a small 
private school when Catherine was married to R. S. H. 
George, who then had a book publishing business. 

Mr. George had for several years occupied a good cler 
ical position in the Philadelphia Custom House, and left 
it in 1831 to enter a book publishing partnership with 
Thomas Latimer, who had married Rebecca, the eldest of 
the Vallance girls. The business was confined to the pub 
lication and sale of Protestant Episcopal Church and Sun 
day School books, and for a time became the depository of 
the General Episcopal Sunday School Union, the Bible 

1 There was also an adopted child, Harriet, who, growing up, 
married J. H. Evans. 

 To 16th year] CHURCH BOOK PUBLISHER 5 

and Prayer Book Society and the Tract Society. After 
two and a half years Thomas Latimer withdrew and others 
were associated successively in the business, which for sev 
enteen years Richard George carried on, the store for a 
time being at the north-west corner of Chestnut and Fifth 
Streets. A contemporary in the business was George S. 
Appleton, who afterwards went to New York and merged 
with his brother in a general book publishing and book 
selling business, under the firm name of D. Appleton & 
Co.—the same D. Appleton & Co. who, several decades 
later, were to be the first publishers of "Progress and 
Poverty."1 By 1848 the business of the general book 
houses had encroached so much on denominational business 
that the latter became unprofitable, and Mr. George with 
drew and went back to the Custom House, obtaining the 
position of Ascertaining Clerk, which he thereafter held for 
nearly fourteen years. 

To the union of E. S. H. George and Catharine Pratt 
Vallance ten children were born, six girls—Caroline, Jane, 
Catharine, Chloe, Mary and Rebecca, the last two of whom 
died early—and four boys—Henry, Thomas, John and 
Morris—the second child and oldest boy being the subject 
of this work. Like the son by the former marriage, this 
boy was named after his father; but as the former bore 
the name of Richard, the first of the father's three Chris 
tian names—Richard Samuel Henry—the last of the 
names was selected for this son; and as the father desired 
a short name, complaining of the annoyance to himself 
of a long one, the simple one of Henry George was chosen. 

Henry George's father was a strict churchman. He 
was a vestryman at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, when 

1 This circumstance had nothing to do with their decision to publish 
the book, as its author was unknown to them. 

 6 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1839-1855 

that church, under the earnest preaching of Dr. Eichard 
Newton, was at the height of its prosperity. The con 
gregation was of the extreme "Low Church" division and 
'regarded "High Church" tendencies with the utmost ab 
horrence. Sunday was a day for austere devotions—church 
services morning and afternoon, and frequently in the 
evening. On other days there were morning and even 
ing family prayers. Bt. Eev. Ignatius F. Horstmann, 
Catholic Bishop of Cleveland, 0., who was a boy in the 
neighbourhood at the time, has said:1 "I can recall Henry 
George going to church every Sunday, walking between 
his two elder sisters, followed by his father and mother 
—all of them so neat, trim and reserved." 

But that there were occasional breaks in the austerity 
may be certain. Eev. George A. Latimer, Henry George's 
cousin, has said: 

"Henry George was in my Sunday school class. It 
was the custom of Dr. Newton to have the children of 
the church in the main lecture room once a month in 
the afternoon for catechising. One Sunday the subject 
was that part of the catechism that declares our duty 
towards our neighbour, and the special topic, 'to keep 
my hands from picking and stealing.' Our class was 
on the front row. The Doctor asked the question: 
'Boys, why do the grocerymen have that wire netting 
over the dried peaches in the barrel at the store door?' 
Henry George at once answered with a load voice: 'To 
keep the flies out.' The Doctor's face turned as red as 
blood, while at the same time he said: 'Yes, to keep 
the hands from picking and stealing.'" 

Eev. William Wilberforce Newton, son of the rector, 
who was in this school with Henry George, said in an 

1 Letter to "National Single Taxer," Aug. 31, 1898. 

 Henry George at about five. 
From daguerreotype taken in Philadelphia. 

 To 16th year] SUNDAY SCHOOL BOY 7 

address after the latter's death that "that school turned 
out some remarkable men," naming Bishop Charles E. 
Hall of Illinois, Bishop Wm. H. Odenheimer of New 
Jersey, Eev. Wm. \V. Farr, Henry S. Getz, Rev. Richard 
N. Thomas, editor of the "American Church Sunday 
School Magazine," George C. Thomas, of Drexel & Co. 
bankers, and Treasurer of the Missionary Society of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church, and Rev. R. Ileber New 
ton, William Wilberforce Newton's brother. Mr. Newton 
told this anecdote: 

"Our class was located in that part of the church 
known as the basement, and as we looked out at the 
window, our view was obstructed by innumerable grave 
stones. 

"My people were extremely hospitable to missionaries. 
One time Missionary Bishop Payne of Africa came with 
his wife to our house and staid six weeks. They 
brought with them a lot of monkeys and other beasts 
of the tropical clime. We used to have great times 
among ourselves—the boys of the neighbourhood and 
the monkeys and the dumb animals—playing 'firemen.' 
One day we were having a parade. There was no flag. 
So I went into the house and got a Sunday school ban 
ner with an illustration of Paul preaching at Ephesus. 
It was not exactly appropriate, but it answered the pur 
pose. Henry George insisted upon carrying the ban 
ner which all the boys thought a good deal of. 

"As our firemen's parade was turning the corner of 
the house that day, Henry George heard my father say 
to the missionary that if he saw anything about the 
house that he thought would be of service to him in 
Africa he was welcome to it, and the missionary replied 
that he thought the tool chest would come in handy. 
George passed the word along the line and very soon 
our parade was broken up and we became an army of 
warriors for the protection of that tool chest. But it 
went to Africa just the same." 

 8 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1839-1856 

At the time of his son Henry's birth, the book busi 
ness enabled Mr. George to keep his family in comfort. 
Giving care to his children's education, he sent them as 
they grew old enough to Mrs. Graham's private school, 
on Catharine Street near Third, the family having moved 
from Tenth Street to the west side of Third Street, three 
doors north of Queen, where they remained for nearly 
twenty-five years. After three years at Mrs. Graham's, 
and when he was in his ninth year, the eldest son, Henry, 
was sent to a public school, Mount Vernon Grammar, 
where Ignatius Horstmann attended in a class above him. 
A year later, in 1849, he was sent to the Episcopal 
Academy. 

This institution, flourishing to-day, was founded in 
revolutionary times, but seemed to decline until Bishop 
Alonzo Potter raised it at the end of the forties to first 
rank as a place of instruction in the city and State. Eev. 
Dr. Hare was then principal, and the institution was fre 
quently spoken of as Hare's Academy. The Bishop's two 
sons, Henry C. and E. N. Potter were at the Academy 
then, and in the years to come were to achieve distinction, 
the former as the Episcopal Bishop of New York City and 
the other as president of two colleges successively. E. 
Heber Newton and William Wilberforce Newton were also 
fellow students. Dr. Heber Newton remembers the school 
as being in a most prosperous condition, "the large chapel 
being quite filled with boys, and the class rooms seemingly 
well filled, and attendance upon it was esteemed an ad 
vantage and a privilege." 

But though it was a good school, young George did 
not stay there long. His father had now ceased to be 
publisher of Church books, yet he obtained for his son 
the reduced rate of tuition granted to clergymen's sons. 
This concession was regarded by the boy as something to 

 TV>l6thyearJ GOES TO THE HIGH SCHOOL 9 

which he was not entitled and he believed that every boy 
in the school knew of it; and perhaps it was for this 
reason that from the start he did not get along well there. 
At any rate, his father, yielding to his entreaties, took 
him away and put him in the hands of Henry Y. Lau- 
derbach to be prepared for High school. This short pe 
riod, Henry George always recognised as the most profit 
able portion of his little schooling. Mr. Lauderbach had 
a way of his own, drawing out and stimulating the indi 
viduality of his pupils. Thirty years afterwards he 
clearly remembered Henry George as a student remark 
able among boys for quickness of thought, originality and 
general information. The special training under Lauder 
bach enabled the youth at little more than thirteen to 
enter a class in the High school that was to produce some 
notable men in Pennsylvania—Theodore Cramp, ship 
builder; Charles W. Alexander, journalist; James Mor 
gan Hart, professor and author; Samuel L. Gracey, Meth 
odist Episcopal clergyman; David H. Lane, a Eecorder 
of Philadelphia; and William Jenks Fell, Commissioner 
of Deeds. This school, like the Episcopal Academy, was 
an excellent one, but later in life Henry George said that 
while there he was "for the most part idle and wasted 
time." Perhaps it was that he had his mind's eye set 
on the world outside of school! Perhaps it was that con 
scious that the growing family was putting a strain on 
his father, whose sole income was the $800 salary of a 
Custom House clerk, he felt that he should be supporting 
himself. It was probably his Uncle Thomas Latimer who 
at this time gave him advice of which he spoke in a 
speech about thirty years later: "I remember when a boy, 
I wanted to go to sea. I talked with a gentleman, who 
wanted me to go into business as a boy in a store. I had 
nothing, no particular facility, yet I remember his saying 

 10 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1839-1855 

to me: 'If you are honest, if you are steady, if you are 
industrious, you can certainly look forward to being able 
to retire at forty with comfort for the rest of your days.''J1 
These words may have had a strong influence on the boy's 
mind. At any rate, after less than five months in the 
High School, he induced his father to take him away, to 
stop his schooling altogether, and put him to work; and 
he never went to school afterwards. He was then less 
than fourteen years old.2 He first obtained employment 
in the china and glass importing house of Samuel Asbury 
& Co., at 85 South Front Street, at $2 a week. His duties 
were to copy, to tie up bundles and to run errands. Af 
terwards he went into the office of a marine adjuster and 
did clerical work. 

But though he had left school for good, his real edu 
cation suffered no interruption. In school or out of it, 
he had acquired a fondness for reading. Or perhaps it 
was that at his birth, while the Fairies of Gain, Fashion 
and Pleasure passed him by, one came and sat beside his 
cradle and softly sang 

"Mine is the world of thought, the world of dream; 
Mine all the past, and all the future mine." 

First he had a grounding in the Bible; and the Puri 
tanical familiarity with book, chapter and verse, which in 
the elders moulded speech, established habit, and guided 
the steps of life, filled the young mind with a myriad of 
living pictures. Then, though his father while a pub- 

1 Speech, " Crime of Poverty," 1885. After uttering the foregoing pas 
sage, Mr. George asked: " Who wonld dare in New York or in any of 
our great cities, to say that to a young clerk now ?" 

2 At fourteen Adam Smith was attending the University of Glasgow ; 
while John Stuart Mill was learning Greek at three, Latin at eight, logic 
at twelve and political economy at thirteen. 

 To 16th year] EARLY LOVE OF READING 11 

lisher handled only religious books, and those confined to 
the Episcopal Church, there were the strange tales of mis 
sionaries in foreign lands to feed the imagination. After 
wards when the father left the book business there was 
still an atmosphere of reading about the home, and other 
books came in the boy's way. He delighted in history, 
travels and adventure, fiction and poetry. While in his 
strong democratic principles and practical side, the boy 
followed his father, it was in a love of poetry that he re 
sembled his mother, who as an elderly woman could quote 
verse after verse and poem after poem learned in her girl 
hood. She manifested at all times an intense fondness 
for Scott, and had a taste for Shakespeare, though owing 
to her austere principles, she never in her life attended 
a Shakesperian play.1 This religious ban extended in 
the boy's reading to much in the realm of romance and 
adventure, such works as the "Scottish Chiefs," for in 
stance, having to be read in the seclusion of his attic bed 
chamber. But in the open or in the smuggled way books 
were obtained, and the old Quaker Apprentice's Library 
and the Franklin Institute Library furnished inexhaust 
ible mines of reading matter. Book after book was de 
voured with a delight that showed that now certainly the 
youthful mind was not "idle" nor his "time wasted." He 

1 In a speech in Liverpool many years later (Nov. 30, 1888) Henry 
George said : " I was educated in a very strict faith. My people and the 
people whom I knew in my childhood, the people who went to our church 
and other chnrchcs of the same kind, had a notion that the theatre was a 
very bad place, and they would not go to one on any account. There 
was a celebrated fellow-citizen of mine of the name of Barman. Barnum 
went to Philadelphia, and he recognised that prejudice, and he saw that, 
although there were a number of theatres running for the ungodly, a 
theatre he could get the godly to go to would pay extremely well. But 
he did not start a theatre. Oh, no ! He started a lecture room, and we 
had in that lecture room theatrical representations, and it was crowded 
every night in the week and there were two matinees." 

J 

 12 LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE [1839-185S 

absorbed information as the parched earth a summer 
shower, and what he thus took in he retained. To this 
fondness for reading he always ascribed the beginning of 
his real education and the commencement of his career. 

And what came like enchantment to his mind and sup 
plemented his reading were popular scientific lectures at 
the Franklin Institute. This institution, named after 
the famous townsman, Benjamin Franklin, and incor 
porated in 1824 for "the promotion and encouragement 
of manufactures and the mechanic and useful arts," in 
the forties and fifties took first rank in scientific learning 
in the city, which at the same time was without peer 
in this country for its public libraries, museums and pri 
vate cabinets. Of the Institute, Henry George's uncle, 
Thomas Latimer, was a member. To him the boy was 
indebted for access to the lectures—lectures that revealed 
the wonders of the physical sciences in simple language 
and magic lantern pictures. Like a torch they lit up 
the young understanding and made a fitting attendant to 
that university of reading to which he was of his own 
volition applying himself. 

This reading fed a desire that his father's stories and 
the tales and traditions about his grandfather had kindled 
in him for the sea. "One of our chief play grounds," 
Rev. W. W. Newton has said, "was about the wharves of 
the city. He had a friend who was a sea captain and I 
a cousin, and both of us had our minds set on a sea voy 
age." Mr. George encouraged in his son an active life, 
going to see him skate and swim. One day he saved him 
from drowning by putting down his cane when the boy 
had dived under a float. Though a strict churchman, 
the father could not forget his own early warlike days 
and was not averse to having his boy fight in just quar 
rels. But it was the shipping that chiefly interested fa- 

 From daguerreotype taken about the time that 

Henry George, less than fourteen, left 

school and went to work. 

 To 16th year] YEARNING FOR THE SEA 13 

ther and son, and as they strolled along the river-piers 
together, the father talked about hull and rig, wind and 
weather, and the wonders of sea and foreign lands, so that 
the wharves had a fascination for the boy, and it was 
around them that with Willie Newton or Bill Horner, 
Col and Charley Walton and Will Jones he spent much 
of his play time, climbing about vessels, going swimming 
or sailing toy boats. And this was not all idle play, but 
served its purposes in later life, for the boy's powers of 
observation and reasoning were in constant exercise.1 

After a while, when the boy left the crockery house and 
went into the marine adjuster's office, the desire for the 
sea increased so much that he went to his cousin, George 
Latimer, who was ten years older than himself, and asked 
him to speak in his behalf to an acquaintance of the fam- 

l " When I was a boy I went down to the wharf with another boy to see 
the first iron steamship which had ever crossed the ocean to our port. 
Now, hearing of an iron steamship seemed to us then a good deal like 
hearing of a leaden kite or a wooden cooking stove. But, we had not 
been long aboard of her, before my companion said in a tone of contemp 
tuous disgust: ' Pooh ! I see how it is. She's all lined with wood; 
that's the reason she floats.' I could not controvert him for the mo 
ment, but I was not satisfied, and sitting down on the wharf when he 
left me, I set to work trying mental experiments. If it was the wood in 
side of her that made her float, then the more wood the higher she would 
float; and mentally I loaded her up with wood. But, as I was familiar 
with the process of making boats out of blocks of wood, I at once saw 
that, instead of floating higher, she would sink deeper. Then I men 
tally took all the wood out of her, as we dug out our wooden boats, 
and saw that thus lightened she would float higher still. Then, in imagina 
tion, I jammed a hole in her, and saw that the water would run in and 
she would sink, as did our wooded boats when ballasted with leaden 
keels. And thus I saw, as clearly as though I could have actually made 
these experiments with the steamer, that it was not the wooden lining 
that made her float, but her hollowness, or as I would now phrase it, her 
displacement of water."— Lecture on "The Study of Political Economy" 
at University of California, March 9, 1877. 

 14 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1839-1855 

ily, a young man named Samuel Miller who was mate 
and whose father was captain of the ship Hindoo. No 
better insight into the habits of the boy and of his con 
stant thought of the sea can be obtained than from ex 
tracts from a short journal that he kept at the beginning 
of 1855, probably at the suggestion of his uncle, Thomas 
Latimer. Though then scarcely more than fifteen, and 
although he had spent all his life in a town of brick houses 
and perhaps had never more than seen the ocean, he noted 
wind and weather with the care of a veteran sea captain. 
Incidentally the "journal shows the important part the 
lectures at the Franklin Institute were playing: 

"Jan. 7, Mon. Eose at 6. Went to store. Evening 
went to lecture. 

"Jan. 8, Tues. to Fri. Eainy, warm and muddy. 

"Jan. 13, Sat. Went to store. Coming home stopped 
in at library. Saw in 'New York Herald': 'Arrived, 
Ship Hindoo, Miller; Canton, July 22; Angier, Sept. 
28; Cape Good Hope, Nov. 6; St. Helena, ——. Was 
68 to Angier. In month of August only made 200 miles 
against S.W. monsoon and strong northerly currents." 
I have been expecting her for some time. Stopped at 
Latimer's. Got Tom [his brother] and came home. 
Little Augustine, the Chilian boy from the ship Bow- 
ditch, came. He found his way alone. Only been here 
once before, on Tuesday night. Went up to Mrs. Mc 
Donald's and got my pants. Went with Augustine to 
buy a collar. 

"Jan. U, Sun. Clear and cold, wind N.W. Went 
to Sunday school with Charley Walton. Mr. Newton 
preached good sermon. Was coming home, corner of 
Third and Catharine met Augustine. After dinner 
took him up to Uncle Joe's. In evening he came again. 
Took him to Trinity Church. 

"Jan. 15, Mon. Wind S., moderating. Went to 
store. Evening went to lecture. George Latimer said 
they had received a letter from Sam Miller saying that 
he would be home in a few days. 

 To 16th year] THE FIRST DIARY 16 

"Jan. 16, Tues. Wind N".E., clear and warm. George 
told me he had written to Sam Miller and told him 
about me. 

"Jan. 17, Wed. Cloudy. Wind went around to N.W. 
and blew up clear. Went to lecture, last on electricity. 
Augustine at home. 

"Jan. 18, Tues. Wind N.W., clear and cold. In 
evening Augustine and Charley Walton came. Went 
around to library and up to McDonald's for Cad [Caro 
line, his sister]. 

"Jan. 19, Fri. Told Sam that I was going to leave. 
He gave me $12. ... In morning met Augustine, 
who said he had got place on steam tug America—$2 
a week. Evening went to lecture. 

"Jan. 20, Sat. Wind N.E. Last day at store. They 
expect Sam Miller home to-night. 

"Jan. 21, Sun. Wind S., warm, cloudy. Sam Mil 
ler did not come home last night. They expect him 
home next Saturday. Went to Sunday school and 
Church. Augustine sat in our pew. Took him in after 
noon to Sunday school. ... It blew in the even 
ing very strong and about one o'clock increased to per 
fect hurricane, blowing as I never had heard it before 
from the South. 

"Jan. 22, Mon. Took up a" basket to the store for 
crockery Mr. Young said he would give me. . . . 
In afternoon went down to Navy Yard with Bill Hor- 
ner. Evening went to lecture. Brought home a lot of 
crockery. 

"Jan. 23, Tues. Wind KW., clear and cool. Even 
ing went to Thomas's book sale. Bought a lot of six 
books for seven cents. 

"Jan. 24, Wed. Went to lecture in evening, first on 
climatology. Liked it very much. 

"Jan. 25, Thurs. Went to store in morning. . . . 

"Jan. 2fi, Fri. Snowed all the morning. Aunt Ke- 
becca [Latimer] says that Sam Miller did not get 
George Latimer's letter. George wrote to him again 
yesterday. He will be here next Wednesday. . . . 
Cleared off with N.W. wind. In afternoon snow-balled. 
Went to lecture in evening, first on organic chemistry. 
Liked it very much. 

 16 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1839-1855 

"Jan. 27, Sat. Went skating morning and afternoon. 

"Jan. 28, Sun. Augustine came in the afternoon. 
He is going to Cuba in Brig Aucturus of Union Island. 

"Jan. 29, Mon. Went to navy yard and brig [4wc- 
turus] in morning. Lecture in evening. 

"Jan. 31, Wed. Skating in afternoon. Sam Miller 
did not come home. Will be home on Saturday morn 
ing. 

"Feb. 1, Thurs. Skating in afternoon. 

"Feb. 2, Fri. Evening went to Bee the panorama of 
Europe. 

"Feb. 3, Sat. Sam Miller came home yesterday after 
noon. Went to George Latimer's office to see him. He 
says if he goes as captain he will take me. The owners 
of the Hindoo have bought the clipper Whirlwind. Both 
will sail for Melbourne about the middle of March 
and from there to Calcutta and home. Hindoo prob 
ably make it in 11 months. Hindoo is 25 years old, 
586 tons register, 1,200 burden; carries 14 able sea 
men, cook, steward, two mates and captain—in all 19 
men. Sam Miller intends going back to New York on 
Wednesday. Went skating in afternoon. 

"Feb. 5, Mon. Afternoon went to Uncle Dunkin 
George's office. His boy is sick. Evening Pop met Sam 
Miller and George Latimer in Chestnut street. . . . 
Pop asked Sam Miller to tea on Saturday. Very cold. 

"Feb. 6, Tues. Very cold; thermometer at Zero. 

"Feb. 7, Wed. River blocked up. Commenced snow 
ing. Wind N.E. till night. 

"Feb. 8, Thurs. Snowed again all day. In after 
noon went sleighing with Uncle Joe Van Dusen. 

"Feb. 9, Fri. Clear. Delaware pretty nearly closed. 
Skated a little on the ice in the afternoon. Saw Augus 
tine on the first ice he had ever been on. Went to 
Aunt Rebecca Latimer's to tea. 

"Feb. 10, Sat. Sam Miller and George and Kate 
Latimer came about five o'clock and staid to sup 
per. . . . Sam said he had received a letter from 
his father saying he need not come on to New York 
until he sent for him. 

"Feb. 11, Sun. Clear and cold. Up at Uncle Dun- 
kin's office all the wpek. 

 To wth year] PEEPAEES TO LEAVE HOME 17 

"Feb. 19, Mon. Came home at night along the wharf. 
Saw Augustine on the Brig Globe of Bangor, about to 
sail for Cuba. Stopped at Aunt Rebecca's. Sam Mil 
ler had heard nothing from his father. 

"Feb. 20, Tues. Auntie Ann came to our house 
to dinner. Said Sam Miller had heard from his fa 
ther to go on immediately. He went on at two 
o'clock. . . . 

"March 2G, Mon. Uncle Dunkin's in the morning. 
Saw in New York papers at Exchange the Hindoo ad 
vertised to sail on the 5th of April—a week from next 
Thursday. 

"March 27, Tues. Office in morning. Staid home 
in afternoon working on my brig [toy boat]. . . . 
Before supper went to Aunt Kebecca's. George re 
ceived a letter from Captain Miller [Sam Miller, just 
made captain]. Said he would sail about Thursday, 
April 5, and that he would come on to Philadelphia 
on Saturday and stay till Monday and take me with 
him. It surprised them all. 

"March 28, Wed. Went to Uncle Dunkin's in the 
morning. Told him I should not come up any more, 
as I had so little time. 

"March 31, Sat. Stayed at home in the morning fin 
ishing my brig. Painted her. After dinner, my last 
dinner at home, went with father and mother to get 
our daguerreotypes taken. Came home and went to 
Aunt Rebecca's to supper in company with Cad and 
Jennie. Went home at eight P.M." 

Young Samuel W. Miller, then about twenty-five, had 
obtained command of the ship Hindoo, an old East India- 
man, on which he had formerly sailed as mate under his 
father, who was now transferred to a new ship. At the 
suggestion of George Latimer, and after talking with 
Henry George's father, he had formally invited young 
Henry to sail with him. For Richard George was a clear 
headed, common-sensed man. Much as he disliked to 
have the boy go to sea, he knew that his son inherited the 
longing. Moreover, knowing the strong, wilful nature of 

 18 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1839-1853 

his eon, he feared that if objection was raised the boy 
might run away, as he had done once before while yet 
going to school. The lad had made an impertinent reply 
to his mother, and his father, overhearing it, reproved 
him with words and a blow. To be struck by his father 
was so unusual that he was humiliated. He stole away, 
got his school books and a little cold lunch—all that he 
could get to eat—and left the house with the resolve never 
to return again. He remained out until half past nine 
o'clock that night, when he returned with a tamer spirit 
and was forgiven. The father had not forgotten this 
incident, and he was determined that if the boy must 
go to sea he should go with his parents' consent. So he 
talked to Captain Miller and suggested to him not to 
make the boy's berth too comfortable, but to let him see 
and feel the rigours of a sailor's life, so that by a single 
voyage the desire for roving should be destroyed. Henry 
George was then accepted as foremast boy on the Hindoo, 
bound for Melbourne, Australia, and Calcutta, India. 

 CHAPTER II. 

BEFORE THE MAST. 

1855-1856. AGE, 16-17. 

AUSTRALIA and India swam in the boy's fancy as in a 
_TjL shining sea of gold. Australia, the island continent 
nearly as large as the United States, giving promise of a 
great rival, English-speaking republic in the southern 
hemisphere, had riveted attention by its gold discoveries 
in the early fifties and by the enormous treasure since 
taken out—equal almost to that of wonderful California. 
It was the new land of wealth, where poor, obscure men 
in a day rose to riches. India lay like a counterpoise in 
the mind's picture. With her jungles and monkeys, tigers 
and elephants; her painted idols, fantastical philosophies 
and poppy smokers—this land of mysteries, old when the 
pyramids of Egypt and Syria were young, shone through 
partings in her gorgeous tropical foliage with the gleam 
of gold and precious stones, despite the pillage of the ages. 
Whatever the boy had read, from Bible to "Arabian 
Nights," in magazine or in newspaper; and all that he 
had heard, in lecture or sermon, from traveller or sailor, 
burned in his imagination and made him eager to be 
gone. 

The Hindoo was to sail from New York Harbour early 
in April. On Sunday, April 1, after Sunday school, 

19 

 20 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1855-1856 

Henry George received a Bible and a copy of "James's 
Anxious Enquirer"; and the next morning, bidding fare 
well at the wharf to his father, and uncles Thomas Lati- 
mer and Joseph Van Dusen, his cousin George Latimer 
and his friends Col Walton and Joe Roberts, he and Cap 
tain Miller went aboard the steamboat, crossed the Dela 
ware, took train, and four hours afterwards were in New 
York. Two letters from him, written from the ship be 
fore she got away, have been preserved. They are in 
large, clear, firm hand, with some shading, some nour 
ishes and a number of misspelled words. In the first, 
under date of April G, he says: 

"I signed the shipping articles at $G a month and 
two months' advance, which I got in the morning. 

"While we were down town we stopped at the Cus 
tom House, and Jim [an ordinary seaman] and I got a 
protection, for which we paid $1 each to a broker. 

"The New York Custom House looks like a cooped 
up affair along side of the Philadelphia one—there are 
so many people and so much business and bustle. 

"The upper part of New York is a beautiful place— 
the streets wide, clear and regular; the houses all a 
brown stone and standing ten or twenty feet from the 
pavement, with gardens in front." 

To the foregoing letter was added this: 

April 7,1855. 

"I was stopped [writing] suddenly last night by the 
entrance of the men to haul her [the vessel] to the end 
of the wharf and was prevented from going on by their 
laughing and talking. At about twelve o'clock we com 
menced and by some pretty hard heaving we got her to 
the end of the wharf. It was then about two o'clock. 
So we turned in and slept until about half past five. 
We got our breakfast, and being taken in tow by a 
steamboat about 7.30 A.M., proceeded down the stream 

 Age, 16-17] SCENES IN NEW YOKE 21 

till off the Battery, where we dropped anchor and 
now lie. 

"The view from this spot is beautiful—the North 
Eiver and New York Bay covered with sailing ves 
sels and steamers of every class and size, while back, 
the hills, gently sloping, are covered with country 
seats. . . . 

"I ate my first meals sailor style to-day and did not 
dislike it at all. Working around in the open air gives 
one such an appetite that he can eat almost anything. 
We shall go to sea Monday morning early. I should 
love to see you all again before I go, but that is impos 
sible. I shall write again to-morrow, and if possible get 
the pilot to take a letter when he leaves, though it is 
doubtful that I shall be able to write one." 

It was in these days preparatory to starting, when there 
were a lot of odd things to do, that the boatswain, busy 
with some splicing, sent the boy for some tar; and when 
the boy stopped to look around for a stick, the sailor in 
surprise and disgust cried to him to bring the tar in his 
hand! Another incident of a similar kind appears in his 
second letter, which is dated April 9 and is addressed 
to his Aunt Mary, one of his mother's sisters, a most 
unselfish and lovable maiden lady who helped raise the 
large brood of George children, and who, until her death 
in 1875, had never been separated from her sister, Mrs. 
George. She was loved as a second mother by the chil 
dren. 

"We are not at sea, as we expected to be by this time, 
but still lying off the Battery. The ship could not 
sail this morning for want of seamen. They are very 
scarce in New York now and all sorts of men are ship 
ping as sailors. Two Dutch boys shipped as able sea 
men and came on board yesterday afternoon. The 
smallest one had been to sea before, but the largest did 
not know the difference between a yard and a block. 

 22 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1855-1856 

The second mate told them to go aloft and slush down 
the masts. This morning the smallest went up, but 
the other could not go up at all. So I had to go aloft 
and do it. The work was a good deal easier than I 
expected. I don't mind handling grease at all now."1 

Then the letter proceeds: 

"Captain Miller has been ashore all day trying to 
get men. There is to be one sent on board in place of 
the largest Dutchman. I pity the poor fellow, though 
to be sure he had no business to ship as seaman. He 
says he has four trades—baker, shoemaker, etc. An 
other man came aboard this morning as able seaman 
who could not get into the foretop. They sent him 
ashore. The captain shipped to-day as ordinary sea 
men two lads, one a Spaniard and the other English, I 
believe. They are fine sailor looking fellows. The 
cook, steward and two of the men are from the West 
Indies. All sailed in whalers. There are no cleaner 
looking men in Parkinson's. 

"We have better living than T expected—fresh and 
salt beef, potatoes and rice—and all cooked in the finest 
style; but I cannot like the coffee as yet. 

"They have just brought two men aboard and taken 
the Dutchmen off. This is the last letter that I shall 
have a chance to send till we get to Melbourne, where 
I hope there will be letters awaiting me." 

April 10. 

"We have just been heaving the cable short and shall 
be ready as soon as the tow boat comes. I hope that 
by this time Morrie [his baby brother] is well. I could 

1 When a boy, his mother would frequently buy a piece of sweet suet 
and melting it down, would mix with its oil or fat a little bergamot, there 
by making a pomade for the hair. Henry George never during his life 
liked fats with his meat at the table, and at times would say in the fam 
ily that it was because when a boy he had to put it on his head. Not 
withstanding the use of the hair preparation, he and all his brothers 
followed their father and grew bald early. 

 Age, 1M7J SHIP PUTS TO SEA 23 

spin out four or five pages, but I have not time. I 
would have written a great many more letters, but could 
not. When you read this letter you must remember 
where it was written—on the top of my chest in the 
after house (where I sleep, along with Jim, the carpen 
ter and the cook). I have to dip my pen into the 
bottle at almost every word. Good-bye father and 
mother, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, cousins 
and friends. God bless you all and may we all meet 
again. 

"P. S. I have received letters from Martha Curry 
and George Latimer and shall reply the first chance." 

9.30 A. M. 

"We are now going down the bay in tow of a steam 
boat and shall soon be at sea. I shall get the captain to 
send this ashore by the pilot. God bless you all. It is 
cloudy and drizzling—blows a stiff breeze from the 
south. 

"Good-bye, 

"HENEY GEOEGE." 

So it was that the Hindoo, a full-rigged ship of 586 tons 
register—a very large ship at that time1—with 500,000 
feet of lumber aboard and a crew of twenty men, all told, 
started on her long voyage; and as she glided down the 
bay and through the "Narrows" on her way to the ocean, 
on the left bank, eighty feet above the water, stood an 
old white house that forty years later, when his fame had 
spread through the world, was to become Henry George's 
home and witness the end of his career. But the boy, 
all unconscious of this, had been set to work, as he says 
in his sea journal, "in company with the other boys to 

1 "In the last generation a full-rigged Indiaman would be considered a 
Tery large vessel if she registered 500 tons. Now we are building coast 
ing schooners of 1000 tons"—"Social Problems," Chap. V. (Memorial 
edition, p. 46.) 

 24 LIFE OP HENKY GEORGE [1855-1850 

picking oakum for the carpenter, who was busy fastening 
and calking the hatches." 

This journal or log, covers most of the voyage, and 
with the few letters that still exist, and an account of 
the passage written by Captain Miller for his friend, 
George Latimer, furnishes pretty full and clear informa 
tion as to this important formative period. The journal 
consists of an original in two parts and three incomplete 
fair copies. The original parts are quite rough and show 
marks of wear and stains of water. One is of white, the 
other of blue, unruled, large sized letter paper, folded so 
as to make neat pages of four by six inches, and stitched 
together with heavy linen thread, such as might have been 
used in sewing sails. The entries are mostly in pencil, 
the spelling not of the best, and the writing not uniform 
—in some places quite faint—but generally small, con 
densed, round and clear. The fair copies are in a fine 
state of preservation. They are written in large, bold 
hand in commercial blank books and the spelling is cor 
rect. Two of them may have been copied while at sea, 
but the fullest and best looking one was doubtless writ 
ten in Philadelphia after the voyage.1 

From Captain Miller's account it appears that when the 
Hindoo cast off the tug that was taking her to sea, the 
wind was from the south-east and right ahead, and the 
pilot advised him to anchor at Sandy Hook; "but," says 
the Captain, "we could not wait. We set all sail and 
stood E.N.E. until we saw the rocks of Long Island. 
We then tacked to the south'd and stood down until we 
were abreast the Capes of Delaware. Then a gale of wind 

1 In the back pages of this little journal are some historical, scientific 
and other notes probably made while reading. These bear date as late as 
April, 1859, at -which time its owner was in California. 

 From daguerreotype taken March 31, 1855, 
just before going to sea. 

11 

 Age.ia-17] ™E SEA JOURNAL 25 

from the north-west commenced, lasting four days; dur 
ing which time we made good progress off the coast." 
The boy's log for these four days runs as follows: 

"Tues. 10. ... About 12 A.M. we passed Sandy 
Hook, and a slight breeze springing up, set all fore and 
aft sail. About 3 P.M. discharged the tow boat and 
pilot. Soon after I began to feel sea-sick, and the 
breeze dying away, the tossing of the vessel very much 
increased it. ... After supper all hands were 
called aft and the watches chosen. I was taken by the 
mate for the larboard. ... It being the larboard 
watch's first watch below, I turned in at 8 P.M. 

"Wed. 11. I was roused out of a sound sleep at 
13 o'clock to come on deck and keep my watch. On 
turning out I found a great change in the weather. 
The wind had shifted to N.W. and came out cold and 
fierce. The ship was running dead before it in a S.E. 
direction, making about 8 or 9 knots an hour. After 
keeping a cold and dreary watch until 4 A.M. we were 
relieved and I was enabled to turn in again. All this 
day sea-sick by spells. ... It will be a long time 
before we are in this part of the world again, home 
ward bound. Twelve months seem as if they would 
never pass. In the afternoon all hands were engaged 
in getting the anchors on the forecastle and securing 
them for a long passage. The colour of the sea is 
green on sounding, the shade varying according to the 
depth of water, and a beautiful blue outside, and so 
very clear that objects can be seen at a great depth. 

"Thurs. 12. A brisk breeze all day from N.W. with 
frequent showers of rain. Numbers of Stormy Petrels 
or Mother Carey's Chickens hovering about the quar 
ter. Weather rather cool. 

"Fri. 13. A fine bright day; wind still the same. 
Hoisting the lower stun'sail in the forenoon, the hal 
yards parted, and the sail was with difficulty secured. 
The sea-sickness has now entirely left ma" 

 26 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1855-1856 

The old ship after twenty-five years of hard service 
was pretty nearly worn out, and the log reveals a series 
of breakages, and some consequent accidents. 

"Sat. 14. Commenced with fine clear weather and 
brisk breeze from N.W. About 5.30 A.M., the larboard 
watch being on deck, the tiller of the rudder suddenly 
broke in half. All hands were immediately called and 
everything let go and clewed up. Tackles were got on 
the rudder and the ship steered by them, while the car 
penter immediately set to work on a new one. While 
furling the main top-gallant sail a man belonging to the 
larboard watch, John Prentz by name, fell from the 
yard to the deck. Luckily the main topsail, which was 
clewed up, broke his fall, or he would certainly have 
been killed. On taking him forward, his arm was found 
to have been broken in three places, but otherwise he 
had sustained no serious injury. His arm was set and 
bandaged by the mate. The carpenter finished the til 
ler about 4 P.M., when, everything being replaced, sail 
was again made on the ship and she continued on her 
course with a fair, though light wind. The old tiller 
which had suddenly broken, and which outwardly ap 
peared so firm and sound, was in the centre completely 
rotted away. . . . The account which the man who 
fell from aloft gave of his mishap when he had recov 
ered his senses was that he was pulling on the gasket 
with both hands when it suddenly parted and he was 
precipitated backwards. He knew no more until he 
found himself in the forecastle with his arm ban 
daged up." 

The fifteenth of April is noted in the log as the "first 
Sunday at sea," and that instead of being seated in St. 
Paul's Church, they were "ploughing the ocean a thousand 
miles away." Soon the entries take more of the formal 
aspect of a ship's log and less of a personal journal, 
though once in a while they relax into general observation 

 Age.ift-17] HARD TACK AND SEA PIE 27 

and fancy. On May 3, for instance, the ship, lying in 
a dead calm, was surrounded by a large school of dol 
phins, which presented "a most beautiful appearance in 
the water, changing to brilliant colours as they swam from 
place to place." On May 24 calms and light airs, with 
this entry: 

"At 8.30 A.M. the mate succeeded in striking one of 
the porpoises which were playing under the bows. The 
fish was immediately run up to the bowsprit end by all 
hands, when a running bowline was put around his 
tail and he was hauled inboard, where he was soon de 
spatched and dissected. We had a sort of hash of his 
flesh for supper, which was very palatable, and the rest 
was hung up to the topsail sheets, where it spoiled in 
the moonlight." 1 

Thoughts kept reverting to home, and there is more 
than one entry like: "Would have given anything to have 
been back to breakfast." Then came the Fourth of July: 

*"In later years I have sometimes 'supped with Lucullus,' without 
recalling what he gave me to eat, whereas I remember to this day ham 
and eggs of ray first breakfast on a canal-packet drawn by horses that 
actually trotted; how sweet hard-tack, munched in the middle watch 
while the sails slept in the trade-wind, has tasted; what a dish for a 
prince was sea-pie on the rare occasions when a pig had been killed or a 
porpoise harpooned; and how good was the plum-duff that came to the fore 
castle only on Sundays and great holidays. I remember as though it were 
an hour ago, that, talking to myself rather than to him, I said to a York 
shire sailor on my first voyage: 'I wish I were home, to get a piece of 
pie.' I recall his expression and tone, for they shamed me, as he quietly 
said: * Are you sure you would find a piece of pie there ?' Thoughtless 
as the French princess who asked why the people who were crying for 
bread did not try cake, ' Home ' was associated in ray mind with pie of 
some sort — apple or peach or sweet-potato or cranberry or mince—to be 
had for the taking, and I did not for the moment realise that in many 
homes pie was as rare a luxury as plums in our sea-duff."—"The Science 
of Political Economy," p. 352. 

 28 LIFE OP HENEY GEOEGE [1855-1856 

"Wed. July 4. Commenced with a fresh breeze from 
N. At 5 A.M. wind died away; at 8 A.M. came out from 
S. At 12 M. double reefed topsails and single reefed 
mainsail. During the rest of the day showery. Lat. 
33 S., Ion. 6 W. At 12 o'clock last night the day was 
ushered in by three discharges from a small swivel, 
which made a great deal of noise, rousing up all who 
were asleep. As soon as the smoke cleared away and 
the dead and wounded were mustered, it was found that 
it had not been without execution, all the glass on one 
side of the house being shattered (a loss not easily re 
paired) a port blown out; and the waddings (made of 
rope yarn, and very hard) had passed, one through the 
head of the new water cask, and another through the 
new foretopsail, which had not been bent a week. The 
wind, which had been strong from aft the day before, 
during the middle watch died away and was succeeded 
by a calm until 8 A.M., when a stiff breeze from the 
South sprang up, accompanied by showers of rain. At 
12 M. all hands were called to reef. While reefing the 
foretopsail the parrel of the yard gave way, causing a 
great deal of trouble and keeping all hands from din 
ner. It was 2.30 P.M. before our watch got below tok 
their plum-duff, which had been allowed in honour of 
the day. The rest of the day was rainy, with wind 
constantly varying, keeping us hauling on the braces. 
Thus closed the most miserable 4th of July that I have 
ever yet spent." 

On the ninety-seventh day out the Hindoo passed the 
Cape of Good Hope, though far to the south of it, and 
entered the Indian Ocean. Thence to Port Philip (Mel 
bourne) came a succession of gales from the westward, 
with heavy squalls of hail and rain, hut the ship driving 
before them made good progress. 

"Sun. Aug. 12. Commenced with cloudy weather and 
stiff breeze. At 6 A.M. shook a reef out of topsails 
and set topgallant sails, but at 12 M., wind increasing 

 Age, 16-17] FIRST AUSTRALIAN LAND 29 

and barometer falling, (although the sun shone brightly 
and gave promise of a fine afternoon) furled topgallant- 
sails and close-reefed topsails. At 4 P.M., blowing a 
heavy gale from W. by N., furled mizzen topsails and 
reefed foresail. At 8 P.M., wind increasing, furled fore 
topsail. During the night tremendous squalls of wind 
and hail. Ship constantly heaving water on deck, one 
sea which she took in at the waist running completely 
aft and filling the cabin with water. 

"Mon. Aug. 13. Strong gales from W. with heavy 
squalls of hail and rain. Weather very cold, the hail 
sometimes covering the deck. Looked more like win 
ter than any weather we have yet experienced. It is 
impossible to describe the wildly grand appearance of 
the sea and sky." 

At last, on the one hundred and thirty-seventh day out 
from New York, the first land of Australia was sighted, 
and with that flamed up the desire of the crew to get 
ashore and strike out straight for the gold districts, where 
men with little more equipment than pick and pan were, 
so far as the sailors' knowledge went, still washing for 
tunes out of the soil. 

"Fri. Aug. 24. Commenced with strong wind from 
N". Furled jib. At 4 A.M. wind hauled to N.W. Course 
N".E. At 4.30 A.M. hove the lead, without soundings at 
60 fathoms. When daylight came at last the anxiously 
looked for land was nowhere to be seen. Squally and 
showery, with very hazy weather. At 6 A.M. shook a 
reef out of main topsail. Two coasting schooners in 
sight steering about E.N.E. At 10.30 A.M. I had just 
turned in, having given up all hope of seeing land to 
day, when all hands were called to close reef main top 
sail and furl mainsail. While reefing the main topsail 
we were agreeably surprised by the joyful sound of 
'Land ho!' from the second mate, who was at the weather 
earing. 'Where away?' shouted the captain. 'Eight 
ahead,' was the reply; and sure enough there lay the 

 30 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1855-1856 

long looked for land directly before us, looming above 
the horizon like a dark blue cloud, the first solid ground 
we had looked upon for 137 days. By the time we 
[the larboard watch] turned out, 12 noon, we were about 
2 miles distant, running along the land. Our captain 
had hit the exact spot, Cape Otway, the light house on 
which was now plainly to be seen. After dinner all 
hands turned to get the anchors over the bows. It 
was a beautiful afternoon. The clouds, which in the 
morning had obscured the sun, had now vanished. The 
ship was sailing smoothly along before the wind at the 
rate of 4 or 5 knots. Numerous birds, a species of Al 
batross, were flying around us, now and then darting 
down after a fish. The land was high and apparently 
thickly wooded, and although winter in this part of the 
world, presented a beautiful, green appearance. It was 
looked upon by most of the crew as the Land of Prom 
ise, where gold was to be had by all; and most of the 
men were engaged in laying out what they would do, 
and where they would go, and how they would spend 
their money when they got it. While getting the an 
chors over, one of the small coasters which we had seen 
in the morning passed our bows under a press of sail, 
and stood in closer to the land. At 6 P.M. we furled 
the mizzen topsail, and at 8 P.M. backed the main top- 
Bail and laid to all night." 

Next day they took a pilot and at 3 p. M. cast anchor 
in Hobson's Bay, opposite the Light house. Several 
American ships, some that had sailed before and some 
after the Hindoo, were also at anchor there.1 Times were 

1" Thirty years ago ship-building had reached such a pitch of excellence 
in this country that we built not only for ourselves, but for other nations. 
American ships were the fastest sailers, the largest carrirrs and everywhere 
got the quickest dispatch and the highest freights. The registered ton 
nage of the United States almost equalled that of Great Britain, and a few 
years promised to give us the unquestionable supremacy of the ocean.'" 
—"Protection or Free Trade," chap. XVIII. (Memorial Edition, p. 
186). Captain Marryat, a by no means flattering critic of Americans, 

 Age, 16-17] LAND OP PKOMISE 31 

reported to be "very hard ashore, thousands with nothing 
to do and nothing to eat." Notwithstanding this, the 
crew wished at once to get away. 

"As the captain was getting into a boat to go ashore, 
the men came aft in a body and requested their dis 
charge, which being refused, they declared their inten 
tion of doing no more work. After supper the mate 
came forward and ordered the men to pick anchor 
watches, which they agreed to do after some parley. 
The mate told Jim and me to keep watch in the cabin 
until 12 and then call him. This I did until 10, when, 
after having a feast of butter, sugar and bread in the 
pantry, I turned in, leaving Jim to call the mate." 

For several days the men refused to work, demanding 
to see the American Consul, and on Wednesday, four days 
after casting anchor, the captain got the Consul aboard. 
The Consul "took his seat on the booby hatch with the 
shipping articles before him," and called up the crew one 
by one. He finally "told the men that, as the passage 
would not be up until the cargo was discharged, he could 
do nothing until that time; but that Dutch John (the 
man who in the early part of the passage fell from the 
main topgallant yard) was entitled to his discharge if he 
wished it." The captain then promised that if they would 
"remain by the ship until she was discharged, he would 
pay them their wages and let them go in peace." They 
demanded this in writing, saying that he might change 
his mind, "but the captain refused to give them any fur- 
in his "Diary in America" (First Series), Philadelphia, 1839, says, p. 186: 
" It appears, then, that from various causes, onr merchant vessels have 
lost their sailing properties, whilst the Americans have the fastest sailers 
in the world; and it is for that reason, and no other, that, although sail 
ing at a much greater expense, the Americans can afford to outbid ns, and 
take all our best seamen." 

 32 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1855-1856 

ther guarantee than his word." As they still desisted 
from work on the Hindoo, they were taken off in a police 
boat, and sentenced to one month's hard labour in the 
prison ship, at the end of which time, still refusing to 
work, they would perhaps have been sentenced to fur 
ther imprisonment if the captain had not reached court 
too late to appear against them. Before he sailed, the 
captain had to ship a new crew. 

There is nothing in the journal to indicate that the 
boy thought Captain Miller unjust, but the incident made 
an indelible impression, revealing the tremendous powers 
for tyranny the navigation laws put into the hands of a 
captain, and this was to inspire a remarkable fight for 
sailor's rights in years to come.1 

The ship lay in Hobson's Bay twenty-nine days dis 
charging charge and taking in ballast. Captain Miller in 
his account says: "Harry went up to Melbourne once, but 
did not sec much to admire." Perhaps the boy saw more 
than the captain realised, for thirty-five years later, in 
a speech in Melbourne, he said, that he had a vivid recol 
lection of it—"its busy streets, its seemingly continuous 
auctions, its crowds of men with flannel shirts and long 
high hoots, its bay crowded with ships." No letters writ 
ten from there now exist, but it is clear that the Australia 
of his dreams did not appear to be such a wonderful place 
after all; that there was not much gold in sight and that 
in this respect the "Land of Promise" was something of 
a disappointment. Land monopolisation and speculation 
had set in and cut off the poor man's access to nature's 
storehouse. 

Other dreams were to be dissipated on reaching India. 
The best description of the passage and arrival there is 

1 Sunrise Case in San Francisco. 

 Age, 16-17] PUTS TO SEA AGAIN 33 

found in a letter to his father and mother, dated Cal 
cutta, December 12, 1855. 

"We hove up anchor in Hobson's Bay about 11 o'clock 
on the 24th of September, made sail, proceeded down 
the bay under charge of a pilot, and at about 5 P.M. 
passed the heads and discharged the pilot. After leav 
ing Port Philip and until we had rounded Cape Lewin 
we had strong winds, mostly head, and cool weather. 
. . . Then the weather gradually became milder as 
we got to the northward, with fair, though not very 
strong winds. Near the line we had light airs, not 
even sufficient to fill the sails, but under the pressure 
of which the ship would go two or three miles per hour. 
We crossed the line November 5, when 42 days out. 
. . . From this place until we arrived at about 10° 
north we had the same fair airs as on the other side 
of the line, with every prospect of a short passage. 
Then the wind became stronger and more variable, but 
dead ahead. It would seldom blow from one point of 
the compass for more than an hour. Indeed, it seemed 
as if a second Jonah was aboard, for tack as often as 
we would, the wind was sure to head us off. . . . 
Progress under the circumstances was impossible. For 
over a week we did not gain a single inch to the north 
ward. What she would make one hour she would lose 
the next. During this time the weather was delight 
ful, warm without being uncomfortably so, and so pleas 
ant that sleeping on deck could be practised with im 
punity. 

"At length on the morning of the 29th of November 
the colour of the water suddenly changed to green, 
and by noon we were abreast of the lightship, which 
marks the outer pilot station. The tide was running 
so strongly that with the light air we could hardly hold 
our own against it. About 3 P.M., in obedience to a 
signal from the pilot brig, we cast anchor with 30 fath 
oms of chain, furled all sail, and cleared up decks for 
the night. At 8 P.M. set anchor-watch and turned in 
for all night. . . " 

 34 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE 

Then came the first impressions of the country—im 
pressions that always afterward remained vivid and helped 
before long to direct thought to social questions; that 
changed the fancied India—the place of dreamy luxury, 
of soft and sensuous life—into the real India, with its 
extremes of light and shadow, of poverty and riches, of 
degradation and splendour; where the few have so much, 
the many so little; where jewels blaze in the trappings of 
elephants, but where, as he has since said in talking with 
his son Richard, "the very carrion birds are more sacred 
than human life!" These impressions are preserved in a 
description of the trip to Calcutta up the Hooghly branch 
of the Ganges River scribbled in pencil on the back pages 
of one of the journal records. 

ARRIVAL AT GARDEN EEACH AND FIRST 
IMPRESSIONS OF THE TOWN. 

"Mon. Dec. 3. We turned out about 3 A.M. and after 
some heavy heaving got up anchor. About 5 A.M. we 
were taken in tow by the steamer and proceeded up the 
river. The night air was misty and chilly and a mon 
key jacket proved very comfortable. The day soon be 
gan to break, revealing a beautiful scene. The river, 
at times very broad and again contracting its stream 
into a channel hardly large enough for a ship of aver 
age size to turn in, was bordered by small native vil 
lages, surrounded by large fruit trees, through which 
the little bamboo huts peeped. As we advanced, the 
mists which had hitherto hung over the river cleared 
away, affording a more extensive prospect. The water 
was covered with boats of all sizes, very queer looking 
to the eye of an American. They were most of them 
bound to Calcutta with the produce and rude manu 
factures of the country—bricks, tiles, earths, pots, etc. 
They had low bows and very high sterns. They were 
pulled by from four to ten men, and steered by an old 

 Age, 16-17] DEAD BODIES FLOATING 35 

fellow wrapped up in a sort of cloth, seated on a high 
platform at the stern. Some had sails to help them 
along, in which there were more holes than threads. 
On the banks the natives began to go to their daily toil, 
Borne driving cattle along, others loading boats with 
grain, while the women seemed busy with their domes 
tic affairs. As we approached the city, the banks on 
both sides were lined with handsome country residences 
of the wealthy English. About 10 A.M. we came to 
Garden Eeach, where, as there was no Harbour Master's 
Assistant ready to take us up, we were obliged to drop 
both anchors. After getting fairly moored we had a 
little time to look around us. The river which here 
takes a sudden bend, was crowded with ships of all 
nations, and above nothing could be seen but a forest 
of masts. On the right hand or Calcutta side, are the 
East India Company's works, for repairing their steam 
ers, numbers of which, principally iron, were under 
going repairs. On the other side was an immense pal 
ace-like structure (the residence, I believe, of some 
wealthy Englishman) surrounded by beautiful lawns 
and groves. The river was covered with boats and pre 
sented a bustling scene. One feature which is peculiar 
to Calcutta was the number of dead bodies floating down 
in all stages of decomposition, covered by crows who 
were actively engaged in picking them to pieces. The 
first one I saw filled me with horror and disgust, but 
like the natives, you soon cease to pay any attention to 
them. 

"Tues. Dec. 4. About 4.30 A.M. the Harbour Master 
came along side and we were roused up to get up an 
chors. ... It astonished me to see with what ease 
the pilot took the vessel up ... steering her 
amidst the maze of vessels as easily as if she was 
at sea. The port seemed crowded with vessels, a large 
proportion of them American, some of which I recog 
nised as having seen at Philadelphia. At length about 
10 A.M. we cast anchor off our intended moorings. 
About 2 P.M. we hauled in and made fast along side of 
an English clipper, the British Lion. After getting 
all fast we had dinner and cleared up decks and squared 
the yards." 

 36 LIFE OF HENKY GEORGE 

While the ship lay at her moorings, visits were made 
to Barrapore, eighteen miles away, and other places of 
interest in the vicinity, and the boy saw those things that 
are observed generally by travellers. But the event of 
perhaps most interest to him was the receipt on December 
10 of letters from home—the first since he had left. His 
father sent family news and said: "Your little brig is 
safely moored on the mantelpiece. First thing when we 
wake, our eyes rest upon her, and she reminds us of our 
dear sailor boy." 

The mother's letter also touched on family matters, but 
gave chief place to other things engaging her devout mind. 

"And now for the news. The best news just now is 
the religious news—a great work going on in New York 
and Philadelphia and all the principal cities of the 
Union; prayer-meetings all over the land; all denomi 
nations uniting together in solemn, earnest prayer; 
Jayne's Hall (you know its size) is crowded to excess, 
even those large galleries literally packed with men of 
the highest respectability—merchants, bankers, brokers, 
all classes. Those who have never entered a church 
and have hitherto scoffed at religion meet at this prayer- 
meeting every day to hear the word of God road and 
solemn prayer offered for their conversion. ... I 
might fill many pages to show you that this is truly 
the work of God—the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit. 
. . . That same Holy Influence will be given to all 
that ask for it in simple faith: 'Lord, teach me to 
pray.'" 

The event to the lad next in interest to the receipt of 
home letters was the acquisition of a pet monkey, of which 
he wrote in later years:1 

l"The Science of Political Economy," p. 30. 

 Henry George's mother and sister Jennie. 
from daguerreotype taken about 1850. 

'li 

 Age, 16-17] A PET MONKEY 37 

"I bought in Calcutta, when a boy, a monkey, which 
all the long way home would pillow her little head on 
mine as I slept, and keep off my face the cockroaches 
that infested the old Indiamaii by catching them with 
her hands and cramming them into her maw. When 
I got her home, she was so jealous of a little brother 
that I had to part with her to a lady who had no chil 
dren." 

In his account of the voyage, Captain Miller says that 
the ship left Calcutta with quite a menagerie of monkeys 
and birds aboard, but that before long "Harry's was the 
only survivor." The others died or got away, two of the 
sailors without intentional cruelty throwing theirs over 
board to see "which would swim ashore first," but the 
animals quickly drowned. The boy cherished his little' 
creature most fondly; though for that matter he always 
showed a warm love for animals, and this wae but one of 
a great number that he had about him during his life. 

On the 15th of January, 1856, the Hindoo having com 
pleted her loading, consisting of nearly twelve hundred 
tons of rice, seeds, etc., took a new crew aboard and started 
down the river, homeward bound. Henry George at the 
time estimated that he would have when he reached New 
York and settled his accounts "about fifty dollars to take 
clear of everything—not much for thirteen or fourteen 
months." The distance down the Ilooghly from Calcutta 
to the sea is eighty miles, but what with head winds, the 
scarcity of tow boats and a broken windlass, the vessel was 
twenty days making the passage, during which time the 
hot weather played havoc with the fresh provisions, so that 
the crew was the sooner reduced to "salt horse and biscuit." 
Light winds blew down the bay of Bengal and the ship 
crossed the equator on the 23rd of February. On the 
27th the cook, Stephen Anderson, fell sick and young 

 38 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [1855-1856 

George went into the galley temporarily. The journal 
says: 

"Wed. Feb. 27. Cook laid up. Went into the galley. 

"(Not having written down the events of the inter 
vening space, 1 do not remember them fully, being 
obliged to work pretty hard.) 

"Sun. Mar. 2. Fine clear day. Breeze from S.W., 
course, S.S.E. For several days there have been thou 
sands of fish playing around, but, although the men 
tried hard to catch them, they were unsuccessful until 
this morning, when an albicore was captured. The 
mate made sea-pie for all hands for supper. 8 P.M. 
sail in sight. 

"Mon. Mar. 3. Calm all day. The cook so weak 
that he cannot raise a spoon to his mouth. I think it 
a chance whether he lives. 

"Tues. Mar. 4. Calm, fine day. Cook seems a little 
stronger, but can scarcely speak. 

"Wed. Mar. 5. Commenced with breeze from W.N.W.; 
course S.S.W. Four sail in sight. Last evening the 
cook appeared a great deal stronger, getting up and 
moving about, turning in and out; but still could scarce 
ly speak. About 7 A.M. he was taken with a fit, when 
he was brought on deck and laid by the capstan. About 
11.30 A.M. he died. He was sewed up and buried at 
5 P.M." 

The cook having gone, the boy, to his great satisfac 
tion, for he had an extreme distaste for the task, was 
superseded in the galley by one of the crew, who remained 
there for the rest of the voyage. The ship passed the 
Cape of Good Hope on April 13 and within sight of 
St. Helena on the 27th. On May 12 she crossed the 
equator for the fourth time during the voyage. Long 
before that date the journal entries had become short, and 
after May 6 stopped altogether, possibly because there 
was a great deal of work to do in handling, cleaning, 

 Age, 16-17] HOME AGAIN 39 

repairing and painting the ship. April opened with this 
entry: 

"April 1, 185C. Lat, 31, S.; long., 40, E. One year 
has passed since the Sunday when I took farewell of 
my friends—to me an eventful year; one that will 
have a great influence in determining my position in 
life; perhaps more so than I can at present see. 0 that 
I had it to go over again! Homeward bound! In a 
few months I hope to be in Philadelphia once more." 

And it was not long before he was home, for on June 
14, after an absence of one year and sixty-five days, and 
from Calcutta one hundred and fifty days, the Hindoo 
completed her long journey and dropped anchor in New 
York Bay. 

 CHAPTEE III. 

LEARNS TO SET TYPE. 

1856-1857. AGE, 17-18. 

ON getting back, home seemed very sweet to the boy on 
account of the loved ones and comforts, and the asso 
ciation of his boy friends. A year and a half afterwards, 
when he had gone to California, Jo Jeffreys, at that time 
the closest of his friends, wrote: 

"Don't you recollect our Byronic quotations? Amus 
ing weren't they? And yet I dare say we had more 
pleasure in those long moonlight nights spent in conver 
sation—in counsel and reflection—than we had in a 
like number of hours at any other time. I remember 
well, too, how night after night we sat together and 
alone in your little room, smoking slowly and looking 
—sometimes at the little bed which was to contain us 
both and which rested in a corner near the door, at 
the little case of books on the bureau, at the dim gas 
light which could so seldom be induced to burn brightly 
and which shed its dim light upon all around—and 
then turning from this picture, so familiar to me now 
(though I have never been in that room since, though 
often in the rooms beneath it), and gazing upon each 
other, would talk of the present and the future." 

In this little back-attic bed room all the boys at times 
gathered and talked about books or public affairs or boy- 

40 

 Age, 17-18] RESTRAINTS OF HOME LITE 41 

ish amusements, and it was Henry George's habit, while 
engaging in conversation, to throw himself down on his 
bed, and frequently while the discourse was raging he 
would sink into placid slumbers. It was common enough 
for the family to sec the boys come down stairs alone and 
hear the explanation: "Oh, Hen's asleep and we think it 
is time to go." 

Thus the home life had much attractiveness for young 
George, yet he found it full of restrictions, for with all 
the heavy toil and hard discipline of sea life, there was 
during the preceding year and a quarter complete free 
dom of thought, and of actions, too, in the hours off duty. 
And now to come back to conditions where the most in 
nocent of card-playing was regarded as an evil and riding 
in a public conveyance on Sunday as a desecration of the 
Lord's Day, made the energetic, masterful boy, or rather 
youth, for he was now in his eighteenth year, see new 
charms in the sea life; and for a time, all efforts failing 
in the search for employment ashore, his thoughts reverted 
to the water. Learning of this inclination, Captain Mil 
ler, before sailing on a new voyage in the Hindoo, wrote 
to him: 

"I hope you will find some agreeable and profitable 
employment before long. Take my advice and never 
go to sea. You know of the troubles of a sailor's life 
before the mast. It never gets any better. A second 
mate leads proverbially a dog's life. The mate's and 
captain's arc very little better."1 

iThis was probably the last letter he received from Captain Miller, and 
before the Hindoo had returned from her voyage and the captain had run 
on to Philadelphia, Henry George had sailed for California, so that they 
never again met The captain died in Brooklyn, in May, 1877, in his 
forty-eighth year, and his friend, Rev. George A. Latimer, Henry George's 
cousin, officiating, was buried in Greenwood Cemetery, where Henry 
George himself, twenty years later, was to rest 

 42 LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE [1806-1857 

The boy's parents were most anxious not to have him 
again go to sea, and at last in the fall the father through 
his former book publishing connections obtained a situ 
ation for his son with the printing firm of King & Baird, 
at that time one of the important printing houses in 
Philadelphia. The fathers idea in putting his son there 
was threefold: to keep the boy at home, to give him a trade 
and to teach him to spell. This latter short-coming in 
the boy was very conspicuous, requiring a second draft or 
fair copy of letters to insure the correct spelling of many 
even common words, as drafts of such letters that have 
survived show. 

Learning to set type effected a marked improvement, and 
the printer's experience later in California perfected it. 
In after years his letter-writing ,at times revealed lapses 
in spelling, but these, as was manifest on the surface, 
arose from habits of abstraction. 

This learning to set type marked another distinct step 
in the education of Henry George for his life work. Not 
that it lay so much in type-setting itself, or in correcting 
his spelling; but rather in bringing him into familiar 
contact with another field of human activity—among type 
setters, who, as a class of men, if they belong to a trade, 
possess, as a rule, much correct general information and 
are given to habits of intelligent thought. Edmund 
Wallazz, who was a type-setter at King and Baird's in 
1856, said in after years: "Henry George was a remark 
ably bright boy, always in discussion with the other boys 
in the office. He got in the habit of appealing to me (I 
am seven or eight years older) for support as to his dates 
and facts, historical and political." Thus through the 
channel of polemics he was acquiring knowledge of vari 
ous kinds, and was also learning to observe and to present 
his thoughts. He had a habit of stowing away things in 
his memory that would have passed another—things that 

 Henry George when learning to set type in Philadelphia. 
From daguerreotype, 1857. 

 Age, 17-18] TALKING AGAINST SLAVERY 43 

in his matured years often found expression in his writ 
ings. To this period he assigned the first puzzling ques 
tion in political economy. An old printer observed to 
him one day that while in old countries wages are low, in 
new countries they are always high. The boy compared 
the United States with Europe, and then California and 
Australia with Pennsylvania and New York, and the old 
printer's words seemed true enough, though neither the 
printer nor he could explain why. The thing stuck in 
his mind and kept rising for answer. 

This propensity for investigating and arguing showed 
itself wherever he happened to be, when with old or with 
young, abroad or at home. As his Uncle Joseph Van 
Dusen said: "Henry is not tongue-tied." 

For years stories of slave auctions in the South, fric 
tion over the return of runaway slaves in the North, the 
hot agitation of Garrison and Phillips in the East, and 
conflicts in "Bleeding Kansas" and through the West kept 
public thought seething. In 1850 appeared Mrs. Stowe's 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," and later arose the Republican 
party with its anti-slavery proclivities and that in 1856 
forced the issue and ran John C. Fremont for President. 
Though James Buchanan, the Democratic pro-slavery can 
didate, was elected, the new party had waged a fierce fight, 
and four years later was to elect Abraham Lincoln. 

Young George soon after returning from sea showed 
a lively interest in the slavery question, and, although his 
father was a Democrat and inclined to support Buchanan, 
the boy independently took the anti-slavery side, which 
he discussed with his mother. In the interest of peace 
and of "property rights,"1 and doubtless supported in 

1" I was born in a Northern State, I have never lived in the South, I 
am not yet gray; but I well remember, as every American of middle age must 
remember, how over and over again I Lave heard all questionings of slav 
ery silenced by the declaration that the negroes were the property of their 

 44 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [185&-1857 

mind by what she regarded as the sanction of the Scrip 
tures, she upheld slavery, not perhaps as a good thing in 
itself, but because of the great cost of disestablishment. 
The mother in repeating this conversation in after years 
to her son's wife said that in arguing she held that the 
hardships of slavery "were exaggerated," for, "while some 
of the slave owners might be brutal, the majority were 
not likely to be so," most of them doubtless being the same 
kind of "humanely-disposed people" as she herself. The 
boy stoutly held to his position and answered that her 
argument rested "on policy, not principle"; that she spoke 
of what slave owners "seemed likely to do," he of what 
they "could do"; "for if slaves were property, their mas 
ters, having the right to do what they pleased with their 
own property, could ill-treat and even kill them if so dis 
posed." 

The argument seemed sound enough to the parents, 
but the boy was still a boy to them. One night soon after 
returning from sea he came home late and his father re 
proved him. The boy hotly said that he was a child no 
longer and then went off to bed. Reflection cooled the 
father's anger. He realized that his son was, in mind at 
least, maturing to manhood, and that the reproof was not 
quite just or wise. He concluded that in the morning 
he would talk to his son about it. But when morning 
came the son was first to speak, saying that he had thought 
upon what had happened, and that while he regarded his 
conduct in remaining out as in itself innocent enough, 
he now recognised what he had not before observed—his 
father's right to object—and that being conscious of hav 
ing been impudent, he asked his father's pardon. The 

masters, and that to take away a man's slave without payment was as 
much a crime as to take away his horse without payment."—"The Land 
Question," Chap. VII. (Memorial Edition, p. 49). 

 Age, 17-18] LEARNS TO SET TYPE 45 

father strained his son to his bosom and thereafter gave 
him more domestic freedom. 

High strung and impetuous, Henry George was at this 
period prone to sudden resolves. From September, 1856, 
to June, 1857, he worked steadily at type-setting at King 
& Baird's, when one afternoon, having a quarrel with Mr. 
Scott, foreman of the job-room, he left the house's em 
ploy. When he told of what had happened, his father 
found for him an opening with Stavely & McCalla, print 
ers, who offered $2.25 a week for the first year, and after 
wards as much as he could earn, providing he remained 
until twenty-one. The pay was so small that he hesi 
tated. Just then a boy friend, John Hasson, sent word 
of a strike in the "Argus" newspaper office. George ap 
plied for and obtained employment. To Emma Curry, 
a girl friend, he wrote (June 29, 1857) explaining some 
of these matters: 

"I left King and Baird's about two weeks and a half 
ago. I was learning nothing and making little ($2 a 
week) when I left. The immediate cause of my leav 
ing was that I would not quietly submit to the imposi 
tions and domineering insolence of the foreman of the 
room in which I then worked. Week before last I 
worked on the 'Daily Evening Argus.' The foreman 
of that paper and the members of the Printers' Union 
(who have full control of the various newspaper offices) 
quarrelled, and they refused to work unless the foreman 
was discharged. This the proprietor, Mr. Severns, re 
fused to do, and the consequence was that the Union 
would not allow any of its members to work on the 
paper. The foreman had, therefore, to get printers who 
did not belong to the Union. I applied for a situation 
as a journeyman compositor and got it; but unluckily 
for me, at the end of the week the Union had a meet 
ing and wisely supported the foreman by a large ma 
jority. This compelled the proprietor to discharge us 

 46 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [1856-1857 

who were working there at the time and take on the 
Union men, who, having control of the other offices, 
could have put him to great inconvenience had he re 
fused to do so. 

"During the six days I worked there I made $9.50, 
the largest sum of money I have ever made in the same 
time. I had also the satisfaction of seeing that I was 
but very little inferior to any of the journeymen, my 
bill for the week being as large as any of theirs, with 
the exception of a couple who had worked in the even 
ings also. I believe that I can set on an average of 
5,000 ems of solid matter a day, including distributing 
and correcting, which according to the prices you tell 
me the printers get in Oregon, would be worth near 
ly $4." 

Emma Curry, her sisters, Martha and Florence, and 
their widowed mother, Rebecca D. Curry, had been neigh 
bours of the George family. They had early in the year 
gone to Oregon Territory to join the widow's nephew, 
George Curry, who had been appointed Governor. Mrs. 
Curry was a bright, discerning woman. Her brother, Wil 
liam D. Kelley, from 1846 to 1856 was Judge of the Coiirt 
of Common Pleas of Philadelphia and afterwards repre 
sented one of the Philadelphia districts in Congress for 
almost thirty years and was commonly known as "Pig 
Iron" Kelley. Henry George had had many a long, earnest 
talk with Mrs. Curry, who took a deep interest in him. 
In a letter to her (April 3, 1857) he said: 

"I am still at printing and am getting along very 
well, considering the time I have been at it. I should 
be able to make at least $5 a week were I getting jour 
neyman's prices, but that is impossible here. If you 
can find out and will be kind enough to write me the 
rates at which printers are paid in Oregon, I shall be 
able to tell exactly how much I could make there. 

 Afie. 17-18] TALKING OF OREGON 47 

"I commenced last evening to take lessons in pen 
manship, and if all the old fellow (I mean teacher) says 
is true, by the time 1 write my next letter to you my 
chirography will be so much improved that you will 
hardly recognise the hand. I have taken your advice 
and am trying to improve myself all I can. I shall 
shortly commence to study book-keeping. After I get 
through that I shall be Jack of three different trades, 
and, 1 am afraid, master of none. 

"I am still of the same determination in regard to 
going West. ... I only wait for your promised 
account of Oregon, and advice, to determine where and 
when I shall go." 

Before receipt of his letter, Mrs. Curry had already 
written (April 19): 

"We talk and think of you a great deal and I have 
talked with Mr. Curry [the Governor] about you. He 
says, 'Do not go to sea, but come here.' He will see 
what you can make at your business at Salem. He 
thinks you may do well. He will inquire as soon as 
possible, and I shall write you. Everything pays well 
here. He is giving a boy $20 a month for hoeing, chop 
ping wood, washing a little and bringing up the cattle. 
A man was paid by him in my presence $25 for plough 
ing from Tuesday noon till Friday noon. Give all at 
tention to your business and you will, I trust, be suc 
cessful. It is best to have that at your command." 

Emma Curry wrote in a similar strain, and to her the 
boy replied (June 29) : 

"Give my thanks to the Governor for the trouble he 
has taken in my behalf and for the information which 
he has communicated to me through you. Your state 
ment of the prospects that I may anticipate in Oregon 
has decided me. I will go out as soon as possible 

1 

 48 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1856-1857 

and in the best manner possible, even if I am obliged 
to work my way around the Horn—unless by a lucky 
windfall I shall get into some business." 

But the "lucky windfall" in Philadelphia showed no 
signs of coming. The boy vainly looked for permanent 
employment. He obtained a position on a weekly paper 
called "The Merchant," but this proved only temporary, 
and he became restless and thought the more earnestly 
of Oregon, and also of California, where he had a cousin, 
son of his Uncle Dunkin George. But these places seem 
ing remote, again he thought of the sea, if only as a means 
of livelihood for the time being. He probably was the 
more restless because of the reaction from the old home 
rigorous beliefs and restraints. A blank book with some 
diary entries covering a few days during this period con 
tains this: 

"Tues. July 3. Saw Jo Jeffreys in afternoon. In 
evening Bill Jones and I took Sallie Young and Amelia 
Beinhart to the Academy of Music. But Sallie Young 
deserted me there and went with Bill Jones. Curst 
these girls; they won't fool me so confoundedly again. 
After taking them home we adjourned to Stead's [cigar 
store], where Bill Homer was awaiting us. As we came 
down we stopped at Cook's and Bcrgncr's [taverns]. 
Coming up again, we serenaded Charlie Walton with the 
national anthem, after which Bill left us. Homer and 
I again repaired to Stead's, where after a little while 
we were joined by Jo and a friend of his, John Owen, 
by name. They, together with Ebenezer Harrison [a 
young Sunday School teacher], had been enjoying them 
selves in Owen's room, drinking punches and makimr 
speeches. At the corner of Sixth and Walnut Jo and i 
commenced to box, when Jo fell down and cut his head 
awfully. We raised him up, took him to Owen's, washed 
his wound and then set off to find a doctor. We dragged 

 Age, 17-18] A LITERARY SOCIETY 49 

him around for about two hours before finding any per 
son who could dress the wound. At length we took 
him to a German physician, who dressed the cut and 
charged a V for his trouble. We left him at Owen's 
and returned home about daybreak." 

It was at this time that the boys—Jeffreys, Jones, 
Horner, Walton, Harrison, George and the others—formed 
"The Lawrence Literary Society" and met in a small build 
ing which once had been a church. Two original essays 
by "Hen" George are still preserved, one on "The Poetry 
of Life" and the other on "Mormonism," a very hostile 
view. There also exists a contribution from the pen of 
Charley Walton treating of the wide-spread industrial de 
pression then prevailing and ascribing its rise to "extrava 
gance and speculation which have since the revolution 
characterised the American people."1 But starting with 
this self-improving literary idea, the "Lawrence" came 
in the course of things to have other characteristics which 
Walton later described in a letter to "Hen" (July 29, 
18G3): 

"I have often thought of the time gone by when the 
'Lawrence' in Jerusalem Church was in its palmy days. 
. . . Can you or I forget the gay, refreshing and 
kindred spirits that formed that association and gave 
it a character so unenviable and noticeable as eventu 
ally to cause it to be ordered out peremptorily; its sym 
pathy with ghost stories, boxing gloves, fencing foils 
and deviltry; its exercises tending to promote muscu 
lar rather than literary abilities; and its test of merit 
and standard of membership—to drink Red Eye, sing 
good songs and smoke lots of cigars?" 

1 This essay covers four pages of paper, the first page evidently written 
with great care, and the last with great carelessness, the whole terminat 
ing with the ejaculation, "Thank God, I'm done!" 

 60 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1856-1857 

But however innocent all this may have been, the fact 
of knowing anything whatever about liquor or of card 
playing was significant of the break-down of the old home 
influences; and it partly explains, with the loss of employ 
ment and the ambition to be independent, the return of a 
desire for the sea. At any rate, Henry George embarked 
on a topsail schooner laden with coal and bound from 
Philadelphia for Boston. Often afterwards, even towards 
the end of his life, he spoke with pride of the compli 
ments he received on that voyage. For when he applied 
as ordinary seaman, the captain measured him with some 
thing like contempt and asked what he could do. 

"I can handle, reef and steer," was the answer. 

"You can't steer this schooner," returned its comman 
der, "but nevertheless I'll try you." 

Notwithstanding George's short stature and light 
weight, the captain found him so useful that at the end 
of the voyage he paid him off at the full rate of an able 
seaman, saying that he had been of as much use as any 
man aboard. 

The outlook ashore seemed even worse when he got back 
from this short schooner trip, as may be seen from a let 
ter to one of his young friends (B. F. Ely, September 30): 

"The times here are very hard and are getting worse 
and worse every day, factory after factory suspending 
and discharging its hands. There are thousands of 
hard-working mechanics now out of employment in thie 
city; and it is to the fact that among them is your hum 
ble servant, that you owe this letter. If you will send 
on without delay the V. you owe me you will be doing 
the State a service by lessening the pressure of the 
hard times upon one of the hard fisted mechanics who 
form her bone and muscle, and will at the same time 
be easing your conscience of a burden, which I have 
little doubt bears heavily upon it. 

 Age, 17-18] INDUSTRIAL, DEPRESSION 51 

"... I am pretty hard up at present and 
haven't as much money as you could shake a stick at. 
Indeed, I would not have any hesitation in taking a 
situation on board a good canal boat for a short time, 
provided that it would pay. 

"I have been trying for some time to secure a berth 
on board the United States Light-house Steamer Shu- 
brick, now fitting out at the Navy Yard for California; 
but she will not sail for two weeks at least, and even 
then it is very doubtful whether I can succeed and go 
out in her. 

"There is a ship loading here for San Francisco on 
board of which ] have been promised a berth, but in 
the present stagnation of business it is doubtful whether 
she will get off before a month or two at least. So 
that you see I am in a pretty bad fix, having at least 
two weeks of loafing to look forward to." 

Subsequently (October 5) he wrote a letter to Con 
gressman Thomas B. Florence of his district asking his 
support. 

"I have long wished to go to Oregon, where, if I may 
believe the many assurances I have received, prospects 
of fortune are open to me which it would be vain to 
hope for here. But as it is impossible for me to 
raise means sufficient to defray the expenses of a pas 
sage, I must strive to adopt the only plan practicable, 
and work my way out. 

"The Light-House Steamer Shutrick will sail in a 
couple of weeks for California, where she is to be em 
ployed. I have been waiting for her for some time, 
hoping to get a chance to go in her; but I now learn 
from good authority that in all probability only a few 
able seamen will be shipped for her, in which case I 
would be unable to do so, unless I can obtain permission 
to ship from the Light-House Bureau. 

"I have been to sea before, and am competent to ship 
as ordinary seaman or first class boy. 

"If you would be kind enough to write to the proper 

 62 LIFE OP HENEY GEORGE [1856-1857] 

authorities at Washington in support of my applica 
tion, it would be of great assistance to me in obtaining 
their permission." 

Much to his delight, he not only was accepted for the 
Sliubrlck, but received the appointment of ship's steward, 
or storekeeper, at forty dollars a month; though like every 
one else on board, he was compelled to sign the ship's 
articles for one year's service, and not for the voyage to 
California alone, which was all that he wished to do. On 
December 22, 1857, he said farewell to his loved ones, and 
the little vessel under Commander John DeCamp of the 
TJ. S. Navy steamed down the Delaware River and started 
on her long journey around the southern extremity of 
South America. 

 CHAPTEE IV. 

WOEKS HIS PASSAGE TO CALIFOENIA. 
1858. AGE, 19. 

A ND now the boy having left home to face the world and 
-L\. seek his fortune in the new country, it may be in 
structive to get some more definite knowledge of his char 
acter. A key to it, or at any rate to his own estimate at 
that time of it, exists in a phrenological sketch that he 
wrote of himself while still in Philadelphia. It is in his 
clear hand-writing and covers two half-sheets of blue, un 
ruled, legal-cap paper, on the back of one of which are the 
words, "Phrenological examination of head by self." The 
examination is as follows: 

"Circumference [of head], 21%; ear to ear, 

1. Amativeness ................ Large. 

2. Philoprogenitiveness ......... Moderate. 

3. Adhesiveness ............... Large. 

4. Inhabitativeness ............. Large. 

5. Concentrativeness ........... Small. 

6. Combativeness .............. Large. 

7. Destructiveness ............. Large. 

8. Alimentiveness ............. Full. 

9. Acquisitiveness ............. Small. 

10. Secretiveness ............... Large. 

11. Caution ................... Large. 

12. Approbativeness ............ 

13. Self-esteem ................ Large. 

63 

 64 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [1858 

14. Firmness .................. Large. 

15. Conscientiousness ........... Large. 

16. Hope ..................... Large. 

17. Marvellousness ............. 

18. Veneration ................ 

19. Benevolence ................ 

20. Constructiveness ............ 

21. Ideality ................... 

22. Imitation .................. 

23. Mirthfulness ............... Small. 

24. Individuality ............... Large. 

25. Form ..................... 

26. Size ....................... Large. 

27. Weight .................... 

28. Colour .................... 

29. Order ..................... 

30. Calculation ................ Small. 

31. Locality ................... Large. 

32. Eventuality ................ Full. 

33. Time ...................... Large. 

34. Tune ...................... 

35. Language .................. Moderate. 

36. Causality .................. Large. 

37. Comparison ................ Large. 

"An ardent, devoted, fervent and constant lover; 
will defend the object of his love with boldness, protect 
his or her rights with spirit. Will feel much stronger 
attachment than he will express. 

"Is not very fond of children. May love them as 
friends, rather than as children. 

"Is strong in his attachments; readily takes the part 
of friends, resents and retaliates their injuries; yet may 
occasionally fall out with them. 

"Chooses as his friends the talented, intellectual and 
literary, and avoids the ignorant. 

"Is extremely fond of travelling. Has an insatiable 
desire to roam about and see the world and afterwards 
to settle down. 

"Is patriotic and ready to sacrifice all in defence of 
his country. 

 PHRENOLOGICAL CHART 

"May get angry quickly, but, unless the injury is 
deep or intended, cannot retain his anger. 

"Will be more likely to make a general than a critical 
scholar. May have bold and original ideas upon a va 
riety of subjects, yet will not without effort or excite 
ment have a train of connected thoughts upon any. 

"Is qualified to meet difficulties, overcome obstacles, 
endure hardships, contend for privileges, maintain opin 
ions, resent insults and defend his rights to the last; 
generally takes sides on every contested question; natu 
rally hasty in temper. 

"Desires money more as a means than as an end, more 
for its uses than to lay up; and pays too little attention 
to small sums. 

"Generally keeps his thoughts, feelings, plans, etc., 
to himself. Will effect his purposes indirectly and with 
out detection. May sometimes communicate his feel 
ings to his nearest friends, yet will seldom do this, and 
will exercise more attachment than he expresses. May 
restrain for a long time the anger which is burning 
in his bosom; yet when he does give vent to it, it will 
blaze forth in good earnest. Is slow in commencing, 
yet when once interested in any project pushes it with 
great spirit. May be timid and fearful until his courage 
is once excited, but will then be bold and fearless. In 
cases of danger, will be perfectly self-possessed; and yet 
will have fore-thought enough to do just what the occa 
sion demands. Cannot soon be worked up to the stick 
ing point; but is determined, if not desperate, when once 
kindled. 

"Is inclined to enter largely into business and to 
push his projects with so much energy and zeal as to 
appear rash and nearly destitute of caution; yet will 
come out about right in the end and will seldom fail 
entirely in his projects, though he may be obliged to 
retrace his steps." 

This "phrenological examination," tested by what others 
can remember of him at that period and by the traits 
shown later in life, must be regarded, so far as it goes, as 
a fairly accurate presentation of the boy's chief charac- 

 56 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [1858 

teristics. But this should not be set down to phrenology, 
for there is nothing to show that he placed particular con 
fidence, or even had more than passing interest, in that 
teaching.1 Nor is it to be set down as a lucky kind of 
guess about himself. It is in truth, more than anything 
else, the fruit of a habit of introspection which had begun 
about the time of the return from the first sea voyage and 
which was afterwards to be shown more and more strongly. 
Meanwhile the little Shubrick was boldly pushing her 
way down the coast. This was her first trip in commis 
sion, Henry George having seen her building in the Phila 
delphia Navy Yard that very year. She was named after 
Bear Admiral William B. Shubrick, of the U. S. Navy, 
who had been Chairman of the Light-House Board since 
1852. She was to become the first vessel on light-house 
duty on the Pacific coast, to which service she was now 
proceeding; and the first tender under steam in the light 
house department of the United States. She was of 372 
tons burden, 140 feet in length, 22 feet in beam and 19 
feet in depth of hold; with black hull, red side-wheels, 
black funnel and two masts, the foremast square rigged. 
She looked as sharp and trim as a yacht, but, as in addi 
tion to her regular duties of supplying light-houses and 
maintaining the buoyage along the west coast, she was 
intended to give protection to government property along 

1 Thirty years later, when his son, Richard, manifested interest in phre 
nology, Henry George discouraged him, saying that though indirectly or 
collaterally there probably was truth in it, the subject was one that, in 
his opinion, Nature did not intend to have man know much about, since 
the discovery of constitutional characteristics would with most men seem 
to indicate foreordination, aud checking free and independent action, 
would tend to produce fatalism. Moreover, he said, phrenology was not 
needed for man's progress, for that did not depend upon a knowledge of 
the relative development of the faculties, but rather upon the use of the 
faculties, whatever they might be. 

 Age, 19] A WHITE SQUALL 67 

the sea shore of Oregon and Washington from the depre 
dations of Indian tribes, she was armed with six brass 
guns and a novel contrivance for squirting scalding water 
on the redskins when at close quarters. 

On Christmas day, while the Shubrick was steaming 
along over a sun-kissed sea some distance off the Hatteras 
coast, the wind, which had been fair, subsided, and then 
without warning rose into a white squall, blowing from 
the north-east. The boat's head was swung around and 
she was brought to under low-steam. At night the wind 
blew a hurricane, the sea breaking over her fore and aft 
with great violence. The after part of the wheelhouse, 
engineer's storeroom and starboard bulwarks were stove 
in, and everything movable on deck washed overboard, 
including port shutters, harness-casks, deck engine, and 
spare spars and lumber. At ten that night, deeming that 
she was in danger of foundering, thirty tons of sacked 
coal and some other things were thrown overboard.1 
Many times during his life Henry George spoke of the 
terrors of this storm, on one occasion2 saying: 

"A negro deckhand and I worked together throwing 
over bags of coal to lighten her. The sailing master 
hung on the bridge shouting to us through the speak 
ing trumpet and barely able to make himself heard, 
as he told us the work we were doing was for life or 
death." 

This relieved the vessel and at day-light she was en 
abled to proceed on her course, nine days after leaving 

1 Notes from record of Shubrick, by courtesy of the U. S. Light- 
House Board at Washington, D. C., and of Captain Geo. W. Coffin, 
U. S. N., Inspector 12th Light-House District, San Francisco, Cal. 

2 From shorthand notes by Ralph Meeker of a conversation, New York, 
October, 1897. 

 58 LIFE OF HENEY GEOEGE [1858 

Philadelphia putting into St. Thomas, West Indies, to 
renew her coal supply and make necessary repairs. 

To Jo Jeffreys, his young friend in Philadelphia, 
Henry George sent from St. Thomas a clear account of 
the passage and of the danger the ship had been in; but 
to his parents, under same date (January 6, 1858), he 
wrote in quite different style to save them from anxiety, 
omitting all mention of danger. The letter to his parents 
read: 

"Here I am this winter's afternoon (while you are 
gathering around the parlour stove, perhaps thinking 
and talking of me) sitting in the open air in my white 
sleeves almost roasted by the heat. I wish you could 
view the scene which surrounds me. The noble moun 
tains rising from the water, covered with perpetual vege 
tation of the tropics and varied in colour by the shad 
ows of the clouds which seem to climb their sides; the 
little town with its square red-roofed, Dutch houses 
and white forts, surrounded by the palm and cocoanut 
trees which line the head of the bay; the ships and 
steamers which deck the harbour; and the boundless 
sea stretching away to the edge of the horizon, glitter 
ing in the sunlight—form a picture which I know you 
would enjoy. 

"Now that I have tried to give you a faint idea of 
the scenery that surrounds me, I shall try and give you 
an account of our passage. 

"We had head winds and a rough sea most of the time; 
and as the steamer was very slow, the spray which in 
cessantly flew over her made the deck very wet and, con 
sequently, unpleasant. However, we made the run in 
nine days from the time we left the breakwater and 
arrived here early on Saturday morning. 

"I went ashore last Sunday and attended church, and 
then together with Jim Stanley (the young fellow who 
I told you was going out as Engineer's Store Keeper) 
climbed the mountain to the ruins of the castle of 
Blackboard, a notorious pirate chieftain, who for a 

 Age, 19] A CALL OF DUTY 69 

long time made this island his home and stronghold. 
After coming down, we wandered all over the town and 
saw all that was to be seen, which I suppose is the same 
as in the generality of West Indian islands—plenty of 
darkies—men, women and children—bamboo shanties, 
soldiers and cocoanut trees. . . . 

"1 expect our next passage to be much more pleasant 
than the last, as we shall not be heavily burdened by 
coal, and important additions have been made in the 
shape of booby-hatches, etc. . . . 

"1 know, my dear parents, that you felt deeply the 
parting with me—far more so than I did. But let the 
fact that I am satisfied and that my chances are more 
than fair comfort you. As for me, I, for the first time 
in my life, left home with scarcely a regret and with 
out a tear. I believed that it was my duty both to 
myself and to you to go, and this belief assuaged the 
pain of parting. 

"I am now setting out for myself in the world, and 
though young in years, I have every confidence in my 
ability to go through whatever may be before me. But 
of that I shall say nothing. Let the future alone prove." 

In reply to the letter he received from St. Thomas, Jo 
Jeffreys wrote (February 1) : 

"While such fools and intolerable dolts as James Mc- 
Mullen1 live, it is almost impossible to expect your fam 
ily to be kept ignorant of your great danger. I will 
elucidate the matter. Some few days since a telegraphic 
despatch (from Boston, I think) appeared in the Tub- 

1 "Jim" McMulIen, as he was commonly called, was regarded by his 
boy friends as slow of comprehension. One day wishing to go swimming 
without McMulIen, they tried the expedient of telling him one after 
another that his head was swollen and that he must be sick. This suc 
ceeded so well that the boy went home and to bed in a fever of excite, 
ment, and they had great difficulty in convincing him that they had been 
deluding him. The experience so frightened Henry George that he never 
again indulged in that kind of a practical joke. 

 60 LIFE OP HENEY GEORGE [ISM 

lie Ledger' setting forth that the U. S. S. Shubriclc had 
put into St. Thomas in great distress, want of coal, etc., 
etc. This I presumed somewhat alarmed your mother; 
but she received your letter about the same time, and 
you saying nothing of any storm, but merely mentioning 
rough weather encountered in the Gulf, she thought no 
more of it. But here McMullen steps in on last Satur 
day night (he called once before since your departure) 
and after propounding several knotty interrogatories to 
your father, very kindly informed your mother that he 
had seen an extract from a private letter written by 
one of the Shubrick's engineers to a friend in this city 
in the 'Evening Journal' (or as Collis says, the 'Even 
ing Disturber') the purport of which was that the 
Shubrick had encountered a terrific storm, that they 
almost went down, etc., etc. 

"I happened to call in a few minutes after and was 
subjected to a series of questions which made me wince. 
I had received a letter from you? Yes. Well, what 
did you say? You said you were well and in good 
spirits. Was that all? Yes, about all. I was sorry 
to say I had left the letter at the office. (It was in the 
breast-pocket of my coat.) Did you say anything about 
a storm? (This question was propounded by your 
mother, who looked me straight in the eye, while Cad, 
Janie and Kate followed her example, and your father, 
who was reclining on the sofa, turned round to hear 
the answer, which, with this awful battery of unflinch 
ing eyes in front, and the consciousness that your father 
might have some information upon the subject which 
he designed to level at me in the rear, I was endeavour 
ing to manufacture into as ingenious a shape as pos 
sible. They looked at me; I returned the gaze as stead 
ily as an honest fellow who knew he was going to 
dissimulate for the sake of an absent friend—but an aw 
ful bad fellow—could do. At last I broke silence.) No. 
You had said, however, that you had encountered rough 
weather and had got out of coal. (My hair almost 
stood on end, and the perspiration rolled in mad tor 
rents down the exterior covering of my seething brain.) 

 LETTERS FROM HOME 61 

To this succeeded a number of questions that tortured 
me almost to martyrdom, for, as you know, my very 
bowels yearned to tell the truth. I, however, satisfied 
your mother that the 'Evening Disturber' had made 
false representations, and so ends that difficulty. 

"... You are right, Hen. 'There never was 
any affectation of sentiment in speech between us when 
face to face,' and none shall exist now. How do you 
know that we shall never meet again? I should be 
obliged to you if you would not send such letters to me 
in the middle of business—letters which are calculated 
to distract my mind and render me as weak as a child. 
Your ideas absolutely make me gloomy, truth though 
they be. You know I love you, Hen, as much as any 
one in this wide world. . . . 

"I have commenced to reform, and Bill Jones and 
myself have for some time been studying geometry to 
gether. I spend but little, 37 cents a week on cigars, 
and loaf only occasionally. I go to the office some 
times in the evening and study law. Bill and I are to 
take up natural philosophy and grammar in a few days." 

The father's letter soon after the departure of the Shu- 
brick shows the man's robust nature. 

"My dear boy, we have missed you. I have hardly 
become reconciled to your absence. It seems that t 
cannot lock the front door without the thought of 
your coming in; and when the boys visit us—Jeffreys, 
Jones and the others—it seems as if it leaves a blank 
when we find you absent. Don't think I regret the 
step you have taken. On the contrary, the more I 
think of it, the more I see the hand of Providence in 
it. ... 

"Nothing has transpired since you left worthy of 
note. Things are much as you left them. The times 
are rather on the mend [industrially]. In political 
matters things look gloomy. The nigger question, Mor- 

 62 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1858 

monism and General Walker,1 etc., will, I think, give us 
trouble; but notwithstanding all this and as much more, 
the Union is and will be safe as long as there is bunt 
ing to make stars and stripes. They may bluster North, 
East, South and West as much as they please. Our 
nation is in the hands and under the guidance of a 
higher Power, who created this republic for a higher and 
holier destiny, which is not revealed, and will not be 
until I am long gathered to my fathers." 

From St. Thomas to Barbadoes and thence to Pernam- 
buco and Eio Janeiro the little Shubrick proceeded, hav 
ing fair weather and making fair time. A letter written 
at Monte Video to one of the young friends in Philadel 
phia (Charley Walton, February 18) gives some charac 
teristic notes: 

"We arrived here yesterday morning after a passage 
of five days from Eio. We lay five days in the latter 
port and had very fine weather and a pleasant time 
generally, marred only by one or two little accidents. 
. . . The first night we stayed there all hands went 
ashore, wandered over the island, and as a matter of 
course, got drunk. A couple of the men in trying to 
come aboard fell over a precipice about forty feet in 
height. One escaped uninjured, but the other was 
nearly killed. He is now recovering fast, but it will 
be some time before his arm, which was broken, will 
be entirely healed. 

"I enjoyed myself very well while we were coaling, 
wandering along the rocks, catching crabs and toad- 

1 Probably a reference to William Walker of Tennessee, who led a fili 
bustering expedition into Lower California and was driven out. Then he 
went to Nicaragua, C. A., assumed the title of President of that State, 
and re-established chattel slavery, which had been abolished. He was 
driven from power in May, 1857, but escaped to New Orleans. In 1860 
he led a filibustering expedition against Honduras, but within four 
months was captured and shot at Truxillo. 

 Henry George's father, Richard Samuel Henry George. 
From daguerreotype taken in the middle fifties. 

 Age, 19] "DUST TO DUST" 63 

fish and paddling from one island to another in a canoe, 
the exact model of the famous one constructed by Cru- 
6oe, and like his, made of a single piece. 

"I was ashore in Eio but once—on Sunday after 
noon—and saw but little of the town, as it was too in 
fernally hot to walk the narrow streets." 

The chief incident of the voyage—an event of singular 
nature—occurred at the port of Monte Video. Two let 
ters containing a brief mention of it have been preserved, 
but a full and graphic account appeared under the title 
of "Dust to Dust" in a sketch written by Henry George 
eight years subsequently and when he was less than twen 
ty-seven, at the request of his friend Edmund Wallazz, 
for publication in the "Philadelphia Saturday Night,"1 a 
prosperous weekly paper, of which Wallazz was then fore 
man and part owner. 

The story in substance is this. An hour after leaving 
Eio, yellow fever had broken out on the Shubrick and sev 
eral were taken down. All recovered except the Second 
Assistant Engineer, S. W. Martin, a popular young man 
on board. 

"The crisis seemed past, and if his strength would 
only last until he neared the Cape, all would be well. 
. . . Only one port remained to be passed before we 
should hail the rain and fog, and strength-giving winds 
—Monte Video. But when we entered that great stream, 
more sea than river, the mighty La Plata, on which the 
city is situated, young Martin was dying. . . . 

"For some time in intervals of consciousness, Martin 
had been aware of his approaching end, and the only 
thing that seemed to trouble him was the idea of dying 
so far from those he loved, and of being buried where 

1 This sketch on the following month, July 14, 1866, was repnblished 
in the San Francisco "Californian," conducted by some printer friends of 
Henry George. 

 64 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1858 

affection might never mark his resting place. It was 
his last and earnest request that his grave might be 
made on shore, where his body could be recognised by 
his friends, and not committed to the waves; and though 
it was very doubtful if the privilege could be granted, 
yet the captain resolved to take the corpse into the har 
bour, and try to obtain permission to bury it ashore. 

"And when night came, sadly we talked in little 
groups upon the deck, while the sound of hammer and 
plane from the gangway, told that the 'last house' of 
one of us was being built. Though no star shed its 
light, still it was not all blackness. The 'river of sil 
ver' beamed with a lustre of its own. Not alone the 
furrows our prow threw aside, or the broad wake we 
left behind, but the whole surface of the water glowed 
with phosphorescent brightness, and we seemed to force 
our way through a sheet of molten silver. 

"All night long we steamed up the river, and when 
the sun again arose—it showed us the harbour of Monte 
Video. Out beyond all the other shipping lay a stately 
frigate, the Stars and Stripes of the great republic 
streaming from her peak in the morning breeze—the old 
St. Lawrence, flagship of the squadron. . . . We 
were bringing them news and letters from home, and 
every port of the great ship thronged with faces eager 
to see the comer from the land they loved. Running 
up under her quarter, we were hailed and answered, and 
after the usual inquiries, our captain mentioned the 
death of young Martin, and his wish to have him buried 
on shore; but was told that it was impossible, that we 
would infringe the quarantine rules by even entering 
the port with the corpse; and was directed to steam 
back some miles and commit the body to the waves, be 
fore entering the harbour. 

"The shrill whistle of the boatswain sounded; a boat 
dropped from the frigate's davits, reached our side, 
took letters and papers, and our little steamer turned 
slowly round to retrace her path. We had felt sad 
while coming up, but a darker gloom hung over all while 
going down the river. It seemed so hard that the last and 
only request of the poor boy could not be complied with. 

 THE BODY TO THE DEEP 66 

"But swiftly down the current in the bright, fresh 
morning dashed our little boat, and when the lofty 
frigate was hull-down behind us, we turned and stopped 
for the last sad rites. 

"Upon the quarter-deck, in reverential silence, all 
hands were gathered. The large box-like coffin, in 
which we had hoped to commit our dead to mother 
earth, bored full of holes and filled up with heavy mate 
rials, was placed by the side, covered with the flag. 
The beautiful burial service was commenced, its solemn 
sentences sounding doubly solemn under such mourn 
ful circumstances—there was a pause—then came the 
words, 'We, therefore, commit his body to the deep!' 
and with a surge the waves closed above the dead. 

"Hardly a word was spoken as the wheels again took 
up their task, and we began to ascend the river, but 
every eye was fixed on the spot we were leaving, and 
at the same instant an exclamation sprang from every 
lip as the coffin was seen to rise! The engine was 
quickly stopped, a boat lowered, and taking a small 
anchor and some heavy chain, they tried to secure and 
sink the box. But it was no easy task in the fresh 
breeze and short, chopping sea, and the coffin seemed 
almost instinct with life and striving to elude their 
efforts. Again and again they were foiled in their at 
tempt to fasten the weights, but were at last successful, 
and once more the water closed above the corpse. 

"After waiting some time, to make sure that it could 
not float again, we started once more up the river, and 
this time awe was mingled with our grief. Most men 
who follow the sea have a touch of superstition. There 
is something in the vastness with which Nature pre 
sents herself upon the great waters which influences in 
this direction even minds otherwise sceptical. And as 
we steamed up the river, it was more than hinted among 
many of us that the strong desire of the dying man had 
something to do with the difficulty of sinking his body. 

"This time we passed the frigate, saluting, but not 
stopping, and entered the port. It was war time; on 
the Pampas some phase of the interminable quarrels of 
tliis Southern federation was being fought out, and the 

 66 LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE [1858 

harbour was crowded with men-of-war. Nearly all the 
Brazilian navy was there, watching the progress of 
events; and besides these, and the numerous merchant 
men, the ensign of almost every nation was displayed 
above some armed vessel. By direction of the officer 
who boarded us, we proceeded past them all, to the 
farther side of the harbour, where we were ordered to 
lie in quarantine seven days before being allowed to coal. 

"The new scene, the various objects of interest around 
and the duties of clearing up, conspired to make us 
forget the events of the morning, but the sun was yet 
some distance above the western horizon when a startling 
circumstance occurred to recall them to our minds. 

"Nearly all hands were busily engaged below, only 
two or three loitering around the deck, when the quar 
termaster, sweeping the harbour with his glass, noticed 
something floating in, which riveted his attention. 
Again and again he looked at it; then, with surprise 
and dismay in his face, called the officer of the deck. 
The whisper spread through the ship, and in a few 
minutes all were watching in silence the object that 
seemed drifting towards us. Onward it came, through 
all the vessels that lay beyond us—now lost to our view, 
now coming in sight again—turning and tacking as 
though piloted by life, and steadily holding its course 
for our steamer. It passed the last ship, and came 
straight for us. It came closer, and every doubt was 
dispelled—it was, indeed, the coffin! A thrill of awe 
passed through every heart as the fact became assured. 

"Eight under our bows came the box; it touched our 
side; halted a moment, as if claiming recognition, and 
then drifted slowly past us towards the shore. 

"There was an excited murmur forward, a whispered 
consultation in the knot of officers aft; then one ad 
vanced—'Man the quarter boat, boys; take pick and 
spades; tow the coffin ashore, and bury the body!' 

"It was the work of a moment—the boat shot like an 
arrow from our side, the ashen oars bending with the 
energy of the stroke. Eeverently and gently they se 
cured the box, and with slow, solemn strokes, towed it 
to the foot of the desolate looking hill that skirts the 

 Age, 19] THE BTKAIT OF MAGELLAN 67 

bay. There, breaking it open, they bore the corpse, 
covered with the flag, a little distance up the hillside, 
and making in the twilight a grave among the chaparral, 
laid it to rest, marking the spot with a rude cross, which, 
concealed from observation by the bushes, would yet 
serve as a mark of recognition, and secure the grave, 
should it be noticed, from the intrusion of vandal hands. 
"And so, spite of all, that dying wish was gratified, 
and the body which the waters refused to receive was 
laid to rest in its mother earth."1 

From Monte Video the ShubricJc proceeded to the Strait 
of Magellan, arriving at Cape Virgin on March 6; for 
instead of taking the long route followed by sailing ves 
sels around Cape Horn, she was to steam by the short 
route through the strait. The heavy westerly winds and 
strong currents peculiar to that region made such bois 
terous weather that progress was greatly retarded and 
nearly all the coal consumed, so that the crew had to go 
ashore and cut fire-wood with which to make the next 
port.2 To his family Henry George has described the scen 
ery in the western part of the strait as perhaps the most 
magnificent and impressive he ever beheld. 

"The water was clear and green with depth even up 
to the batiks, which in places were sheer walls of rock 
running up perhaps three thousand feet and mantled at 
their summits with dazzling snow. In the valleys be 
tween these and the mountains beyond were glacial for 
mations, white and green and iridescent; and at the 
bases where the land flattened out, were heavy growths 
of evergreens. 

1 If Mr. George had any superstitious feeling at the time regarding the 
matter — and there is nothing to indicate that he had—he certainly did 
not continue to entertain it in after years, but believed the movements ot 
the coffin due to the accidental loosening of weights, peculiarities of cur 
rents and other natural causes. 

2 'Shubrick's log. 

 ft 

f 

68 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1858 

"Being short of fuel, we brought the little steamer 
against a bank, and tieing her there, went ashore and 
cut wood. This consumed a number of days. We ran 
into a little harbour in the strait and came upon a 
schooner which belonged to English missionaries with 
whom we exchanged letters. The missionaries were 
praying and working with the native Terra del Fuegians. 
We saw a number of these natives, and they were not 
at all attractive. I heard afterwards that the Pata- 
gonians killed and ate these missionaries." 

On the passage up the Pacific coast the Sliubrick touched 
at Valdivia, Valparaiso, Panama, and San Diego, and on 
the 27th of May, 1858, after a voyage of one hundred and 
fifty-five days from Philadelphia, arrived at San Fran 
cisco. 

 CHAPTEE V. 

AT THE FEAZEE EIVEE GOLD FIELDS. 
1858. AGE, 19 

w 

"HEN the Shulrick glided through the Golden Gate 
and cast anchor, it was with mixed emotions that 
Henry George gazed about him. California, bursting on 
the world ten years before with her astonishing gold discov 
eries, had now begun to reveal to the prospectors who 
found that the mineral regions had meanwhile been occu 
pied, a new wealth of soil in her amazing agricultural 
fecundity. She had now been for eight years a State in 
the Union, and had a population of about three hundred 
and fifty thousand, of which her chief city, San Francisco, 
claimed some fifty thousand. 

Like a new Eternal City, San Francisco nestled upon a 
cluster of hills. These hills rose on a narrow spur or 
peninsula, washed on the west by the ocean and on the 
east by the bay; and on the north formed one portal of 
the Golden Gate. The bell in the little pioneer adobe 
church of the missionary Franciscan monks still tinkled 
at the "Mission Dolores," and though many substantial 
buildings had arisen since the entrance on Statehood, the 
city for the most part still consisted of "cloth and paper 
Bhanties." The whole world was sending the flower of 
youth and energy into the new city; and to the young 

 70 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [1858 

and bold and adventurous of spirit, San Francisco, for all 
her newness and roughness, wore a charm, and even fascin 
ation, that only they could understand. Should Oregon 
fail, this, to Henry George, seemed the place to seek his 
fortune. 

He had expected on reaching San Francisco to find a 
letter from Mrs. Curry telling him of the Oregon pros 
pects, and perhaps inviting him to come up. When a let 
ter came to hand, several days after his arrival, it con 
tained no information on this subject and gave no counsel, 
and to it he replied (May 29, 1858): 

"About an hour after we dropped anchor my cousin, 
Jim George, came on board. 1 went ashore with him 
and spent the day. He has his family here and is doing 
well. Although we have been here but a short time, 
yet I have already seen a good deal of the city and 
agree with Emma that 'it is a dashing place,' rather 
faster than Philadelphia. 

"My mind is not fully made up as to what I shall 
do. I should feel grateful for your advice. Please 
write to me as soon as possible. If you still think I 
can do well in Oregon I will go up as soon as I 
can procure my discharge from the ship, which I hope 
to do in two or three weeks. I do not think I shall 
remain where I am at present, as I wish to settle down 
as soon as possible; and the old Oregon fever has not 
entirely died, as you may judge from the fact that I 
write from San Francisco. I have worked hard and 
long to get here and have at last succeeded, and I feel 
convinced that the same spirit will carry me through." 

The "Cousin Jim George" referred to was son of Henry's 
Uncle Dunkin, his father's only brother. James George 
was book-keeper for the retail clothing firm of J. M. 
Strowbridge & Co., doing business at Commercial and 
Sansome streets, and composed of Jerome and W. C. 

 Age.M] LEAVES THE "SHUBRICK" 71 

Strowbridge and E. F. Childs. Childs had a young broth 
er-in-law there named George B. Wilbur, a Ehode Island 
Yankee, who had gone to California with the hope shared 
by almost everyone going there—of finding a fortune. 
Wilbur and Henry George became acquainted, and Wil 
bur showed the newcomer around town; thereby beginning 
a friendship that was to be of mutual use in the near 
years, and though their aptitude and careers became dis 
tinct, was to last to the end of life. 

And now since the prizes ashore seemed large and many 
for him who was free and could move quickly, young 
George had resolved not only not to remain at sea, but 
not even to embrace the prospect of a place in the Navy 
Yard at the head of the bay, which Commander DeCamp, 
who expected to be stationed there, had talked of helping 
him to get. Though he had no fixed plans, yet it was 
the boy's wish to be free, and free at once. The obstacle 
was the Shubrick's shipping articles, which he, like every 
one else on board, had been compelled to sign at Philadel 
phia for one year's service, and which would hold him 
until November 11, 1858. He talked the thing over with 
Ellen George, James George's wife, a warm-hearted, sym 
pathetic woman, who showed a lively interest in the youth's 
affairs. It was agreed that he should go into retirement 
for awhile, seeking the seclusion of a bed at her house, 
while she should confer with Commander De Camp, which 
she did. The Commander, as a consequence, failed to 
notice the absence of the boy, who, after a short season 
of this retirement, regarded himself as free of the 
Shubrick1 and at liberty to go where he would. But as yet 

1 Though the Shubrick's record shows that later on there were a 
number of desertions among the officers and crew of the vessel, there is 
no indication whatever as to when Henrv George left, or that he did not 
remain until the expiration of his term of service — Nov. 11, 1858. 

 72 LIPK OP HENRY GEORGE [1858 

no word of encouragement came from Oregon; nor in 
San Francisco, though he looked about him, did any invit 
ing opening appear, so that he was left in idleness, consum 
ing his little store of money consisting of wages earned on 
the Shubrick. All the while letters were coming from 
home which yet load a strong influence over him. From 
his mother (April 3,1858) : 

"There is nothing stirring or startling in this great 
city. Eeligion seems to be the all-engrossing subject. 
Christians are looking for great results from this out 
pouring of the Spirit. Look to Jesus, my dear child." 

From his mother (May 3) : 

"0 my dear boy: how much you occupy my thoughts. 
Sleeping and waking your whereabouts, your doings, 
your comfort, your conduct, your prospects and a thou 
sand other things fill my mind. Away from all you love 
and those who love you and would counsel you, 0 seek, 
my child, that wisdom that cometh from above. Then 
you will need no other counsellor." 

From his father (May 18) : 

"We have accounts to-day that Brigham Young, the 
Mormon scamp, has submitted to the United States 
authority and that forces are entering Salt Lake City. 
I hope it may be true. I should like to see him pun 
ished for his rebellion." 

From his Sister Jennie (June 3): 

"I dreamed of you, Henry, not long ago for three 
nights in succession, and I thought each night that you 
had returned home. I thought I came home from 
school and saw you sitting in the rocking chair in the 

 Age, 19] EAKLY TIES OP AFFECTION 73 

front parlour. I ran to you and just as you kissed me 
I woke up. I was glad that I was in time for the kiss 
anyhow." 

The same intense affection that Henry George kindled 
in the friends of his manhood was shown for him by the 
friends of his youth. The evidence of this on the part of 
Jeffreys we have already seen.1 A letter from Jennie George 
(July 2) tells about Charlie Walton: 

"Charlie Walton came around the other evening. 
. . . He said that you had written four or five let 
ters to Jo Jeffreys and but one to him. I never saw 
him in such a rage. He really almost cried. I pacified 
him as much as I could and he went away a little cooler 
than he came. I really believe he thinks more of you 
than any of the other boys." 

This from Edmund Wallazz who had been a printer in 
King and Baird's and who was now a man of about twenty- 
seven (July 15) : 

"Your letters dated the 15 and 19 ult., received 
this morning. . . . 

"To understand my feeling of a peculiar relation ex 
isting between us I will mention the feelings which I 
experienced when we first heard of the yellow fever on 
board the Shubrick. Jeffreys told me of the report 
and of your father's fears near midnight of a day, I 
think, in the latter part of February or the early part 
of March. I was at first stunned; a cold, chilly sensa 
tion overpowered me for a few minutes; but after 
awhile I said, with an earnestness which made Jeffreys 
look surprised: 'Harry is not dead. If he were I should 
know it.' He asked if I believed in ghosts. Of course 
not, in the vulgar idea of ghosts. And yet I felt certain 

i Page 61. 

 74 LIFE OF HENEY GEOKQE [U68 

that if you were dead I should be informed of it. Nay, 
more. So strong was this feeling that for several days 
I sat alone in the dark at midnight waiting for you. 
And in those hours of terrible suspense how cften did 
I think of your probable death, and picture your poor 
body tossed about by the billows of the Southern At 
lantic, far, far from all who loved you! Firmly, I be 
lieve, if you had been dead, and if you had come to me, 
I would not have been frightened at all, only awe-struck, 
and it may be heart-wrung, by the thought that my ad 
vice had much to do with your going. But let this rest 
forever now. You cannot doubt my love; I cannot 
doubt yours." 

But now Henry George was ready to act. For in June 
had come the thrilling news of large gold discoveries just 
over the American line, in the British possessions, on 
the Frazer River, not far from its mouth. There was 
much excitement in San Francisco, especially among that 
multitude of prospectors and adventurers, who, finding 
all the then known placer lands in California worked out 
or appropriated, and not willing to turn to the slow pur 
suits of agriculture, had gathered in the city with nothing 
to do. A mad scramble for the new fields ensued, and so 
great was the rush from this and other parts that fifty 
thousand persons are said to have poured into the Frazer 
Eiver region within the space of a few weeks. Indeed, 
all who did not have profitable or promising employment 
tried to get away, and the STiubrick's log shows that most 
of her -officers and crew deserted for the gold fields.1 

1'' There is no mystery as to the cause which so suddenly and so largely 
raised wages in California in 1849, and in Australia in 1852. It was the 
discowry of placer mines in unappropriated land to which labour was free 
that raised the wages of cooks in San Francisco restaurants to $500 a 
mouth, and left ships to rot in the harbour without officers or crew until 
their owners would consent to pay rates that in any other part of the 

 Age, 19] NEWS OP GOLD DISCOVERIES 75 

James George was doing well with the San Francisco 
clothing house, but caught in the gold excitement, he 
thought he saw a chance for a fortune in the sale of min 
er's supplies; and he formed a co-partnership with 0. F. 
Giffin, of San Francisco, a dealer in nuts, dried fruits, 
etc., doing business on Front Street, between Sacramento 
and Clay. The agreement was that James was to go to 
Victoria, on Vancouver's Island, just off the mouth of the 
Frazer, and open a miner's supply store. 

This project of James George's had much attractive 
ness for Henry George, but he resolved to be cautious and 
not venture on reports that might prove to be false. To 
Martha Curry, who now had become Mrs. Malthrop, he 
wrote (June 29): 

"I have left the steamer I came out in and am now 
staying at the same house as my cousin. In all proba 
bility I will be able to get employment of some kind 
in a few days. I think I shall stay here until next 
spring, and then, if the diggings on Frazer Eiver turn 
out to be as good as reported, I shall go up there. . . . 

"Messrs. Byron and Pipe are both well, though rather 
the worse for their long journey and long handling." 

A few days following this came a letter from Mrs. Curry 
(July 9) that ended all present thought of Oregon and 
increased that of the Frazer Eiver. "As for this place," 
wrote she, "business is dull. The mines seem to be the 
all-absorbing theme." So with hope of Oregon closed and 
with no chance of work offering in San Francisco, the 

globe seemed fabulous. Had these mines been on appropriated land, or 
had they been immediately monopolised so that rent could have arisen, 
it would have been land values that would have leaped upward, not 
wages." — " Progress and Poverty," Book V. chap, ii (Memorial Edition, 
p. 290). 

 76 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1858 

young man found himself urged along the line of his 
inclinations—toward the Frazer; and with the promise 
from his cousin James of employment as clerk in the 
store, should he fail at the diggings, Henry George's hopes 
burned high and he wrote home of golden expectations. 
But the news of his starting for Victoria carried some 
thing like dismay to the quiet home in Philadelphia. His 
mother wrote (August 15) : 

"I think this money-getting is attended with too many 
sacrifices. I wished it all in the bottom of the sea 
when I heard of your going to Victoria, but since it 
has been explained to me I feel better. ... I shall 
never feel comfortable until you are settled down quietly 
at some permanent business. This making haste to 
grow rich is attended with snares and temptations and 
a great weariness of the flesh. It is not the whole of 
life, this getting of gold. When you write explain about 
the place and how you are situated. Then we will 
look on the bright side." 

A month later (September 18) she wrote: 

"We all feel happy and thankful that you have ar 
rived safely at Victoria and that your prospects appear 
bright. Don't be too anxious or too sanguine. This 
making haste to be rich I am afraid of. Remember 
you are but young. We do not expect great things as 
yet. You have just passed your nineteenth birthday. 
Did you think of it, or were you too busy ? If you had 
been home we would have had a jollification. What a 
kissing time there would have been, playing Copenhagen 
and so forth. Hen, kissing is quite out of the fashion 
since you left; no kissing parties at all, I believe." 

His father in the same letter wrote: 

"Your letter from Victoria came safe to hand and 
you may be sure we were glad to receive it. I had be- 

 Age, 19] WORKS HIS WAY AS SEAMAN 77 

come quite anxious about you, inasmuch that your last 
letter gave us the information that you were off on a 
trading expedition. I did not know how you would be 
situated, but now I feel more reconciled and think that 
your chances are fair. But I hope you will not build 
your castle in the air. Fortunes are not to be made 
in a hurry; it takes time and application. However, 
I say again, your prospects are fair. Nurse your means 
and use all the economy you can and I think in the end 
a fortune will be sure. Still, my dear son, consider; 
contentment is better than both hands full with labour 
and travel." 

Henry George, working his way as seaman on a top 
sail schooner, reached Victoria when the excitement was 
at the flood. That place, established in 1843 as a trad 
ing-fort of the Hudson Bay Company—those pioneers of 
commerce through the north-western part of the conti 
nent—and beautifully situated on Vancouver's Island in 
the majestic Puget Sound, had, with the gold discoveries, 
suddenly swelled in population, until it was estimated that 
at times ten thousand miners, in sheds and tents, gath 
ered about the more substantial structures. 

Henry George arrived at Victoria when the river, still 
at the season that rains and melting snows on its great 
mountain water-sheds swelled high its volume, came tear 
ing down its long, twisting course and rushed through 
its rocky gorges like a roaring flood of destruction, earn 
ing the name sometimes given it—"The Terrible Frazer." 
The gold had been found at Yale and Fort Hope, a hun 
dred miles up stream, in the exposed bars and the bed of 
the river when the water was low, so that with the water in 
flood, all gold-seeking operations had to come to a stand 
still and there was nothing to do but to wait until the 
water had subsided. The young fortune hunter, there 
fore, went into James George's store. 

 78 LIFE OP HENKY GEOKGE [ig» 

The store was in a rough wooden structure of one story 
and an attic, or rather loft. It stood on Wharf Street, 
beside the Victoria hotel, facing the harbour. Henry 
George worked very hard there. Part of the time he slept 
in the loft, reaching it by a ladder. He fastened a note 
outside the street door inviting customers who came out 
of the regular hours to "Please give this door a kick." In 
a letter to his Sister Jennie subsequently from San Fran 
cisco (December 6, 1858) he said: 

"You innocently ask whether I made my own bed at 
Victoria. Why, bless you, my dear little sister! I had 
none to make. Part of the time I slept rolled up in 
my blanket on the counter, or on a pile of flour, and 
afterwards I had a straw mattress on some boards. The 
only difference between my sleeping and waking cos 
tumes was that during the day I wore both boots and 
cap, and at night dispensed with them." 

But the full picture of his condition was not at once 
revealed to the folks at home. He had on starting for 
Victoria written of such large expectations that pride now 
prevented him from saying more than he could help about 
the poor results. Jo Jeffreys wrote (October 3): 

"There is one remarkable thing in your letters, or 
rather not in your letters, which is this, that you fail 
to say whether you are prospering at all in your present 
business, or even if it supports you, and which I cer 
tainly should be glad to hear." 

From his Sister Carrie (October 4) : 

"How I should like to see you in your new situation. 
Your account of your cooking is quite laughable. I 
should just like to look in upon you while you were thus 
engaged and see what kind of a cook you make." 

 Age, 19] JOHN SHARP'S ADVICE 79 

His father wrote him a letter containing worldly wisdom 
(October 4): 

"We have all sorts of things going on here in Phila 
delphia. On the first of September we had the grand 
Ocean Telegraph celebration, though the cable has never 
spoken since, and I have great doubts that it ever will. 
Yet a great thing has been accomplished; or at any 
rate, if the practicability of a lightning rod through 
the ocean be not accomplished in my day, it will be in 
yours. 

"Uncle Joseph Van Dusen took dinner with us yester 
day. He seems much pleased with your present pros 
pects and bade me when I wrote to say that if this 
thing should be successful their house would be glad 
to send you a load of goods direct which would cost 
much less than at San Francisco. About that I do not 
know—I mean as regards cheapness. You know Uncle 
Joseph and his partners. Show them where they can 
invest safely and profitably and they have the means 
and the nerve. This information may in the future, if 
this thing succeeds, be of great advantage to James and 
yourself. Eecollect old John Sharp's advice: 'When 
thee makes a friend use him and keep him.' 

"We are all well. Tom [one of Henry's brothers] is 
just promoted in school and is making very good prog 
ress. He is sharp, and will, if spared, make a smart 
and active man. I don't think I told you of his Fourth 
of July speech at dinner. When we were about half 
through Tom rose and said: 'Ladies and Gentlemen: 
This is the first time in my life that I have sat down 
to a Fourth of July dinner without ice-cream. I will, 
therefore, put the question. All who are in favour of 
ice-cream will please say, aye.' Of course it was unani 
mously carried, to the joy of all present. After he 
found it so, he very gracefully turned to me, saying: 
'It is carried unanimously, Mr. Chairman. Will you 
please advance the money?' I could not get out of 
this, and put up fifty cents, which proved to be satis 
factory." 

 8O LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE [1858 

Ferdinand Formhals, now a well-known citizen of San 
Francisco, who had charge of a stove and tinware store 
beside James George's store on Wharf Street, Victoria, says 
that he knew Henry George there, and that "George had 
nothing to say about the single tax or political economy 
then." Yet that the youth's mind was even then quietly 
at work is proved by a speech he made in San Francisco 
thirty-two years later :* 

"Let me, since I am in San Francisco, speak of the 
genesis of my own thought. I came out here at an 
early age, and knew nothing whatever of political econ 
omy. I had never intently thought upon any social 
problem. One of the first times I recollect talking on 
such a subject was one day, when I was about eighteen, 
after I had come to this country, while sitting on the 
deck of a topsail schooner with a lot of miners on the 
way to the Frazer Eiver. We got talking about the Chi 
nese, and I ventured to ask what harm they were doing 
here, if, as these miners said, they were only working 
the cheap diggings? 'No harm now,' said an old miner, 
%ut wages will not always be as high as they are to 
day in California. As the country grows, as people 
come in, wages will go down, and some day or other 
white men will be glad to get those diggings that the 
Chinamen are now working.' And I well remember 
how it impressed me, the idea that as the country grew 
in all that we are hoping that it might grow, the con 
dition of those who had to work for their living must 
become, not better, but worse." 

But now something caused a falling out between the 
cousins. What the trouble was does not appear, though 
in after years Henry George said that he had "behaved 
badly towards Jim George." The offence could not have 
been grave, as they were on the old friendly terms soon 
again in San Francisco. But however this may be, Henry 

1 Metropolitan Hall, Feb. 4, 1890. 

 Age. 19] GENESIS OF HIS THOUGHT 81 

left James' employ and went to live in a tent with George 
Wilbur, who had come up from San Francisco to dig gold. 
Wilbur had since his arrival made an unsuccessful trip 
up the river, but was determined to try again. Mean 
while he was driving a water cart for a living. Henry 
George proposed to go up the river with Wilbur, but be 
fore they could set off they were daunted by the stories 
of failure that returning miners were bringing down. 
While in this wavering state of mind, Ferdinand Fonnhals 
gave Henry George information that caused him to aban 
don the project. Formhals was something of a chemist 
and had from curiosity been analysing some of the sam 
ples of "pure gold from the river" that were being handed 
about, and found them to be a mixture of tin, lead and 
other metals. He believed that there was some gold at 
the diggings, but only a little—not enough to be worth 
searching for. Time has confirmed Formhals' judgment, 
comparatively little gold having at any time been taken 
out of this part of the Frazer Eiver, the really rich de 
posits being found in the Cariboo region, several hundred 
miles farther up; but these places were not discovered for 
a number of years afterwards. 

Hope of finding a fortune at the diggings thus closing 
before him, and having no other employment, and for that 
matter without prospect of any at Victoria, Henry George 
decided to return at once to San Francisco, and when 
there, should no opening offer, to take again to the sea, 
and keep to it as a calling. With this determination, he 
borrowed enough money from George Wilbur and others 
to buy steerage passage down to San Francisco. George 
Wilbur says of the Betting off: 

"He had no coat; so I gave him mine. An old fel 
low named Wolff peddled pies among the tents, and 

 82 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1858 

thinking that Harry would enjoy these more than the 
food he would get aboard the ship, we bought six of 
them, and as he had no trunk, we put them in his bunk, 
and drew the blanket over them so that nobody would 
see them and steal them. He wrote me from San Fran 
cisco when he got down that the first night out he was 
so tired that he threw himself down on his bunk with 
out undressing, and that he did not think of the pies 
until the morning, when he found that he had been 
lying on top of them all night." 

 CHAPTEE VI. 

. TOSSED ABOUT BY FORTUNE. 
1858-1859. AGE, 19-20. 

TOWARDS the end of November, 1858, Henry George 
arrived at San Francisco from Victoria "dead broke." 
And now commenced a stretch of years notable for a rest 
less pitching about, with shifting scenes of prosperity and 
adversity—years, though, that showed progress, if irregu 
lar and jolting. 

This period opened with soft sunshine, for as the im 
pecunious youth walked the streets, meeting only strange 
faces and getting only rebuffs when he applied for work, 
and when his mind had again turned to the sea as a means 
of livelihood, he came face to face with David Bond, a 
compositor whom he had known at King & Baird's print 
ing house in Philadelphia. Learning of his plight, Bond 
took him to Frank Eastman's printing office and got him 
employment to set type. The next letter home breathed 
of prosperity. To his Sister Jennie (December 6) he 
said: 

"I am at present working in a printing office and 
am, therefore, busy all day, and the evenings I spend 
in reading, unless (as is often the case) I go to see 
Ellie George. 

"After being deprived of reading for such a time, 

83 

 84 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1858-1859 

it is quite delightful to be able to read as much as I 
wish. In the house in which I am stopping there is a 
good library, which to me is one of its prominent at 
tractions. 

"I am glad that you are so nearly through school. 
How would you like to come out here and teach ? Teach 
ers here get very good pay, the lowest—the A, B, C, 
teachers—getting $50 per month; the principals, $200. 
Ellie George gets $100 a month. Lady's board costs 
from $25 to $30 per month. 

"Women are sadly wanted here. In Victoria there 
are hardly any, and you can plainly see the effects of 
the absence of women on society at large. 

"I have few acquaintances either here or in Victoria' 
—I mean boys or men. Don't on any consideration 
think I have thought of girls, for I haven't seen one to 
speak to, save those I told you about, since I left Phila 
delphia. But I suppose in some respects it is much bet 
ter, as I spend less money. 

"I am boarding now, and have been for these past 
two weeks in the 'What Cheer House/ the largest, if 
not the finest, hotel in the place. I pay $9 per week 
and have a beautiful little room and first rate living. 

"I get $16 per week the way I am working now, but 
will soon strike into something that will pay me bet 
ter. . . . 

"I suppose you have all grown somewhat since I left. 
I have not changed much, except that I am even 
uglier and rougher looking. You thought I looked hard 
when I came home from Calcutta, but you should have 
seen me in Victoria! 

"How I should like to be home to-night, if only for 
an hour or two. 

"Give my love and respects to all. I would write to 
them if I wasn't so lazy. (You see I call things by 
their right names once in a while.) 

"So good-bye my dear sister. I will write you a 
longer letter when I feel more like it. 

"Your affectionate brother, 

"H. GEOEGE." 

 Age, 19-20] GRANT AT THE SAME HOUSE 85 

"P. S. Wouldn't that signature look nice at the bot 
tom of a check for $1,000—that is, if I had the money 
in the bank." 

Four years before young George wrote this letter a 
young man of thirty-two named Ulysses S. Grant had for 
a short time slept in an attic room in this same hotel, the 
"What Cheer House." He had come down from Ft. Van 
couver, Columbia Eiver, where, utterly disgusted with him 
self and the life he was leading, he had resigned from a 
captaincy in the United States Army, and was, when in San 
Francisco, trying to make his way eastward with a view 
to going into business or farming. Fame was to claim 
him in the rapidly approaching events. 

The "What Cheer House" still stands and is doing busi 
ness, though in a humble way. In the fifties it was the 
best house of its kind in the city. A temperance hotel, 
and a model of propriety and cleanliness, it was for the 
accommodation of men entirely. No women were ever 
received and not one was engaged on the premises. It 
was established by R. B. Woodward, a New Englander, 
who from its proceeds founded Woodward's Gardens, fa 
mous all over the Pacific Coast for more than two decades 
as a beautiful pleasure resort, containing a menagerie, a 
museum, a theatre, an art gallery, an aquarium and a 
variety of other attractions. One of the distinguishing 
features of this house was a little library, numbering sev 
eral hundred volumes, well selected, and among them some 
economic works. Hon. James V. Coffey, who twelve or 
fourteen years later became an intimate friend of Henry 
George's, questioning him as to where he had during his 
busy life found time and books to read, was told that his 
solid reading was begun in this little library, while stay 
ing at the "What Cheer House" and at intervals following: 

 86 LIFE OP HENKY GEOKGE [1858-1859 

"Mr. George told me that he spent much of his time 
when out of work in that little room and that he had 
read most of the books. That, he said, was the first 
place he saw Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations/ though 
I cannot remember that he said he read it then. In 
deed, in his last writings, he has said that he did not 
read a line of Adam Smith until long after this period." 

This new state of things gave Richard George, the 
father, undisguised satisfaction. He wrote (January 
19, 1859): 

"I rejoice to find that you are doing so well. You 
now see the propriety of a young man just starting in 
life having some trade to fall back on in time of need, 
and you will say, 'Pop was right, not only in this, but 
in many other things in which I dissented.' 

"However, so far God has ordered all things well, and 
my earnest and sincere prayer is that he may still watch 
over you until he brings all at last to his eternal King 
dom. ... 

"My dear boy, let me say again to 37ou: Be careful 
and nurse your means; lay up all you can and owe no 
man anything and you will be safe. Do not let others 
entice you. Act on your own judgment, and I hope 
and trust before I am called hence, to see you return 
prosperous and happy, which may God grant." 

His mother took up another matter (February 2) : 

"I am very glad you have left Victoria and have 
some of the comforts of life, and sorry to hear that 
Ellen is going there. I should not think that Jim 
would want her until he could make things more com 
fortable, and the people were more civilised—better so 
ciety, a few of her own sex, at least. But this, you say, 
is what they want—women. Ellen will be a star of the 
first magnitude. Then I hope she will persuade others 
to go with her—some that have husbands there. Then 

 Age, 19-201 NEED OP WOMEN'S SOCIETY 87 

there will soon be a better state of things. A writer of 
great celebrity has said: 'All men that avoid female 
society have dull perceptions and are stupid, or have 
gross tastes and revolt against what is pure.' One of 
the great benefits a man may derive from wonlen's so 
ciety is that he is bound to be respectful to them. The 
habit is of great good to your moral man. There is 
somebody to whom he is bound to be constantly atten 
tive and respectful. Moreover, this elevates and refines 
him. 

"What will you do without Ellen and the children? 
. . . Have you made no other acquaintances? Is 
there no other place you visit ?" 

Jo Jeffreys had a word of advice (February 3) : 

"After having talked with Ned Wallazz and Billy 
Jones for some three hours, I turn with great pleasure 
to the consideration of you, my very respectable and 
respected friend. 

"It was not my purpose to induce you to follow the 
legal profession, though I think you in every way capa 
ble to discharge its responsibilities with honour. I 
meant by what I said in a former letter to induce you 
to adopt some one particular employment to the exclu 
sion of every other. If you mine, do so until you have 
succeeded in your object. If you enter a house as clerk, 
stay at it in God's name. If you should unfortunately 
resolve to follow printing, follow it with all your abili 
ties and energy until there shall no longer be any neces 
sity for it. You will allow me to say that your great 
fault (and I think it is your worst one) is that of half- 
doing things, in this sense, that you vacillate about the 
execution of that which alone secures permanent suc 
cess and lasting fame. Few men are competent in one 
lifetime to win honour by more than one employment, 
and these few you would perhaps find were—unlike you 
—favoured by circumstances. 

"Now you are competent for any labour to which 
your inclinations may direct you. You are not compe- 

 88 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1858-1859 

tent to succeed at a dozen employments, nor can you 
hope to amass a fortune by labouring at them alter 
nately. If you live on as you are doing now, why, you 
will live on; you will earn sufficient to maintain you in 
comfort, but that is all. You can hardly hope by min 
ing one month, by printing the next, and by serving 
in a clerkship a third, ever to arrive at a competence. 

"Why you do this is evident. You are dissatisfied, 
either because you are not advancing or for trivial rea 
sons, and then you undertake something different. Now 
you cannot expect to avoid unpleasant things, and you 
cannot expect to jump on a fortune, like a waif thrown 
away by a thief in his flight. Success is the reward 
of long exertion, not the triumph of a momentary en 
ergy. It is the crown for which, like Cromwell, you 
must struggle long and well. It is like happiness here 
after, only to be obtained by patient and continued ser 
vitude. . . . 

"I wish I could make you feel as I do. You wouldn't 
then complain in after life (as you will do without you 
adopt my opinions) of the caprice and the wanton vacil 
lation of Fortune's Goddess. . . . 

"I recognise the difficulties of your position and how 
you are situated, and am aware that you are not at 
liberty to strike out into anything, as you were here. 
But do the best you can. Take my advice wherever 
it's possible to do it; I mean that which respects your 
employment and notwithstanding other embarrassing 
difficulties." 

But notwithstanding Jo Jeffreys' counsel, a change 
quickly came, for business becoming slack at Eastman's 
and the other printing houses, George was unable to fol 
low his trade. But refusing to remain idle, he obtained 
a position of weigher in the rice mill of Waite & Battles, 
on Fremont Street, near Mission. He wrote home (Feb 
ruary 16, 1859): 

"I am still in the rice mill and like it very well. I 

 Age, 19-20] WEIGHER IN A EICE MILL 89 

shall stay, of course, until I am sure I can make a 
change for the better. I have to get up pretty early 
though, and consequently retire early. Indeed, you 
would be pleased to see what regular hours I keep. For 
months past 10 o'clock has invariably seen me in bed, 
for I have no friends here, and neither the disposition 
nor the money to go.to the theatre or other places of 
amusement. 

"Everything is still very dull, but the late rains, by 
increasing the gold yield, will tend to make times 
better." 

Soon after this George Wilbur came down from Vic 
toria and Henry George and he went to room together. 
First they lived in Natoma Street, then one of the quiet 
residence portions of the city. Afterwards they roomed" 
on Pine Street, Henry George taking his meals at the 
"What Cheer House." Mr. Wilbur says of his companion 
at this period: 

"Very soon after our acquaintance I discovered that 
he was studious and eager to acquire knowledge, and 
when we came to room together I frequently woke up 
at night to find him reading or writing. If I said: 
'Good heavens, Harry, what's the matter? Are you 
sick?' he'd tell me to go to sleep or invite me to get 
dressed and go out for a walk with him. A spin around 
for a few blocks would do and then we'd get to bed 
again. I never saw such a restless human being." 

That Henry George was in other ways restless was clear 
enough. His active, energetic nature' would doubtless 
have made him restless anywhere, but in California the 
conditions were peculiarly conducive to it, for it was a 
country where thousands of active, independent young 
men like himself were opening up the richest mineral 
region, in the world; a country which, within twenty years 

 90 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1858-1859 

from the first gold discovery in 1848, was to yield $800,- 
000,000 of the precious metal.1 "California," he wrote 
to his Sister Caroline in January, "is sadly in want of 
missionaries and I think it would he a good notion for 
the Sunday school to send a few out, provided they he 
gold-fever proof." As shown by his Frazer Eiver adventure, 
Henry George himself was not "gold-fever proof"; and 
now he kept thinking of the stories of fortune that were 
coming in from the California mines, and he talked with a 
young Philadelphian, Freeman A. Camp, who came to see 
him at the "What Cheer House," as to the chances they 
would have there. His mother, doubtless perceiving what 
was floating through his mind, wrote (March 3) : 

"Are you getting lazy? You do not write as long 
letters as you used to, nor tell us much when you do 
write. You change your business so often I should 
think you would have a great deal to tell. Remember, 
everything that concerns you will interest us. ... 
I suppose the old proverb does not apply in California: 
'A rolling stone,' etc. Be that as it may, we will re 
joice when you are settled." 

Two weeks later (March 17) his mother again wrote: 

"I am sorry Ellie has left you, though it is all right; 
she certainly should be with her husband. I hope you 
have found some acquaintances among her friends, 
where you can go and spend a social evening. I don't 
believe in living without society, and least of all female 
society. And here I know you will have to be careful, 
for if the women are not of the right stamp, instead 
of elevating and refining you, they may prove your 
ruin. I like your early hours, but not your lonely ones. 
You should have a few good friends. Here, as in all 
other anxieties concerning you, I can only breathe the 
prayer: 'My Father, be thou the guide of his youth.'" 

i Hittell's "History of California," Vol. III. p. 160. 

 Age, 19-20] OFF FOR THE MINES 91 

But even if her son had the disposition to keep steadily 
at work, the rice mill gave indications of temporarily clos 
ing down. In April he wrote to his Sister Caroline: 

"We have not been very busy at the mill lately, ex 
cept for a day or two at a time; but this does not make 
much difference to me, as I have to stay there whether 
busy or not. I generally get up about 6 A.M., go to the 
hotel and take breakfast, and from there to the mill. I 
come up again at about half past six in the evening, 
eat supper, go into the library and read until about 9 
P.M., when I come up to the room and write or think 
for an hour or two and then turn in. A pretty quiet 
way of living; but there is no telling what will turn 
up next." 

And what did "turn up next" was anything but quiet, 
for the rice mill closing down, he was thrown out of work, 
and he started off into the interior of the State for the 
mines. 

The day had passed when more than the occasional man 
could find some overlooked and unappropriated spot on 
river bed or bar, where, with no more equipment than 
shovel, pick and pan, he could draw forth any consider 
able amount of the precious metal. Though the gold- 
bearing region of California, including the northern mines 
and the southern mines, extended from Mt. Shasta to Mt. 
Whitney and embraced an area approximately as great as 
England's territory, every river bank, bar or bed giving 
the slightest indication of gold had been worked over and 
over. The nature of mining then became different. 
From "wet diggings" in the river channels, operations 
had turned to "dry diggings" in arid ravines, hill slopes 
and elevated flats; which led to "coyote-hole" mining (bur 
rowing into the side of hills or boring wells); to "hydrau 
lic mining" (the concentration of a powerful column of 

 92 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [185&-1859 

water against a hill or mountain side so as to wash the 
gravel or "pay dirt" down through the sluice box or 
strainer); and lastly to "quartz mining," with its shafts 
and tunnels, stamp mills and heavy machinery. Gold min 
ing, therefore, had changed its aspect, so that the average, 
common man could no longer expect to find, except occa 
sionally, places unappropriated, where, with no special 
knowledge, or special appliances or other capital, he could 
find any considerable amount of the precious metal or 
where he could "dig" and "wash out" even ordinary 
"wages." 

What drew most gold seekers, and what drew Henry 
George, into the mining regions was not so much the hope 
of mining in itself as of "prospecting" or "locating a 
claim"—finding on the unworked and unappropriated 
lands places that would yield to the newer processes the 
precious metal in quantities sufficient to pay for the work 
ing. Such a claim might be sold to or worked on shares 
by others who had the skill and capital, so that as soon 
as the rumour of a rich discovery had spread, multi 
tudes of "prospectors" came rushing to the locality, eager 
to "stake off claims." The prospector was, therefore, 
essentially one who roamed from place to place at the 
beck of the Golden Goddess; and since she was whimsical 
and beckoned hither and thither, the prospector was al 
ways on the move. 

There are no clear evidences as to what locality Henry 
George had set his hopes on, though the probabilities are 
that hearing in San Francisco confusing reports from a 
hundred different points, he concluded to strike off for 
some nearer and more advantageous centre, there to deter 
mine to which particular mining spot to go; and it seems 
likely that his first objective point was Placerville, for 
merly known as "Hangtown," and before that as "Dry 

 Age, 19-20] FAKM HAND AND TEAMP 93 

Diggings." For Placerville had not only developed rich 
finds in its immediate vicinity, but in some instances large 
treasure was found by digging into the very ground on 
which its cabins and houses stood. Moreover, it was on 
the old emigrant route from the East and the road from 
the Carson River to the Sacramento valley; and with its 
stores, hotels and saloons, was a place of recreation and 
supply for all that region of the Sierras. 

To purpose to go to the mines was one thing; to get 
there was another, but young George was determined. 
"Having no other way of reaching them," he said subse 
quently,1 "I started out to walk. I was, in fact, what 
would now be called a tramp. I had a little money, but 
I slept in barns to save it and had a rough time gener 
ally." But soon he had to spend his money, and then 
though slight in build and never what would be called 
muscular, he was forced to do farm work and other manual 
labour to keep himself alive. He had got some distance 
towards the mines, but for sheer want of living neces 
saries, could go no farther; and with great toil, and some 
real suffering, he worked his way back to San Francisco. 

This covered a period of nearly two months—for physi 
cal labour the hardest two months in all his life—during 
which time he seems not to have written a single letter 
home. While he was in the mountains, the Currys had 
written of an opportunity to set type on the "Statesman," 
in Portland, with pay according to competency; but when 
he had got back to San Francisco the time to accept had 
passed. Then it was that he learned of the death at Vic 
toria of his sincere friend, Ellen George, and this news, 
taken with the experience just closed and a poor cut-look 
for work in San Francisco, depressed his spirits, though 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 94 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1858-1859 

he tried to write cheerfully home to his Aunt Mary (June 
17): 

"Jim George has gone up to Victoria again, but will 
be down as soon as he can settle up his business, which 
will probably be in two or three weeks. The children 
are here going to school; they are in the best health 
and spirits. 

"We are enjoying splendid weather, just warm enough, 
though for the last few days it has been quite hot, re 
minding one of the summers at home. For some time 
past we have had plenty of green peas, strawberries 
and all the early summer vegetables and fruits. In 
ten or fifteen years this will be one of the greatest fruit 
countries in the world, for fruit trees are yearly being 
set out by the thousand and grape vines by the million. 

"I am doing nothing just now, but expect to go to 
work next week. I have given up all idea of going to 
the mines. 

"Frazer Eiver seems to have given out at last, and 
every steamer that comes down is filled with miners. 
The rich deposits of a month or two ago appear to have 
been without foundation. 

"I must bring my letter to a sudden close, for the 
clock has struck eleven, and I will just have time to 
get down to the post office to mail this. I intended 
to write a longer letter, but coming up here I stopped 
to look at the operation of moving a house, which must 
have consumed more time than I was aware of. The 
way they raise, lower, and pull big houses around the 
city here is astonishing." 

He had, indeed, given up all hope of going to the 
mines and also pretty much all hope of remaining ashore, 
where there seemed to be no work for him and no future. 
Thoughts of the sea came back in a flood tide. They 
ranged along the line of ocean heroes, and he asked him 
self why he should not follow that calling and rise to 

 Age, 19-20] PASTING OP THE WATS 96 

fame? He was thinking earnestly of this, and stood aC 
the parting of the ways, when his career was decided as 
if by accident. For the second time David Bond, through 
a chance meeting, offered a kindly service and obtained1 
for his young friend a position as compositor—this time 
on the weekly "Home Journal" owned by Joseph C. Dun- 
can. Thought of a career at sea never returned. 

Printer's wages in California were at that time still 
high, the union rate for piece work being seventy-five cents 
a thousand ems and for time work to the average man, 
thirty dollars a week. But as George was still a minor, 
he got only a boy's pay for work in the regular hours— 
twelve dollars a week. He resolved now to keep, if he 
possibly could, to type-setting until he should come of age 
and be qualified as a journeyman. When somewhat set 
tled he wrote to his Sister Jennie (August 2) : 

"You ask me about my studies. I am afraid I do 
not study much. I have not time and opportunity (or 
nearer the truth, perhaps, will enough) to push through 
a regular course. But I try to pick up everything I 
can, both by reading and observation, and natter myself 
that I learn at least something every day. My prin 
cipal object now is to learn my trade well, and I am 
pitching in with all my strength. So anxious am I 
now to get ahead and make up for lost time that T never 
feel happier than when at work, and that, so far from 
being irksome, is a pleasure. My heart just now is 
really in my work. In another year I'll be twenty-one 
and I must be up and doing. I have a pretty good 
prospect ahead and think that before many months I 
shall get into something better where I can make good 
wages. . . . 

"My time is now pretty well taken up. As soon as I 
rise in the morning I go to breakfast and then imme 
diately to work, which I seldom leave until nearly seven 
o'clock and once in a while not until one or two in the 

 96 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1858-1859 

morning. There are only three others in the office— 
nice social fellows—which makes it pleasant for me. 
I do not make much, but I am learning a good deal 
and think I have a pretty good prospect, so that I am 
quite satisfied." 

This contentment of mind was broken by news of the 
death of the dearest friend of his boyhood, Jo Jeffreys. 
Mrs. George revealed her sympathetic heart (August 18) : 

"I feel as though I must say something to you, but 
my heart is full of the one theme, poor Jeffreys, poor 
Jo. 0 I cannot tell you of the anguish I feel when I 
think of him, and I can think of nothing else. . . . 
The agonising thought with me is the uncertainty of 
his state. 0 had he time to call upon his Saviour; to 
say: 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner.' . . . 

"0 his youth, his bright mind, his sensitiveness, his 
love for you made me feel an interest in him of no com 
mon kind. I do mourn for him sincerely. I know 
your heart too well to doubt your grief. 

"Pop thought you would like to have a lock of his 
hair." 

By the same mail Will Jones wrote: 

"Poor Jeffreys has paid the debt of nature, unan 
ticipated and mourned by all. Brilliant in life, flash 
ing upon our vision as a meteor, and as a meteor so soon 
to be lost in the impenetrable gloom of night. . . . 

"We buried him at the Odd Fellows' Cemetery, in our 
lot there, the last tribute of regard I could offer. None 
of his family was there save his two brothers, who came 
on from New York to the funeral." 

Jo Jeffreys' death was a bitter and heavy loss. It 
snapped the tie of boyhood. Henry George's life from 
that time forward was the life of the man. In November 
(20) he wrote to his mother: 

 Age, 19-20] HAEPEES1 FEKKY REBELLION 97 

"For the past week we have had beautiful weather, 
and I have employed every possible opportunity to sun 
myself. The shortness of the days makes this almost 
impracticable, except on Sundays, when I generally take 
a long walk outside of the city. 

"There is nothing of any interest going on here now. 
Even the news of the 'bloody Harper's Ferry rebellion,' 
couldn't get up the smallest kind of an excitement, ex 
cept among the political papers. General Scott has 
returned from San Juan, and therefore, all danger from 
that quarter has ceased for the present. Even the in 
terior towns have for the time stopped burning down; 
so that, excepting the non-arrival of the mail steamer, 
we are left without even a decent topic of conversation. 

"Letters from the Currys are getting more and more 
like angel's visits. 

"I am still pursuing the even tenor of my way—work 
ing, walking, reading and sleeping. 

"Thursday is Thanksgiving day for us Californians, 
as I suppose it is with you at home. I shall try and 
observe the day with the usual ceremonies, and will 
think of home even more than usual. I hope you will 
have a pleasant time, and oh! how I wish I could share 
it with you." 

He wrote in this slighting manner of public matters in 
California doubtless to calm his mother's mind should 
she hear rumours from the West; for as a matter of fact 
most sensational events growing out of the slavery struggle 
there were crowding into this period. Only the year be 
fore the Supreme Court of the State had delivered a deci 
sion in the case of a negro named Archy which was de 
scribed as "giving the law to the North and the nigger to 
the South." And now, on the just past 7th of September 
(1859), after the most bitter and tumultuous political 
campaign ever held in California, the Lecompton, or pro- 
slavery, party swept the State. Bad blood raised during 
the canvass left many scores to be settled after election, 

 98 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1858-1859 

the most conspicuous resulting in a duel between David 
S. Terry, Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, 
a pronounced pro-slavery supporter, and TJ. S. Senator 
David C. Broderick, the foremost anti-slavery man west of 
the Eocky mountains. Eighty persons were present to 
witness Broderick get a death-wound and Terry go un 
scathed. Broderick was carried to San Francisco and 
half-hourly bulletins were posted before a surging and 
excited multitude. He was accorded a public funeral and 
his name became a rally-word in the anti-slavery cause on 
the Pacific Coast.1 

Henry George was not unconscious of such events; on 
the contrary he took a burning and apprehensive interest 
in them. His father's mind, also, was filled with appre 
hension arising from similar events in the East, for he 
wrote (December 3): 

"We have had a high old time with the Harper Ferry 
'rebellion,' (as it is called) and John Brown. The abo 
litionists are making all the capital they can out of this 
poor fanatic. He is magnified and glorified beyond 
anything human, and dies a martyr, according to their 
belief. It is having a great effect upon business, and 
has thrown trade into something of a panic. Our iron 
men suffer, I am told, on account of the Southern mer 
chants everywhere refusing to have anything to do with 
Northern men. What the result will be none can tell. 
I have always been of the opinion that this Union could 
never be dissolved, but if the present feeling is kept 
up and we do not get another Andrew Jackson for our 
next President, I fear I shall be mistaken in my opinion. 

"Brown was hanged yesterday at 15 minutes past 11 
without any disturbance. But the end is not yet." 

1 " Broderick and Gwin," by James O'Meara, pp. 225-254. Terry was 
shot and killed by a Deputy U. S. Marshal in 1889, when committing 
an assault upon U. S. Supreme Court Justice Field, growing out of a 
case iu which Terry had been committed to jail by Judge Field for con 
tempt of court 

 CHAPTER VII. 

SIX PRINTERS AND A NEWSPAPER. 
1860-61. AGE, 21-22. 

THE year 1860 opened auspiciously for the young 
printer. He was earning steady if small wages at his 
trade, and purposed not to be diverted, but to keep at it 
until he came of age in the following September, when he 
would qualify as a journeyman, and could then demand a 
man's full pay. To his father he wrote (January 4) : 

"Christmas and New Year's days were passed by me as 
pleasantly as could have been expected. The weather, 
however, on both days was bad, although fine both before 
and after. On New Year's day 1 took supper with two 
of the Shubrick's boys, and a friend of mine who like 
wise hails from Philadelphia. We had a very social, 
pleasant time, talking over our old adventures; anr! in 
the evening we went to the theatre to see Richard III. 
I have been to a play but three or four times since I 
have been in the country. I haven't much taste that 
way, and unless the performance is very good, I would 
rather be reading or talking. . . . 

"I intend to stay where I am until my next birthday 
—if the paper lasts that long—when I will be admitted 
to the Union, and to all the rights and privileges of a 
journeyman printer; and then to work as hard and save 
as much money as I can, and in a year or two to come 

99 

 100 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [isco-isei 

home, for a visit, at any rate. A couple of hundred 
(at the present rates of fare) would enable me to come 
home, stay a little while, and then come back, if it were 
best; and it does not take long to raise that if a person 
can get work." 

It may have been to this performance of Richard III. 
that Henry George referred more than thirty years later 
in life (February 4, 1890) in a speech in San Francisco, 
when, tracing the genesis of his thought on social ques 
tions, he said: 

"I remember, after coming down from the Frazer 
River country, sitting one New Year's night in the gal 
lery of the old American theatre—among the gods— 
when a new drop curtain fell, and we all sprang to our 
feet, for on that curtain was painted what was then 
a dream of the far future—the overland train coming 
into San Francisco; and after we had shouted ourselves 
hoarse, I began to think what good is it going to be to 
men like me—to those who have nothing but their 
labour ? I saw that thought grow and grow. We were 
all—all of us, rich and poor—hoping for the develop 
ment of California, proud of her future greatness, look 
ing forward to the time when San Francisco would be 
one of the great capitals of the world; looking forward 
to the time when this great empire of the west would 
count her population by millions. And underneath it 
all came to me what that miner on the topsail schooner 
going up to Frazer River had said: 'As the country 
grows, as people come in, wages will go down.'" 

Many times such thought was to recur and, as he said, 
"to grow and grow''; but just now a matter of very differ 
ent nature was to attract his attention. In a letter to 
his Sister Jennie (February 4) he referred to the newly 
discovered gold and silver mines in the Washoc moun 
tains in Nevada Territory, just over the California line, 

 Age, 21-22] A NEW THEATRE CUETAIN 101 

perhaps a hundred miles beyond Flacerville and not far 
from Carson. The stories coming in seemed incredible, 
yet this region was in the next ten years to yield $80,000,- 
000 worth of bullion, mostly silver; to make celebrated 
the "Comstock Lode"; and to raise to world renown the 
names of the "Bonanza Kings," Mackay, Flood, O'Brien 
and Fair. The letter ran: 

"Our library is closed for the present, as they are 
removing to a new building, put up expressly for the 
purpose, where there will be ample room. However, I 
have out a bulky folio—'Constitutional History of 
the United States'—so that I am well supplied with 
reading matter. Do you read much? What books do 
you read, tell me ? How I would like to read with you. 
We can hardly enjoy alone, and my list of acquaint 
ances contains hardly one who reads more than the 
newspapers. . . . 

"We have reports of several rich discoveries of the 
precious metals, but I hardly think much faith can be 
placed in them. From present indications there will 
be a great rush to Washoe in the spring. There is sil 
ver there in plenty—of that there can be little doubt— 
but still there will bo many disappointments. One thing 
is certain—you don't catch me running off anywhere 
until pretty certain that there is something to be made. 
I have given up the notion of mining—at least for the 
present." 

Other letters to and from home throw light upon events. 
From his mother (February 3): 

"I really think you are not doing anything more there 
than you would do at home, at least it amounts to the 
same thing after expenses are deducted. I hope when 
you are of age you will see it so, and conclude that for 
tunes can be made at home as well as abroad. We all 
say, as with one voice, when we get you home we will 
keep you. No more roving." 

 102 LIFE OF HENKY GEOKGE [1860-18S1 
From his father (April 1C) : 

"Mr. Brown has a letter of introduction to you. He 
spent last evening with us. I found him to be a great 
egotist, but he is an Englishman, and that accounts for 
it. Treat him politely." 

From Henry George to his Sister Jennie (April 18): 

"Washoe is walled up by snow at present, preventing 
both shipping of the ore and prospecting. In another 
month when it begins to thaw up in the mountains we 
will have some definite news from that locality. . . . 

"I am still on the 'Home Journal.' On the 2d of 
September next I will be twenty-one years old, and then, 
if nothing happens, I will have a pretty good thing 
(comparatively) and be able to make better pay. It 
is only four months off, and they will fly pretty quickly. 
. . . I don't expect to work at printing very long 
after I am of age. I will then have a chance to look 
around and get into something that will pay better. 
If Washoe only equals the expectations entertained of it 
by sober, sensible men, times will be brisk here this sum 
mer, and everyone will have a chance for 'a gold ring 
or a broken leg.' 

"Dunean the proprietor of the 'Home Journal,' 
bought an interest in a silver lead a short time since 
for a paltry sum which he could sell to-day for $15,000, 
and which, if it holds out as rich as the assay shows, 
will be an independent fortune. 

"I don't read much now except the newspapers and 
you are getting far ahead of me in that line. It takes 
pretty much all my spare time to keep posted on the 
current topics of the day. What a time we live in, when 
great events follow one another so quickly that we have 
not space for wonder. We are driving at a killing pace 
somewhere—Emerson says to heaven, and Carlyle says 
to the other place; but however much they differ, go we 
eurely do. 

 Age, 21-22] JOINS A METHODIST CHUKCH 103 

"I am invited out to-morrow evening to join a read 
ing circle, and if it don't rain will make my debut in 
polite society on the Coast. Would you like to see me 
make my bow, or hear me break down when I come to 
some hard word? But I will do no such thing. I am 
not as bashful as I used to be. ... 

"You 'do' some pretty heavy reading for a young girl. 
I wouldn't be so afraid of novels. A good one is al 
ways instructive, and your taste is sufficiently culti 
vated to allow you to like no other. I never read them, 
but then it is solely because I have not time and am 
obliged to take my mental food in as condensed a form 
as possible. 

"I have changed my quarters again, and am now 
rooming in the northern part of the town. I have a 
long walk to breakfast, but it gives me a good appetite. 

"I am sorry anything was wrong about X——'s mar 
riage. However, the more I see of men and things, and 
the more I examine the workings of my own heart, the 
less inclined am I to judge anybody else." 

It was at this period, that, urged on by his mother's 
strong counsel, Henry George pushed out to make social 
acquaintances. He won the friendship of two young men 
named Coddington and Hoppel, and through them became 
acquainted with some young ladies. Both of these young 
men were ardent Methodists—Hoppel an enthusiast, al 
most a fanatic, and he urged George to attend his church. 
The young printer had for several years inwardly shrunk 
from a literal acceptance of the scriptures, such as he had 
been taught at old St. Paul's and in the family circle. 
Roving had bred, or at any rate quickened a revolt, so 
that, though he said little to hurt the feelings of others, 
and especially of the dear ones at home, he had come to 
reject almost completely the forms of religion, and with 
the forms had cast out belief in a life hereafter. He in 
clined towards materialism. But the burning enthusi- 

 104 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [18«M861 

asm of Hoppel, even if it expressed in the main only 
personal magnetism, was contagious to a sensitive, sympa 
thetic nature; and George began to have new thoughts 
about religion. Drawn by this, and the desire to make 
acquaintances, he accepted Hoppel's offer, and went with 
him to the Methodist place of worship, where an upright, 
earnest, broad-minded man, Rev. S. D. Simonds, preached. 
Then the young printer wrote home that he had joined a 
church. Understanding this to mean more than he in 
tended to convey, the quiet circle at Philadelphia received 
the news with a delight that was only little lessened when 
they afterwards learned that it was the Methodist and 
not the Episcopal Church to which he had attached him 
self. His mother wrote to him (July 2) : 

"With what thrilling joy did we read your last letter. 
Good news! Good news! Indeed, so unexpected, so 
intensely joyful that copious tears streamed from my 
eyes; but they were tears of joy and gratitude. 

"Oh, how much better the Lord has been to us than 
we have deserved. How weak our faith, that God's rich 
blessings and overflowing goodness and sure promise 
should take us by surprise. I now desire to say, 'Bless 
the Lord, 0 my soul and all that is within me, bless 
His holy name. For Thou hast delivered the soul of 
my child from death, and his feet from falling. I will 
offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon 
the name of the Lord.' 

"Your father will tell you, too, the heartfelt joy with 
which he received the news. Not all the wealth of Cali 
fornia would have caused a tithe of it. We feel now 
that OUT boy is safe; his feet are upon the rock. Let 
the waters lash and surge, the trials and troubles of 
life come, he is safe as long as he clings to the Cross 
of Christ in humble, trusting faith. You know our 
beautiful hymn, 'Rock of Ages.' Turn to it if you have 
forgotten it. How soothing and comforting its lan 
guage ! With God for your guide, my dear child, you 
will be safe and happy everywhere. 

 Age, 21-22] COMES OP AGE 105 

" 'He that dwelleth in the secret places of the Most 
High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I 
will say to the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress; 
my God, in Him will I trust.'" 

On September 2, I860, Henry George came of age. He 
immediately joined the Eureka Typographical Union, and 
leaving his old boy's position, obtained work as substitute 
type-setter on the daily papers at journeyman's wages. 
This irregular work lasted but a short time. He soon 
returned to the "Home Journal" as foreman at thirty 
dollars a week, and allowed the use of his name as pub 
lisher. But shortly afterwards he wrote home that, the 
paper being weak, he did not know how long the posi 
tion might last. 

Up to this time frequent reference was made to a 
desire to visit home, but on the 12th of October, while 
he was yet foreman on the "Home Journal," Henry George 
for the first time met, through the offices of his friend, 
George Wilbur, a girl who was to affect the whole course 
of his career—Miss Annie Corsina Fox—the occasion 
being the quiet celebration of her seventeenth birthday. 

Miss Fox was an orphan who had just returned from 
a convent school at Los Angeles, California,which was then 
a pretty Spanish town. She was of Catholic faith, and of 
mingled English and Irish blood. Her father, John Fox, 
an officer in the British army, was of English parentage 
and Protestant faith. He was thirty-six years old when 
he married, in Australia, Elizabeth A. McCloskey, a strict 
Catholic and scarcely out of her sixteenth year. Miss 
McCloskey was one of the four children, two sons and 
two daughters, of Henry McCloskey, who was born in Lim 
erick, Ireland. His wife, Mary Ann Wall, born in Emus, 
County Clare, came of an educated family, having three 
brothers graduated from Trin-ity College, Dublin, two of 
whom had become clergymen in the English Established 

 106 LIFE OF EENEY GEORGE 

Church. She herself was a woman of refined and intel 
lectual mind, and strong, commanding nature. Henry 
McCloskey inherited an established business and was him 
self a successful man. He had the roving spirit and 
took his family to Australia and thence to California, 
stopping for a period in the Hawaiian, or as they were 
then more commonly called, Sandwich Islands. In Syd 
ney and in Honolulu the family lived in ample means, 
Henry McCloskey carrying on an important iron-monger- 
ing business, and deriving large profits from government 
contracts which were invested in real estate. He settled 
his family in California in 1851, and two years later re 
turned to build a railroad in South Australia, where he 
contracted a fever and died. He was then fifty-four years 
old and on his way to a big fortune. 

But before the family left Australia Major Fox had 
come to a disagreement with his wife's mother. She had 
urged the marriage, and when asked subsequently how it 
was that though staunch Catholic and intense Irish pa 
triot, she had consented to her daughter's marrying a 
man who was a Protestant and wore a red coat, the reply 
was that she had been "a mother first and a Catholic 
afterwards," and had given her sweet, gentle daughter to 
a soldier and gentleman who could protect her in the new, 
rough country that Australia then was. Discord between 
the gentleman and his wife's mother at length ran so high 
that he requested his wife to choose between them. Eliza 
beth Fox, feeling a stronger sense of duty towards her 
mother than towards her husband, chose to stay with the 
former. The Major then took his last farewell and they 
never met again. The young wife realising her attach 
ment for him after he had irrevocably gone, fell to griev 
ing, which brought on consumption, of which she died in 
San Francisco at the age of twenty-nine. 

 Annie C. Fox (Mrs. George) at seventeen. 
From daguerreotype taken in San Francisco, 1860. 

 I 

 Age, 21-22] FAMILY OF ANNIE FOX 107 

Teresa and Annie were the two daughters of this mar 
riage. Teresa had early shown a serious bent of mind, 
and at the age of eleven, while reading at her dying moth 
er's bedside, had formed the desire to become a religious. 
Hope of some day meeting and comforting her father 
confirmed her in this desire, so that at seventeen she be 
came a member of the Order of the Daughters of St. Vin 
cent de Paul, better known as Sisters of Charity, retaining 
her name and being subsequently known as Sister Teresa 
Pox. Many times in after years the sisters tried to get 
some word of their father, but in vain. He had left the 
army in Australia, and all trace of him was lost. Sister 
Teresa died of influenza in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 
C, 1899, after a service in the order of forty years to the 
day. 

On leaving school, Annie Fox made her home with her 
grandmother, who was now broken in health, and her aunt, 
Mrs. Flintoff, of San Francisco. The keen eyes of the 
grandmother apparently saw the trend of affairs between 
Annie and Mr. George, and though she was the kind of 
woman who could recognise and admire the quality of 
mind the young man exhibited, she regarded him as physi 
cally weak and endeavoured to divert the girl's attention, 
saying: "Annie, that Mr. George is a nice young man, 
but I fear he is delicate and will die of consumption." 
But the girl kept her own counsel. She was at that time 
engaged to a gifted and handsome young man, who had 
promise of a competency; but, under the ardent wooing 
of Henry George, a change of feeling came over her. 

Meanwhile the calendar of outside events was being rap 
idly filled. The remarkable campaign of 1860 ended in 
the victory of the new Republican party. Henry George, 
now of age, cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. A 
few weeks later, December 20, the State of South Carolina 

 108 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1880-1861 

formally seceded from the Union. E. S. H. George about 
the same time (December 19) wrote to his son: 

"Things look dark and gloomy; men seem dismayed 
at the prospect before them; they confess that they 
cannot see through the gloom. . . . Can it be that 
these United States, formed for the refuge of the down 
trodden and oppressed of the earth, shall be destroyed, 
and that that glorious flag which is their protection 
throughout the world shall be trodden under foot? I 
can't think so; no, never!" 

The minds of most men were charged with apprehen 
sion as the year 1861 was ushered in. The States of 
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana fol 
lowed South Carolina's example and passed ordinances of 
secession. On March 4 the passive Buchanan went out 
of office and Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President 
of the United States. 

At this time Henry George was adrift again. Duncan 
had sold the "Home Journal" and George turned to "sub 
bing" on the daily papers. For a time he considered a 
mining project of which he speaks in a letter to his Sister 
Caroline a year later (July 5, 1862): 

"A large amount of silver is coming out of Nevada 
near Virginia City and the amount of goods going up 
there is astonishing. One of the companies lately de 
clared a dividend of $1,400 per share. Their claim, 
however, is situated on the famous Ophir lead, probably 
the richest in the world. A company in which Charlie 
Coddington held some stock struck the same lead a cou 
ple of weeks ago, raising the value of shares to a price 
which will give him quite a nice little start, and which 
will make his partner rich, if he has not sold out. Hop- 
pel and I and Charlie were going to buy twenty feet 

 Age,21-22] SAN FRANCISCO "EVENING JOURNAL" 109 

together, when I went into the 'Evening Journal/ 
which knocked it in the head—I choosing, as I thought, 
a certainty for an uncertainty. At present prices that 
is worth $10,000 ($500 a foot) and if it proves as rich 
as Ophir, will be worth much more." 

The "Evening Journal" with which Henry George now 
became connected, grew out of a campaign newspaper 
called the "Constitution," which had been run in sup 
port of the Union party presidential condidates in the 
1860 campaign—Bell and Everett. Five printers—James 
J. Knowlton, Abel Gee, son of the Major Gee who was 
to keep the Andersonville prison during the war; John 
G. Smith, afterwards an Episcopal clergyman in Missouri; 
Anson C. Benham, and Freeman A. Camp—entered upon 
a partnership to revive the paper under the name of the 
"Evening Journal." They all were poor, but they agreed 
in addition to gathering most of the news themselves to 
put in what at that time in California constituted the 
chief item of expense in newspaper making—their print 
er's services—each man to give his entire time and labour. 

For telegraphic news, up to the time the "Journal" was 
started, did not occupy much space in West Coast papers. 
There was no wire connection with the East, and tele 
grams had to travel a long part of the distance on the 
"Overland Stage." But now a quicker means of trans 
mission was established in what was known as the "Pony 
Express." Two relays a week of fast pony riders ran 
over the fifteen hundred miles of prairie and desert sepa 
rating St. Joseph, Missouri, and Carson City, Nevada, 
to connect the Eastern and Western telegraph systems. 
But this was very expensive, and besides its infrequeney 
or intermittent nature, almost nine days were required 
for so-called telegraphic transmission from New York or 
Washington to San Francisco.1 Under such circumstances 

 110 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [iseo-iwi 

Pacific Coast newspapers did not carry much telegraphic 
matter, the columns being almost entirely filled with local 
news and comment2 and when intelligence of secession 
and hostilities began to come in from the East the general 
feeling was that these were only temporary things—mere 
ebullitions, or "flashes in the pan!" And its promoters 
believed that if the "Journal" could live the short time 
until peace and quiet should be restored it could then fall 
back on the local news and be on equal terms with its 
contemporaries. 

Regarding the new daily as a good venture, Henry George 
bought an equal share with the others for something over 
a hundred dollars—money he had saved while foreman 

1 The chief business of the Pony Express was to carry mail between St. 
Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California; St. Joseph being the western 
limit of the Eastern railroads, and Sacramento being connected with San 
Francisco by river steamers. The distance to be ridden was 1900 miles, 
going by way of South Pass, Salt Lake, Hnmboldt River and Carson Val 
ley. There were 190 stations at intervals of about 25 miles ; and 200 sta 
tion keepers, 80 riders and nearly 500 western native ponies. Postage 
was $5 for each half ounce. Carson City was on the way, and there tele 
grams were picked up or dropped. Hittell's " History of California," 
Vol. IV, pp. 266-268. 

2 For a time the editorial writer on the " Evening Journal" was John R. 
Ridge, a strikingly handsome man, whose mother was a cultured Connec 
ticut woman, and whose father, educated in Connecticut, was a full-blooded 
Cherokee Indian, a member of one of what were known as the Civilised 
Tribes. In later years Henry George wrote of him in " Progress and 
Poverty," Bk. X, Chap, ii (" Memorial Edition," pages 490-491). " I once 
knew a man in whose veins ran the blood of Indian chiefs. He used to 
tell me traditions learned from his grandfather which illustrated what is 
difficult for a white man to comprehend — the Indian habit of thought, 
the intense but patient blood thirst of the trail, and the fortitude of the 
stake. From the way in which he dwelt on these, I have no doubt that 
under certain circumstances, highly educated, civilised man that he was, 
he would have shown traits that would have been looked on as due to his 
Indian blood ; but which in reality would have been sufficiently explained 
by the broodings of his imagination upon the deeds of his ancestors." 

 Age, 21-22] SUMTER FIRED UPON 111 

on Duncan's paper—and agreed with the others to give 
his whole time to the enterprise. He wrote to his Sister 
Jennie (April 10, 1861) : 

"For the past week I have heen working very hard. 
I have hought an interest in a little paper, copies of 
which I send you by this mail. We are pushing in— 
bound to make it a paying concern or perish in the 
attempt (that is, the paper, not your respected brother). 
I think we have a good prospect and in a little while will 
have a good property, which will be an independence for 
a life-time. Then, and not till then you may begin to 
fret about a sister-in-law! 

"Since I came in the paper has been enlarged and 
considerably improved, and probably the next copies I 
send you will present a much better appearance, as we 
are yet hardly in the working trim. . . . 

"I am very tired to-night. • This working on a daily 
paper the hours that we do is harder than digging sand 
or wielding a sledge." 

On April 12 the astounding, news spread over the North 
that the South had fired upon the United States flag at 
Fort Sumter. Owing to the slow means of communica 
tion, this information did not reach California until some 
days later; but when it did come it produced an extraordi 
nary sensation. 

Henry George had invited Miss Fox out to walk that 
evening, and he was so absorbed that she asked the cause; 
and when he said, "The terrible news," and told what had 
happened, she exclaimed: "Is that all? Why, I thoughf. 
your dear old father was dead." He turned in astonish 
ment: "All!" he said in some excitement; "why, what 
could be a greater calamity to this country?" 

It was not to be wondered at that a young girl born in 
another country, and just fresh from a convent school, 
should, in San Francisco, far removed from the seat of 

 112 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE 

the struggle, not at once grasp the significance of events; 
but the family in Philadelphia thoroughly understood, 
Mrs. George writing to her son (May 20) a few days after 
the President had called out seventy-five thousand volun 
teers for a three months' service: 

"We are now, as it were, holding our breath; waiting 
for the news of the first battle. It is thought by all 
that it will take place in a few days at Harper's Ferry. 
O this horrible, calamitous and most sorrowful of all 
wars; when and what will be the end ? I firmly believe 
the Lord of hosts is with us, and the God of Jacob will 
be our defence. Though we have sinned against Him, 
He will not give us to anarchy and confusion, but will 
right our wrongs and make us again a happy, united 
people. O pray for this, my dear boy." 

His Sister Jennie (by same mail) wrote: 

"Mrs. Browning moves two nations with one song. 
Have you seen her last poem, written at Turin, I think, 
termed 'Mother and Poet' ? It is magnificent. It com 
mences : 

" 'Dead! One of them shot by the sea in the east, 
And one of them shot in the west by the sea. 
Dead! both my boys! When you sit at the feast, 
And are wanting a great song for Italy free, 
Let none look at inc.' 

"It is all we women can do—give up our husbands 
and brothers cheerfully. A great many we know are 
going, some your old friends." 

Later (June 10) his father wrote: 

"You cannot feel it as we do. All around is war 
like, and young men are crowding into the ranks of the 
forces being raised. Nothing now but the sound of the 
drum and the march of troops South. . . . 

"But, my dear boy, this is what I think I predicted 

 Age, 21-22] SOUND OF THE DEUM 113 

to you long ago. We are now approaching times and 
scenes such as never have been seen in these United 
States; and we old men have come to the conclusion 
that it is best that it should now be declared whether 
we are a National Government or not, that our chil 
dren may know the truth, and what they are to depend 
upon. 

"The new Collector has taken his seat and is cutting 
right and left. I feel that my time at the Custom 
House is short, and what to do I know not. Com 
merce is suspended, and I do not know to-night but 
that I shall be a pauper to-morrow. ... If I am 
discharged I know not what will become of us. And 
yet all I know are in the same boat—all on a par, like 
a ship at sea without rudder or compass. But blessed 
be God. We can and do look up to Him for guidance 
and deliverance. I feel satisfied that He will not leave 
or forsake us in this our time of need." 

The dismissal from the Custom House which R. S. H. 
George feared came soon after this. At sixty-four years 
of age, and when business was demoralised, he was forced 
to seek means of livelihood. His son Henry, in his 
prosperous periods had been accustomed to send money 
home, and even during the hard struggling months on the 
"Evening Journal" had sent a few remittances. When 
he heard of his father's threatened plight he at once offered 
to sell out his interest in the paper for whatever it wouW 
bring and send the money on. But the old gentlema* 
would not listen to this. He replied (August 3) : 

"Your kind letter was to me worth more than silver 
and gold. It showed me that my dear son far away 
from us was willing to make any sacrifice to help his 
parents in distress. And so with all my dear children. 
Surely my grey hairs will not go down in sorrow to 
the grave on account of the want of love and affection 
on the part of my dear children." 

 114 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [1860-1861 

He told his son that he had hopes of success in a ship- 
brokerage business which he and a Custom House asso 
ciate, who also had been displaced, intended to enter upon. 

A never failing complaint in the communications from 
home at this period was that there were so few and such 
meagre letters from California. There was ground enough 
for these complaints, for all connected with the "Evening 
Journal" had to work long and hard. In a letter to his 
Sister Caroline (August 19) Henry George shows this: 

"I am still on the paper—working hard to make it 
go, and as yet without any decided success. We are 
making now about $6 apiece per week—rather small 
wages you will justly think for California. But then 
they are slowly but surely getting larger, and I think 
the prospect ahead is worth some industry and self- 
denial." 

The little band of poverty-stricken printers pressed reso 
lutely on, with the earnest hopes of Henry George's folks 
at home. Indeed, the latter took so much interest in. the 
enterprise that when her brother had written that he would 
sell out at any price to send his father some money, his 
Sister Jennie had replied (August 29): "I hope you won't 
sell your share in the paper. It seems hard to think of 
your commencing all over again. We all cried when we 
got your letter; it seemed so hard on you." 

The bond between this brother and sister, always close 
by reason of congenial tastes, seemed now to grow more 
tender. By his encouragement, she wrote several long 
news letters from Philadelphia for his paper, and in her 
personal letters she constantly referred, with something 
like wistfulness, to the days that seemed long gone when 
they were happy children together: 

"Uncle Thomas took us all on an excursion Tuesday. 
... He told us that a number of years ago he went 

 Age, 21-22] WORK UPON WORK 115 

on a similar excursion to Pennsgrove and took you with 
him. He was very much amused with you. While you 
were eating your breakfast they gave you some very 
strong coffee. (I suppose you were not used to it.) 
All of a sudden you laid down your knife and fork 
with a very grave face, and they asked you what was the 
matter. You said quite soberly: 'Why, I do believe the 
coffee has flew to my head.'" 

A long letter to his Sister Jennie at this time (Septem 
ber 15) shows with some clearness the state of the young 
printer's mind: 

"I have been very dilatory about writing and more 
especially about answering the long letters received from 
you about two weeks ago, but now I will try to make 
amends for it, if I can. In the first place, I have been 
working quite hard, from morning to night, without 
any intermission, and it is quite a strain. In fact, to 
sit down and write after the day is over, is but a con 
tinuation of the use of the same faculties, which in my 
trade have been so heavily drawn upon during the day, 
and though I might at one time send you a few lines, 
yet I wanted to write you a good long letter, such a 
one as I used to write, and such as you sent me. Again, 
I have felt unsettled and worried about business, hoping 
that each day would make some change that I might 
tell you of; in fact, until a few days past, hardly 
knowing whether our paper would get through the next 
day, as I feared something would occur to bring it to 
a close, and in truth, feeling something like the sailor 
in a calm wishing for even— 

"'Storm or hurricane, 
Anything, to put a close 
To this most dread, monotonous repose!' 

"But the days have followed each other, and pretty 
much like each other, too, and nothing has happened— 
no prospect of war with European powers, no uprising 
of Secessionists, no appearance of the Sheriff's officers, 

 116 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1860-1861 

nor even of that individual with more money than brains, 
and an exceedingly strong desire to go into the news 
paper business in a small way, whom I have been hop 
ing would come along and buy me out. So we go. 
What a constant reaching this life is, a constant stretch 
ing forth and longing after something. But you know 
what Emerson in the 'Sphinx' makes his 'CEdipus' say: 

" 'The fiend that man harries 
Is love of the Best; 
Yawns the .pit of the Dragon 
Lit by the rays from the Blest.' 

And so it is—and so it will be until we reach the per 
fect, and that you and I and every son of Adam and 
every daughter of Eve, each for himself, knows we are 
very far from. 

" 'For the longing I feel is a part 

Of the hunger and thirst of the heart— 
The frenzy and fire of the brain— 
That yearns for the fruitage forbidden, 
The golden pomegranates of Eden, 
To ease off its hunger and pain.' 

"Truly it seems that we have fallen upon evil days. 
A little while ago all was fair and bright, and now the 
storm howls around us with a strength and fury that 
almost unnerves one. Our country is being torn to 
pieces, and ourselves, our homes, filled with distress. 
As to the ultimate end, I have no doubt. If civil war 
should pass over the whole country, leaving nothing but 
devastation behind it, I think my faith in the ultimate 
good would remain unchanged; but it is hard to feel so 
of our individual cases. On great events and move 
ments we can philosophise, but when it comes down to 
ourselves, to our homes, to those we love, then we can 
only feel; our philosophy goes to the dogs. . . . 

"In the meantime we eagerly wait the arrival of each 
pony. Twice a week it arrives, and from the outer tele 
graph station in Nevada Territory the news is flashed 

 Age, 21-22] YEARS FOB GOLDEN AGE 117 

to us in San Francisco. The last two or three times 
the news has seemed to me rather more encouraging, 
not so much by reason of anything that has been done, 
as by the evident determination of the loyal North to 
Bee the thing through. 

"I do not get much time to read now. In fact, I 
have read very little for eighteen months—hardly more 
than the newspapers; certainly not enough to keep me 
posted on the current literature of the day. How I 
long for the Golden Age—for the promised Millenium, 
when each one will be free to follow his best and noblest 
impulses, unfettered by the restrictions and necessities 
which our present state of society imposes upon him— 
when the poorest and the meanest will have a chance to 
use all his God-given faculties, and not be forced to 
drudge away the best part of his time in order to sup 
ply wants but little above those of the animal. 

". . . - I had a dream last night—such a pleas 
ant, vivid dream, that I must tell you of it. I thought 
1 was scooping treasure out of the earth by handfuls, 
almost delirious with the thoughts of what I would 
now be able to do, and how happy we would all be— 
and so clear and distinct that I involuntarily examined 
my pockets when I got up in the morning, but alas! 
with the usual result. Is it an indication of future 
luck? or do dreams always go by contraries, and in 
stead of finding, am I to lose? But the latter supposi 
tion will not worry me, for 'he who lies on the ground 
cannot fall far.' . No, I suppose I dreamed as starving 
men are said to of splendid feasts, or thirsty desert wan 
derers of shady brooks and spray-flinging fountains. 
'Lust for Gold!' Is it any wonder that men lust for 
gold, and arc willing to give almost anything for it, 
when it covers everything—the purest and holiest de 
sires of their hearts, the exercise of their noblest powers! 
What a pity we can't be contented! Is it? Who 
knows? Sometimes I feel sick of the fierce struggle 
of our high civilised life, and think I would like to 
get away from cities and business, with their ]"ostlings 
and strainings and cares altogether, and find some place 
on one of the hillsides, which look BO dim and blue in 

 118 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [inoo-isoi 

the distance where I could gather those I love, and live 
content with what Nature and our own resources would 
furnish; but, alas, money, money, is wanted even for 
that. It is our fate—we must struggle, and so here's 
for the strife! . . . 

"The days and weeks and months never flew so fast 
with me as they do now. Time we measure by sensa 
tions, and working so steadily, there is not room for 
many. I do not like my trade when forced to work 
at it so steadily—there is not action enough in it, hardly 
a chance for the movements of the mind. But it will 
not always be so. 'It is a long lane that knows no turn 
ing,' they say, and I hope the turn will come soon, for 
I really feel tired. 

"It is harder for me to write to you than to anyone 
else. When I have business to write about I can sit 
down and spin it right off, but when it comes to writ 
ing home, I scrawl a few words and find myself lost in 
reverie, when I sit and think, and bite my pen, while 
Memory is busy till the hours fly away unnoticed. 

"I am glad Bill Horner and Jim Stanley have gone 
to the wars. I should like to see them. If I were home, 
and situated as they are, I would go, too. Not that I 
like the idea of fighting my countrymen—not that I 
think it is the best or pleasantest avocation, or that the 
fun of soldiering is anything to speak of; but in this 
life or death struggle I should like to have a hand. If 
they die, they will die in a good cause; and if they 
live, they will always feel prouder and better when this 
time is mentioned than if they had remained safely at 
home while others faced the danger and did the work. 
I have felt a great deal like enlisting, even here, and 
probably would have done so, had I not felt that my 
duty to you all required me to remain, though I did 
not, and do not, think our volunteers are really needed 
or will do any fighting that will amount to anything; 
but I should like to place my willingness on record, and 
show that one of our family was willing to serve his 
country. We cannot tell. It may be my duty yet, 
though I sincerely hope not. 

"I never hear from the Currys now, except through 

 Age, 21-22] CLOTHES IN BAGS 119 

the medium of your letters, and at present there is no 
probability of my going up there. . . . 

"We have been having our ustml fine summer, but the 
rainy season will soon set in and then we will make up 
for it. Eain is a very nice thing once in a while, but 
when it gets into the habit of coming down for a month 
at a time, you almost cease to appreciate it, and would 
be willing to have it change to snow. It is very little 
colder, however, in winter than in summer, and I wear 
precisely the same clothing the year round. . . . 

"I have been some time writing this much, but I think 
we will be able to make arrangements that will place 
us in a better position. As soon as they are completed 
I will write, probably in a day or two." 

The "arrangements" that the young printer spoke of 
which should place those on the "Evening Journal" in a 
better position could not have been completed, or being 
completed, could not have been of more than temporary 
duration, for in a short time all connected with the paper 
were hard-driven again. "I worked," said he afterwards,1 
"until my clothes were in rags and the toes of my shoes 
were out. I slept in the office and did the best I could 
to economise, but finally I ran in debt thirty dollars for 
my board bill." 

Miss Fox called at the "Journal" office with some friends 
one day at this period, after the paper had gone to press. 
Mr. George was the only person there. He was standing 
at a case in his shirt sleeves distributing type. On seeing 
the visitors, he hurried to wash his hands, brush and put 
on his coat and make himself presentable. He showed 
Miss Fox about the little office and presently pointed to 
a kind of folding cot, with mattress, grey blankets and a 
pillow, that were under one of the imposing-tables. When 
he told her that that was his bed, the young girl exclaimed, 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 120 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [iseo-issi 

"Oh, I hope your mother does not know of this." "Why," 
he replied, "this is nothing after a life at sea." 

What brought the crisis on the "Journal" was the com 
pletion of the trans-contmental telegraph in October. 
With the wire joining them to New York, Washington 
and all the East, the papers that were in the press asso 
ciation monopoly had so much advantage that Henry 
George concluded that for him to stay longer and fight 
at such odds would be worse than foolish. He expressed 
his desire to withdraw. Some friction had grown up 
between the other owners of the paper and so it was con 
cluded towards the middle of November, 1861, to dis 
solve partnership. Of this Mr. Knowlton, one of the part 
ners, has since said: 

"It was agreed on Mr. Gee's proposal that each of 
the six partners should make a bid for the 'Evening 
Journal,' and to write his bid, without showing it to 
the others, on a slip of paper, which was to be folded 
and dropped into a hat. Then all the slips were to be 
taken out and opened. The makers of the three high 
est bids were to stay in, and of the three lowest bids to 
go out. George, Camp and Smith were lowest, their 
bids together making, I believe, $800, or averaging some 
thing over $266 apiece." 

Even this sum—small, indeed, for the months of strain 
and privation—would have enabled Henry George to 
square his debts and have a little remaining with which 
to make a fresh start, but the instaying partners could 
not at once pay. In June he had written home that he 
had been "given a one-third interest in a gold lead in 
Butte County," but this too, had failed; so that when he 
went out of the "Journal" to look elsewhere for work his 
prospects were desperate. At this critical point in his 
affairs he was called upon to face one of the most import 
ant crises of his life. 

 CHAPTER VIII. 

COURTSHIP AND RUNAWAY MARRIAGE. 
1861. AGE, 22. 

MISS FOX'S family must have marked a change in 
the appearance of young Mr. George, who at first had 
dressed well, but whose clothes now, though neat, showed 
wear. The grandmother had died after displaying every 
sign .of tender care and affection for her daughter Eliza 
beth's children, orphaned as she felt by her unwise, though 
most loving interference. Matthew McCloskey, Miss Fox's 
uncle, had now become virtually the young girl's guar 
dian, and careful man that he was, he wrote privately to 
Philadelphia to learn something of the young suitor's an 
tecedents, which he found to be satisfactory. 

Matthew McCloskey shared his mother's force of char 
acter. He was one of those strong, commanding men seen 
at greatest advantage in pioneer conditions. In "Happy 
Valley," the section of the city in which he lived and 
owned considerable real estate, his word was his bond, 
and his conclusions in ticklish land-title disputes, which 
his neighbours brought to him to settle rather than go to 
law, had the respect accorded to decisions of court. And 
while a just man, he had the generosity of a courageous 
man, one night during the campaign of '60 going home 
in a passion because he had been unable to prevent a mob 

121 

 122 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [inei 

of Douglass Democrats stopping a Breckinridge Democrat 
from making a public speech; for though a strong Doug-1 
lass Democrat himself, he wanted all men to have a fair 
chance to be heard. Thus no man in his neighbourhood 
was better known or more highly respected. His house, 
a frame building, like many others at that time, made in 
Australia and brought to California in sections, was when 
erected one of the best in that part of the city. 

Matthew McCloskey took no exception to the character 
or possible abilities of young George, but his own nature 
was too masterful long to brook the same trait in the young 
man who came courting his niece. For the time he said 
nothing; while all unconscious, or careless, of smiles or 
frowns from such a quarter, the young printer was show 
ing in his wooing the strength of his nature and bent of 
his mind. He brought Miss Fox books, mostly of verse, 
and they had reading tasks together. One work used in 
this way was Charles A. Dana's "Household Book of Po 
etry," a large volume just published containing an admir 
able collection from the writings of the great poets of the 
language. The lovers read, memorised and discussed. 

One day Henry George said he had just heard his rival's 
love story, and that he thought the other man ought to 
have the right to press his suit, and that he himself ought 
to withdraw. The lady intimated that the other gentle 
man had few friends at court, whereas Mr. George was 
well represented. The young printer needed no further 
word of encouragement, and at all hours, early in the 
morning, at midday or late at night—for one hour was 
as pleasant to him as another—he came dropping in at 
the Flintoff's on Twelfth Street, near Folsom, until unex 
pectedly the storm broke and Matthew McCloskey, who 
came out that night to his brother-in-law's, told Mr. 
George that until he could show more evidence of pros- 

 Age, 22] QUARREL ABOUT MISS POX 123 

perity—for he was now out of the "Evening Journal," 
and indeed, of all regular employment—he should make 
his visits less frequent. The young fellow replied with 
spirit, and the two quick, hot tempered men would have 
come to blows had not Miss Fox, who had been the terri 
fied spectator of the quarrel, rushed between them. Her 
uncle, forgetting that his brother-in-law and not he was 
master there, ordered the young man from the house and 
forbade him ever again to enter it. 

Much of that night Miss Fox spent praying and next 
morning, December 3, 1861—a stormy, rainy morning— 
when Henry George came out, she said that she would no 
longer remain under the roof of either of her uncles, and 
had resolved to go to Los Angeles and accept a position 
as teacher in the school of the Sisters of Charity. 

The young man said: "If you go I'll not see you," to 
which the girl replied that since she could not stay with 
her relatives in San Francisco, she saw nothing else to do. 
The young man drew from his pocket a single coin. 
"Annie," said he solemnly, "that is all the money I have 
in the world. Will you marry me?" 

She gravely answered: "If you are willing to undertake 
the responsibilities of marriage, I will marry you." 

He told her when he came again later in the day that 
at nightfall he would send a carriage for her to the door 
inquiring for "Mrs. Brown" and that she should be ready 
at once to leave. All day long she sat in the parlour of 
Joseph Flintoff's house waiting for night and the car 
riage, while Henry George was off telling some of his 
friends of the matter, getting credit for two weeks' board 
for two persons, borrowing a little money and some better- 
appearing clothes than his own, and hiring a carriage. 
There was some difficulty about the carriage, for when the 
driver grasped the fact that he was about to take part in 

 124 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [m\ 

a runaway marriage, and that he was to get into the 
very thick of it by inquiring at the door for "Mrs. Brown," 
he declined, saying that he already had "a bullet in one 
leg" for participating in another just such affair. But 
he agreed to hold his conveyance in readiness at a discreet 
distance from the residence. Isaac Trump, one of George's 
Shubriclc friends, with coat collar turned up and soft felt 
hat drawn down, went to Mr. Flintoff's residence and 
asked for "Mrs. Brown." Miss Fox was ready, and fol 
lowed him out, handing him a heavy cloth-covered pack 
age, which from its form and feeling he afterwards said 
he thought must be boxes of jewels, but which to his aston 
ishment turned out to be the "Household Book of Poetry," 
and all the other volumes that Henry George had given 
the young lady, she preferring to take these to any other 
of her personal possessions. Presently Mr. George joined 
them and they proceeded to the carriage where the lady 
that Isaac Trump was engaged to marry was awaiting 
them. Eev. S. D. Simonds, the Methodist clergyman 
whom Henry George had been going to hear the year be 
fore, was to perform the ceremony. But he was out of 
town at that hour and would not be back until nine that 
night. The party, therefore, went to a restaurant to sup 
per. After the repast they walked to Mr. Simond's little 
Methodist church called the Bethel. The night was 
bright with moonlight, but wet under foot from the day's 
storm and when they came to a pool, Henry George lifted 
his bride-elect over it—a habit which the young man con 
tinued, at night at least, for many years. 

Charles Coddington and Mrs. Simonds, the wife of the 
clergyman, were waiting at the church. James George 
could not get there, but his newly wedded wife, Sophia 
George, came and brought his hearty good wishes. 

Miss Fox, a Catholic in good standing, would have pre- 

 Age, 22] MARRIAGE IN METHODIST CHURCH 125 

ferred her own church for the place of the marriage, but 
fearing the delay that that seemed to present, was willing 
to have Mr. George's Methodist friend, Rev. Mr. Simonds, 
perform the ceremony, though soon afterwards in Sacra 
mento she had Rev. Nathaniel Gallagher of St. Rose's 
Church give the Catholic sanction. Broad-minded man 
that the Rev. Mr. Simonds was, he voluntarily read 
the service of the Episcopal Church in which the bride 
groom had been bred, and which, as he said, "more nearly 
approached the Catholic" than his own short Methodist 
service. And in this way Henry George and Annie Box 
—the one twenty-two, the other eighteen—became hus 
band and wife, the ring being the one used at the wedding 
of Miss Fox's grandmother. 

When the ceremony was over Mr. George wrote out and 
Bent advertisements to all the newspapers; and the clergy 
man took down Charles Coddington's name as one of ihe 
witnesses. He then turned to Mr. Trump, who was to be 
second witness, but whom he did not know. "I. Trump," 
the witness responded. "I perceive that you do," said the 
clergyman, "but what is your name?" and it was several 
minutes before the reverend gentleman could be made to 
believe that the witness was not joking, and that "I" stood 
for "Isaac."1 

There was no honeymoon trip for this bridal pair; in- 

1 Six months later, (July 5, 1862) writing from Sacramento to his Sister 
Caroline, Henry George said: " Both friends who were at our marriage 
are now in the same fix — Ike Trump and Charlie Coddington (of whom 
I have spoken in connection with Hoppel). Charlie ran away with his 
girl, or rather Hoppel did it for him, and they had a queer old time. When 
I was in San Francisco I met Hoppel with a big revolver buckled around 
him aud he told me the whole story. Ike's girl went up to Marysville 
last week to be married to him, he writing to me to hurry her along ; for 
if she lost a day the new licence law would go into effect and he would 
have to pay $3 for the privilege." 

 126 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE 

deed, the young groom arose at five o'clock next morning 
to go out and look for work. This he found as a "sub" 
type-setter, and worked all day; and in the evening getting 
another chance, he worked that night until the small hours 
next morning. By irregular "subbing" of this kind he was 
able to earn enough to pay their board bills. After a few 
days, learning of an opening in Sacramento, the Capital 
of the State, he went up and got "subbing" work on the 
"Union," a morning daily, and earned good wages. He 
at once sent for his wife and for a time at least felt some 
sense of security, though adversity was soon again upon 
him. 

All this while the George family was without knowledge 
of what had happened, nor did any but his Sister Jennie 
even so much as know of the existence of Miss Fox. Be 
fore the crisis came in the love affair, and before he had 
drawn out of the "Evening Journal," he had written in 
confidence to his sister to tell her of his affection, with 
holding the intelligence from the others because he would 
not have his father and mother think that he would so 
much as contemplate the taking on of new responsibili 
ties at a time when they were down in their fortunes, and 
when he could do so little to help them—a time, indeed, 
when, under the circumstances, he could only with diffi 
culty support himself. His sister's reply, without date, 
bears evidence of great haste, and runs: 

"I felt a sudden choking, a sudden loneliness and 
jealousy, when I first read your letter. I have got over 
that now; and first of all, no matter what else I say, 
my advice to you is: If you really love Annie, you marry 
her as soon as you are able to support her. I have no 
doubt you are sure of loving her . . . though you 
cannot be too sure. 

"I am sorry she is a Catholic, very sorry. Be care- 

 Age, 22J 

THE NEWS AT HOME 127 

ful about that. You say you often talk on religious 
subjects; let them not be doctrinal points. The ground 
is dangerous to you, no matter how well balanced your 
mind may be. I know that our family will object to 
that, Ma especially; but still I do not think she will 
withhold her consent on that account. The great objec 
tion is that you should be married away from home. 
Do not, I beg of you. Come home and bring her with 
you. I will love her; so will they all, I know. 

"I love her already—at least I feel as if I had found 
a new friend somewhere by the name of Annie. I call 
her Annie to myself; her name is familiar to me now. 
. . . Marry her if you love her, for love is too pre 
cious a thing to be thrown away. 'For beauty is easy 
enough to win, but one isn't loved every day.' . . . 

"In the meantime do not forget me; do not cease to 
love me as much as ever, will you? There can be two 
places in your heart—one for Annie and one for ma" 

When he wrote in November that he was out of the 
"Evening Journal" his mother answered (December 11): 

"I see, my son, that you get the blues sometimes as 
well as other folks, and I don't wonder. I think you 
have had a hard time of it, but don't, I beseech you, 
ever allow that to prevent you from writing home. IJe- 
member, a whole household is made blue in that case, 
though they say they are not, to keep up the mother's 
spirits. Keep up your spirits, my dear boy. All will 
yet be well. I feel persuaded you will yet come out 
right. You know the darkest hour is just before day. 
I have always boasted of your happy, cheerful, encour 
aging tone. Never till late have I detected a shadow of 
gloom. Put your trust in God, my dear child." 

Then, owing to the disturbed condition of the country, 
mails accumulated, and there was a three months' silenee 
from California. When the mails resumed, a bunch of 
letters arrived together, among them one from the son tell- 

 128 LIFE OP HENEY GEORGE [iail 

ing of his marriage and one from his wife, for both of 
them wrote just after the wedding. Perhaps the folks 
were too happy on hearing from their son once more in 
those troublous times and too much astonished at the 
news that the letters brought, to think of deprecating his 
marriage. At any rate, the whole family united in a 
warm and earnest welcome to the new daughter and sister, 
and nearly all of them wrote messages of love by the next 
mail. His Sister Kate wrote (March 4) : 

"My new relationship never struck me so forcibly as 
it did last night at family prayers, when father prayed 
for his beloved son and daughter. Before we used only 
to pray for our dear absent one; now it is for our dear 
absent ones." 

The young couple had on their side waited with some 
thing like trepidation through the long months for word 
of recognition from home, and though neither spoke of 
it, both had almost settled down into despair when the 
bundle of letters came to hand, telling of the warm taking 
into the heart, and then the time slipped merrily along. 
But his mother and his Sister Jennie pleaded with them 
in every letter to come home. To her brother, Jennie 
wrote with a tender love (April 20): 

"There are a great many more things here to remind 
us of you than there are out there to remind you of 
us. ... Here everything is associated with you. 
We live the same as we did when you went away; in 
the same house, doing the same things over and over 
again, only each time we do them less light-heartedly, 
feeling that we are gradually growing older, that things 
will not always be so. 

"We had pretty nice times when we were children, 
didn't we? Yesterday I was forcibly reminded that 

 Age, 22] HIS SISTER JENNIE 129 

every one of us is growing older. You know it was 
Easter Saturday. Don't you remember Ma always dyed 
us two or three eggs apiece? Well, yesterday she did 
not dye one. She never thought of it and none of the 
children asked for it. 

"What nice times we used to have Christmas, too. 
How sleepless we used to be all night. You used to 
be up about 4 o'clock in the morning. 

"Hen, in the Spring we used to have such a time 
planting seed in our garden. What a handsome gar 
den ! Time has not improved it. It is the same little 
'snub' it used to be. We thought it was nice though, 
didn't we? Don't you remember Tom and Val used 
to plant things and pull them up about a week after to 
Bee if they were growing? 

"Tell Annie about Tom sitting in the air. I tell him 
that that one act is enough to immortalise and hand 
his name down to posterity."1 

The bond between brother and sister was never closer 
than now, as shown by his letter a couple of months later: 

Sacramento, June 5, '62. 

"MY DEAR JENNIE: We are having Summer at last; 
and hot enough it certainly is. I feel it more, perhaps, 
than I would otherwise from the fact that since leav 
ing Panama I have experienced no really warm weather, 
the winds which draw in through the Golden Gate, 
making San Francisco almost as cool in summer as in 
winter. But we are now living in one of the pleasant- 
est parts of the town—a square from the State Capitol 
—and surrounded by trees of all kinds and the largest 
growth, and roses in greater profusion than I ever saw 

l Tom George, the brother next in age to Henry, had been told that sit 
ting in the air was possible. So following directions, he procured one of 
the household wash tubs, filled it with water, placed a board across it, 
stood on the board and then told a younger brother and sister to draw the 
board away when lie leaped up into the air. He leaped and they pulled 
•— and then, of course, down he came and took an unpremeditated bath. 

 130 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1S61 

before. Aunt Mary would be delighted with this coun 
try, barring the floods. 

"A short distance from the house is the slough— 
formed by the back water of the American Eiver, which 
unites with the Sacramento at this point—a beautiful 
sheet of water on which we have a boat, and over which 
we frequently sail. In a word, we are as pleasantly 
situated as we could desire, but Annie will tell you all 
about how we are fixed. She will write to-night, being 
at the present moment 'amusing' herself by nursing 
a baby, the property of one of the ladies in the house, 
and of which I must in justice say that I have not yet 
heard it cry. She is a regular woman, and has all the 
notions and fancies that seem so strange to a man. 

"But while we are so pleasantly situated, 'Old Ad 
versity5 walks as close behind as ever. The Legislature 
has adjourned, as I told you before, and though the 
weather and roads have much improved, the Overland 
Mail stage has not yet commenced running. We were 
under the impression that it had started from the other 
side and the first budget of news would be here in a 
few days, but on Sunday a telegraphic despatch was 
received from New York dated May 2G stating that 
operations would probably be resumed in about fifteen 
days. This is disheartening, for to its regular arrivals 
we are looking for the revival of our business, which just 
now is unprecedentedly dull. The proprietors of the 
'Union' state their determination to commence to run 
two double sheets a week as soon as the Overland Mail 
resumes, which will give me all the work I care to do. 
But we have been expecting and looking for it BO long 
that it seems that it never would come. I am not one 
of those who love work for its own sake, but feeling 
what it brings, I love it and am happiest when hard at 
it. It is no wonder that wealth is sought by all means, 
good or bad, for it expresses almost everything. With 
it, it seems to me, I should be supremely happy (per 
haps that is the reason I have it not). It is but the 
want of a few dollars that keeps us separate, that forces 
us to struggle on so painfully, that crushes down all 
the noblest yearnings of the heart and mind. I do not 

 Age, 22] LONGING FOE WEALTH 131 

complain that no special miracle is worked in my behalf, 
that by none of those lucky windfalls which sometimes 
come to fools, I am enriched; but it really seems that 
strive as hard in whatever direction I may, the current 
still turns against me. But I will not believe that it 
will be so always. At any rate I will do the best I can, 
make the most of my opportunities, and for the rest 
trust to God. 

"Though I have a great deal of time on my hands, I 
do not think it is wholly lost. I employ it in the devel 
opment of cither body or mind, in rowing or swimming 
or in reading. Marriage has certainly benefitted me 
by giving a more contented and earnest frame of 
mind and will help me to do my best in 'whatever sta 
tion it pleases God to call me.' This is the only differ 
ence I can perceive. Annie and I are so well matched 
in years and temperament that there was no violent 
change in either. I feel no older, and my dear sister, 
I love you as much as ever, and I believe, long to see 
you more. But I am afraid it will be some time before 
we can get home, and in the meantime we want to try 
and get one of you out here. The fare will be reduced 
in some way or other before long, and when I once get 
on the train, it will not take long to find the means. I 
wish you were all here, I think you would like the 
country, or that we were all home, which would be bet 
ter still. However, we must hope on. 

"Every day the telegraph is in working order it brings 
us the news of the success of the armies of the Bepub- 
lic. I cannot help feeling regret that the contest will 
he over and the victories won without my having taken 
the slightest part in it. If I am East after the war is 
ended I will feel abashed among its heroes. If I had 
been home 1 would have gone if I possibly could, but 
here there was no chance unless one could pay his pas 
sage to New York, for those who were raised here were 
merely to garrison posts and fight Indians, though now 
a column is being pushed across the deserts to Arizona, 
though it is very doubtful if they will see any fighting. 

"What has become of Will Jones and Charley Wal- 

 132 LIFE OF HENKY GEOKGE [1881 

ton? You have not told me of them, but I suppose 
they are in the army. 

"Times must be improving now at home. The worst 
of the war will soon be over and then I think there will 
be a great revival. Considering the effects of the floods 
and the northern gold fevers, everything is becoming 
quite brisk here. 

"In future direct to the 'Union' office at Sacramento, 
and if 1 am not here my letters will be forwarded imme 
diately. I think, however, that I will stay here for 
some time, and if I get a situation within a short time, 
I will be sure to do so. 

"For the present I must say good-bye. Give my love 
to all. 

"Your affectionate brother, 

"HENRY GEORGE." 

"P. S. I have just received a call to go to work, so 
excuse my abruptness." 

And so the current of affectionate communion passed 
between brother and sister, when one afternoon, return 
ing from an outing for his early evening dinner, the young 
wife noticed that her husband was depressed and preoccu 
pied, that he ate little, and that when he spoke it was as 
with an effort to be cheerful. He went off to his printer's 
work as usual, but when he came home in the early morn 
ing she asked his trouble. He said that letters from home 
bore heavy news which he had withheld as she was to be 
alone during the long night hours. Now he was ready 
to tell her—his Sister Jennie was dead! He handed her 
a letter from his mother, and unable longer to control 
himself, broke into a flood of passionate tears. The letter, 
which was unsigned, ran: 

Philadelphia, August 7, 1862. 

"MY DEAR SON: Uncle Thomas has imparted to you 
by this mail the dreadful, heart-crushing news. God, 
I hope, has given you strength to bear it. After my 

 Age, 22] DEATH OF- SISTEE JENNIE 133 

first gush of agony, and I could think at all, my cry 
went up for my boy, Lord, sustain him in this great 
trouble. Oh, if he were here to witness the dying scene 
and weep with us it would not seem so hard. And then, 
dear Annie, your image came up with inexpressible com 
fort—a dear wife to sympathise with him, on whose 
breast he can pour out his agonising cry, tears to min 
gle with his tears. 0 I blessed God that he had a wife. 

"It is nearly two weeks since we laid our darling 
Jennie in the grave, and we miss her more and feel more 
desolate than we did at first. 0 every article, and every 
spot, and everything in the house reminds us of her. 
0 how we mourn our precious child. . . . My 
heart would hurst without tears. 

"I suppose Uncle Thomas gave you particulars of her 
death and the impression with her from the first that 
she would die. In her first conversation with me (she 
had been in bed several days and seemed to be easier 
and more quiet, her sickness at first being characterised 
by great restlessness and excessive debility by turns) 
she said: 'Ma, I want to see Uncle Thomas, and Dr. 
Goddard and Dr. Reed/1 She had just been telling Pop 
before 1 came in the room the same thing, mourning 
over her coldness and hardness of heart, and saying that 
she had not lived as she ought and that she was afraid 
to die, that her Saviour would not receive her and that 
she would not go to heaven. All day when I thought 
her easy and quiet she had been struggling and pray 
ing. '0 Ma,' said she, 'how everything earthly sinks 
into utter nothingness at the prospect of death!' I 
tried to comfort her (Pop could not command his voice), 
told her neither we nor the doctor had a thought of 
her dying, she would get well; but I said, 'Dear, Uncle 
Thomas cannot help your peace of mind; no earthly arm 
can give you peace.' 'I know it,' she answered quickly, 
'but I would love to have him talk and pray with me.' 
'Jesus alone,' I again said, 'is all you want. Simply 
look to Him; cast yourself upon Him, in all your sin- 
fulness and weakness, as you did, my child, when you 

1 Drs. Goddard and Reed were clergymen. 

 134 LIFE OF HENKY GEORGE [mi 

first came to Him years ago. He is the same precious 
Saviour.' I repeated the hymn 'Rock of Ages/ slowly 
and with emphasis— 

" 'In my hand no price 1 hring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling.' 

'Yes, yes,' she whispered. . . . 

"O then the cruel, crushing hlow came. I would not 
listen to any of them, not until dinner time would T 
believe my child was going to die. No, no, no; not my 
Jennie. Others might lose their children, but 0 no, this 
could not be. This rebellious spirit lasted some time 
after she breathed her last, though after the first out 
burst I was enabled to choke down the agony and ap 
pear calm until it all was over. She died peacefully 
and gently, as an infant just sleeping away. . . . 

"Henry, how her mind developed! It was too much 
for her frail body. She read too much—nearly every 
day at the library, besides bringing home books. 

"A piece of hair for Annie." 

After his wife had read the letter the young man, spring 
ing to his feet and pacing the floor, as was his habit when 
mentally roused, protested that he could not bring him 
self to believe that his dear sister was dead; and with the 
manner of sudden conviction, said that there must be, 
there is, another life—that the soul is immortal. But his 
words expressed his longing, rather than his conviction. 
Immortality he now earnestly wished to believe in. But 
the theology of his youth did not persuade him, and it 
was not until many years afterwards when pursuing the 
great inquiry that produced "Progress and Poverty" that 
he perceived the "grand simplicity and unspeakable har 
mony of universal law," that beneficence and intelligence 
govern social laws, instead of blind, clashing forces; and 
then faith from reason came and immortality became a 
fixed belief. 

 CHAPTER IX. 

SUFFERS EXTREME PRIVATION. 
1861-1865. AGE, 22-26. 

THE city of Sacramento, built on the sloping east bank 
of the Sacramento River, at the junction with the 
American River, is protected from overflows by a levee. 
For several weeks at the close of 1861 heavy rains had fallen 
throughout the State, so that the great Sacramento and 
San Joaquin river systems had over-flowed their natural 
banks, and in January, when Mrs. George was sent for 
by her husband to come to Sacramento, the rainfall 
amounted to twenty-four and one half inches, the heaviest 
monthly fall recorded in California. Under the stress of 
water, the levee broke and the low part of the city was 
submerged, most of the one-story buildings being entirely 
covered. Outside the city the entire country as far as 
the eye could reach, north and south, and as far west as 
the Coast Range of mountains was a sheet of water, the 
river course being told only by the tops of trees that grew 
along the banks.1 

The Georges at first lived in the old City Hotel on K 
Street, just around the corner from the "Union" office 
where the husband worked. One morning Mr. George 
sent a hurried message to his wife to get her lunch, that 

iffitteH'e " History of California," Vol. IV., pp. 294-295. 
135 

 136 LIFE OP HENBY GEORGE [1861-1885 

he would join her at once, for the water was coming. 
The hotel dining-room was on the ground floor, and out 
in the street had accumulated a small pool, and so rapidly 
did the water rise that before the hasty repast was over 
all in the dining-room were standing on their chairs and 
left the room on a bridge or pathway of them. 

But everybody was showing what is said to be an Ameri 
can characteristic—good humour in face of the inevitable. 
People abandoned first stories and lived and did business 
above. Printers in the "Union" office came to the City 
Hotel over roof tops. The members of the legislature 
moved about in boats, as did everyone else who could get 
them; and failing boats, used wash tubs, bath tubs and 
rafts. All things seemed to pass the hotel, and among 
them came a section of sidewalk bearing a man and his 
dog, the man on a stool, calmly contemplating the watery 
aspect of city and country. Bakers' ovens were early sub 
merged, so that for a time fruit cake in stock became a 
substitute for bread. Spirituous liquors were, also, for a 
time exceedingly scarce—a serious deprivation in a com 
munity, where, as in every new country, custom had made 
drinking of some sort one of the common marks of cor 
diality in daily social life. This afforded Henry George 
special opportunity for amusement. While on the "Even 
ing Journal" he had obtained from a druggist, who had 
no other way of settling an advertising bill, some toilet 
articles, and among them twelve bottles of "New England 
Bum," all of which he had given to Miss Fox, and which 
were sent to her with her personal effects by her relatives 
after her marriage. Mr. George now took the "New Eng 
land Rum" to his thirsty printer friends, and to his in 
tense amusement, they emptied the bottles in a twinkle. 
When Mrs. George heard of this she was in consternation. 
"It was not for the stomach, but for the head—a hair 

 Age, 22-26] FLOOD AT SACEAMENTO 137 

tonic," she said. One of the printers ventured to explain 
that what was good for the hair must be good for the 
stomach, and that at any rate the liquid had tasted well 
and had produced no ill effects. 

After perhaps four months' residence at the City Hotel, 
the Georges went to boarding and then to housekeeping, 
taking one house after another. They were so restless 
that in answer to an acquaintance's question afterwards 
as to what time of year they cleaned house, Mr. George 
jokingly said: "We didn't clean house; we moved, in 
stead !" In October of 18f>2 he wrote home to his sisters: 

"I have not written for some time—much longer 
than I should have neglected it; but I have been very 
busy all this time—busier than I have ever been before. 
1 have been working steadily and literally working all 
the time. Up to a couple of months ago I could not 
get enough to do, but since then the Overland Mail has 
been arriving witli great regularity, and I have not 
missed a day, except when I took a run down to San 
Francisco for a couple of days on business, trying to 
get the balance of the pittance for which I sold my 
share in the 'Evening Journal.' Had not my neces 
sities been so great I would not have worked as I have 
during that time, for no one can do so for any time 
and retain good health. But I wanted so much that 
I could not idle away a day on which I had a chance 
to work. But we are getting along very well and I 
will not do so in future. I have been making from 
$3G to $40 every week, and to do that I have had to be 
at work constantly, for the work on the 'Union' is 
what the printers call 'lean,' and every cent made is 
fully earned. I have not even read the papers; barely 
glanced over the outlined news each day, and on the 
one day of the week when T had any time to spare it 
has been so filled up with things that should have been 
attended to during the week and I have been so tired 
out that I have hardly had time to write." 

 138 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [mi-im 

On November 3 (18G2) the first child was born, a boy, 
who was named after his father. Added responsibilities 
made the young printer ready to turn his hand to whatever 
would bring him a living. And it happened that a young 
newspaper man named Samuel L. Clemens, who, under 
the nom de plume of "Mark Twain," had won a reputation 
on the Coast as a humourist of a dry and original quality, 
came to Sacramento to lecture. Another newspaper man, 
Denis E. McCarthy, acting as manager, hired Henry 
George to take tickets at the door. 

Close, hard work had enabled Mr. George to pay up 
pretty much all that he owed in San Francisco at the 
time of his marriage. Then getting some money ahead, 
he had, following the old infatuation, invested it in min 
ing stocks. But these stocks, instead of yielding dividends 
or even advancing in value, brought constant tissessments, 
which meant privation or more indebtedness, and fre 
quently both. He had in thebe mining ventures gone in 
with Isaac Trump, who was deeply interested in what 
was known as the Gettysburg and Swansea Mining Com 
pany, working a copper claim. The situation is explained 
in letters to and from Trump. 

Sacramento, October 12, 1863. 

"DEAR IKE: As you cannot come down and I cannot 
go up, I will write you as much as possible of my views 
and wishes about our investments. I don't want to 
bother you and will be as brief as possible. 

"It is now eight months since we determined to make 
our fortunes, and I am afraid, in spite of our sanguine 
hopes, we have failed. 'Hope deferred maketh the heart 
sick,' and that is my case, if not yours. From the hopes 
of making a big raise, I have come down to think if I 
can get my money back I will be in luck. I need it 
badly and want to get it as soon as possible. . . 

 Age, 22-36] SOME MINING VENTURES 139 

"I asked you the actual, cash value of my stock, and 
as you say nothing in answer, I suppose you consider 
the question already answered in your previous letter. 
In that you set down Swansea at $3 per foot and every 
thing else, exclusive of Banner and Gray Eagle, at $1. 
That would make the account about this: 

100 feet Swansea ................ $300.00 

100 " Pine Bark............... 100.00 

371/2 " Red Rock................ 37.50 

25 " Yorkville ................ 25.00 

$462.50 

The others, I don't suppose you count at anything. If 
this money could be got, however, I would be very well 
satisfied, you may be sure. I would be willing to take 
almost half that amount for everything. 

"You tell me to sell down here, but that is a sheer 
impossibility. The claims are not known here. If 
they wore Sacramento companies it might be different. 
As it is, I could only sell to one who would take my word 
for their value, which no one but a very intimate 
friend would do, and to such I would not sell in that 
way. I suppose it would be a like impossibility with 
you to get in cash anything like the figures you have 
named, but I suppose something could be got. 

"Outside of the Swansea I should like to sell every 
thing for whatever it would bring. I can't pay any 
more assessments without getting something back—with 
my liabilities it is impossible. Twenty-five or fifty feet 
of the Swansea I would like to hold. The remainder I 
want to sell. 

"The year is fast closing and prices are not likely to 
improve before another season. I am deeply in debt 
and I want to make another effort by Spring at farthest 
and think the sooner we realize what we can the better 
it will be for us. 

"I write you as well as I can what I think and want. 

 140 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE 

and leave you to act. If you don't want to sell, but can 
sell for rue, without injuring yourself, do so. 

"Yours sincerely, 
"HENRY GKORGE." 

Marysville, Nov. 8, 1863. 

"DEAR HARRY: I received your note a few days ago. 
I do not think 1 will be able to come down for a month 
yet. I cannot raise the money. Unless something 
turns up before Christmas I am gone in. T have gone 
everything on copper and now I see no way of extricat 
ing myself, unless I give up near all my 'feet.' Plenty 
have Swansea who will not sell at any price, and others 
again can hardly give it away. We are about giving a 
contract to sink a shaft 35 feet deeper. The majority 
of the company think it will pay its own way after we get 
down 10 feet farther. An assessment on the Swansea 
is levied—ten cents a foot, payable before the 20th of 
this month. 

"It is very uncertain about my stopping here any 
length of time, for I am very much discouraged and 
feel like starting out on the hills to prospect. I want 
excitement and think I could pet plenty of it on a pros 
pecting tour. I have a good locality in view where they 
have struck the richest kind of copper (so it is said). 
If I could only hold onto my stock a few months longer 
I feel confident I must come out all right. 

"Harry, the Swansea is actually worth $6.00 per foot, 
but people here have paid out considerable this summer, 
and likewise the market is over-stocked with 'feet,' and 
folks have been 'stuck5 so often that it is almost impos 
sible to get men to purchase in any claim no matter how 
cheap it is offered. If one offers to sell low they come 
to the conclusion it is a sell, no matter how good your 
prospect is. And so it is, and so it will be, so long as 
men will be found who are ever willing to swindle their 
fellow men for the sake of a few paltry dollars. If I 
had been mean enough to take advantage of parties 
who had placed confidence in me since I have been on 
the 'copper lay,' I could have come out considerably 

 Ago, 22-2SJ SPECULATOKS GO BEOKE 141 

ahead by this time. I do not regret acting honourably 
to them, but I do think there is a mighty slim chance 
for 'the poor whites' ever making anything by acting 
on the square. 

"I feel quite depressed in spirits, but nevertheless, I 
am determined to persevere and try it again. As Mc- 
Fadden said: 'It is a gold ring or a wooden leg.' 

"I have had sad news from home—a death in the 
family and my mother in poor circumstances. And to 
think I cannot send her one dollar at present! 'It is 
hard, but I suppose fair.' If I live, by the help of God, 
/ will come out all right yet. 

"My love to all, 

"ISAAC TRUMP." 

In the end—and the end was soon after the interchange 
of these letters—the mining ventures involved the two 
speculators in the loss of nearly all that they had invested. 
In his efforts to "get his nose out of the space box," George 
had been trying about this time to promote a project for 
a newspaper in the mining region of Reese River, but this, 
too, had failed, and the year was closing with him in 
what to a man in his circumstances were embarrassing 
debts. 

It had been a year of hard work and considerable worry 
with the young printer, affording little time for attention 
to occurrences beyond his own small sphere; yet two events 
of first magnitude engaged his earnest thought. On Jan 
uary 1, 18G3, President Lincoln issued his Emancipation 
Proclamation, which forever killed chattel bondage in the 
United States, and in the eyes of the world changing the 
issue from secession to slavery, gave the North new vigour 
for the conflict and cut off the South's hope of foreign aid. 

The other event that intensely interested George was 
close at hand. Leland Stanford, a grocery and provision 
dealer in Sacramento, had been elected to the office of 

 142 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1861-1805 

Governor of California on the new Republican party tidal 
wave. He was also president of the Central Pacific Rail 
road Company and on the 8th of January, 18G3, amid a 
crowd of people at the corner of Front and K Streets, 
Sacramento, he turned the first shovelful of earth in the 
construction of a railroad system which at that time looked 
puny enough, but which, under the extraordinarily ener 
getic, able and unscrupulous management of Stanford, 
Charles Crocker, a Sacramento dry goods merchant, and 
Collis P. Huntington and Mark Hopkins, Sacramento 
hardware dealers, was within the next half dozen years 
to cross the State, climb over the mountains, span the 
Nevada desert, and meeting the line coming from the 
Missouri River, join with unbroken track, the West with 
the East. The young hard-working printer took an in 
tense interest in what nearly everyone in the State at 
the time seemed to hail with applause. He may, indeed, 
have been one of the unnoticed men in the crowd at the 
initial ceremonies; but his mind beginning to open, ques 
tions were beginning to creep in, and he was before long 
to sec that the enterprise—and likewise every such enter 
prise—in private hands, must involve gigantic public evils. 
And taking a clear mental btand against this, thought 
was to expand to other and deeper problems, and at length 
bring the obscure type-setter into the world's gaze as a 
new champion of equal rights. But no outward sign 
of such thought was to appear for years yet. 

The first break in Mr. George's affairs at Sacramento 
was on the 26th of January, 18G1, after he had been 
working on the "Union" for more than a year. That 
evening, after the midnight lunch, he got into an alterca 
tion with the foreman, John Timmins, about some matter 
that does not now appear clear, and was discharged. He 
was too proud to linger around or try to get back, and two 

 Age, 22-26] FBDDLING CLOTHES WRINGERS 143 

days later left by steamer for San Francisco to look for 
work there.1 The day after his arrival in San Francisco 
he wrote to his wife: 

"Times seem pretty dull here, but I think I can get 
along. Anyhow we will try. I staid at the 'What Cheer 
House' last night. My darling, I don't know how much 
I love you until I am separated from you. I don't 
believe I could live without you. And the dear little 
fellow—how I love him!" 

The young wife, with the baby, at once followed her 
husband to San Francisco where they went for a few days 
to the old Oriental Hotel, then very much run down, and 
afterwards took private rooms. The husband was on the 
alert for work from the moment he had arrived. Nothing 
whatever presented itself until Knowlton of the "Evening 
Journal" suggested that he canvass for subscribers for 
that paper on a commission basis. Isaac Trump, pur 
sued by hard luck, had meanwhile come down from the 
mountains and was trying to see what he could do at sell 
ing clothes wringers, and he suggested that George should 
sell some wringers at the same time that he canvassed for 
the newspaper. George started out vigorously on the plan, 
but after five days of hard walking and talking through 
the suburban parts of Alamcda County, just across 
San Francisco Bay, he returned without having sold a 
single wringer and with scarcely more than half a dozen 
subscribers. Then he went to setting type on the "Even 
ing Journal," though the paper was in an obviously shaky 

1A few years later, when Charles De Young was about to start the 
"Daily Chronicle," with Henry George as managing editor, the latter recom 
mended Timmins for the position of foreman, saying that though he and 
Timmins had parted in ill-feeling, Timmins was an excellent workman 
and worthy of the post. Timmins obtained the place. 

 144 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE 11861-1866 

condition, and he had difficulty in getting his wages. In 
deed, the money due for his share in the paper sold more 
than two years before had not yet been fully paid him. But 
for a time no other position opened to him. He was now 
nearly two hundred dollars in debt, with no prospect of 
steady employment. However, one of the regular type 
setters on the "Evening Bulletin" being taken down with 
a serious illness, George received a call to the place as 
substitute and made good wages while the position lasted. 
In April he left the "Bulletin" and went on the "Ameri 
can Flag." A little later, having got somewhat out of 
debt, he and his wife took a little house on Russ Street, or 
rather the upper flat of a two-story wooden house, and 
paid eighteen dollars rent. A change came in the "Flag" 
office on October 18, when the foreman, Mr. Bradford, dis 
charged Mr. George for "claiming an advertisement." Next 
day the young man asked for a meeting of the "chapel" 
(the body of journeyman printers in the office), and after 
a hearing, was justified and under the typographical union 
rules was entitled to go back to work, but feeling that the 
foreman had taken a dislike to him, he concluded to re 
sign. This threw him back upon "subbing" and he worked 
around odd days and nights wherever a friend laid off and 
gave him a call. All during the year he had at various 
times been talking with first one and then another about 
newspaper schemes that would give him better wages, in 
the future if not at once, and a chance to do something 
more than set type. He talked of the Sonora "Eagle," 
and of starting papers at Silver Mountain, Susanville, 
and La Paz, but none of these schemes took form, and 
when Isaac Trump suggested going into a partnership 
with him and a skilled job type setter named Peter Daley 
in a job-printing office, he decided that that was the thing 
to do. 

 Aee, 22-26] VERSATILE ISAAC TRUMP 146 

Isaac Trump was a square, generous-minded man, of 
restless nature, sanguine temperament and great energy. 
With small schooling, he had a shrewdness and quickness 
of mind that adapted him to circumstances, and a love 
of mechanical contrivances that made him ready to turn 
his hand to anything. The ways that Trump had tried 
during the past few years to make a living were legion. 
He had learned the trade of gas fitter in his native city 
of Philadelphia, had shipped on the Shubrick for Cali 
fornia as coal passer, had attempted farming on landing,1 
had lived for a while by mending pumps and when that 
failed took to mending watches, though he knew little 
about either; had "gone broke" at mining, and when he 
had done a job of wall papering and the complaint was 
made that the figure in the paper was up-side-down, he 
admitted that that was so, but that he had supposed the 
job was to be done in "first-class Eastern style" where it 
had become the fashion to invert the paper! He had 
got a delivery route on the "Flag," but, sold it and now 
panted for a job-printing office, suggesting that he should 
solicit business while Daley and George should set type and 
do the meehancial work. The "Evening Journal" had at 
last died in June and its plant of type was lying idle. In 
December, 1864, George purchased some of this plant for 
the new business, agreeing to pay $400 and give $100 

1 In " The Science of Political Economy," Henry George makes reference 
to Trump's farming (p. 500). " On going ashore in San Francisco, a ship 
mate of mine, who could not tell a scythe from a marlinspike, hired out 
to a farmer in haying-time for $5 a day. At his first stroke with the 
scythe he ran it so deep in the ground that he nearly broke it in getting 
it ont. Though he indignantly denounced snch antiquated tools as ont 
of fashion, declaring that he was nsed to " the patent scythes that tnrn 
np at the end," he did not really feel wronged that the farmer wonld not 
pay him a cent, as he knew that the agreement for day's labour was 
really an agreement for so much mowing." 

 146 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [1881-1865 

worth of work, making money payment in what cash he 
could borrow and giving notes for the remainder. 

Thus heavily weighted at the outset, the three men 
opened their office. But hard times had come. A drought 
had shortened the grain crop, killed great numbers of cat 
tle and lessened the gold supply, and the losses that the 
farming, ranching and mineral regions suffered affected 
all the commercial and industrial activities of the State, 
so that there was a general depression. Business not com 
ing into their office, the three partners went out to hunt 
for it; and yet it was elusive, so that they had very little 
to do and soon were in extremities for living necessities, 
even for wood for the kitchen fire. Henry George had 
fitfully kept a pocket diary during 1864, and a few entries 
at this job-printing period tell of the pass of affairs. 

"December 25. Determined to keep a regular jour 
nal, and to cultivate habits of determination, energy 
and industry. Feel that I am in a bad situation, and 
must use my utmost effort to keep afloat and go ahead. 
Will try to follow the following general rules for one 
week: 

"1st. In every case to determine rationally what is 
best to be done. 

"2nd. To do everything determined upon immedi 
ately, or as soon as an opportunity presents. 

"3rd. To write down what I shall determine upon 
doing for the succeeding day. 

"Saw landlady and told her I was not able to pay rent. 

"December 26. 7A.M.: 

"1st. Propose to-day in addition to work in office, 
to write to Boyne. 

"2nd. To get wood in trade. 

"3rd. To talk with Dr. Eaton, and perhaps, Dr. 
Morse. 

 Age, 22-28] AT DEAD LOW EBB 147 

"Rose at quarter to seven. Stopped at six wood yards 
trying to get wood in exchange for printing, but failed. 
Did very little in office. Walked and talked with Ike. 
Felt very blue and thought of drawing out. Saw Dr. 
Eaton, but failed to make a trade. In evening saw Dr. 
Morse. Have not done all, nor as well as I could wish. 
Also wrote to Boyne, but did not mail letter. 

"January 1. (Sunday) Annie not very well. Got 
down town about 11 o'clock. Went with Ike to China 
man's to see about paper bags. Returned to office and 
worked off a lot. 

"January 2. Got down town about 8 o'clock. Worked 
some labels. Not much doing. 

"January 3. Working in office all day. DeLong 
called to talk about getting out a journal. Did our best 
day's work." 

From time to time they got a little business, enough 
at any rate to encourage Trump and George to continue 
with the office, though Daley dropped out; and each day 
that the money was there the two partners took out of 
the business twenty-five cents apiece, which they together 
spent for food, Trump's wife being with her relatives and 
he taking his dinner with the Georges. They lived chiefly 
on corn meal and milk, potatoes, bread and sturgeon, for 
meat they could not afford and sturgeon was the cheapest 
fish they could find.1 Mr. George generally went to the 
office early without breakfast, saying that he would get it 
down town; but knowing that he had no money, his wife 
more than suspected that many a morning passed with 
out his getting a mouthful. Nor could he borrow money 

1 Unlike that fish on the Atlantic Coast, sturgeon on the Pacific Coast, or 
at any rate in California waters, is of fine quality and could easily be sub 
stituted on the table for halibut. 

 148 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1861-1865 

except occasionally, for the drought that had made gen 
eral business so bad had hurt all his friends, and indeed, 
many of them had already borrowed from him while he 
had anything to lend; and he was too proud to com 
plain now to them. Nor did his wife complain, though 
what deepened their anxieties was that they looked for 
the coming of a second child. Mrs. George would not 
run up bills that she did not have money to meet. She 
parted with her little pieces of jewellery and smaller trin 
kets one by one, until only her wedding ring had not been 
pawned. And then she told the milkman that she could 
no longer afford to take milk, but he offered to continue 
to supply it for printed cards, which she accepted. Mr. 
George's diary is blank just here, but at another time he 
said:1 

"I came near starving to death, and at one time I 
was so close to it that I think I should have done so but 
for the job of printing a few cards which enabled us to 
buy a little corn meal. In this darkest time in my 
life my second child was born." 

The baby came at seven o'clock in the morning of Janu 
ary 27, 18G5. When it was born the wife heard the doc 
tor say: "Don't stop to wash the child; he is starving. 
Feed him!" After the doctor had gone and mother and 
baby had fallen asleep, the husband left them alone in 
the house, and taking the elder child to a neighbour's, 
himself went to his business in a desperate state of mind, 
for his wife's condition made money—some money—an 
absolute and immediate necessity. But nothing came into 
the office and he did not know where to borrow. What 
then happened he told sixteen years subsequently. 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 Age, 22-26] SECOND CHILD BOEN 149 

"I walked along the street and made up my mind to 
get money from the first man whose appearance might 
indicate that he had it to give. I stopped a man—a 
stranger—and told him I wanted $5. He asked what 
I wanted it for. I told him that my wife was confined 
and that I had nothing to give her to eat. He gave me 
the money. If he had not, I think I was desperate 
enough to have killed him." 1 

The diary notes commence again twenty days after the 
new baby's birth and show that the struggle for subsist 
ence was still continuing, that Henry George abandoned 
the job-printing office and that he and his wife and babies 
had moved into a smaller house where lie had to pay a 
rent of only nine dollars a month—just half of his former 
rent. This diary consists simply of two half sheets of 
white note paper, folded twice and pinned in the middle, 
forming two small neat books of eight pages each of about 
the size of a visiting card. The writing is very small, 
but clear. 

"Feb. 17, 18G5. (Friday) 10:40 P.M. Gave I. 
Trump this day bill of sale for my interest in office,, 
with the understanding that if he got any money by 
selling, I am to get some. I am now afloat again, with 
the world before me. I have commenced this little book 
as an experiment—to aid me in acquiring habits of regu- 

1 Henry George related this incident to Dr, James E. Kelly in a conver 
sation in Dublin during the winter of 1881-82, in proof that environment 
has more to do with human actions, and especially with so-called criminal 
actions, than we generally concede ; and to show how acute poverty may 
drive sound-minded moral men to the commission of deeds that are sup 
posed to belong entirely to hardened evil natures. Out of long philosoph 
ical and physiological talks together at that time the two men formed a 
warm friendship, and subsequently, when he came to the United States 
and established himself in New York, Dr. Kelly became Henry George's 
family physician and attended him at his death-bed. 

 150 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [isn-1865 

larity, punctuality and purpose. I will enter in it each 
evening the principal events of the day, with notes, if 
they occur, errors committed or the reverse, and plans 
for the morrow and future. I will make a practice of 
looking at it on rising in the morning. 

"I am starting out afresh, very much crippled and 
embarrassed, owing over $200. I have been unsuccess 
ful in everything. I wish to profit by my experience 
and to cultivate those qualities necessary to success in 
which I have been lacking. I have not saved as much 
as I ought and am resolved to practice a rigid economy 
until I have something ahead. 

"1st. To make every cent I can. 
"2nd. To spend nothing unnecessarily. 
"3rd. To put something by each week, if it is only a 
five cent piece borrowed for the purpose. 
"4th. Not to run in debt if it can be avoided. 

"1st. To endeavour to make an acquaintance and 
friend of every one with whom I am brought in contact. 

"2nd. To stay at home less, and be more social. 

"3rd. To strive to think consecutively and decide 
quickly. 

"Feb. 18. Eose at 6 o'clock. Took cards to wood 
man. Went to post office and got two letters, one from 
Wallazz and another from mother. Heard that Smith 
was up and would probably not go down. Tried to hunt 
him up. Ean around after him a great deal. Saw 
him; made an appointment, but he did not come. 
Finally met him about 4. He said that he had written up 
for a man, who had first choice; but he would do all he 
could. I was much disappointed. Went back to office; 
then after Knowlton, but got no money. Then went to 
'Alta' office. Smith there. Stood talking till they went 
to work. Then to job office. Ike had got four bits 
[50 cents] from Dr. Josselyn. Went home, and he came 
out to supper.' 

 From daguerreotype taken in 1865, showing Mr. George at 26, just 
after job printing office experience. 

 Age, 22-28] EVERYTHING UNSUCCESSFUL 151 

"Got up in good season. 

"Tried to be energetic about seeing Smith. Have 
not done with that matter yet, but will try every means. 

"To-morrow will write to Cousin Sophia,1 and per 
haps to Wallazz and mother, and will try to make ac 
quaintances. Am in very desperate plight. Courage!" 

"Feb. 19. (Sunday) Rose about 9. Ran a small 
bill with Wessling for flour, coffee and butter. After 
breakfast took Harry around to Wilbur's. Talked 
awhile. Went down town. Could not get in office. 
Went into 'Alta' office several times. Then walked 
around, hoping to strike Smith. Ike to dinner. After 
wards walked with him, looking for house. Was at 
'Alta' office at 6, but no work. Went with Ike to Stick- 
ne/s and together went to 'Californian' office. Came 
home and summed up assets and liabilities. At 10 
went to bed, with determination of getting up at 6 and 
going to 'Bulletin' office. 

"Have wasted a great deal of time in looking for 
Smith. Think it would have been better to have hunted 
him at once or else trusted to luck. There seems to be 
very little show for me down there. Don't know what 
to do. 

"Feb. 20. Got up too late to go to the 'Bulletin' 
office. Got $1 from woodman. Got my pants from 
the tailor. Saw Smith and had a long talk with him. 
He seemed sorry that he had not thought of me, but 
said another man had been spoken to and was anxious 
to go. Went to 'Alta' office several times. Came home 
early and went to 'Alta' office at 6 and to 'Call' at 7, 
but got no work. Went to Ike Trump's room, and then 
came home. 

1 She was now a widow, James George having died in the 
preceding August 

 162 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1861-1865 

"Was not prompt enough in rising. Have been walk 
ing around a good part of the day without definite pur 
pose, thereby losing time. 

"Feb. 21. Worked for Ike. Did two cards for $1. 
Saw about books, and thought some of travelling with 
them. Went to 'Alta' before coming home. In even 
ing had row with Chinaman. Foolish. 

"Feb. 22. Hand very sore. Did not go down till 
late. Went to work in 'Bulletin' at 12. Got $3. Saw 
Boyne. Went to library in evening. Thinking of 
economy. 

"Feb. 26. Went to 'Bulletin'; no work. Went with 
Ike Trump to look at house on hill; came home to 
breakfast. Decided to take house on Perry Street with 
Mrs. Stone; took it. Came home and moved. Paid 
$5 of rent. About G o'clock went down town. Saw 
Ike; got 50 cents. Walked around and went to Typo 
graphical Union meeting. Then saw Ike again. Found 
Knowlton had paid him for printing plant, and de 
manded some of the money. He gave me $5 with very 
bad humour. 

"Feb. 27. Saw Ike in afternoon and had further 
talk. In evening went to work for Col. Strong on 
'Alta.' Smith lent me $3. 

"Feb. 28. Worked again for Strong. Got $5 from 
John McComb. 

"Feb. 29. Got $5 from Barstow, and paid Charlie 
Coddington the $10 I had borrowed from him on Fri 
day last. On Monday left at Mrs. Lauders [the Euss 
Street landlady] $1.25 for extra rent and $1.50 for 
milkman. 

"March 1. Eose early, went to 'Bulletin'; but got 
no work. Looked in at Valentine's and saw George 

 Age, 22-26] LUCK TURNS 153 

Foster, who told me to go to Frank Eastman's [print 
ing office]. Did so and was told to call again. Came 
home; had breakfast. Went to 'Alta' in evening, but 
no work. Went to Germania Lodge and then to Stick- 
ney's. 

"March 2. Went to Eastman's about 11 o'clock and 
was put to work. 

"March 3. At work. 

"March 4. At work. Got $5 in evening." 

The strength of the storm had now passed. The young 
'printer began to get some work at "subbing," though it 
was scant and irregular. His wife, who paid the second 
month's rent of the Perry Street house by sewing for her 
landlady, remarked to her husband how contentedly they 
should be able to live if he could be sure of making regu 
larly twenty dollars a week. 

 CHAPTEE X. 
BEGINS WRITING AND TALKING. 

1865-1866. AGE, 26-27. 

HENEY GEOEGE'S career as a writer should be 
dated from the commencement of 1865, when he 
was an irregular, substitute printer at Eastman's and on 
the daily newspapers, just after his severe job-office experi 
ence. He now deliberately set himself to self-improve 
ment. These few diary notes for the end of March and 
beginning of April are found in a small blank book that 
in 1878, while working on "Progress and Poverty," he 
also used as a diary. 

"Saturday, March 25, 1865. As I knew we would 
have no letter this morning, I did not hurry down to 
the office. After getting breakfast, took the wringing 
machine which I had been using as a sample back to 
Faulkner's; then went to Eastman's and saw to bill; 
loafed around until about 2 P.M. Concluded that the 
best thing I could do would be to go home and write 
a little. Came home and wrote for the sake of prac 
tice an essay on the TJse of Time,' which occupied me 
until Annie prepared dinner. Went to Eastman's by 
six, got money. Went to Union meeting. 

"Sunday, March 26. Did not get out until 11 o'clock. 
Took Harry down town and then to Wilbur's. Pro 
posed to have Dick [the new baby] baptised in after 
noon; got Mrs. Casey to come to the house for that 

154 

 Age, 26-27] NOTES ABOUT WRITING 155 

purpose, but concluded to wait. Went to see Dull, who 
took me to his shop and showed me the model of his 
wagon brake. 

"Monday, March 27. Got down to office about one 
o'clock; but no proofs yet. Strolled around a little. 
Went home and wrote communication for Aleck Ken- 
neday's new paper, 'Journal of the Trades and Work- 
ingmen.' Took it down to him. In the evening called 
on Rev. Mr. Simonds. 

"Tuesday, 28. Got down late. No work. In after 
noon wrote article about laws relating to sailors. In 
evening went down to Bull's shop while he was engaged 
on model. 

"Wednesday, 29. Went to work about 10.30. In 
evening corrected proof for 'Journal of the Trades and 
Workingmen.' 

"Thursday, 30. At work. 

"Tuesday, April 4. Despatch received stating that 
Richmond and Petersburgh are both in our possession. 

"Wednesday, 5. Took model of wagon- brake to sev 
eral carriage shops; also to 'Alta' office. In evening 
signed agreement with Dull. 

"Saturday, 8. Not working; bill for week, $23. 
Paid Frank Mahon the $5 I have been owing for some 
time. Met Harrison who has just come down from up 
the country. He has a good thing up there. Talked 
with Dull and drew up advertisement. In evening, 
nothing." 

Thus while he was doing hap-hazard type-setting, and 
trying to interest carriage builders in a new wagon brake, 
he was also beginning to write. The first and most im 
portant of these pieces of writing mentioned in the diary 
notes—on "the use of time"—was sent by Mr. George to 
his mother, as an indication of his intention to improve 
himself. Commencing with boyhood, Henry George, as has 
been seen, had the power of simple and clear statement, 
and if this essay served no other purpose than to show the 

 166 LIFE OP HENKY GEORGE [1865-1886 

development of that natural power, it would be of value. 
But as a matter of fact, it has a far greater value; for 
while repeating his purpose to practise writing—"to ac 
quire facility and elegance in the expression" of his 
thought—it gives an introspective glimpse into the natu 
rally secretive mind, revealing an intense desire, if not for 
the "flesh pots of Egypt," at least for such creature and 
intellectual comforts as would enable him and those close 
to him "to bask themselves in the warm sunshine of the 
brief day." This paper is presented in full: 

Essay, Saturday Afternoon, March 25, 1865. 
"ON THE PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT OF TIME." 

"Most of us have some principal object of desire at 
any given time of our lives; something which we wish 
more than anything else, either because its want is more 
felt, or that it includes other desirable things, and we 
are conscious that in gaining it we obtain the means of 
gratifying other of our wishes. 

"With most of us, this power, in one shape or the 
other—is money, or that which is its equivalent or will 
bring it. 

"For this end we subject ourselves to many sacri 
fices; for its gain we are willing to confine ourselves 
and employ our minds and bodies in duties which, for 
their own sakes are irksome; and if we do not throw the 
whole force of our natures into the effort to gain this, 
it is that we do not possess the requisite patience, self- 
command, and penetration where we may direct our 
efforts. 

"I am constantly longing for wealth; the wide differ 
ence between my wishes and the means of gratifying 
them at my command keeps me in perpetual disquiet. 
It would bring me comfort and luxury which I cannot 
row obtain; it would give me more congenial employ 
ment and associates; it would enable me to cultivate 

 Age,26-Z7] ESSAY ON USE OF TIME 157 

my mind and exert to a fuller extent my powers; it 
would give me the ability to minister to the comfort and 
enjoyment of those whom I love most, and therefore, 
it is my principal object in life to obtain wealth, or at 
least, more of it than I have at present. 

"Whether this is right or wrong, I do not now con 
sider; but that it is so I am conscious. When 1 look 
behind at my past life I see that I have made little or 
no progress, and am disquieted; when I consider my 
present, it is difficult to see that I am moving towards 
it at all; and all my comfort in this respect is in the 
hope of what the future may bring forth. 

"And yet my hopes are very vague and indistinct, and 
my efforts in any direction, save the beaten track in 
which I have been used to earn my bread, are, when 
perceptible, jerky, irregular and without intelligent con 
tinuous direction. 

"When I succeed in obtaining employment, I am in 
dustrious and work faithfully, though it does not sat 
isfy my wishes. When I have nothing to do, I am anx 
ious to be in some way labouring towards the end I 
wish, and yet from hour to hour I cannot tell at what 
to employ myself. 

"To secure any given result it is only necessary to 
rightly supply sufficient force. Some men possess a 
greater amount of natural power than others and pro 
duce quicker and more striking results; yet it is ap 
parent that the abilities of the majority, if properly 
and continuously applied, are sufficient to accomplish 
much more than they generally do. 

"The hours which I have idled away, though made 
miserable by the consciousness of accomplishing nothing, 
had been sufficient to make me master of almost any 
common branch of study. If, for instance, I had ap 
plied myself to the practice of bookkeeping and arith 
metic I might now have been an expert in those things; 
or I might have had the dictionary at my fingers' ends; 
been a practised, and perhaps an able writer; a much 
better printer; or been able to read and write French, 
Spanish or any other modern or ancient language to 
which I might have directed my attention; and the 

 168 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1865-1866 

mastery of any of these things now would give me an 
additional, appreciable power, and means by which to 
work to my end, not to speak of that which would have 
been gained by exercise and good mental habits. 

"These truths are not sudden discoveries; but have 
been as apparent for years as at this present time; but 
always wishing for some chance to make a sudden leap 
forward, I have never been able to direct my mind and 
concentrate my attention upon those slow processes by 
which everything mental (and in most cases, material) 
is acquired. 

"Constantly the mind works, and if but a tithe of 
its attention was directed to some end, how many mat 
ters might it have taken up in succession, increasing its 
own stores and power while mastering them? 

"To sum up for the present, though this essay has 
hardly taken the direction and shape which at the outset 
I intended, it is evident to me that I have not employed 
the time and means at my command faithfully and ad 
vantageously as I might have done, and consequently, 
that I have myself to blame for at least a part of my 
non-success. And this being true of the past, in the 
future like results will flow from like causes. I will, 
therefore, try (though, as I know from experience, it is 
much easier to form good resolutions than to faithfully 
carry them out) to employ my mind in acquiring use 
ful information or practice, when I have nothing lead 
ing more directly to my end claiming my attention. 
When practicable, or when I cannot decide upon any 
thing else, I will endeavour to acquire facility and ele 
gance in the expression of my thought by writing essays 
or other matters which I will preserve for future com 
parison. And in this practice it will be well to aim at 
mechanical neatness and grace, as well as at proper and 
polished language." 

Of the two other pieces of writing spoken of in the 
diary notes, the "article about laws relating to sailors," 
has left no trace, but a copy of the one for the "Journal 
of the Trades and Workingmen," has been preserved. It 

 Age, 26-27] ABOUT WORKING MEN 169 

was a long letter to the editor, signed "H. G." urging 
working men to think about political and social questions, 
and find if it be possible to "check the tendency of society 
to resolve itself into classes who have too much or too 
little." In closing, its author said: 

"And so, Mr. Editor, I hail with joy your establish 
ment of a paper which shall speak for the working 
classes, and through which their most enlightened views 
may be diffused, which may lead them to think upon 
problems for which it is to their best interests to find 
a solution. At a time when most of our public prints 
pander to wealth and power and would crush the poor 
man beneath the wheel of the capitalist's carriage; when 
one begins to talk of the 'work people' and 'farm ser 
vants' of this coast, and another to deplore the high 
rate of wages, and each and all to have quick reproba 
tion for any effort of mechanics or labourers to obtain 
their dues, but nothing to say against combinations to 
deprive them of their rights, I, for one, feel that your 
enterprise is one which we all should feel the necessity 
of, and to which we should lend our cordial support. 
In the columns of your paper I hope to see fearless 
opinions of men and measures ably maintained, and 
the intelligence of our class brought to the solution of 
questions of political and social economy which deeply 
affect us; that we may bring our united efforts to the 
advancement of those great principles upon which our 
republican institutions rest, and upon which we must 
depend to secure for us and our children our proper 
place and rights, and for our country her proud and 
foremost rank among the nations." 

It was about this time that in addition to the writings 
mentioned in the diary, Henry George wrote a fanciful 
sketch entitled "A Plea for the Supernatural," which was 
published in the "Californian" and soon afterwards re- 
published by the Boston Saturday "Evening Gazette." 

 160 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE pses-isw 

The "Californian" was a San Francisco weekly literary 
paper founded in 1864, and which, under the editorship 
of Charles Henry Webb and the contributing pens of 
Mark Twain, Bret Harte and a lot of other bright writers, 
had a brilliant, if short, career—being spoken of as having 
"lived to be three years old and never died." A. A. Stick- 
ney, a printer friend, who, while they were in Sacramento 
working on the "Union" together, induced George to join 
the Odd Fellows' Order, had bought into the "Califor- 
nian," and it may have been through his influence that the 
young printer's sketch was published. But however pub 
lished is not important, nor is the sketch itself, further 
than to furnish cumulative evidence of the feverish energy 
the young man was evincing in pursuit of his purpose to 
practise writing—a spirit forming one of his most marked 
characteristics when acting upon an important resolve. 
He had proved to himself that he could write, and the use 
to which he put his power came suddenly, unexpectedly 
and in a way to affect his whole after life. 

The Civil War was now about over. On April 9, 1865, 
Lee's army surrendered. The South, worn out by the 
terrific struggle and by starvation, lay prostrate, and the 
whole North and West indulged in demonstrative rejoic 
ings over the prospect of peace and harmony throughout 
a reunited country—when, on the night of April 14, 
flashed the appalling news that President Lincoln had been 
shot. Never before was seen such excitement in excitable 
San Francisco. This deed seemed like the last desperate 
act of the slave-power, and all manner of rumours of a vast 
Southern conspiracy of assassination were afloat. The 
next day general business was suspended. It was now 
known definitely that the President, while sitting in a 
proscenium box at Ford's Theatre, Washington, witnessing 
the comedy, "Our American Cousin," was shot in the back 

 Age, a>-27] LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION 161 

of the head by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who had 
stealthily approached from behind, and brandishing a 
knife, had leaped from the box to the stage, crying out in 
the hearing of the dumb-stricken audience, "Sic semper 
tyrannis: the South is avenged!" 

When news came that Lincoln had died of his wound 
excitement in San Francisco ran mad. To many the 
first impulse was to destroy the newspapers which had 
fostered secession; and the "Democratic Press" edited by 
Beriah Brown, the "Occidental" edited by Zachariah 
Montgomery, the "Monitor," a Catholic weekly, edited by 
Thomas A. Brady, and the "News Letter" edited by Fred 
erick Marriot had their plants demolished and cast into 
the street. Mr. George had been terribly wrought up 
over the news of the assassination, and talking about the 
"copperhead" newspapers with Ike Trump and others, had 
determined to lead an assault upon the "News Letter"; 
but when he reached the spot he found Trump gallantly 
leading a party that were hurling type, furniture and 
machinery into the street with such a spirited and lib 
eral hand that little remained to be done to complete 
the job. 

After this physical venting of feeling, higher sentiments 
took possession of the young printer, for next day he sat 
down in his little Perry Street home and wrote out new 
thoughts that were surging through him. He put them 
in the form of a newspaper communication, which he ad 
dressed to the editor of the "Alta California," the paper 
on which he had been setting type when opportunity 
afforded. When the communication was finished he took 
it to the office and slipped it into the editor's box. Next 
day it appeared with an editorial note preceding it, for the 
editor had learned who the writer was. Communication 
and note appeared as follows: 

 162 LIFE OF HENEY GEOEGE [1865-1866 

[The following stirring article on the great patricide 
of the age was written by a printer in the office of the 
"Alta California"]: 

Sic SEMPER TYBANNIS! 

"A man rushed to the front of the President's box, waving a, long 
dagger in his right hand, exclaiming, ' Sic semper tyrannis t'" 

"Alta" despatches, April 15. 

"What a scene these few words bring—vivid as the 
lightning flash that bore them! The glitter and glare, 
curving circle and crowded pit, flash of jewels and glint 
ing of silks—and the blanched sea of up-turned faces, 
the fixed and staring eyes, the awful hush—silence of 
death! 

"And there, before all—before all mankind forever- 
more—stands, for an instant, the assassin, poised for the 
leap, the gleaming steel in his right hand, and his cry 
of triumph, of defiance, ringing throughout the house, 
'Sic semper tyrannis!' 

"Is it a wonder they are spellbound! They came 
to laugh at a comedy—and a tragedy is before them 
which will make a nation weep—and whose mighty im 
port centuries may not guess! Their frightened eyes 
look on a scene in the grand drama whose first act was 
the creation and whose last will be the procession of 
the white-robed and the shouts of the redeemed. Well 
may they gaze, awe-stricken, speechless, for the spirits 
of the mighty dead, and generation after generation 
that shall be, look with them, and the past that has 
gone, and the future that is to come, join their voices in 
the shout, 'Sic semper tyrannis!' 

"Poised there for an instant, that black, daring heart 
—that spirit incarnate of tyranny and wrong—feels the 
import of the act, and with voice of inspiration, shouts 
its own doom—'Sic semper tyrannis!' 

"Amen! and thus it will be. They have struck down 
the just because of his justice, and the fate they have 
fixed upon him shall be theirs! 

 Age, 26-27] SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS 163 

"What fitting time! Good Friday! At this very 
moment, before bare and black-draped altars, sounds 
the solemn wail of the Tenebrae, and mournful music 
bears the sorrow which shall burst into the joy of the 
resurrection—for, on a day of which this is the anni 
versary, One died that there might be life, and Death 
and Hell heard their doom. And now (as close as 
human type may approach the divine) again has Evil 
triumphed, and the blood of its victim sealed its fate. 

"While the world lasts will this scene be remembered. 
As a martyr of Freedom—as the representative of the 
justice of a great nation, the name of the victim will 
live forever; and the Proclamation of Emancipation, 
signed with the name and sealed with the blood of 
Abraham Lincoln will remain a landmark in the prog 
ress of the race. 

"In the hearts of a people whose number shall be as 
the sands of the sea, his memory will be cherished with 
that of Washington. And to the ends of the earth— 
from the frozen sea of the North to the ice fields of the 
South, in every land on which the sun in his circuit shall 
look down, whenever the standard shall be raised against 
a hoary wrong, his name shall be a watch-word and an 
inspiration. 

"And when, on plains and uplands where now the 
elephant and spring-bok roam, farms shall be tilled and 
homes arise; and on great lakes and rivers, now the 
haunts of the hippopotamus—a thousand paddles shall 
beat, the mothers of nations yet unborn shall teach their 
children to call him blessed! 

"Sic semper tyrannis! Blazoned on the shield of a 
noble State by the giants of the young republic, their 
degenerate sons shall learn its meaning! The murder 
er's shout as Lincoln fell, it will be taken up by a million 
voices. Thus shall perish all who wickedly raise their 
hands to shed the blood of the defenders of the oppressed, 
and who strive, by wickedness and cruelty, to preserve 
and perpetuate wrong. Their names shall become a 
hissing and a reproach among men as long as the past 
shall be remembered; and the great sin in whose sup- 

 104: LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1865-1868 

port they spared no crime is numbered henceforth with 
the things that were. Sic semper tyrannis! Amen. 

«H. G." 
"San Francisco, April 16, 1865."1 

A few days later the editor of the "Alta" engaged the 
printer as a special reporter to write in conjunction with 
others a description of the Lincoln mourning decorations 
throughout the city, and this was the first newspaper writ 
ing for which Henry George received pay. But he had 
more than a reporter's thoughts in him; and again he sat 
down in the parlour of his little Perry Street home and 
wrote a communication to the editor and signed it with his 
initials. It was on the character of Lincoln. This, like 
the former one, he put in the editor's box. Next morn 
ing he looked to see if it had been printed, and lo! like 
Ben Adhem's name, "it led all the rest." It did not bear 
his signature, nor was it printed as a letter to the editor, 
for it had been made the chief editorial of the paper. A 
few short extracts will suffice: 

"No common man, yet the qualities which made him 
great and loved were eminently common. . . . 

"He was not of those whom God lifts to the mountain 
tops, and who tell of His truth to ears that will not 
hear, and show His light to eyes that cannot see— 
whom their own generation stone, and future ones wor 
ship; but he was of the leaders who march close before 
the advancing ranks of the people, who direct their steps 
and speak with their voice. 

"... No other system would have produced 

1 This article is copied from a printed proof pasted in a scrapbook kept 
by Mr. George and containing his early published writings. But since 
the file of the regular issue of the " Alta California" fails to reveal it, the 
conclusion is drawn that the communication must have appeared in a 
special edition of that newspaper. 

 Age, 26-27] FIRST EDITORIAL 165 

him; through no crowd of courtiers could such a man 
have forced his way; his feet would have slipped on the 
carpets of palace stairs, and Grand Chamberlains or 
dered him back! And, as in our time of need, the man 
that was needed came forth, let us know that it will 
always be so, and that under our institutions, when the 
rights of the people are endangered, from their ranks 
will spring the men for the times."1 

This experience led to the "Alta's" agreement to take 
from Mr. George some news letters relative to a Mexican lib 
erating expedition in which he was about to embark. While 
the United States were engaged in their civil war Napoleon 
III. had sent an army into Mexico to establish an imperial 
government and place Austrian Arch-duke Maximilian on 
the throne. The resistance of the Mexican patriots under 
Juarez excited strong sympathy through all that part of 
the United States adjacent to Mexico; and ardently de 
sirous of striking a blow for that republic, especially as 
circumstances had prevented him from engaging in the 
war in the United States against slavery, Henry George 
joined an expedition that was being organised to help the 
Juarez party. [Ie talked it over with his wife, with whom 
now, after three and a half years of wedded life and ex 
treme trials of poverty, he was sealed in the closest pos 
sible relations of confidence and affection. Though the 
prospect of parting and the danger he would run were sore 
to bear, and though the peril of being left destitute with 
two babies was imminent, she would not withhold him, but 
on the contrary did what she always afterwards did—en 
couraged him to follow the promptings of what he con 
ceived to be his duty. 

He, therefore, arranged with the "Alta California" peo- 

1 "Alta California," April 23, 1865. 

 166 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1865-1886 

pie to send his wife whatever money should come from the 
news letters that he should write, which he thought would 
he sufficient to maintain her; and then with his wife, 
took the new baby to St. Patrick's Catholic church, in 
deference to her, and had him baptised Ilichard Fox, the 
first name after his father and the second in honour of 
his wife's family. Then the couple went back to their 
home, and kneeling down beside their babies prayed to 
gether; after which, kissing his darling ones good-bye, the 
young man set off for the meeting place. He has de 
scribed this:1 

"I was to be first lieutenant in a company com 
manded by an Indian fighter named Burn; with an ac 
quaintance of mine, Barry, as major; and Hungerford, 
afterwards father-in-law of Maukay, the millionaire, as 
colonel. We swore in a good many men, and went 
down to Plait's Hall to prepare to make a start in a 
vessel which should be secretly provided. We gathered 
there in the early evening, but hour after hour passed 
without receiving the order to start. Finally, at day 
light next day we were told where the vessel was, but it 
was well on in the morning before we made for her. 

"When we got down we found an old bark, the 
Brontes, to be the one selected for us. She was short 
of provisions and equipment for such a company. She 
had aboard 10,000 American condemned rifles, half a 
dozen saddles and a few casks of water. We had hardly 
got aboard before a revenue cutter dropped anchor in 
front of her and blocked the way. This ended our ex 
pedition. The Federal authorities had shut their eyes 
as long as they could to what was going on, but now 
could do so no longer. 

"Among those who were going with us, and who would 
have been little less than a crowd of pirates if we had 
got down, were some who got up a scheme to seize a 
French transport, and I believe, to capture one of the 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 A«e,26-27j BEONTES EXPEDITION 167 

mail steamers which then left for Panama twice a month 
with shipments of gold from California to New York. 
This got wind and some half dozen or so were arrested 
and put on trial for intended piracy. 

"This was the Brontes expedition, which led to the 
charge in some San Francisco papers when 1 ran for 
Mayor in New York years afterwards, that I had been 
engaged in a piratical expedition. This is the nearest 
I ever came to engaging in war, and I will never forget 
the willingness with which my wife, with her two little 
children, agreed to my leaving her to go on an expe 
dition that I now know could have had no possible 
good end." 

A little later Henry George helped in the establishment 
of the Monroe League, which was to send an expedition to 
the Mexican patriots, a newspaper man named Linthicum 
to head it. They swore men in on a bare sword and the 
republican flag of Mexico, and Mrs. George was sworn as 
the only woman member. Nothing came of the League, 
though its failure is not explained.1 By this time Mr. 
George saw a good opening in Sacramento to set type on a 

1 Nearly two years subsequently (July 3, 1867) wlieu managing editor 
on tlie San Francisco "Times," Mr. George wrote in au editorial relative to 
the downfall of the Mexican tyrauny and the execution of Maximilian: 
" We should not allow either his position or his private character to blind 
our eyes to his public crimes. The men who have inflicted the greatest 
evils upon their kind, have not been always the worst men in their per 
sonal relations. Charles I. was a good husband and kind father, but he 
was not less the enemy of liberty, and his death was not less a salutary 
example. .... That the execution of Maximilian will excite a deep 
sensation in Europe cannot be doubted, but its effects will not be entirely 
without benefit. It is a protest against the right of kings to cause suffer 
ing and shed blood for their own selfish ends. It is a vindication of justice 
upon an offender of a class whose rauk has hitherto sheltered them from 
the punishment due to their crimes. It will teach princes aud princelings 
to be more cautious how they endeavour to subvert the liberties of a free 
people." 

 168 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1865-1866 

contract for State official work, and so he went there, 
taking his family with him and settling down at house 
keeping. Touching his personal matters he wrote to his 
Sister Caroline (December 3) : 

"I am, for the present, only ambitious of working, and 
will look neither to the right nor left, until I have 'put 
money in my purse'—something it has never yet con 
tained. I have abandoned, I hope, the hand to mouth 
style of living, and will endeavour, if not absolutely 
forced to do so, to draw no drafts on the future. By 
next year we hope to have enough money saved to return 
home, and will do so, unless it should seem very inadvis 
able. I will come, anyhow, as soon as I can, for I have 
made up my mind it is my duty to do so. I am going to 
work on the State work as soon as it commences (this 
week I think) and expect to have steady work for the 
best part of a year and perhaps more. Since we came 
up here I have done pretty well—have made a living, 
paid expenses of coming up, got what was necessary, and 
owe nothing at all here, and feel more comfortable and 
hopeful than ever since we have been married." 

For nearly a year Henry George, following his trade of 
type-setting, continued at State work. He lived quietly, 
and since his wife and he had modest habits, very com 
fortably. He had joined the Odd Fellows' Order during 
his former residence in Sacramento, through the advice of 
his printer friend, A. A. Stickney; and now in 1866 he 
joined the National Guard, though he soon dropped out 
of it; and a literary organisation, in which for a while he 
engaged in discussions on public questions. One of these 
discussions was of great importance in his life, since it 
marks another stepping-stone in his thought—his conver 
sion from a belief in the protective principle to the opposite 
principle of the entire freedom of trade. In "Protection 

 Age, 26-27] BECOMES A FREE TRADER 169 

or Free Trade ?" Mr. George has spoken of his strong pro 
tection views at this time.1 

"I was for a number of years after I had come of age 
a protectionist, or rather, 1 supposed I was, for, without 
real examination, 1 had accepted the belief, as in the 
first place we all accept our beliefs, on the authority of 
others. So far, however, as I thought at all on the sub 
ject, I was logical, and I well remember how when the 
Florida and Alabama were sinking American ships at 
sea, I thought their depredations, after all, a good thing 
for the State in which I lived—California—since the 
increased risk and cost of ocean carriage in American 
ships (then the only way of bringing goods from the 
Eastern States to California) would give to her infant 
industries something of that needed protection against 
the lower wages and better established industries of the 
Eastern States which the Federal Constitution prevented 
her from securing by a State tariff." 

The way in which this belief was changed is more fully 
explained in another place:1 

"One night in Sacramento I went with a friend to a 
debating society and there heard a young fellow of great 
ability, William H. Mills, the present Land Agent of the 
Central Pacific Eailroad, deliver a speech in favour of 
protection. I was a protectionist when he began, but 
when he got through I was a free trader. When they 
asked me what I thought of it I told them that if what 
he said was true, it seemed to me that the country that 
was hardest to get at must be the best country to live in; 
and that, instead of merely putting duties on things 
brought from abroad, we ought to put them on things 
brought from anywhere, and that fires and wars and 
impediments to trade and navigation were the very best 
things to levy on commerce." 

1 Chapter IV (Memorial edition, p. 29). 
2 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 170 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1865-1886 

Mr. Mills says that he remembers "with reasonable dis 
tinctness the incident referred to by Henry George": 

"The debating society was known as the 'Sacramento 
Lyceum.' The subject for the evening was a general 
consideration of a national tariff, whether for revenue 
or for protection. I was the leading speaker for the 
evening and took a position in favour of a protective 
policy as that best calculated to produce the broadest 
industrial skill of our people, develop the natural re 
sources of the country, give the largest diversity of em 
ployment, confer the highest intelligence, employ a 
greater proportion of our people in skilled labour which 
always receives the highest reward and generally confer 
industrial and commercial independence upon the nation. 

"As one of the speakers of the evening, Henry George 
controverted the doctrine that nationalism was the goal 
of civilisation, pleading for a broad cosmopolitanism. 
He contended that national policies should interpose no 
barrier to harmonious relations between nations of the 
earth; that if the doctrine enunciated to sustain a policy 
of high protection were true, absolute national isolation 
would be the condition best calculated to promote na 
tional development; that as relative evolutionary forces, 
the policy of protection created antagonism between the 
nations, isolated them, augmented their selfishness, in 
tensified the military spirit, and made standing armies 
and vast navies necessary to the peace of the world; 
while free trade, as an evolutionary force, made nations 
dependent, promoted peace among them and urged hu 
manity on toward a higher plane of universal fraternity. 

"In conversation with Mr. George since then, he said 
to me that while he went to the Lyceum meeting a pro 
tectionist, he left a free trader, because protection was 
defensible only upon the theory that the separation of 
mankind into nations implied their industrial and com 
mercial antagonism." 

But while this period marked what he considered a great 
step in right thinking, Henry George did not neglect writ- 

 Age, 26-27] HOPES FOE ADVANCEMENT 171 

ing. It was now that he wrote for Edmund Wallazz's 
paper, the "Philadelphia Saturday Night," the account of 
the Shulrick burial1 under the title of "Dust to Dust." 
The sketch was republished by the "Californian." For 
the latter publication lie also wrote a fanciful sketch en 
titled "The Prayer of Kohonah—a tradition of the north 
west coast." Both of these, like the Lincoln article, gave 
proofs of a vivid imagination and a high order of descrip 
tive power, and it is certain from casual notes in his pocket 
diaries during the next two or three years that he was 
thinking of writing a novel; so that perhaps it wanted but 
the accident to have turned his abilities and energy into the 
realm of fiction instead of to a search for the eternal veri 
ties underlying social order. 

But public affairs attracted and absorbed more and more 
of his attention, and he gave vent to his sentiments in the 
"Daily Union" through the medium of letters to the editor, 
which he signed with the nom de plume of "Proletarian"; 
and in September, 18C6, when printing became slack, he 
wrote for San Francisco newspapers a number of letters 
relative to the State fair then being held in Sacramento. 
Then his newspaper ambition took a leap forward. A 
daily paper to be named the "Times" was to be started in 
San Francisco, and he made application for a writing 
position upon it. A letter to his father (August 8) told 
about it: 

"When you next write direct to San Francisco, for I 
expect to go down there in about two weeks. The paper 
that I wrote you of is to start there in about that time. 
I do not know whether I will get the situation I asked 
for as reporter or assistant editor, but I can have a posi 
tion in the composing room, at any rate, with a chance 
to go in the editorial department in a little while. I 

1 Pages 63-67. 

 172 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1865-1868 

can have steady work here if I stay, but have concluded 
to go down, as I will have a better chance down there. 
The foreman has given me a case, which is in itself de 
sirable, as it will be a good paper to work on, and will 
be a steady thing. But even if I do not get a better 
position than that at the start, I am promised one shortly 
afterward. And if things go as I wish them to, I may 
by the first of the year make $50 or $60 a week. I don't 
• say that I will, or even that I expect to, but I see where 
there is a chance. However, I won't say anything about 
it until I see more clearly. 

"This I hope, is our last move until we step on board 
the steamer. Our desire to return home increases daily, 
and all my plans tend to that object. I do not think, 
though, that we can come till spring, but I hope that 
this delay will be of benefit, in better enabling me to 
come home and to do better when I do come. I want, if 
possible, to secure some little practice and reputation as 
a writer here before going, which will not only give me 
introduction and employment there, but help me in 
going and enable me to make something by correspond 
ing with papers here. If I do not overrate my abilities 
I may yet make position and money." 

He was not destined to go to Philadelphia in the follow 
ing spring, for fortune threw upon him larger responsi 
bilities than he had dreamed of. 

 CHAPTER XL 

MANAGING EDITOE AND COEEESPONDENT. 
1866-1869. AGE, 27-30. 

THE San Francisco "Times" was started on November 
5, 1866, with Henry George in the composing room 
setting type. James McClatchy, who, as editor of the "Sac 
ramento Bee," had won a reputation as a forcible writer, 
became editor of the new paper, and it was mainly through 
him that George's hope of advancement lay, having 
won McClatchy's friendship while in Sacramento. Mc 
Clatchy, having a clear, sound mind himself, was liberal 
enough to recognise and encourage merit in others. He 
may be said to have seen signs of promise in the young 
printer. At any rate, three editorial articles from George 
were accepted and published in quick succession. The 
first, for which he received $5, was entitled "To Constan 
tinople," and was published eleven days after the paper 
was started. It treated of the destiny of Eussia to carry 
the cross to the Bosphoms, and there, overruling the Turk, 
to make its seat of empire in the city founded by the great 
Constantine to be the new capital of the Eoman world. 
But after only three weeks' career as editor of the "Times," 
James McClatchy disagreed with the paper's owners, and 
stepping out, returned to the "Sacramento Bee." 

Noah Brooks, who in later years has become best known 

173 

 174 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE 

in the East as the author of "Washington in Lincoln's 
Time," tales of the early California days, and juvenile 
stories, had been chief editorial writer. He now became 
editor, with William Bausman and N. S. Treadwell as edi 
torial writers. 0. B. Turrell was foreman of the compos 
ing room and was very friendly to George. Indeed, he 
next to McClatchy had encouraged the young printer to 
think of advancement, and now suggested that he sub 
mit an article to the new editor. Noah Brooks tells of his 
side of this transaction: 

"Mr. Turrell, the foreman, had come repeatedly to me 
to recommend a young printer as a writer, and I said 
that I would look at some of his work. Turrell brought 
an article that was in editorial form and written in neat, 
regular and rather small hand, with the lines far apart, 
on buff sheets of paper such as was used for wrapping 
and sending the newspaper through the mails. I glanced 
at the article and then read it somewhat carefully, for 
it showed a style and largeness of thought that made me 
suspect that the young man had been borrowing. So I 
laid the matter aside for a day or two and meanwhile 
took a glance over the current magazines and other 
periodicals, but could find no signs of appropriation. 
I spoke to the foreman and he said that I need have no 
thought of irregularity—that the young man was bright 
and original, and that he was entirely honest and would 
not think of offering another's thoughts. So I put the 
article in the paper. 

"Turrell told me where I should find the printer who 
had written the editorial. That day I passed through 
the composing room and saw a slight young man at work 
at the case Turrell had named. He was rather under 
size, and stood on a board to raise him to the proper 
height to work at his case. I was not prepossessed with 
him and little dreamed that there was a man who would 
one day win great fame—as little dreamed of it, as no 
doubt, he did. 

 Age. 27-30] MANAGING EDITOR 175 

"I invited him to write at our regular editorial col 
umn rates, which he did for a while, continuing at the 
same time at his printer's case. Afterwards I called 
him into the rcportorial department, and then, on the 
death of Mr. Trcadwell, invited him to become a regular 
editorial writer. Soon after this I fell out with the 
president of the board of trustees of the paper, Mr. 
Annis Merrill, and resigned, taking Mr. Bausman with 
me. My quarrel was not Mr. George's quarrel, and he 
remained, and took charge of the paper." 

As reporter of the "Times," Henry George earned $30 
a week; later, as editorial writer, $35 a week; and as man 
aging editor, from the beginning of June, 1867, $50 a 
week. An incident about this time showed his great ten 
derness for his wife. One evening word was brought that 
his wife, who was expecting her third child, had fallen 
down-stairs. The husband ran most of the way home. 
The doctor feared consequences. But the medicine he 
gave was effective, for the patient by midnight grew quiet 
and fell asleep. Her husband, half leaning on one elbow, 
half bending over her, reclined beside her intently watch 
ing, all his clothes on and with hat in hand, ready at the 
first unfavourable symptom to spring up and run for the 
physician. When the grey streaks of dawn came, four 
hours afterwards, the wife awoke, greatly refreshed, to find 
her husband with unchanged position and tense eyes re 
garding her. When she spoke of this he simply said that 
all had depended on her sleeping. The wife fully re 
covered from the shock, and the child, born three months 
later, came into the world strong and sound of body and 
mind, and named Jennie Teresa, after its father's dead 
sister and its mother's living sister, grew up into beautiful 
womanhood. 

Henry George became managing editor of the "Times" 

 176 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE 

in the beginning of June, 1867, under the chief-editorship 
of Dr. Gunn, well known in San Francisco political affairs 
in that day, and who had bought into the paper. George 
retained the position of managing editor until he left the 
paper on August 12, 1868. During the interval, besides 
the regular office work, he was conducting occasional cor 
respondence with the Hawaiian "Gazette" and other news 
papers, so that his income was much larger than ever be 
fore in his life. Moreover, his work was telling, making 
him friends and extending his influence. 

But more important than anything else during the 
"Times" period was the preparation he was going through 
for his life work. This related to style in writing and de 
velopment in thinking. While his style always had been 
free and natural, he had from the beginning aimed at com 
pactness, and it was to the necessity of re-writing news 
articles and compressing them into condensed items while 
he was sub-editor on the "Times," that, when reviewing 
his life, he said he had obtained valuable practice in terse 
statement. The development in thought was manifested 
in editorials on the larger questions of the day, such as 
free trade, government paper money and interconvertible 
bonds in place of national bank notes; personal or propor 
tional representation; public obligations attached to public 
franchises; and the abolition of privilege in the army. 

But perhaps the most important advance in thought 
appeared in an article entitled "What the Railroad Will 
Bring Us" in the "Overland Monthly" in October, 1868, 
just after Mr. George left the "Times." That San Fran 
cisco periodical was then in its fourth number, having 
started in July of that year, and was edited by Bret Harte, 
who, with two of its contributors, Mark Twain and Joa- 
quin Miller, constituted "The Incomparable Three" of 
lighter literature in California. Noah Brooks was one 

 Age, 27-30] FIRST MAGAZINE ARTICLE 177 

of the assistant editors and numbered in the long list of 
bright, original writers who made the pages of the maga 
zine, like those of the "Californian" which had preceded 
it, of exceptional brilliance—the more undoubted since 
most of the writers were new, and all wrote anonymously. 
The "Overland" as originally cast did not last very long, 
but long enough to call the world's attention to Bret 
Harte's "Heathen Chinee," and other productions. 

"What the Railroad Will Bring Us" was a forecast of 
the era of California which the operation of the then al 
most completed trans-continental railroad would usher in 
—adding enormous artificial advantages to the already 
great natural advantages that San Francisco possessed, 
and laying foundations for her rapid rise to a commercial 
and intellectual greatness that should not only make her 
mistress of all the coasts washed by the vast Pacific, but, 
indeed, as to population, wealth and power, cause her even 
tually to overtake and surpass New York and London, and 
make her the greatest city in the world. But, as if revert 
ing to the question that had arisen in his mind years be 
fore when, sitting in the theatre gallery, he saw the advent 
of the railroad pictured on the new drop curtain1—the 
author asked, would California, with her great population 
and wealth, and culture, and power, have so even a distri 
bution of wealth as in her earlier, pioneer days? Would 
she show so much general comfort and so little squalor 
and misery? Would there then be so large a proportion 
of full, true men? 

"Amid all our rejoicing and all our gratulation let 
us see clearly whither we are tending. Increase in 
population and wealth past a certain point means simply 
an approximation to the condition of older countries— 

iPage 100. 

 178 LIFE OP HENRY GEOKGE [[1888-1889 

the Eastern States and Europe. Would the average 
Californian prefer to 'take his chances' in New York 
or Massachusetts, or in California as it is and has been ? 
Is England, with her population of twenty millions to 
. an area of not more than one-third that of our State, 
and a wealth which per inhabitant is six or seven times 
that of California, a better country than California to 
live in? Probably, if one were born a duke or factory 
lord, or to any place among the upper ten thousand; but 
if one were born among the lower millions—how then? 

"For years the high rate of interest and the high rate 
of wages prevailing in California have been special sub 
jects for the lamentations of a certain school of local 
political economists, who could not see that high wages 
and high interest were indications that the natural 
wealth of the country was not yet monopolised, that 
great opportunities were open to all—who did not know 
that these were evidences of social health, and that it 
were as wise to lament them as for the maiden to wish to 
exchange the natural bloom on her cheek for the inter 
esting pallor of the invalid. 

"But however this be, it is certain that the tendency 
of the new era—of the more dense population and more 
thorough development of the wealth of the State—will 
he to a reduction both of the rate of interest and the 
rate of wages, particularly the latter. This tendency 
may not, probably will not, be shown immediately; but 
it will be before long, and that powerfully, unless bal 
anced and counteracted by other influences which we are 
not now considering, which do not yet appear, and which 
it is probable will not appear for some time yet. 

"The truth is, that the completion of the railroad and 
the consequent great increase of business and population, 
will not be a benefit to all of us, but only to a portion. 
As a general rule (liable of course to exceptions) those 
who have, it will make wealthier; for those who have not, 
it will make it more difficult to get. Those who have 
lands, mines, established businesses, special abilities of 
certain kinds, will become richer for it and find in 
creased opportunities; those who have only their own 

 Age. 27-30] SEES PIEST PEINCIPLES 179 

labour will become poorer, and find it harder to get 
ahead—first because it will take more capital to buy 
land or to get into business; and second, because as com 
petition reduces the wages of labour, this capital will be 
harder for them to obtain. . . . 

"And as California becomes populous and rich, let us 
not forget that the character of a people counts for more 
than their numbers; that the distribution of wealth is 
even a more important matter than its production. Let 
us not imagine ourselves in a fool's paradise, where the 
golden apples will drop into our mouths; let us not think 
that after the stormy seas and head gales of all the ages, 
our ship has at last struck the trade winds of time. The 
future of our State, of our nation, of our race, looks fair 
and bright; perhaps the future looked so to the philoso- 
ophers who once sat in the porches of Athens—to the 
unremembercd men who raised the cities whose ruins 
lie south of us. Our modern civilisation strikes broad 
and deep and looks high. So did the tower which men 
once built almost unto heaven." 

For this "Overland" article, seven thousand words in 
length, Henry George received $40. To many who have 
knowledge of California's progress during the past three 
decades a remarkable feature about the article is the pro 
phecy of hard social conditions which have since enveloped 
the masses and checked—and almost stopped—the State's 
growth. But to others its political economy is a still more 
remarkable feature. For though there is in the article 
what he subsequently may have called a confusion of 
what is rent with what is interest, there is in the tracing of 
high wages and high interest in California to the fact that 
the "natural wealth of the country was not yet monopo 
lised—that great opportunities were open to all"—a dis 
tinct foreshadowing of that formulation of the laws of 
wages and interest which ten years later, in "Progress and 
Poverty," he put in these terms—that "wages depend upon 

 180 LIFE OP HENEY GEOEGE [1866-ia® 

the margin of production, or upon the produce which 
labour can obtain at the highest point of natural product 
iveness open to it without the payment of rent"; and that 
"the relation between wages and interest is determined by 
the average power of increase which attaches to capital 
from its use in reproductive modes—as rent rises, interest 
will fall as wages fall, or will be determined by the margin 
of cultivation." 

In August, 1868, Henry George left the "Times." He 
had asked for an increase in salary. This not being 
granted, he withdrew, though on good terms with and at 
the convenience of the management. While continuing to 
send remittances home, he had been able by economy dur 
ing the stretch of prosperity to save a little money and to 
open a bank account. He now resolved to carry out the 
long-cherished plan of going to Philadelphia, and he sent 
his family East under escort of his brother, John Vallance 
George, who had come to California three months before— 
Henry George intending himself to follow as soon as op 
portunity permitted. 

Just then Mr. George was invited by Charles DeYoung 
to help him develop a morning newspaper from the "Dra 
matic Chronicle." He was engaged to be managing editor, 
and at his suggestion, DeYoung made John Timmins fore 
man—the same John Timmins who was foreman in the 
Sacramento "Union" office in 1864 and had discharged 
George. But Mr. George's connection with the "Chron 
icle" lasted only a few weeks, as he disliked DeYoung's 
policy. 

The success of the San Francisco "Times" in breaking 
into the press telegraph monopoly had encouraged the 
starting of other papers, of which the "Chronicle" was one 
and the San Francisco "Herald" another. There were 
not many important Democratic papers in the State and 

 Age,27-30] SAN FRANCISCO "HERALD" 181 

John Nugent's idea was to establish a good one by reviving 
the San Francisco "Herald," and he engaged Henry 
George to go to New York and try to get the paper ad 
mitted to the Associated Press, or if that should be refused, 
to establish there a special news service for the paper. 
Charged with this commission, the young man about the 
beginning of December started East on the overland and 
stage route. 

"It was just before the completion of the transconti 
nental railroad, and I crossed the plains in a four-horse 
'mud wagon.' I spent many nights sitting at the 
driver's side, and I was all the more impressed, therefore, 
when we reached the railroad and got a sleeping-car. 
We had to sleep two in a berth, however."1 

He went first to his old home in Philadelphia where he 
found father and mother, sisters and brothers, as well as 
wife and children eager to welcome him. After a short 
season there, he engaged John Hasson, one of his boyhood 
friends, to go in with him, and then went to New York and 
made formal application for access of the San Francisco 
"Herald" to the Associated Press news service. Writing 
early in January (1869) to Charles A. Sumner, managing 
editor of the paper, he said: 

"Nobody received me with open arms, unless I except 
the Peter Funks. I have made no acquaintances be 
yond those necessary for my purpose and not yet de 
livered any letters except business ones. The newspaper 
offices here are like big manufactories and they don't 
seem to be in the habit of asking strangers to take seats 
and look over the exchanges. The bosses come down for 
a few hours occasionally; the managing editors get down 
about twelve and leave about four or five in the after- 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 182 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE 

noon; and I don't think the smaller guns begin to work 
as hard as those on the Pacific Coast." 

Before the "Herald" business had advanced far, the ac 
tive and courageous spirit of the young man manifested 
itself by a signed letter in the "New York Tribune" (March 
5) attacking two of the great corporations in California— 
the Central Pacific Eailroad and the Wells, Fargo Express, 
the former for its excessive charges; the latter for reckless 
treatment of the newspaper mails in the stage-coach inter 
vals on the plains between the yet incompleted Union 
Pacific and Central Pacific lines. As to the Central 
Pacific Eailroad he said: 

"So far as cheapening the cost of transportation is 
concerned, the Pacific Eailroad has, as yet, been of no 
advantage to the people of the Pacific Coast, who have to 
pay just as much as, and in some cases more than, when 
they relied on horse or ox flesh. There would be some 
excuse for this, if the road had been constructed by pri 
vate means; but it has been, and is being, built literally 
and absolutely by the money of the people, receiving 
liberal aid from cities, counties and State of California, 
as well as the immense gratuity of the general govern 
ment. . . . 

"But minor grievances sink into insignificance when 
the enormous political power which these great Pacific 
Eailroad corporations can wield is considered. The 
Central Pacific can dictate to California, Nevada and 
Utah, and the Union Pacific to the States and Terri 
tories through which it passes more completely than the 
Camden and Amboy dictated to New Jersey, and each or 
both will be able to exert an almost irresistible pressure 
upon Congress in any manner in which their interests 
are involved. I don't know about the Union Pacific, 
but the Central already influences conventions, manages 
Legislatures, and has its representatives in both Houses at 
Washington. And it is already buying up other corpor- 

 Ag., 27-30] ASSOCIATED PEESS WAE 183 

ations, and bids fair to own the whole railroad system of 
the Pacific. . . ." 

But returning to the San Francisco "Herald," the Board 
of Directors of the Associated Press, after many vexatious 
delays, refused its service to that paper, and an independ 
ent service had to be made up. Concluding that Phila 
delphia would suit their purpose better than New York, 
Henry George and John Hasson opened their press bureau 
in a little coal office occupied at the time by Henry George's 
father, on Third Street, almost opposite St. Paul's church 
Here they collected by wire from various sources their 
news, and dressing it to fit their California requirements, 
putting as much as possible in a prearranged cipher, to 
save expense, telegraphed it by the Western Union Com 
pany, which controlled the only route to San Francisco, at 
a rate fixed by a clear agreement and based upon a schedule 
adopted before any news war was in sight. In exchange 
for the full credit, access was given to the "New York Her 
ald's" special despatches, and in this and other ways a good 
news service was supplied; so much better, indeed, than 
that which the Associated Press papers in California re 
ceived that they made a great commotion inside the asso 
ciation, and that body urged the Western Union Telegraph 
Company to interfere. The latter hesitated to do so di 
rectly, but on the ground of interference with the rules, 
refused to allow the use of the cipher code or to receive the 
service from Philadelphia; and then finding that the agent 
of the California paper at once moved to New York and 
continued the service, the company took summary action 
by giving short notice of a new schedule of rates, which 
in effect increased the San Francisco "Herald's" charges, 
while it reduced those of the Association. The "Herald's" 
agent vigorously protested and was invited to call upon 

 184 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1866-1860 

Vice-President McAlpine of the Western Union. In a 
letter of April 21, to John Nugent, the San Francisco 
"Herald's" owner, Henry George recounts what occurred: 

"I saw him accordingly, but was informed by him that 
the contract had already been signed by at least the San 
Francisco papers [in the Associated Press] and that the 
thing was past remedy. I nevertheless protested with 
all my force, minced no words, but denounced the whole 
thing as a most outrageous breach of faith which had 
been procured by the underhand workings of a ring. 
I told him in very plain terms what I thought of his 
company and how this operation would appear to the 
public; that it was meant to crush the 'Herald' and 
would crush the 'Herald'; was meant to prevent any 
future opposition to the Associated Press and would do 
so until a new line was built; that they had virtually 
agreed to give a monopoly of the news business to the 
Association for $40,000 a year—less than they were now 
getting; that I could not say what you would do, but 
that if it was my paper I would issue my last number 
on the 1st of May, declare that it was killed by the Wes 
tern Union Telegraph Company, who had sold a monop 
oly to the other papers, fill it with the history of the 
whole transaction and print an immense edition, which 
I would circulate all over the Union. 

"He appeared much moved by what I said, declared 
that there was great force in it, but that he did not see 
what could be done; that he had opposed this thing 
from the beginning: that he had been overruled; and 
that though he was sorry for it, there was no use of pro 
testing or appealing. 

"Afterwards I made a written request to be heard 
before a full executive board. Pondering over the 
matter, I came to the conclusion that the case was very 
desperate, that the only hope of inducing them to go 
back was by appealing to their sense of shame and dis 
like of being stigmatised as a monopoly; that nothing 
could be hoped from their favour; and that it was use 
less to mince words. I, therefore, abandoned my pur- 

 Age, 27-30] AGGRESSIVE TACTICS 186 

pose of making a verbal protest, and during that night 
wrote out a lengthy protest with the idea of printing it 
if my other efforts seemed ineffectual; and that if the 
instructions I expected immediately from you did not 
direct another course. 

"By one next day (Wednesday) I got several copies 
and sent them in, calling upon Mr. McAlpine about 2.30 
P.M. . . . He was anxious for me to see President 
Orton. ... I got an interview with Mr. Orton this 
morning, who read the protest in my presence and 
seemed unable to say anything in justification. . . . 
He did not seem disposed to defend it, but said that he 
was sick of the whole matter; that the Associated Press 
had been urging this for a long time, and had been 
growing ugly, threatening to stop their arrange 
ment." 

But John Nugent at this crisis was as silent as the 
grave and gave no instructions. Indeed, he cannot be said 
to have given any instructions at any time since his paper 
started, except to get the news as cheaply as possible. The 
New York agent was left to act entirely upon his own re 
sponsibility. And it might have been supposed that hav 
ing done all that was possible for his paper, he would con 
sult self-interest and avoid aggressiveness, for otherwise 
he ran the risk of embittering all the papers in the Cali 
fornia Associated Press against him and of winning the 
active and lasting hostility of the great telegraph company. 
But what he had in mind could be realised only by aggres 
sive action. He wished to make the subject of telegraph 
service a political question. In other words, this unknown 
newspaper correspondent from the far Pacific Coast, un 
backed by even his own struggling little newspaper, had 
chosen, like David, to go out and contend with the gigantic 
telegraph Goliath. What added to the daring of the per 
formance was that the Associated Press people were circu 
lating the report that the San Francisco "Herald" was on 

 186 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1804-1869 

its last legs, which the silence to his private despatches 
seemed to confirm. But counting costs no more now than 
when two months before he had in the "New York Tri 
bune" openly attacked the California railroad and express 
corporations, he held to his resolution to strike publicly at 
the Western Union. He sent his printed protest out to 
such of the newspapers in New York and other cities in the 
East as he thought would notice it, and also to Senator 
Sprague of Rhode Island with a letter, because of his anti- 
monopoly views; and to the California representatives in 
Congress—at the same time writing to his friend Sumner, 
the managing editor of the San Francisco "Herald": 
"You will hear thunder all around the sky notwithstand 
ing the influence of the Western Union and the Associated 
Press." 

The "New York Herald" was about the only newspaper 
of influence that published the protest, and whether or not 
the Western Union directors cared about it, the axe fell, 
and the San Francisco "Herald's" telegraph news service, 
so long as that paper could continue to struggle on, had to 
be reduced to a mere skeleton. 

Almost from the beginning John Nugent had been slow 
to make remittances, and now nearly a thousand dollars 
was due in New York on salaries and rent and other bills. 
Confident that he could be of no further use to the paper 
there, and leaving John Hasson as New York agent, Henry 
George went to Philadelphia, took leave of his family and 
relatives, and on May 20 started west over the Erie rail 
road for California. Under a contract through John Rus 
sell Young, its managing editor, he wrote several letters 
for the "New York Tribune," descriptive of the new trans 
continental railroad, and the country through which the 
road passed. But though paid for, none of these articles 
were published, for John Russell Young left the paper soon 

 Age, 27-30] RETURNS TO SAN FRANCISCO 187 

after Mr. George had left New York, and Whitelaw Eeid, 
succeeding as managing editor, not only withheld them, 
but annulled the contract, to which Mr. George, not wish 
ing to put Mr. Young at the slightest disadvantage for his 
act of friendship, made no further objection than a mild 
and formal dissent. 

 SECOND PERIOD 
FOEMULATION OF THE PHILOSOPHY 

 One sole God; 

One sole ruler—his Law ; 

One sole interpreter of that law—Hnmanity. 

•—Mazzini 

 CHAPTEK I. 

COMMENCES THE GREAT INQUIRY. 
1869. AGE, 30. 

IT is said that what put the iron into Abraham Lincoln's 
soul against chattel slavery was an auction sale of 
negroes—men, women and children, husbands and wives, 
parents and infants—which he witnessed while a young 
man at New Orleans, to which place he had gone down the 
Mississippi on a flat boat. 

Likewise, what put the iron into Henry George's soul 
against industrial slavery was the contrast of poverty with 
wealth that he witnessed in the greatest city in the new 
world, when on the visit to New York in the winter of 
1868-69. Apparently fully occupied with the difficulties 
of establishing a telegraphic news service for the western 
newspaper, there were in reality pauses when the mind, 
swinging clear of all personal affairs, leaped into the realm 
of problems that beset mankind. For in the idle hours, 
when another might have sought amusement, this young 
man, as by a kind of fascination, walked the streets of the 
great city, thinking how here, at the centre of civilisation, 
should be realised the dream of the pioneer—the hard con 
ditions of life softened, and society, preserving the gen 
eral relations of equality, raised as a mass from the bottom 
into a state of peace and plenty. How different the view 

191 

 192 LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE 

that met his gaze! On every hand he beheld evidences 
of advanced and advancing civilisation, but of a civilisa 
tion that was one-sided; that piled up riches for the few 
and huddled the many in filth and poverty. And just as 
in assailing the great telegraph and press monopolies he 
did not wait to be supported, but boldly and alone stepped 
forth to the contest, so now this unknown man, not yet 
quite thirty, of small schooling and scarcely tried abilities, 
whose past had led through poverty and adversity, and 
whose future was shrouded in uncertainty, audaciously re 
fused to accept the edict of the House of Have—the edict 
sanctioned by the teachers of learning and preachers of 
religion, that all this want and suffering was in the nature 
of things and unalterable. His heart and mind denied it. 
Everywhere else in creation was order, design. Could they 
fail on reaching man, "the roof and crown of things?" 
He could not believe it. Silently, without telling any man 
of what he did, he set himself the task of finding the 
natural order. In his speech of acceptance of the first 
New York mayoralty nomination seventeen years after 
wards he said: 

"Years ago I came to this city from the West, 
unknown, knowing nobody, and I saw and recognised 
for the first time the shocking contrast between mon 
strous wealth and debasing want. And here I made a 
vow from which I have never faltered, to seek out, and 
remedy, if I could, the cause that condemned little chil 
dren to lead such a life as you know them to lead in the 
squalid districts."1 

This was not a vague resolution without backing of 
thought. It was rather a sudden crystallisation of pro- 

1Also see "Progress and Poverty," Conclusion; and "The Science of 
Political Economy," Book II, Chap, viii, p. 201. 

 Age, 30] A DAYLIGHT VISION 193 

tracted meditations; a flashing conviction and passionate 
resolve. For him all at once the bush burned, and the 
voice spake: "The people suffer; who will lead them 
forth ?" In a letter to Eev. Thomas Dawson of Glencree, 
Ireland (February 1, 1883), he wrote: 

"Because you are not only my friend, but a priest 
and a religious, I shall say something that I don't like 
to speak of—that I never before have told any one. 
Once, in daylight, and in a city street, there came to 
me a thought, a vision, a call—give it what name you 
please. But every nerve quivered. And there and then 
I made a vow. Through evil and through good, what 
ever I have done and whatever I have left undone, to 
that I have been true." 

Now while the young philosopher's mind was to work 
gradually towards the solution of the problem of deepening 
poverty in the midst of advancing wealth, he did some 
thing in the East in the early part of 1869 that attracted 
more attention than anything he had before accomplished. 
As he has said in "The Science of Political Economy," 1 
"John Russell Young was at that time managing editor of 
the 'New York Tribune,' and I wrote for him an article on 
'The Chinese on the Pacific Coast,' a question that had 
begun to arouse attention there; taking the side popular 
among the working classes of the Coast, in opposition to 
the unrestricted immigration of that people." The article 
appeared on May 1, filled several columns of the "Tribune," 
and was signed.2 

The immigation of the Chinese in considerable numbers 

lBook II, Chap, viii, p. 200. 

2 Horace Greeley was the editor-in-chief of the " Tribune," and in the 
same issue with Henry George's Chinese article appeared the first instal 
ment of Greeley's essays on political economy. 

 194 LIFE OP HENEY GEOEGE [1869 

commenced soon after the discovery of gold in California. 
They spread over the Pacific Coast and crept into many of 
the more common fields of labour, soon incurring general 
and active opposition, being regarded as an alien and non- 
assimilable race. In this "Tribune" article, Mr. George 
explained and justified this hostile feeling—the first time, 
probably, that such views were published on the Atlantic 
Coast. The kernel of his presentation was this: 

"The population of our country has been drawn from 
many different sources; but hitherto, with but one excep 
tion, these accessions have been of the same race, and 
though widely differing in language, customs and na 
tional characteristics, have been capable of being welded 
into a homogeneous people. The mongolians. who are 
now coming among us on the other side of the conti 
nent, differ from our race by as strongly marked char 
acteristics as do the negroes, while they will not as 
readily fall into our ways as the negroes. The differ 
ence between the two races in this respect is as the 
difference between an ignorant but docile child, and a 
grown man, sharp but narrow minded, opinionated and 
set in character. The negro when brought to this coun 
try was a simple barbarian with nothing to unlearn; 
the Chinese have a civilisation and history of their own, 
a vanity which causes them to look down on all other 
races, habits of thought rendered permanent by being 
stamped upon countless generations. From present ap 
pearances we shall have a permanent Chinese population; 
but a population whose individual components will be 
constantly changing, at least for a long time to come—a 
population born in China, reared in China, expecting to 
return to China, living while here in a little China of its 
own, and without the slightest attachment to the coun 
try—utter heathens, treacherous, sensual, cowardly and 
cruel. They bring no women with them (and probably 
will not for a little while yet). . . . 

"Their moral standard is as low as their standard of 
comfort, and though honest in the payment of debts 

 Age. 30] ANTI-CHINESE AETICLE 195 

to each other, lying, stealing and false swearing are 
with the Chinamen venial sins—if sins at all. They 
practise all the unnainable vices of the Bast, and are 
as cruel as they arc cowardly. Infanticide is common 
among them; so is abduction and assassination. Their 
bravos may be hired to take life for a sum proportionate 
to the risk, to be paid to their relatives in case of 
death. In person the Chinese are generally apparently 
cleanly, but filthy in their habits. Their quarters reek 
with noisesonie odours, and are fit breeding-places for 
pestilence. They have a great capacity for secret or 
ganisations, forming a State within a State, governed 
by their own laws; and there is little doubt that our 
courts are frequently used by them to punish their own 
countrymen, though more summary methods are often 
times resorted to. The administration of justice among 
them is attended with great difficulty. No plan for 
making them tell the truth seems to be effective. That 
of compelling them to behead a cock and burn yellow 
paper is generally resorted to in the courts. . . . 

"The Chinese seem to be incapable of understanding 
our religion; but still less are they capable of under 
standing our political institutions. To confer the fran 
chise upon them would be to put the balance of power 
on the Pacific in the hands of a people who have no 
conception of the trust involved, and who would have 
no wish to use it rightly, if they had—would be to give 
so many additional votes to employers of Chinese, or 
•put them up for sale by the Chinese head centres in 
San Francisco." 

Almost twenty-five years later (November 30, 1893), in 
a letter to William Lloyd Garrison, the younger, Henry 
George spoke of the "Tribune" article as "crude," inso 
much as he "had not then come to clear economic views." 
He referred to his exposition of the wages question, which 
he was led to discuss by the contention of the great Cali 
fornia railroad corporation and other large employers of 
Chinese labour that such employment inured to the benefit 

 196 LIFE OF HENKY GEOKGE 

of other labourers by liberating the latter for engagement 
in other fields of industry, at the same time cheapening the 
cost of production in the primary fields that they had left 
and thereby cheapening all those primary commodities 
that all must buy. "Wishing to know what political 
economy had to say about the causes of wages," he wrote 
in "The Science of Political Economy"1 relative to this 
point: "I went to the Philadelphia Library, looked over 
John Stuart Mill's 'Political Economy,' and accepting his 
views without question, based my article upon it." In a 
conversation at another time he said,2 "It was the first 
time I had made any investigation of what political econ 
omy had to say on the subject of wages, and I adopted 
unquestioningly the doctrine of 'the relation between wages 
and capital laid down by Mill." 

That is to say, doing now as he once had done in em 
bracing the protective principle, and "accepting the belief 
on the authority of others," he abandoned the suggestion 
of his own spontaneous thought when writing the article 
"What the Railroad Will Bring Us," namely, that wages in 
California had a relation to "the natural wraith of the 
country. . . . not yet monopolised"—and "adopted 
unquestioningly" the explanation made by the man famous 
as the great master of political economy, that wages depend 
upon the ratio of labourers to the so-called wages fund— 
to the capital devoted to the payment of wages. How com 
pletely this was so is shown by a passage in the "Tribune" 
article. 

"There is a tendency of wages in different industries 
to an equilibrium, and of wages in general to a level 
which is determined by the relative proportions of capi- 

iBook II, Chap, viii, pp. 200, 201. 
2 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 Age. 30] DEFEBS TO MILL 197 

tal and labour. . . . Plainly when we speak of a 
reduction of wages in any general and permanent sense, 
we mean this, if we mean anything—that in the divi 
sion of the joint production of labour and capital, the 
share of labour is to be smaller, that of capital larger. 
This is precisely what the reduction of wages consequent 
upon the introduction of Chinese labour means." 

"This article attracted attention especially in Califor 
nia," Mr. George wrote in his last book. While just be 
ginning to rise to attention on the Atlantic side of the 
country, the Chinese question was a burning one on the 
Pacific side. Some of the California newspapers reprinted 
parts of the "Tribune" article and commended it. The 
workingmen's organisations hailed it with particular satis 
faction, in the early part of 1871 it being reprinted in full 
and circulated by the Mechanics' State Council of Cali 
fornia. This organisation, though intended primarily 
for the protection of workingmen's interests, at that time 
had considerable influence in California politics. 

But long before this action of the Mechanics' State 
Council the chief San Francisco newspapers were drawn 
into a renewed discussion of the "Tribune" article by a 
letter from a high outside source. Mr. George says in 
"The Science of Political Economy" that a copy of the 
"Tribune" article he sent from California to John Stuart 
Mill brought a letter of commendation. The letter was 
received in November, 18C9, at Oakland, an over-bay sub 
urb of San Francisco, where George had just begun the 
editing of a little daily called the "Transcript," of which 
more will he learned later. On Saturday, November 20, 
he published a long editorial and in it printed the Mill 
letter in full, saying by way of explanation: 

"It is frequently asserted here that the opposition 
upon the part of the labouring classes to the immigra- 

 198 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE 

tion of Chinese arises from ignorance of the laws of 
political economy, and that so far from having a ten 
dency to reduce them to a lower condition, the effect of 
Chinese labour will be to elevate them. Conceiving that 
the views of so distinguished an authority would be of 
much value, the gentleman to whom this letter is ad 
dressed wrote to Mr. Mill, requesting an opinion upon 
this point, as well as upon the general subject." 

Then came the Mill letter: 

Avignon, France, Oct. 23, 1869. 

"DEAR SIR: The subject on which you have asked my 
opinion involves two of the most difficult and embarrass 
ing questions of political morality—the extent and lim 
its of the right of those who have first taken possession 
of the unoccupied portion of the earth's surface to 
exclude the remainder of mankind from inhabiting it, 
and the means which can be legitimately used by the 
more improved branches of the human species to protect 
themselves from being hurtfully encroached upon by 
those of a lower grade in civilisation. The Chinese 
immigration into America raises both of these questions. 
To furnish a general answer to either of them would be 
a most arduous undertaking. 

"Concerning the purely economic view of the subject, 
I entirely agree with you; and it could be hardly better 
stated and argued than it is in your article in the 'New 
York Tribune.' That the Chinese immigration, if it 
attains great dimensions, must be economically inju 
rious to the mass of the present population; that it 
must diminish their wages, and reduce them to a lower 
stage of physical comfort and well-being, I have no 
manner of doubt. Nothing can be more fallacious than 
the attempts to make out that thus to lower wages is 
the way to raise them, or that there is any compensation, 
in an economical point of view, to those whose labour is 
displaced, or who are obliged to work for a greatly re 
duced remuneration. On general principles this state 
of things, were it sure to continue, would justify the 

 Age, 30] LETTER FROM MILL r99 

exclusion of the immigrants, on the ground that, with 
their habits in respect to population, only a temporary 
good is done to the Chinese people by admitting part of 
their surplus numbers, while a permanent harm is done 
to a more civilised and improved portion of mankind. 

"But there is much also to be said on the other side. 
Is it justifiable to assume that the character and habits 
of the Chinese are insusceptible of improvement? The 
institutions of the United States are the most potent 
means that have yet existed for spreading the most im 
portant elements of civilisation down to the poorest and 
most ignorant of the labouring masses. If every Chi 
nese child were compulsorily brought under your school 
system, or under a still more effective one if possible, 
and kept under it for a sufficient number of years, would 
not the Chinese population be in time raised to the level 
of the American? I believe, indeed, that hitherto the 
number of Chinese born in America has not been very 
great; but so long as this is the case—so long (that is) 
as the Chinese do not come in families and settle, but 
those who come are mostly men, and return to their 
native country, the evil can hardly reach so great a 
magnitude as to require that it should be put a stop 
to by force. 

"One kind of restrictive measure seems to me not 
only desirable, but absolutely called for; the most strin 
gent' laws against introducing Chinese immigrants as 
coolies, i. e., under contract binding them to the service 
of particular persons. All such obligations are a form 
of compulsory labour, that is, of slavery; and though 
I know the legal invalidity of such contracts does not 
prevent them being made, I cannot but think that if 
pains were taken to make it known to the immigrants 
that such engagements are not legally binding, and espe 
cially if it were made a penal offence to enter into them, 
that mode at least of immigration would receive a con 
siderable cheek; and it does not seem probable that any 
mode, among so poor a population as the Chinese, can 
attain such dimensions as to compete very injuriously 
with American labour. Short of that point, the oppor- 

 200 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1869 

tunity given to numerous Chinese of becoming familiar 
with better and more civilised habits of life, is one of 
the best chances that can be opened up for the im 
provement of the Chinese in their own country, and 
one which it does not seem to me that it would be right 
to withhold from them. I am, dear sir, 

"Yours very sincerely, 

"Henry George, Esq., "J- S. MILL." 
"San Francisco, Cal." 

Commenting on this, the "Transcript" editorial said: 
"With all its qualifications, Mr. Mill's opinion entirely jus 
tifies the position of those who take ground in favour 
of restrictions upon the immigration of these people," for 
"Chinese labour has already begun to compete injuriously 
with white labour, and that it will soon be competing 
very injuriously, no one who has noticed how rapidly these 
people are entering and monopolising one branch of busi 
ness after another, can have any doubt." Moreover, nine- 
tenths of the Chinese immigrants are contract labourers 
and it would be useless to pass laws against such contracts; 
while as for slavery, "Chinese women are sold and staked 
at the gambling table in San Francisco every day of the 
week." The editorial concluded with this tribute to the 
eminent English economist: 

"Yet, whether we agree or disagree with his opinions; 
whether we adopt or dissent from his conclusions, no 
American can fail to have for this great Englishman 
the profoundest respect. It is not merely the rank he 
has won in the republic of letters; not merely the service 
he has rendered to one of the most beneficial, if not 
the noblest, of sciences; not merely the courage and de 
votion with which he has laboured for the cause of 
popular rights in his own country; not merelv his high 
private character and pure life, which set off his great 

 Age. 30] TRIBUTE TO MILL 201 

talents and public virtues, that entitle John Stuart Mill 
to the respect of Americans. Beyond all this, they can 
never forget that he stood the true friend to their coun 
try in its darkest day; devoting his great talents and 
lending his great reputation to the support of the Re 
public when she hud closed in what seemed there her 
death grapple; that it was he more than any other man 
who turned the tide of English opinion and sympathy 
in our favour, and by exhibiting the true character of 
the struggle, gave us the moral support of the middle 
class of Great Britain. Services such as these entitle 
John Stuart Mill to something more from us than even 
the respect which is due him as a writer, statesman or 
philosopher—to our affection as well as our admiration." 

The "Transcript" editorial with the Mill letter made 
something like a sensation throughout California. Some 
of the pro-Chinese papers republished both in garbled 
form, and in such form the letter may have got back to 
Mill. At any rate, an editorial on the subject in the 
Chicago "Tribune" drew from Mill a communication to 
Horace White of that paper, saying that judging from the 
comments, the published copy of his letter must have been 
a mutilated one. White published this. Mr. George had 
meanwhile become editor of the "Sacramento Reporter." 
Seeing the Mill letter to White, he promptly republished it 
and also the earlier Mill letter to himself, putting both in 
a signed editorial explaining that there had been no garb 
ling at any time on his part. This article he sent to Mill, 
who made reply that he was "perfectly satisfied." 

Some of the pro-Chinese papers in California, while not 
attempting to garble the original Mill letter, took to abus 
ing Henry George; one of them, the San Francisco "Bulle 
tin," saying that Mill had been misled by George in the 
"New York Tribune" article, as that was "written from the 
exaggerated standpoint of a certain class of political 

 202 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1869 

alarmists who either have not carefully studied the facts or 
who use the question as a good demagogue card to win 
ignorant votes." But notwithstanding such utterances, 
George's "New York Tribune" article expressed a strong 
and strengthening sentiment that soon dominated State 
politics, inspired a long series of legislative acts, and 
eventuated in 1892, twenty-three years afterwards, in the 
passage by Congress of the Geary law, prohibiting "the 
coming of Chinese persons into the United States" and 
providing for deportation under certain conditions. 

To the end of his life Mr. George held to the views 
against free entrance of the Chinese set forth in his 
"Tribune" article in 18G9. They appear in many of his 
subsequent California speeches and writings, and in 1881 
were set out fully in a signed article published in Lalor's 
"Cyclopedia of Political Science, Political Economy and 
of the Political History of the United States." 

And when in the fall of 1893, William Lloyd Garrison 
of Boston addressed a letter to James G. Maguire, who 
represented the Fourth California District in Congress, 
upbraiding the congressman with being false to his single 
tax principles of equal rights, in supporting and voting 
for an amendment extending the Geary Chinese Exclusion 
Act, Mr. George replied (New York November 30), a 
copy of the letter to Maguire having been sent to him by 
Garrison: 

"To your proposition that the right to the use of the 
earth is not confined to the inhabitants of the United 
States, 1 most cordially assent. But what you seem 
to think follows from that, 'The humblest Chinaman 
has as much natural right to use the earth of California 
as yourself, and it is your inalienable right to change 
your residence to any land under the sun,' I most em 
phatically deny. Are men merely individuals? Is 

 Age, so) CHINESE EXCLUSION 203 

there no such thing as family, nation, race? Is there 
not the right of association, and the correlative right 
of exclusion? . . . 

"Your parallel between those who supported slavery 
and those who oppose Chinese immigration is not a 
true one. The first of the evils wrought by African 
slavery in the United States was the bringing hither of 
large numbers of the blacks, an evil which still remains 
a source of weakness and danger, though slavery is 
gone. Let me ask you: If to-day there was the same 
possibility of a great coming of African negroes to this 
country as there would be of Chinamen if all restric 
tion were removed, would you consider it a wise thing 
to permit it under present conditions? And would you 
consider it at all inconsistent with your anti-slavery 
principles or with your recognition of human equality 
to try to prevent it? I certainly would not. . . . 

"1 have written to you frankly, but I trust not un 
kindly. I have for you too much respect and affection 
to wantonly accentuate any difference there may be in 
our ways of looking at things." 

But while approving of Chinese exclusion "under pres 
ent conditions," Henry George could conceive of. a state of 
things under which such a policy would not be necessary. 
In a lecture in San Francisco1 while writing "Progress 
and Poverty," he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, it is not 
only more important to abolish land monopoly than to get 
rid of the Chinese; but to abolish land monopoly will be 
to make short work of the Chinese question. Clear out 
the land-grabber and the Chinaman must go. Boot the 
white race in the soil, and all the millions of Asia cannot 
dispossess it." 

l "Why Work is Scarce, Wages Low, and Labour Restless," Metropoli 
tan Temple, March 26, 1878. 

 CHAPTEE II. 

STEIFE AND THE NATURAL ORDER 
1869-1871. AGE, 30-32. 

WHEN CEdipus, in Greek mythology, travelled to 
wards the city of Thebes he found widespread dis 
tress from deaths wrought by the monster Sphinx, who had 
the body of a lion, and the head, breast and arms of a 
woman, and who put a riddle to all approaching, which 
not to answer meant to be hurled headlong from the rock 
where she abode. Many had tried, but all had failed; and 
through the country as CEdipus moved on came constant 
lamentation and constant warning. 

, Henry George walking through the streets of New York, 
had seen the want and misery wrought by the Sphinx of 
modern civilisation, and as if to keep him strung to ner 
vous tension and ever mindful of his vow to charge the 
monster and solve the problem, Adversity kept close to his 
heels. For when he got back to San Francisco, the press 
ing personal question was, what was he to do? 

But he was not one to wait for something to come to 
him. He at once got an anti-telegraph monopoly resolu 
tion introduced into the legislature, and this being popular, 
was easily passed. Next he sketched out several maga 
zine articles on the Chinese question, (though none of 
these were ever finished); and wrote several editorials 

204 

 Age, 30-32] BACK SETTING TYPE 205 

for the "Evening Bulletin," for which he was twice urged 
to go East as special correspondent, but refused. For 
awhile, hard pressed for money, he went into the compos 
ing room of the "Herald" and set type. Something over 
$700 was still owing from that paper on his back salary 
and various accounts in New York. Nugent getting into 
a rage when the money was demanded, George retaliated by 
wiring Hasson to stop the news service. Small though that 
service then was, its absence was a great loss to the paper, 
and Nugent came partially to terms, yet did not settle en 
tirely until George sued out an attachment. In the middle 
of August (19) George wrote to Philadelphia: 

"As for me, I am doing various miscellaneous work; 
just now for a few days editing an Irish Catholic paper 
for a friend.1 

"I go around very little—not as much as would be 
wise, I presume, and pass most of my evenings in read 
ing, something I have not done much of for some years 
—not a tenth part as much as I would like to." 

One of the books he read, and was "much impressed" 
with, was "Lord Chesterfield's Letters," entering in his 
pocket diary: "Suaviter in modo; fortiter in re." The 
diary also announces that on July 30 after dinner, he 
went to his room to read, "fell asleep, and was nearly suf 
focated by gas"; for the supply, cut off at the meter dur 
ing the day, was turned on as night approached, and the 
cock in the room having by some chance been left open, 
allowed free escape. This was in the old Federal building 
on Washington Street, where Mr. George at the time was 
rooming. His wife heard nothing of the matter until 
long afterwards. But she did hear something from him 
that gave her deep pleasure. 

>The paper was the "Monitor," and the friend, its editor, John Barry, 

 206 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1869-1871 

Acting upon an idea thrown out in a letter from New 
York to Sumner, Mr. George had got his friends to work 
for his nomination on the Democratic ticket for the Assem 
bly. Presently he wrote to his wife that her uncle, 
Matthew McCloskey, who had not exchanged a word with 
them since the runaway marriage, was showing active hos 
tility by working against the nomination. Next day the 
husband wrote that he had been misinformed; that Mr. 
McCloskey was working for him, not against him, and 
singing his praises for character and ability; and that they 
had become reconciled. The friendship thus renewed 
was of the strongest kind, Matthew McCloskey on his 
death-bed six or eight years later commending his family 
to Henry George for counsel. 

Mr. George's desire for election to the legislature was 
more than a vague ambition to get forward in the world. 
For the young man, though he had not yet come to clear 
ideas on the social problem, had in his mind's eye, as may 
be judged from his editorial and correspondence experi 
ence, a mass of matters to press for legislative attention; 
and as for big things, there were the anti-telegraph, anti- 
express company and anti-railroad fights to make, and it 
was also quite evident that something should be done to 
discourage the massing- of land in California into great 
estates. But disappointment was in store. He failed to 
get nominated, or rather, he could have been nominated 
but refused to pay the assessment asked by the party man 
agers, and that ended his hope for the candidature. 

The disappointment was all the harder to bear because 
it came at the end of a line of failures since his return 
from the East. He had succeeded neither in making any 
permanent newspaper connection, nor in getting started in 
a higher literary field. He had not even contrived to make 
a good living, getting a mere hand-to-mouth subsistence. 

 Age, 30-32] POLITICAL DISAPPOINTMENT 207 

And now the political view had been cut off. The future 
looked dark, indeed. The one chance seemed to be in the 
East, where a place on John Russell Young's proposed 
paper was held out, Mrs. George, who was beginning to 
develop a lively interest in public questions and to enter 
understandingly into her husband's ambitions, having 
written in August (15): 

"Mr. Hasson spent two or three hours with us this 
afternoon. He is a firm friend and ardent admirer of 
yours. . . . He says that John Russell Young is 
going to start a hundred thousand dollar paper in the 
fall, and will want your services, as he thinks there is 
no one like you. Hasson says that Young told Greeley 
that when he let you go he let go the very man he had 
been looking for for two years." 

This newspaper project of Young's seemed the only 
but yet very slender hope, for New York was very far 
away and the plan a thing nebulous and uncertain. He 
was greatly dejected. His plight, as he said afterwards, 
was like that of a traveller on the plains, a mountain range 
in front. The mountains rose wall-like against the dis 
tant sky—unbroken and too high to scale. But as he 
advanced, a cleft appeared and then deepened and widened 
into a pass. For in the midst of his depression came a 
call to him from an unthought of quarter. 

Through the organisation in San Francisco of a branch 
of the American Free Trade League, whose headquarters 
were in New York, Mr. George came into touch with the 
Governor of California, Henry H. Haight, regarded by 
many as the ablest executive the State has ever had. Dur 
ing the war Haight had been a strong Republican, but he 
revolted against the policy of centralisation and special 
legislation that followed. He espoused the principles of 

 208 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [1869-1871 

Thomas Jefferson and became an avowed Democrat and an 
out-spoken free trader. Henry George had gone through 
precisely the same kind of political change. While on the 
"Times" he wrote many editorials supporting principles 
and measures leading away from the Republican strict 
party policy, and as a consequence even then was "rapidly 
becoming disgusted" with that party. He voted for Grant 
for the Presidency in the fall of 18G8, only to see the sol 
dier, as he expressed it, give himself up to his political 
friends, so that Mr. George concluded that "the Republican 
party had served its purpose," that it had become chiefly a 
party for special interests. 

Now, across San Francisco Bay at Oakland was a little 
Democratic paper called the "Transcript," owned by two 
men, Hiram Tubbs, proprietor of the leading hotel and 
much real estate there, and John Scott, a prosperous car 
penter and builder and prominent as a politician. Scott 
was a colonel on the staff of the governor, who thereby 
was indirectly interested in the paper. Indeed, he and 
Scott had looked about for a good Democratic editor, and 
judging of George's principles and abilities by his Chinese 
article and his editorials in the "Times," and coming in 
contact with him through the organisation of the Free 
Trade League, concluded that he was the man they sought, 
and the position was offered him. He accepted and his 
name appeared at the head of its editorial columns. 

Henry George's connection with the "Transcript" was 
short, but was marked by three important events. It was 
then that the John Stuart Mill letter came. Mill was at 
the zenith of his reputation, so that it was with keen pride 
that this young country editor published in the columns of 
his paper a letter that set all the papers of the State to 
buzzing. 

It was also at this time that Mr. George made the ac- 

 Age,30-32] THE OAKLAND "TRANSCRIPT" 209 

quaintance of William Swinton, brother of John Swinton, 
the well-known radical of New York. William Swinton 
was born in Scotland in 1833, was well educated, finishing 
at Amherst College, Mass.; at twenty wrote a large part 
of a book, "Eamblcs Among Words"; later held a pro 
fessorship of ancient and modern languages; during the 
war made a brilliant field correspondent for the "New 
York Times''; afterwards wrote two authoritative works, 
"Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac" and "The 
Twelve Decisive Battles of the War"; and in 1869 had 
come to California to accept the chair of English language 
and literature, rhetoric, logic and history in the University 
of California, then just being founded at Oakland. He 
was a man of wide reading in the field of belles-lettres, of 
quick mind, fine taste and copious suggestiveness; and 
though sprung from, and following the schools, formed a 
close affinity with this young editor, who could not boast 
of ever having had any college connections. Then and in 
the years following Swinton drew George out and encour 
aged him to aim at the higher domain of literature. 

But more important for the young editor than anything 
else that occurred during the "Transcript" period was the 
solution of the Sphinx's question, the discovery of the nat 
ural order; the answer to the quest he had set himself in 
the streets of New York—why poverty accompanies wealth 
in advancing civilisation. It came about through a 
trifling incident. Mr. George had now commenced the 
habit of horseback riding—a habit that continued inter 
mittently for nearly ten years. At any hour that he was 
free and had the inclination he would hire a horse and find 
mental change in a lope into the open country of the foot 
hills. But wherever he rode, one thing faced him. The 
trans-continental railroad system had been completed, 
only a few months before the last spike, made of gold, hav- 

 210 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [186&-V871 

ing been driven. The California terminal was at Sacra 
mento, and there was a ferment over the proposal to ex 
tend the line to Oakland. A very general helief was that 
the advantages from the railroad would be so important 
as rapidly to attract population and form a great city in 
and about Oakland to compete with San Francisco. Land 
at even far-removed points therefore rose to extravagant 
figures. Men made themselves "land poor" in order to 
get and to hold as many feet or acres as possible in antici 
pation of the rise in value that a swelling population would 
make. Speculation in land ran far in advance of its use. 
Amid these circumstances Henry George went for a ride 
one afternoon. Of this he has said.1 

"Absorbed in my own thoughts, I had driven the horse 
into the hills until he panted. Stopping for breath, 
I asked a passing teamster, for want of something bet 
ter to say, what land was worth there. He pointed to 
some cows grazing off so far that they looked like mice 
and said: 'I don't know exactly, but there is a man over 
there who will sell some land for a thousand dollars an 
acre.' Like a flash it came upon me that there was the 
reason of advancing poverty with advancing wealth. 
With the growth of population, land grows in value, and 
the men who work it must pay more for the privilege. 
I turned back, amidst quiet thought, to the perception 
that then came to me and has been with me ever since." 

This truth was to dwell in his thoughts and slowly de 
velop for a year and a half, when it should burst into 
expression. Meanwhile Governor Haight's political plans 
matured. He determined to broaden out his fight against 
the Central Pacific Eailroad which now, like a monster 
of fairy lore, had swallowed, or was about to swallow, 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. Also see "The Science of Political 
Economy," Book II, Chap, v, p. 163. 

 Age, 30-32] PERCEIVES NATURAL ORDER 211 

great and small competitors, and all things else that could 
be useful or that got in its way. Public feeling expressive 
t of resentment at the encroachment on popular rights be 
gan to appear, and Haight, sharing this feeling, gave 
definite form and direction to it by attacking the rail 
road's subsidy policy. The railroad Avas gulping down 
lands, bonds and money showered upon it, all the while 
like a weakling pleading for more. The plain and palpa 
ble fact was that leaving out of consideration the imperial 
endowment in lands, it had already received several times 
more money, or what could immediately be turned into 
money, than was necessary to build the system, and that 
contemporary with the work of railroad construction had 
arisen the private fortunes of the big four manipulating 
the corporation—Stanford, Crocker, Huntington and 
Hopkins, who, from comparative poverty, had quickly 
risen to the class of multi-millionaires. 

Aside from the principle of subsidies, these private 
fortunes were a proof to such men as Haight that the 
policy was wrong for California as a State to pursue, or 
to authorise its municipalities to pursue. He, therefore, 
prepared for war on the "Great Absorber," and invited 
Mr. George to take the management of the chief party 
paper at the capital, the "Sacramento Reporter," which, 
under the name of the "State Capital Reporter," had been 
edited by Ex-Governor Bigler, who now retired. The 
State Publishing Company was organised to publish the 
paper, and besides a fair salary, Mr. George was offered a 
fourth of the stock. The rest was to be held by some of 
the Governor's political friends. Mr. George was ready 
to leave the "Transcript," as his relations with Colonel 
Scott were no longer pleasant. He accepted the "Re 
porter" offer and in February, 1870, moved to Sacramento 
and commenced work in his new field. 

 212 LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE [1869-1871 

Soon after Mr. George took charge of the Sacramento 
paper a press war opened and he got into the middle of it. 
It was nothing less than a resumption of the fight against 
the Western Union Telegraph Company and the Associated 
Press. A new telegraph system, the Atlantic and Pacific, 
had entered the field against the Western Union Company. 
Discontent among the old newspapers and needs of the new 
ones seized this channel for news competition by the or 
ganisation of the American Press Association as a rival to 
the Associated Press. It was made up of a lot of strong 
journals in the East and started off under favourable aus 
pices, with John Eussell Young, who had just started 
his New York "Standard," as president, and John Hasson, 
as general agent. Indeed, Hasson had largely, if not 
chiefly, to do with the organisation of the association, and 
in turn acknowledged that he had got much of his expe 
rience and preparation under George, when they were 
warring with the Associated Press and the Western Union 
Telegraph Company for the San Francisco "Herald." 
Young and Hasson at once chose George for their Cali 
fornia agent. 

Mr. George drew a number of papers into the new asso 
ciation, starting with his own, the "Eeporter," and includ 
ing Charles DeYoung's paper, the "San Francisco Chron 
icle." The Franco-Prussian war being on, foreign news 
was heavy; accordingly, the expense high. The price 
of the service for the California papers was advanced and 
the agent put the increase upon the "Chronicle," the paper 
which could best bear it and which got most advantage 
from it. But DeYoung made such an ado that George 
called a meeting of the papers' representatives. In one 
of his books, "The Land Question," to illustrate another 
matter, he in a veiled way told of what occurred at this 
meeting: 

 Age. 30-32] ANOTHER PEESS WAE 213 

"Once upon a time I was a Pacific Coast agent of an 
Eastern news association, which took advantage of an 
opposition telegraph company to run against the Asso 
ciated Press monopoly. The Association in California 
consisted of one strong San Francisco paper, to which 
telegraphic news was of much importance, and a num 
ber of interior papers, to which it was of minor impor 
tance, if of any importance at all. It became necessary 
to raise more money for the expenses of collecting and 
transmitting these despatches, and thinking it only fair, 
I assessed the increased cost to the strong metropolitan 
paper. The proprietor of this paper was very indig 
nant. He appealed to the proprietors of all the other 
papers and they all joined in his protest. I replied by 
calling a meeting. At this meeting the proprietor of 
the San Francisco paper led off with an indignant 
speech. He was seconded by several others, and evi 
dently had the sympathy of the whole crowd. Then 
came my turn. I said, in effect: 'Gentlemen, you can 
do what you please about this matter. Whatever satis 
fies you satisfies me. The only thing fixed is that more 
money has to be raised. As this San Francisco paper 
pays now a much lower relative rate than you do, I 
thought it only fair that it should pay the increased 
cost. But, if you think otherwise, there is no reason in 
the world why you should not pay it yourselves.' The 
debate immediately took another turn, and in a few 
minutes my action was indorsed by a unanimous vote, 
for the San Francisco man was so disgusted by the 
way his supporters left him that he would not vote 
at all."1 

This fight on the Associated Press and the Western 
Union Telegraph Company was kept up, so far as Mr. 
George was concerned, until the following spring, when he 
was out of the "Sacramento Reporter" and back in San 
Francisco. 

1 "The Land Question," Chap. XI; (Memorial Edition, pp. 69-70). 

 214 LIFE OP HENKY GEOEGE 

Meanwhile he had brought his family to Sacramento 
from the East, and with them his brother Vallcnce, and 
settled down at housekeeping. But now he narrowly 
escaped losing his life, for one day just as he was about to 
mount a horse for a ride, the animal jumped, and throwing 
him, dragged him for some distance before he could free 
his foot from the stirrup. He received a slight blow on the 
head and other injuries that were only temporary. That 
accident made him realise how uncertain life is, so that at 
once he got out an insurance, a thing that before this he 
had thought of but lightly. All through this period he was 
in regular and loving communication with his folks at 
Philadelphia, his father for instance writing June 2: 
"Your papers, after I have read them, I give to some good 
old Jackson Democrats, and many warm congratulations I 
have received that I have a son so bold and firm and con 
sistent for the old Democratic principles." 

The father truly characterised his son's paper. While 
it vigorously denounced "carpet-bag" rule in the so-called 
"reconstructed" South, it took high Jeffersonian ground on 
questions raising local issues. Of necessity the young editor 
was brought into close touch with Governor Haight, and 
through this intercourse became acquainted with Haight's 
private secretary, a young man named Edward R. Taylor, 
with whom he afterwards grew intimate, until, when 
"Progress and Poverty" was being written, Taylor was 
chief friend, critic and adviser. 

First of all matters of interest at this period was the 
anti-railroad war. The Central Pacific had set its heart 
on a further era of subsidies. Haight set himself to kill 
the scheme, and with the scheme to destroy the principle 
in public estimation; for it was a generally approved prin 
ciple prior to this, the Governor himself, having given his 
sanction to several subsidy bills in behalf of other corpor- 

 Ag». 30-32] GREAT RAILROAD FIGHT 216 

ations. "Under his direction public thought became roused, 
the question entered politics and the railroad was suddenly 
conscious of formidable opposition—an opposition which 
had been awakened, aside from the Governor's official and 
personal efforts, largely through the columns of the"Sac- 
ramento Reporter." 

The Central Pacific had become the overshadowing in 
fluence in California. It owned or controlled most of the 
press, swayed the legislature, bent the courts, governed 
banks and moved as a mighty force in politics. It was 
quick to recognise talent and as quick to engage or reward 
it.1 Out of imperial coffers it had fortunes to bestow. 
With a word it could make men, and so far as the masses 
were concerned, could as easily break men. Of those who 
could not, or would not serve, it asked only silence, merely 
immunity from attack. Henry George had now come to 
have a recognised influence with his pen. What more easy 

1" Among the most prominent figures in the Republican national con 
vention (1888) was Creed Raymond, chairman of the California delegation, 
and foremost among the ' boomers' of ' Blaine and Protection.' To those 
who knew him years ago it seemed a queer place for him to be. Creed Hay- 
inond is a Virginian by birth, and a Democrat by instinct and tradition. 
During the War. he was in California, a strong secessionist and afterwards 
was prominent and nseful as an anti-monopoly, free-trade Democrat. 
He is a fine lawyer, a man of exceedingly quick and nimble mind, and 
like most Southern men of his class, a born politician. He rendered very 
efficient aid to Governor Haight in his struggle with the Pacific Railroad 
monopoly, and no one in the country conld have better startled the Chicago 
convention with a Jeffersonian speech. But like many other men in Cali 
fornia, Creed Haymond at length grew tired of what seemed an utterly 
hopeless fight, and the railroad octopus, true to its policy of taking into 
its service men of ability who might be dangerous to it ontside, made 
him head of its law bureau with a salary of $25,000 a year. Thus it 
comes that Creed Haymond makes his appearance in a national Repub 
lican convention at the head of a delegation representing the Central 
Pacific railroad ring."— Signed editorial by Henry George,' 'The Standard," 
New York, June 80, 1888. 

 216 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1869-1871 

than for him to he at peace with the great corporation, 
and obtaining some dignified place within its giving, as 
some of his acquaintances had already done, enjoy tranquil 
days, during which to develop his philosophy of the natural 
order to a readiness for launching when the favourable 
moment should come! But the young man was not to be 
tempted. The one course, then open for the railroad peo 
ple was to buy control of the "Eeporter," which they 
quietly did. George thereupon found himself to be editor 
of a newspaper whose policy he could no longer direct—a 
paper which by reason of its new ownership must favour 
the very interest which he had been so vigourously oppos 
ing. He at once resigned, sold out his fourth interest,1 
moved with his family to San Francisco, and took a little 
house on Stevenson Street, on the site since occupied by 
the Odd Fellows' building. This was in the beginning of 
October, 1870, nine months after going on the paper. 

But if the railroad management expected in this way to 
silence the trenchant pen they made a mistake, for it 
was Haight's plan, as well as George's desire, to make the 
subsidy question the chief issue at the State election in the 
fall. Mr. George therefore wrote a sixteen paged, closely 
printed pamphlet under the title of "The Subsidy Ques 
tion and the Democratic Party." The nature and tone of 
the pamphlet may be judged by the concluding paragraphs: 

"Let us recapitulate: 

"Eailroad subsidies, like protective duties, are con 
demned by the economic principle that the development 
of industry should be left free to take its natural 
direction. 

"They are condemned by the political principle that 
government should be reduced to its minimum—that it 

1The "Reporter" not long afterwards was merged in the "Sacramento 
Record Union," a strong railroad paper. 

 Age, 30-32] AGAINST SUBSIDIES 217 

becomes more corrupt and more tyrannical, and less 
under the control of the people, with every extension of 
its powers and duties. 

"They are condemned by the Democratic principle 
which forbids the enrichment of one citizen at the 
expense of another; and the giving to one citizen of ad 
vantages denied to another. 

"They are condemned by the experience of the whole 
country which shows that they have invariably led to 
waste, extravagance and rascality; that they inevitably 
become a source of corruption and a means of plunder 
ing the people. 

"The only method of preventing the abuse of subsi 
dies is by prohibiting them altogether. This is abso 
lutely required by the lengths to which the subsidy sys 
tem in its various shapes has been carried—by the 
effects which it is producing in lessening the comforts 
of the masses, stifling industry with taxation, monopo 
lising land and corrupting the public service in all its 
branches. . . . 

"But it will be said that the Democratic party is 
opposed to the building of railroads? On the contrary, 
should the Democratic party carry out its programme 
of free trade and no subsidies, it will stimulate the 
building of railroads more than could be done by all 
the subsidies it is possible to vote. It will at once 
reduce the cost of building railroads many thousand 
dollars per mile, by taking off the protective duty now 
imposed on the iron used; and the stimulus which the 
reduction of taxation will give to the industry of the 
whole country will create a new demand for railroads 
and vastly increase the amount of their business." 

Haight so thoroughly appreciated the value of this 
pamphlet that he had a large edition circulated throughout 
the State as a campaign document. Bearing Henry 
George's name, it did much to extend and strengthen the 
reputation the young man had already won as newspaper 
editor and author of the Chinese article. 

 218 LIFE OF HENEY GEOEGE [1869-1871 

In June, 1871, the Democratic State convention met in 
San Francisco, and installing Henry George as secretary, 
nominated Haight for re-election as governor. There was 
some friction among Democrats over the radical issue, but 
the party generally being lined up squarely for a big fight 
on a straight principle, and he himself beginning to think 
clearly on the great social as well as the great political 
questions, Mr. George was even more desirous than he had 
been two years before to run for the legislature. On 
August 10 he secured a nomination for the Assembly in 
a San Francisco district and he made several speeches 
there and elsewhere. Again his hopes were to be dashed. 
At dinner time on election day he announced to his wife 
that the indications were that the Democrats were carry 
ing everything, but late that evening he came home again 
in laughing humour. "Why," he almost shouted, "we 
haven't elected a constable!" 

Haight had opened and pressed the fight—and George 
had taken an important part in it—that had stamped out 
the policy of subsidies in California; but the great railroad 
corporation had in turn thrown its gigantic power into the 
election and had cast Haight and his entire party into the 
dust of defeat. Henry George, whose pen had been so 
active, was a shining mark for the powerful company, and 
his vote did not rise to the average of the party Assembly 
candidates in San Francisco. His one personal satisfac 
tion in that hour of defeat was that he had fought and lost 
on a principle. 

 CHAPTEK III. 

ANSWEKS THE KIDDLE OF THE SPHINX. 
1871. AGE, 32. 

"T CANNOT play upon any stringed instrument, but I 
1 can tell you how of a little village to make a great and 
glorious city." Thus spake Themistocles, the Athenian, 
when asked if he could play the lyre. It was a reply 
seemingly arrogant enough; for was this not beyond the 
powers of any mortal man? Do not communities have 
their birth, their thriving to maturity, their decline and 
death, as regularly and immutably as the individual man 
himself ? 

Yet there have arisen those in the history of the world 
who have dreamed of a reign of justice and of the pro 
longed, if not indeed continuous life of the community. 
Such a dreamer was this Californian—this small, erect 
young man; with full, sandy beard; fresh, alert face; 
shining blue eyes; who, careless of dress, and wrapped in 
thought, rode a mustang pony about San Francisco. In 
the streets of the great Eastern city he had seen the want 
and suffering that accompany civilisation. It had made 
him who came "from the open West sick at heart." He 
knew nothing of the schools, but this that he saw he could 
not believe was the natural order. What was that order? 

219 

 220 LIFE OF HENKY GEORGE [1871 

He vowed that he would find it. And afterwards as he 
rode in the Oakland foothills came the flash-like revelation 
—the monopoly of the land, the locking up of the store 
house of nature! There was the seat of the evil. He 
asked no one if he was right: he knew he was right. Had 
he not come into the new country and grown up with the 
phases of change? Had he not seen this young com 
munity develop the ills from which the older communities 
suffered? He did not need to go to books or to consult 
the sages. There the thing lay plainly to view for any 
who would see. 

On Sunday night, March 26, in his work-room in the 
second story of the Stevenson Street house, Henry George 
sat down to write out the simple answer to the riddle of 
the Sphinx. When ultimately finished it made a pamphlet 
of forty-eight closely printed pages, equivalent to one hun 
dred and fifty pages of an ordinary book. To it he gave 
the title, "Our Land and Land Policy, National and 
State." He divided his subject into five parts, which we 
shall briefly review, following the author's language wher 
ever possible. 

I. 

THE LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The secret of the confidence of Americans in their own 
destiny and the reason of their cheerful welcome to the 
down-trodden of every nation, lay in the knowledge of the 
"practically inexhaustible" public domain spreading over 
the great Western country that would provide farms and 
homes for all. But beginning with the Civil War period, 
a policy of dissipation of the public lands commenced, and 

 From photograph taken iu 1871, showing Mr. George at 32, 
when he wrote " Our Land and Land Policy." 

 Age, 32] OUR LAND POLICY 221 

BO great have been the various kinds of grants, especially 
to the railroads, up to 1870, that continuing at the same 
rate, all the available arable land will be given away by 
1890.1 To a single railroad—the Northern Pacific— 
25,600 acres have been given for the building of each mile 
of road2—land enough to make 256 good sized American 
farms or 4,400 such as in Belgium support families in 
independence and comfort. Nor was this given to the 
corporation for building a railroad for the government or 
for the people, but for building it for itself. 

II. 

THE LANDS OF CALIFORNIA. 

In California, twenty-four times as large as Massachu 
setts and with but 600,000 inhabitants, free land should 
be plentiful; yet the notorious fact is that so reckless has 
been the land policy that the immigrant in 1871, has, as a 
general thing, to pay a charge to middlemen before he 
can begin to cultivate the soil. Already individuals hold 
thousands and hundred of thousands of acres apiece. 
Across many of these vast estates a strong horse cannot 
gallop in a day, and one might travel for miles and miles 
over fertile ground where no plow has ever struck, but 
which is all owned, and on which no settler can come to 
make himself a home, unless he pay such a tribute as the 
lord of the domain may choose to exact. 

was verified, resort being made at about 1890 to lands (since 
Oklahoma Territory) which in Indian Territory had been set apart for the 
Indian tribes. 
z Twenty sections in the States and forty sections in the Territories. 

 222 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE 

III. 

LAND AND LABOUR. 

Land, that part of the globe's surface habitable by man, 
is the storehouse from which he must draw the material to 
which his labour must be applied for the satisfaction of 
his desires. It is not wealth, since wealth is the product 
of human labour. It is valuable only as it is scarce. Its 
value differs from that of, say a keg of nails, for the nails 
are the result of labour, and when labour is given in re 
turn for them the transaction is an exchange; whereas, 
land is not the result of labour, but the creation of God, 
and when labour must be given for it, the result is an 
appropriation. 

The value of land is not an element in the wealth of a 
community. It indicates the distribution of wealth. 
The value of land and the value of labour must bear to 
each other an inverse ratio. These two are the "terms" 
of production, and while production remains the same, to 
give more to the one is to give less to the other. The 
wealth of a community depends upon the product of the 
community. But the productive powers of land are pre 
cisely the same whether its price is low or high. In other 
words, the price of land indicates the distribution of 
wealth, not the production. The value of land is the 
power which its ownership gives to appropriate the prod 
uct of labour, and as a sequence, where rents (the 
share of the land-owner) are high, wages (the share 
of the labourer) are low. And thus we see it all over 
the world: in the countries where land is high, wages 
are low, and where land is low, wages are high. In a new 
country the value of labour is at its maximum, the value 

 Age, 32] LAND AND LABOUR 223 

of land at its minimum. As population grows and land 
becomes monopolised and increases in value, the value of 
labour steadily decreases. And the higher land and the 
lower wages, the stronger the tendency towards still lower 
wages, until this tendency is met by the very necessities 
of existence. For the higher land and the lower wages, 
the more difficult is it for the man who starts with nothing 
but his labour to become his own employer, and the more 
he is at the mercy of the land-owner and the capitalist. 

According to the doctrine of rent advanced by Eicardo 
and Malthus, the value of land should be determined by 
the advantage which it possesses over the least advantage 
ous land in use. Where use determines occupancy, this 
may be called the necessary or real value of land, in con 
tradistinction to the unnecessary or fictitious value which 
results from speculation in land. 

The difference between the necessary value of the land 
of the United States and the aggregate value at which it 
is held is enormous and represents the unnecessary tax 
which land monopolisation levies upon labour. 

Now the right of every human being to himself is the 
foundation of the right of property. That which a man 
produces is rightfully his own, to keep, to sell, to give or to 
bequeath, and upon this sure title alone can ownership of 
anything rightfully rest. But man has also another right, 
declared by the fact of his existence—the right to the use 
of so much of the free gifts of nature as may be neces 
sary to supply all the wants of that existence, and which he 
may use without interfering with the equal rights of any 
one else; and to this he has a title as against all the 
world. 

To permit one man to monopolise the land from which 
4he support of others is to be drawn, is to permit him 
to appropriate their labour. 

 224 LITE OF HENRY GEORGE 

IV. 

THE TENDENCY OF OUR PRESENT LAND POLICY. 

The same causes which have reduced 374,000 land-hold 
ers of England in the middle of the last century to 30,000 
now are working in this country. Not only are large 
bodies of new lands being put in the hands of the few, but 
a policy is pursued causing the absorption of the small 
farms into large estates. 

The whole present system, National and State, tends 
to the concentration of wealth and the monopolisation of 
land. A hundred thousand dollars in the hands of one 
man pays but a slight proportion of the taxes that are paid 
by the same sum distributed among fifty; a hundred thou 
sand acres held by a single landholder is assessed for but 
a fraction of the amount assessed upon the hundred thou 
sand acres of six hundred farms. 

Concentration is the law of the time. The great city is 
swallowing up the little towns ; the great merchant is driv 
ing his poorer rivals out of business ; a thousand little deal 
ers become the clerks and shopmen of the proprietor of the 
marble fronted palace ; a thousand master workmen, the em 
ployees of one rich manufacturer ; and the gigantic corpora 
tions, the alarming product of the new social forces which 
Watt and Stephenson introduced to the world, are them 
selves being welded into still more titanic corporations. 

In the new condition of things what chance will there 
be for a poor man if the land also is monopolised ? To say 
that the land of a country shall be owned by a small class, 
is to say that that class shall rule it; to say that the peo 
ple of a country shall consist of the very rich and the very 
poor, is to say that republicanism is impossible. 

 .Age, 32] PEOPOSED LAND POLICY 225 

V. 

WHAT OUR LAND POLICY SHOULD BE. 

When we consider what land is; the relations between it 
and labour; that to own the land upon which a man must 
gain his subsistence is practically to own the man himself, 
we cannot remain in doubt as to what should be our policy 
in disposing of our public lands. 

They should be given to actual settlers, in small quan 
tities without charge. 

But this policy would affect only the land that is left. 
It would still leave the great belts granted to railroads, 
the vast estates—the large bodies of land everywhere the 
subject of speculation. Still would continue the tendency 
that is concentrating ownership in the older settled States. 

When our 40,000,000 of people have to raise $800,000,000 
per year for public purposes 1 we cannot have any difficulty 
in discovering the remedy in the adjustment of taxation. 

The feudal system annexed duties to privileges. One 
portion of the land defrayed the expenses of the State; an 
other portion, those of the army; a third, those of the 
Church, and also relieved the sick, the indigent and the 
wayworn; while a fourth portion, the commons, was free 
to all the people. The great debts, the grinding taxation, 
are results of a departure from this system. A recent 
English writer2 has estimated that had the feudal tenures 
been continued, England would now have had at her com 
mand a completely appointed army of six hundred thousand 
men, without the cost of a penny to the public treasury. 

1 Estimate of Commissioner DaviJ A. Wells. 
2 "The Strength of Nations," by Andrew Bisset. 

 226 LIFE OF HENET GEORGE 

Why should we not go back to the old system, and charge 
' the expense of government upon our lands ? 

Land taxation does not bear at all upon production; it 
adds nothing to prices, and does not affect the cost of liv 
ing. As it does not add to prices, it costs the people noth 
ing in addition to what it yields the Government; while as 
land cannot be hid or moved, this tax can be collected with 
more ease and certainty, and with less expense than any 
other tax; and the land-owner cannot shift it to any one else. 

A tax upon the value of land is the most equal of all 
taxes, because the value of land is something that belongs to 
all, and in taxing land values we are merely taking for the 
use of the community something which belongs to the 
community. By the value of land is meant the value of 
the land itself, not the value of any improvement which 
has been made upon it—what is sometimes called in 
England the unearned value. 

The mere holder would be called on to pay just as much 
taxes as the user of land. The owner of a vacant lot would 
have to pay as much as his neighbour who is using his. 
The monopoliser of agricultural land would be taxed as 
much as though his land were covered with improvements, 
with crops and with stock. 

Land prices would fall; land speculation would receive 
its death-blow; land monopolisation would no longer pay. 
Millions and millions of acres from which settlers are now 
shut out, would be abandoned by their present owners, or 
sold to settlers on nominal terms. 

The whole weight of taxation would be lifted from 
productive industry. The million dollar manufactory and 
needle of the seamstress, the mechanic's cottage and the 
grand hotel, the farmer's plow and the ocean steamship, 
would be alike untaxed. All would be free to buy or sell, 
to make or save, unannoyed by the tax-gatherer. 

 Age, 32] THE LAND VALUE TAX 227 

Imagine this country with all taxes removed from prq- 
duction and exchange! How demand would spring up; 
how trade would increase; what a powerful stimulus would 
be applied to every branch of industry; what an enormous 
development of wealth would take place. Imagine this 
country free of taxation, with its unused land free to those 
who would use it! Would there be many industrious men 
walking the streets, or tramping over our roads in the vain 
search for employment? Would there be in such a city as 
New York a hundred thousand men looking for work; such 
festering poverty and breeding vice as make the man from 
the open West sick at heart? 

This was the nature of the little book to the writing of 
which this Californian, not yet thirty-two, devoted himself 
during the four months and three days between March 26 
and July 29, 1871, though in the meantime came the 
Haight convention and other interruptions. He printed it 
in small type and in pamphlet form, for he had no money 
to present it in a better way. At first it made only thirty- 
one pages and in that form was printed; but when only a 
few copies were off, he stopped the press and expanded the 
last part, so that as published the pamphlet made forty- 
eight pages and had attached to it a folding map of Cali 
fornia showing the extent of the railroad land grants. 

Perhaps the first question to arise is, how much was 
Henry George indebted to others for the comprehensive 
views of political economy as set down in his little book? 
He answered this himself in later years:1 

"When I first came to see what is the root of our 
social difficulties, and how this fundamental wrong 
might be cured in the easiest way, by concentrating taxes 

l "The Standard," New York, October 19, 1889. 

 228 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1871 

on land values, I had worked out the whole thing for 
myself without conscious aid that I can remember, 
unless it might have been the light I got from Bisset's 
'Strength of Xations' as to the economic character of 
the feudal system. When I published 'Our Land and 
Land Policy,' I had not even heard of the Physiocrats 
and the impot unique. But I knew that if it was really 
a star I had seen, others must have seen it too." 

While Ricardo and Malthus are credited with the for 
mulation of the law of rent; while John Stuart Mill's 
proposal to compensate land-owners is deprecated, and his 
phrase "unearned increment," is spoken of as "the un 
earned value of land," it is not necessary to assume 
that Henry George was indebted to others further than 
this, even at points where there chanced to be a similarity 
of thought. In his last book,1 discussing the concurrent 
writings of Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats and 
the probably independent thought of Smith, where his 
utterances closely resembled that of the latter, Mr. George 
has drawn the instance of his own case. 

"It is a mistake to which the critics who are them 
selves mere compilers are liable, to think that men 
must draw from one another to see the same truths or 
to fall into the same errors. Truth is, in fact, a rela 
tion of things, which is to be seen independently be 
cause it exists independently. Error is perhaps more 
likely to indicate transmission from mind to mind; yet 
even that usually gains its strength and permanence 
from misapprehensions that in themselves have inde 
pendent plausibility. Such relations of the stars as that 
appearance in the North which we call the Dipper or 
Great Bear, or as that in the South which we call the 
Southern Cross, are seen by all who scan the starry 

1 "The Science of Political Economy." Book II, Chap, v., pp. 162-161. 

 Age, 32] INDEPENDENT THOUGHT 229 

heavens, though the names by which men know them 
are various. And to think that the sun revolves around 
the earth is an error into which the testimony of their 
senses must cause all men independently to fall, until 
the first testimony of the senses is corrected by reason 
applied to wider observations. 

"In what is most important, I have come closer to the 
views of Qucsnay and his followers than did Adam 
Smith, who knew the men personally. But in my case 
there was certainly no derivation from them. I well re 
call the day when, checking my horse on a rise that 
overlooks San Francisco Bay, the commonplace reply 
of a passing teamster to a commonplace question, crys 
tallised, as by lightning-flash, my brooding thoughts 
into coherency, and I there and then recognised the 
natural order—one of those experiences that make those 
who have had them feel thereafter that they can vaguely 
appreciate what mystics and poets have called the 'ec 
static vision.' Yet at that time I had never heard of the 
Physiocrats, or even read a line of Adam Smith. 

"Afterwards, with the great idea of the natural order 
in my head, I printed a little book, 'Our Land and Land 
Policy,' in which 1 urged that all taxes should be laid 
on the value of land, irrespective of improvements. 
Casually meeting on a San Francisco street a scholarly 
lawyer, A. B. Douthitt, we stopped to chat, and he told 
me that what I had in my little book proposed was what 
the French 'Economists' a hundred years before had 
proposed. 

"I forget many things, but the place where I heard 
this, and the tones and attitude of the man who told 
me of it, are photographed on my memory. For, when 
you have seen a truth that those around you do not 
see, it is one of the deepest of pleasures to hear of 
others who have seen it. This is true, even though these 
others were dead years before you were born. For the 
stars that we of to-day see when we look were here to 
be seen hundreds and thousands of years ago. They 
shine on. Men come and go, in their generations, like 
the generations of the ants." 

 230 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE 

Ex-State Senator John M. Days of California became 
acquainted with Mr. George soon after the pamphlet was 
written and bears testimony on the subject: 

• 

"In 1871 I was elected a member of the Legislature 
and introduced a set of resolutions in favour of the 
land of the United States being held for the people 
thereof. In preparing my speech I came across Henry 
George's pamphlet 'Our Land and Land Policy5 and I 
quoted two whole pages. I first met Henry George per 
sonally in the month of May, 1872, and I loaned him 
all the writings of Bronterre O'Brien, together with 
Carnage's history of chartism. He returned them 
within so short a time that he could not have had time 
to read them carefully, let alone study them. He told 
me that when he wrote the pamphlet he had never read 
or seen any work on the land question." 

But without direct or indirect statements from Mr. 
George or any one else as to the independence of his 
thought, a striking proof of it might be found in his writ 
ings themselves. He has frankly stated1 that in the 
spring of 1869, when writing the Chinese article, "wishing 
to know what political economy had to say about the causes 
of wages," he "went to the Philadelphia Library, looked 
over John Stuart Mill's 'Political Economy,' and accept 
ing Mill's view without question," based Ms article upon it. 
Yet in "Our Land and Land Policy," in dealing with the 
cause of wages, he rejected Mill's view and gave a differ 
ent explanation to the one assumed in the Chinese article. 
He, in fact, took up and developed something he had 
perceived months before the Chinese article was thought 
of and which he had set forth in his "Overland Monthly" 
article, "What the Railroad Will Bring Us," in the fall of 

1 "The Science of Political Economy." Book II, 
Chap, viii, pp. 200, 201. 

 Age. 32] 

"WAGES AND INTEREST 

231 

1868. Passages from his former and his later work set 
side by side, show the development of his thought: 

"Overland" Article, 1868. 

"For years the high rate 
of interest and the high rate 
of wages prevailing in Cali 
fornia have been special 
subjects for the lamenta 
tion of a certain school of 
political economists, who 
could not see that high 
wages and high interest 
were indications that the 
natural wealth of the coun 
try was not yet monopo 
lised, that great opportuni 
ties were open to all." 

"Land Policy," 1871. 

"The value of land and 
of labour must bear to each 
other an inverse ratio. 
These two are the 'terms' 
of production, and while 
production remains the 
same, to give more to the 
one, is to give less to the 
other. The value of land is 
the power which its owner 
ship gives to appropriate 
the product of labour, and, 
as a sequence, where rents 
(the share of the land 
owner) are high, wages 
(the share of the labourer) 
are low. And thus we see 
it all over the world, in the 
countries where land is 
high, wages are low, and 
where land is low, wages 
are high. In a new country 
the value of labour is at 
first at its maximum, the 
value of land at its mini 
mum. As population grows 
and land becomes monopo 
lised and increases in value, 
the value of labour steadily 
decreases." 

The truth is that primitive conditions were all about 
Henry George. The miners throughout the early Cali 
fornia placers commonly spoke of washing their "wages" 

 232 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [1871 

out of the soil, and there was a universal if unwritten law 
among them that "claims" should be limited in size and 
that ownership should be conditioned upon use. In the 
agricultural regions, and even in some of the towns, 
"squatters" had constantly asserted the principle com 
monly recognised through the whole frontier country that 
any man was free to use land that was not already actually 
in use. The passage of statutes permitting the adding of 
mining claim to claim and promoting monopolisation in 
the agricultural regions, accompanied by enormous grants 
to comparatively few individuals, brought a keen sense of 
scarcity of land to a people who had been accustomed to 
think of practically "all out-doors" as being free. 

With a fresh young people, full of self-confidence and 
free from restraints and traditions, here were all the con 
ditions needed to quicken original thought—thought that 
should go back to first principles. Henry George did not 
therefore have to go to books for his political economy. 
His keen perception, and active, analytical mind found 
what he hailed as the fundamental and eternal truths of 
social order written so that all might read them in the 
primary conditions of the new country. His political 
economy he got from nature herself. 

But there was one small passage in the pamphlet which 
should not be overlooked. Of this Ex-Senator Days has 
since said: 

"In 'Our Land and Land Policy5 Henry George made 
a plea for private property in land. In August, 1872, 
I became president of a Lyceum in San Francisco which 
discussed various questions every Sunday afternoon. I 
.invited him to open on the land question. In his speech 
he still favoured private property in land. In closing 
the meeting I made a few remarks in which I observed 
that Mr. George said that he favoured private property 

 Age, 32] PROPERTY IN LAND 233 

in land, but that he made a mistake in so saying, for 
every argument he made on the question showed that 
he was opposed to it. From that day to the day of his 
deatli Mr. George openly opposed by word as well as 
argument private property in land." 

The passage of the pamphlet to which the Senator re 
fers runs: 

"It by no means follows that there should be no such 
thing as property in land, but merely that there should 
be no monopolisation—no standing between the man 
who is willing to work and the field which nature offers 
for his labour. For while it is true that the land of 
a country is the free gift of the Creator to all the peo 
ple of that country, to the enjoyment of which each has 
an equal natural right, it is also true that the recognition 
of private ownership in land is necessary to its proper 
use—is, in fact, a condition of civilisation. AVhen the 
millennium comes, and the old savage, selfish instincts 
have died out of men, land may perhaps be held in com 
mon; but not till then." 

The idea that Mr. George wished to convey was the 
necessity of securing improvements, which could not be 
the case if titles were to be confiscated and the State were 
to resume actual possession of all the land. But seeing 
in the instance of Senator Days the wrong idea his lan 
guage expressed, when writing "Progress and Poverty" he 
changed it materially, to wit : 

"What is necessary for the use of land is not its 
private ownership, but the security of improvements. 
. . . The complete recognition of common rights to 
land need in no way interfere with the complete recog 
nition of individual right to improvements or produce. 
. . . I do not propose either to purchase or to con- 

 234 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [mi 

fiscate private property in land. The first would be 
unjust; the second, needless. Let the individuals who 
now hold it still retain, if they want to, possession of 
what they are pleased to call their land. Let them con 
tinue to call it their land. Let them buy and sell, and 
bequeath and devise it. We may safely leave them the 
shell, if we take the kernel. It is not necessary to con 
fiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent."1 

This Days incident and others like it bringing to Mr. 
George a realisation of obscurities of his language in some 
instances and of his thoughts in others, made him hence 
forward most patient with those who, sincerely striving 
to comprehend his ideas, floundered around in self-made 
confusions; for with all his powers, no one more fully ap 
preciated the difficulty of clear expression, and before that, 
of clear thinking, than Mr. George himself. 

If "Our Land and Land Policy" was sent to John 
Stuart Mill, the acknowledged master political economist 
of the day, there is nothing to show it. But E. T. Peters, 
of the Bureau of Statistics at Washington, whom George 
had quoted and to whom he presented a copy, wrote 
strongly commending it; Horace White of the "Chicago 
Tribune" wrote that George was "entitled to be ranked as 
an economist"; while David A. Wells, New York Commis 
sioner for the Eevision of the Revenue Laws, whose report 
had been cited, said, "I see you have enunciated a prin 
ciple relative to value of land and pauperism which strikes 
me as original and well put." But beyond a few euch 
letters as these, the pamphlet got little attention. Nor 
even in California did it awaken the public recognition for 
which he may have looked. "Something like a thousand 

l_ "Progress and Poverty." Book VIII, Chaps, i and ii, 
(Memorial Edition, pp. 396, 397 and 403). 

 Age, 32] AUSTRALIAN BALLOT 235 

copies were sold," he said towards the end of his life,1 "lint 
I saw that to command attention the work must be done 
more thoroughly.'' The work was done more thoroughly 
eight years later when "Progress and Poverty" was 
written. 

Two articles by Henry George appeared in the "Over 
land Monthly" during this year of 1871, one in February 
entitled, "How Jack Breeze Missed Being a Pasha," and 
the other in December entitled, "Bribery in Elections," in 
which, pointing at the shameless corruption at the polls 
in the fall election when Haight was overwhelmed by rail 
road money, George advocated the adoption in California 
of the Australian ballot system. But these efforts were 
trifling compared with the pamphlet, "Our Land and Land 
Policy." This latter was set aside for a time in a new 
era of newspaper activity. 

1 "The Science of Political Economy." Book II, Chap, viii, p. 201. 

 CHAPTER IV. 

THE "SAN FRANCISCO EVENING POST." 
1871-1875. AGE, 32-36. 

IT was in 1859, before he came of age and while setting 
type on the "Home Journal," that, on an alarm of fire 
one day which brought most of the people of the neigh 
bourhood into the street, Henry George found himself 
wedged in a doorway with a strange printer from another 
part of the building, both trying to pass through at the 
same moment. Seven years later on meeting him again, 
George learned that this man was William M. Hinton. 
George was then about to set off on the Mexican filibus 
tering expedition and Hinton deprecated his going, be 
cause George would imperil his life and most likely cut off 
the means of his family's support. That commenced the 
friendship, and when "Our Land and Land Policy" had 
been published, Hinton was one of those to whom the 
author gave a copy. Born in England, in 1830, nearly 
ten years before George's birth, he was brought to the 
United States as a child, his father, I. T. Hinton, coming 
to Philadelphia in 1832 to sell a history of the United 
States written by himself and his brother, John Howard 
Hinton. George wavered during the summer of 1871 be 
tween remaining in California and going to New York 
or Philadelphia to establish himself, when he chanced one 

236 

 Age, 32-36] A NEWSPAPER DEPARTURE 237 

day to talk with Hinton, of which conversation the latter 
says: 

"Mr. George was talking of going East to settle. I 
had read his pamphlet, 'Our Land and Land Policy,' 
and was taken with it, believing its author showed 
marked ability. In talking with him about it and other 
things, I asked him why he did not start a newspaper. 
He replied that he had no money; to which I said that 
an}'body could start one with money, but that the diffi 
cult and commendable achievement was to start one 
without it. I had no thought about entering upon such 
an enterprise myself, as I was getting a good living out 
of the job-printing establishment of Mahan & Co., of 
which firm I was a partner. I made the suggestion 
to Mr. George simply because at the time he had no 
employment. Yet as a result of this casual conversa 
tion, the idea catching fire in his mind, I found myself 
before long getting into the thing, though even then I 
purposed to sta}r only until it should be set on its feet, 
planning then to withdraw. Three of us entered into 
an equal partnership—George, who was to be editor; 
myself, who was to superintend the printing; and A. H. 
Eapp, a member of my job-printing firm, who was to 
be business manager. We got together about $1,800 
and this and some more that we got in by the sale in 
advance of delivery routes, constituted all the capital 
we had with which to start a daily newspaper. We lost 
no time, and on Monday, December 4, 1871, the first 
copy of the 'Daily Evening Post' appeared, with Hin 
ton, Rapp & Co. as publishers, and Henry George as 
editor. Our office was at G05 Montgomery Street, west 
side, a few doors north of Clay." 

Following the example of very successful newspapers in 
the East, the price was set at one cent a copy, it being 
the first penny paper west of the Rocky Mountains. In 
deed, the cent piece was not in commercial use on the 
Pacific Coast, so that it had to be introduced specially; 

 238 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1871-1OT5 

which was accomplished by inducing the largest finan 
cial institution in the Western country—the Bank of Cali 
fornia—to import a thousand dollars' worth of pennies 
on the presumption of their usefulness in a multitude of 
minor commercial transactions. Then San Francisco was 
astonished by the spectacle of newsboys crying the new 
paper on the streets for a cent a copy, and ready with a 
large supply of pennies to make change. The novelty of 
the thing caused people to buy the little "Post." For 
the paper, consisting of four pages, "was only eleven by 
fourteen inches, and the type very small. The early num 
bers contained little advertising and telegraphic, the space 
being filled with local news and editorials, written in short, 
sharp, direct style. In its salutatory it said: "In the higher, 
wider sense the 'Post' will be Democratic; that is, it will 
oppose centralisation and monopolies of all kinds. But it 
will be the organ of no faction, clique or party. It will 
endeavour to deal with all questions without cowardly re 
serve, but with firmness and candour; and whether it 
praises or censures, it will be without reference to party 
lines or party affiliations." 

Towards the end of his life Henry George told of the 
early history of the "Post."1 

"The vigour of the little paper attracted attention 
and it began to run to as large a circulation as could 
be obtained with our press facilities. We could get 
only one double flat-bed press. An offer soon came 
from another newspaper man, H. W. Thomson, now 
dead, to buy at a good price a fourth interest. The 
third partner, "Rapp, wanted to sell his share, and he 
did sell it for about $2,500. Mr. Hinton and I con 
cluded that we had better withdraw, and we sold our 
interests, each getting $2,700. All three of the original 

I Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

 Age, 32-36] SOLD AND BOUGHT AGAIN 239 

partners had thus sold to Thomson. This happened 
within four months and a half after the first issue ap 
peared. But no sooner was the policy changed than the 
circulation of the 'Post' dropped, and in less than 
sixty days Thomson offered the paper to us for a merely 
nominal sum. This Mr. Hinton and I accepted, and 
Frank Mahan, another printer, was given a small in 
terest. I went along editing the paper, which imme 
diately started to grow." 

A feature that was quickly recognised by the public 
as indicating the independence of the new journal was its 
treatment of the land and taxation questions. Frequently 
quotations were made from "Our Land and Land Policy" 
and more frequently there were editorials favouring the 
taxation of land values to the exclusion of all other things. 
These editorials were always short and direct. This fea 
ture grew strong enough to become the objective point 
with the opposition press, which ridiculed "George's fad." 
But fad or no fad, the editor kept persistently talking 
of it and snapped up every challenge to discuss it with 
other papers. When in May, 1873, John Stuart Mill died 
at Avignon, France, the "Post" paid a fine editorial tribute 
to the passing of this "greatest living master of political 
economy," making commendation of the decision of those 
having the matter in hand that instead of raising a statue 
to him in America, they should publish a memorial edi 
tion of his writings—"his best monument." 

In national politics the paper was strongly opposed to 
Grant, "carpet-bag reconstruction" and centralisation, and 
warmly advocated the nomination for the Presidency of 
Horace Greeley, editor of the "New York Tribune," who, 
although formerly a zealous supporter of war measures, 
now wished to ignore sectionalism and bind up the na 
tion's wounds. Mr. George was elected a delegate to the 

 240 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE p87i-i875 

Democratic National Convention to meet in Baltimore, 
Maryland, early in July, 1872. He went East by way 
of Philadelphia, where he had eent his family just be 
fore starting the "Post," on account of his wife's ill 
health. Thence, accompanied by his wife, he went to 
Baltimore, where he was elected secretary of the Cali 
fornia delegation, Ex-Governor Downey being chair 
man. On July 10, 1872, Greeley was nominated unani 
mously and a few days later the California delegation 
visited the candidate on his estate at Chappaqua, West- 
chester County, N. Y., George writing to his paper a long 
signed description of the occasion, closing with the words: 
"We all felt . . . that in this sturdy, benignant old 
man we had a candidate round whom we could all rally, 
and who fittingly represented the grandest idea of the 
time—the idea of reconciliation." 

Then Mr. George hastened back to San Francisco to 
plunge editorially into the campaign. In this, as in all 
his fights, he grew more and more hopeful as his blood 
warmed in the conflict; but his wife, who now was grow 
ing to understand public affairs and therefore becoming 
more his counsellor in such matters, was not so sure, writ 
ing October 8, on the day of the Pennsylvania State elec 
tion : "This is the day that in a measure determines Gree- 
ley's fate. I am not at all sanguine, but I won't give up 
even if the Eepublicans win this contest." Greeley was 
badly beaten; and George was sorely disappointed. But 
he was not the man to repine. At once he was up and 
doing on another line. 

Meanwhile in August, when less than eight and a half 
months old, the "Post" had been increased in size and 
its price advanced to two cents; and a month and a half 
later, enlarged to the size of the ordinary newspaper and 
the charge for single copies made five cents, "to acconimo- 

 SHIP "SUNRISE" CASE 241 

date the price to the currency," the attempt to in 
troduce the one cent piece proving after a long trial 
a failure. 

As might be imagined, a newspaper that saw evils to 
oppose and did not hesitate to oppose them, could find 
plenty of work to do. As a matter of fact, the "Post" 
was kept busy with fights of one kind or another. One of 
these attracted wide attention. It was the case of the 
ship Sunrise, which sailing from New York harbour in 
May, 1873, had a passage to San Francisco marked by 
such cruelty towards the crew by the captain and first mate 
that three of the men jumped overboard and were drowned. 
Attempts were made to hush up the matter when the ship 
reached the Golden Gate, but Mr. George learned of it 
and at once demanded a prosecution. The captain and 
first mate fled, but upon the "Post's" offering a reward, 
were apprehended and brought to trial, the newspaper 
engaging special counsel. The officers were convicted to 
long terms of imprisonment. The "Post" subsequently 
took up some less flagrant cases of maritime brutality and 
established itself as a champion of sailor's rights. 

That personal danger attended the editing of an ag 
gressive Western newspaper has been often attested, and 
Mr. George had his share. Ex-Judge Eobert Ferral, then 
one of the editorial writers on the "Post," says of one of 
these cases: 

"I went with Henry George to attend an investigation 
of the House of Correction, or Industrial School, which 
was in charge of a brute named George F. Harris. At 
the gate stood the redoubtable Harris, with his hand 
on his pistol, looking more like a pirate than the super 
intendent of a public institution. Without the least 
hesitation Mr. George walked right up to him, looked 
the burly ruffian straight in the eyes, and passed into 

 242 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1871-1875 

the 3'ard without a word. All through that investiga 
tion Harris avoided the steady, indignant gaze of the 
brave little man who pressed his charges of brutality 
and drove him from his position and out of the city." 

Another instance of personal danger arose out of the 
Tarpey case in the beginning of 1873. Matthew Tarpey, 
a brutal but affluent land-owner in Monterey County, quar 
relled with an unoffending woman named Nicholson about 
a tract of land. He dug a pit, lay in it for hours waiting 
for her, and shot her in the back and killed her when 
she took alarm and tried to run away. The country 
around became fiercely excited, and more so when it was 
rumoured that Tarpey's wealth would clear him as others 
had been cleared of late, and that the first step would be 
to move him to another locality for trial. Word went out 
at once that the citizens would stop that and take the mat 
ter in hand themselves, and despatches came to San Fran 
cisco that Tarpey would be lynched. John V. George, 
Henry's brother, was engaged in the business office of the 
"Post" and was a witness of what followed. 

"Tarpey money and political influence were strong 
enough to hush the matter up in the other newspapers, 
but the 'Post' published the news of the intended lynch 
ing, and an editorial saying that there would be no re 
grets if the people should deal out to him the same mea 
sure he had meted out to others, and hang him to the 
nearest tree, as a 'ghastly evidence' that there was 'still 
a sense of justice in California.' Tarpey's relatives in 
San Francisco and others of influence came to the office 
to implore the editor to say no more, and several anony 
mous letters were received threatening violence if he 
did not stop, but he would not change his cours°, and 
next day, following news of Tarpey's death, he published 
as a leader an editorial a column and a quarter long de- 

 Age, 32-36] WESTERN LYNCH LAW 243 

nouncing Tarpey's deed and justifying the lynching.1 
The effect of this was lost by the buying up of a large 
part of the edition of the paper by the Tarpey partisans. 
"Next day a man, I think named Donally, came to 
the office inquiring for the editor. My brother was out 
and Donally hung around on the sidewalk. When my 
brother returned Donally approached and asked him if 
the article of the day represented his sentiments. My 
brother answered that it not only represented his senti 
ments, but that he himself wrote it, whereupon Donally 
impeached the article and called its author a liar. My 
brother struck him in the face, though Donally was a 
much larger and heavier man. The bystanders inter 
fered and Donally left. Nothing came of this, although 
there was talk for a time of violence to the editor of the 
'Post.' But the paper did not change its front and 
short editorials on the Tarpey matter kept appearing." 

John V. George tells of another occurrence that almost 
resulted in the shooting of the aggressive editor. It grew 

1 Touching this method of effecting justice, the editorial said : " Lynch 
law is a fearful thing. It is only better than the crime it is invoked to 
repress in that the impulses of the many are generally truer and purer 
than the passions of the individual. It is liahle to terrible mistakes, and 
it strikes at the very foundations upon which society is organised. To 
say that even in a case like this Lynch law is justified is to admit that 
the regular and legal methods by which society protects itself have failed, 
that our laws in their practical workings are but a snare and a delusion, 
and that justice in our courts is but a matter of chance. . . . The people 
of Montcrcy hung Tarpey themselves because they could not trust the 
law to ilo it. But it will not do to dismiss the case with the simple re 
flection that justice has been done. There is a deep moral in it, which 
we must heed, unless we are willing to drift back to a condition little 
short of anarchy. And there is a moral in it, too, for law breakers as 
well as law makers — not for murderers alone, hut for thieving officials, 
corrupt representatives, and the robbers of all grades who make of law a 
protection and means of escape. Our society is not too highly organised 
to revert upon great provocation to first principles, and to do for itself, 
what its ministers and administrators refuse to do."—"Evening Post," 
March 18, 1873. 

 244: LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1871-1875 

out of the paper's arraignment of city Chief of Police 
Crowley, whom it had helped to office, but now hotly de 
nounced for not closing the gambling hells and clearing 
out the crime-infested Chinese quarter, as commanded by 
city ordinances. 

"It was in May, 1873, two months after the Tarpey 
case. Accompanied by Mr. Hinton, his partner, and by 
City Supervisor Stuart Menzies, Port Warden Joseph 
Austin, and Daniel O'Connell of the 'Post' staff, my 
brother, one afternoon after the paper liad gone to press 
went to the Mint saloon and restaurant, on Commercial 
Street, a resort for lawyers and politicians. As they 
entered, James Gannon, an ex-dctcctive and supporter 
of Crowley, tapped my brother on the shoulder, saying 
that he wanted to speak with him privately. My brother 
stepped aside with him, when Gannon said, 'Let up on 
Crowley or there will be trouble,' and when asked what 
he meant, the ex-detective seized my brother by the 
neck with one hand and struck him in the face with 
the other. My brother tried to strike back, when Gan 
non reached down and drew a revolver. But before he 
could fire, Menzies, a very strong man, caught his wrist 
and held the weapon down, while he and Supervisor 
McCarthy, who was in the place at the time, pulled Gan 
non away. It was proposed at first to bring Gannon to 
trial, but the matter was dropped and he afterwards be 
came very sorry for his part in it." 

William A. Plunkitt, a school director in the early 
seventies and supported by the "Post" in an investigation 
into a big scandal in the purchasing of school supplies, 
has since said: 

"Under Henry George's management the 'Post' was 
a bold, fearless, reform paper. The standard of po 
litical morality or public morals in San Francisco 
at that time was very low. While many good men 

 Age, 32-36] CONTEMPOEAEY ANECDOTES 245 

held public official positions, quite a number of impor 
tant places in the municipal government were filled 
by characterless and unscrupulous demagogues. Mr. 
George neither respected nor feared that kind of public 
functionary. He lashed them as with 'a whip of scor 
pions.' The 'Post' and its editor thus became a power, 
esteemed and respected by all thoughtful and worthy 
citizens in San Francisco, and feared by all public 
malefactors." 

A yet fuller picture of the editor is presented by another 
contemporary, Mrs. C. F. McLean, who was then Miss 
Sallie Hart, and who says that "while writing his editorials 
or correcting proof, Mr. George received any and all who, 
with or without excuse, 'dropped in to see the editor.'"J 

"I was a teacher in the public schools of San Fran 
cisco when there arose a question of the reduction of 
the salaries of the teachers in the lower grades. Pick 
ing up the 'Evening Post,' I noticed an editorial pro 
test, which inspired me to write a communication to the 
editor, which I signed with an assumed name. When 
the article appeared it was with an editorial request 
that 'Susan' call at the office. Saturday came and with 
it the first visit of my life to a newspaper office. The 
place was up two flights of stairs. ... To my 
knock there came a cheery 'Come in,' and on opening 
the door I came face to face with Henry George. He 
was seated at a common table piled high with papers, 
while all about on the small floor space were other news 
papers, all, to my unsophisticated eyes, piled in mourn 
ful confusion. ... I was embarrassed, almost 
frightened, but in an instant my breath was fairly taken 

i " Henry George : A Study from Life," "The Arena," September, 1898. 
Mrs. McLean subsequently became an occasional writer for the "Post." 
She is alluded to in " The Science of Political Economy " (pp. 282, 283) as 
"the wife of the superintendent of a Western zoological garden, who, 
coming to New York with her husband on the annual trip he makes to 
buy wild animals, jokingly speaks of 'shopping for menagerie goods." " 

 246 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1871-1875 

away, for the man in front of me said: 'Come in, my 
little girl.' However, I gasped out that I had sent the 
article signed 'Susan.' . . . 'Now, come sit down,' 
he said. 'You must excuse me, but you are so small, 
and you look so young; do sit down.' 

"I sat down, and before I knew what I was saying 
I had told the editor before me all about myself. Even 
then I noticed his large head and bright eyes, and at 
once compared them with a picture of Henry Clay that 
had been familiar to me from childhood, and thought 
the head before me was the finer of the two. I remem 
ber now that my first interview with Henry George was 
brought to a close by a boy who, I thought, rather im 
peratively demanded 'copy'; therefore I hastily rose to 
go, but not before I had promised to call again soon." 

Arthur McEwen was a brilliant young contemporary 
newspaper worker on the Pacific Coast with Henry George 
and testifies that it was the "editorial policy that marked 
the 'Post' off from the usual." 

"It was as foreign to George to be either a demagogue 
or a follower in politics as it was for the 'Post' to keep 
subscribers and advertisers by thrifty silence. Women 
were appearing at local option elections soliciting votes 
and receiving disrespectful treatment. Instantly the 
'Post' charged upon the ungallant blackguards, and in a 
day had every saloon in California for its enemy. Sub 
scribers withdrew by the thousand and advertisements 
were withdrawn by the column, but that made no differ 
ence to George." 

James V. Coffey, editorial writer on the "Examiner" 
at this time, and since Judge of the Superior Court of 
San Francisco, says that Mr. George "had apparently an 
unsystematic method of work, jotting down a paragraph 
here and a paragraph there; yet in the end the writing 
was smooth and connected." This apparently "unsys- 

 Age, 32-36] NEWSPAPER HABITS 247 

tematic method of work" doubtless came from dictating 
to a stenographer. Having a habit of procrastination, 
he put off his daily writing until he was cramped for time 
and had to work under great pressure. To relieve this 
stress he engaged a stenographer, Edward Lande, the first 
secretary he ever had. Lande was soon succeeded by 
Stephen Potter who remained until George left the "Post" 
and who says that his chief had an original way of working. 

"He would dictate for a few minutes, and then leav 
ing me to transcribe, would continue the thread of his 
thoughts with his own pen. In this way he would dic 
tate and write, and get through an immense amount of 
work. I ought to say that at this time he had curious 
habits of abstraction, often even on the street he would 
stop, walk to the curb and stand there apparently deep 
in thought and oblivious to the stir about him. I have 
had to speak several times on such occasions to rouse 
him." 

Henry George's career on the "Evening Post" termi 
nated November 27, 1875. Starting the paper with 
scarcely any capital, it had from the business point of 
view a hand to mouth struggle until the close of 1873, 
when a comparatively large sum of money was obtained 
for it. We have Mr. George's own story for this.1 

"John P. Jones, then elected United States Senator 
from Nevada, sought an interview with me and de 
clared himself interested in such a paper, offering to 
furnish us on our own notes, money enough to buy the 
best press that could be obtained.2 I had seen in the 

1 Meeker notes, October, 1897. 

2Mr. Hinton, in conversation with Henry George, Jr., in April, 1898, 
said that Jones put in two sums of money — $30,000, for whiohfhe re 
ceived 30 of the 100 shares of the stock of the paper, anil §18,000 for which 
he received notes. Jones professed to do this solely from motives of friend- 

 248 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE [1871-1875 

'Sun' office when in New York in 18G9, the first perfect 
ing press, the Bullock, and concluding to accept this 
offer of Jones, Mr. Hinton went East and made an ar 
rangement with the Bullock Company for a press. It 
was brought out and set up, the first perfecting press 
on the Pacific Coast.1 

"Feeling that we now had facilities for larger circu 
lation and that we should be making a mistake not to 
improve it, we concluded to establish a morning paper, 
'The Ledger,' which we did in August, 1875. This 
was done on an extensive scale. It was a small daily 
paper, and for the first time in journalism, an illustrated 
Sunday paper. We disdained asking for advertise 
ments and designed to fill up the whole with reading 
matter until advertisements should seek us. 

"But a few days after it started there was a great 
fire in Virginia City, Nevada, in which many San 
Franciscans were interested; a heavy decline in some of 
the greatest of the mining stocks and the suspension of 
payment by the Bank of California. Then came an in 
tense local money panic, during which it became impos 
sible to collect money2 and we had to suspend the 'Led 
ger.' While we were thus embarrassed John P. Jones 
demanded the return of the money he had loaned us 
or that the paper that we had made should be surren 
dered to him. I felt like fighting, and a short article 
in the 'Post' would have ended all hopes of his getting 
anything from it, but my partner, Mr. Hinton, pleaded 
the duty of our providing for the employees who were 
friends, and tired out with the fight, I finally suc- 

liness, but if his real motive was the hope of influencing the paper to 
change its policy of hostility to President Grant, whom he warmly sup 
ported, he was disappointed, as his loan and purchase of stock did not 
afiect the editorial columns. 

'The paper also moved to new and larger quarters, 504 Montgomery 
Street, corner of Sacramento, and was supplied with a new dress of type 
and office fittings. 

2 Mr. Hinton says that he saw a man bring an ingot of gold worth 
$9,000 into the office of Hickox & Spier, money-brokers, and get only 
$1,500 on it. 

 Age, 32-36] LOSES HIS NEWSPAPER 249 

cumbed, and without a cent of compensation, on No 
vember 27, almost four years to a day after we started 
it, gave over the paper to the representative of Jones. 
"I thus went out with a dependent family to make a 
living and not caring to ask or to receive any offer of 
employment from other papers, I wrote to Governor 
Irwin, whom I had been instrumental in electing a few 
months before, and asked him to give me a place where 
there was little to do and something to get, so that I 
might devote myself to some important writing. He 
gave me the office of State Inspector of Gas-Meters, 
which yielded, though intermittently, a sufficient reve 
nue to live on and which required very little work." 

But though Mr. George thus obtained a public office that 
would afford him a living, and though he had the purpose 
before him of engaging in more permanent writing, the 
loss of the "Post" seemed to him at the time a great 
misfortune, for not only was he at a stroke shorn of the 
fruits of years of labour, but was bereft of his weapon 
as an active factor in the affairs of the City and State— 
the keenest of losses to an energetic public man. But this 
in fact proved another and a momentous turning point 
in his career. 

 CHAPTER V. 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 

1873-1876. AGE, 34-37. 

WE break in on the narrative at this point for a 
glimpse of the home life. 

In the fall of 1873 the wife and children had returned 
from the East and the family settled down in a cozy two- 
story house at the Mission—on Valencia Street. There 
was a small garden, and a climbing rose covered the front 
of the house with a mass of white blossoms in the early 
summer. It was there that the editor had what was de 
scribed as a "tan-coloured mustang," riding down to the 
"Evening Post" office in the morning and back in the 
afternoon, and at night putting him up at a near-by stable. 
The horse was one of the small, wiry, native animals, its 
shaggy hair at most times looking frowsy and "a lick and 
a promise" generally doing for grooming. The saddle 
was of the Mexican pattern commonly used in California 
at the time, covered with embossed leather, and having 
big horn pommel and ponderous, leather-enveloped stir 
rups. Horse and rider had a ca»eless, though not un 
graceful appearance, Mr. George with his trim figure, 
square shoulders, and easy posture moving with a swing 
as the animal quickened into its natural lope. Some 
times he took up behind him one or the other of his two 

250 

 Age, 34-37] HORSEBACK ACCIDENT 251 

boys, now getting to be ten and twelve; sometimes he rode 
in company with friends; but for the most part he took 
solitary "thinking" rides, the free motion of the body in 
the open air seeming to exhilarate the action of the mind. 

It was on a Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1874 
while on one of these solitary rides on the ocean road that 
his horse shied, threw him from the saddle and dragged 
him by one stirrup. Fortunately the animal at once 
slowed down from a gallop or his master must have been 
dragged to death. But Mr. George disengaged his foot, 
when the horse ran away and was not recovered until sev 
eral days afterwards. This was the second accident of the 
kind. Besides having his right hand badly lacerated, Mr. 
George's wrist was broken. Holding his injured arm 
against his body, he made the long walk of five or six miles 
at nightfall back over the lonely roads to the city. Even 
when he found a doctor his chief thought was of his wife, 
and before anything was done he sent a message to her 
not to hold supper as he had been detained. When he 
got home he said to her, "That mustang has hurt my wrist, 
and now you must be doubly my right hand to me." 

His great energy and restlessness made him the most 
impatient of patients. Because he could not go to the 
office, he insisted on having a stenographer to whom to 
dictate editorials. But by April he had recovered the 
full use of his injured member and in May the family 
moved to a house on Eincon Hill, more convenient to the 
office. 

Domestic life was very dear to the energetic public man. 
Perhaps the necessities of his exacting vocation made him 
delight the more to be with his family. While the wife 
sat beside with her work-basket, he would lie on a lounge 
in the library and read poetry to the two boys and the girl, 
or have them in turn read or recite before him or such 

 262 LIFE OF HENRY GEORGE [1873-1876 

strangers as he chanced to hring home. Or perhaps, he 
went swimming with the hoys in a bath-house off Long 
Bridge, or took the family for a row or for a sail in a 
"plunger." It frequently happened in these trips that 
they found lying at anchor the little Sliubrick in which 
the father had come to California and he would tell of 
his early seaman's adventures. Frequently there were 
Sunday cruises about the bay on sloop or schooner, the 
party made up of friends with their families. 

Henry George was not a member of any church, nor 
did his family attend any regularly, though in his broad 
ness of mind he left his wife entire freedom in this for her 
self and the children. He attached himself to no sect, yet 
his nature was strongly reverent. He wished to have his 
children say night and morning prayers, and often at twi 
light or before they went to bed he would lie on his lounge 
in his library and have them and their mother mingle 
their voices in the old hymns that he had heard as a child 
in Philadelphia, and again "Praise God from whom all 
blessings flow" seemed to swell and echo through old St. 
Paul's. Out of the inquiry, why want goes with plenty, 
religion had come to have a new meaning. In the con 
viction that he had discovered that it was not by God's 
will, but because of violation of God's ordinance that men 
suffered involuntary poverty in the heart of civilisation, 
"a faith that was dead revived." He had turned from a 
religion that taught either of a Special Providence on the 
one hand or of a merciless fate on the other. Now all 
the fervour of his spirit went forth in the belief that 
social progress is governed by unchanging and benefi 
cent law. 

His children's training began at this time to engage 
his earnest attention. They had never attended any but 
public schools, and travelling and moving had broken even 

 Age, 34-37] TRAINING OF CHILDREN 253 

this schooling. His own method broke it more. He dis 
couraged lesson-studying at home, saying that the regular 
school hours were long enough, and that the hours at 
home should be spent in recreation and other ways. But 
if his children, as a consequence, stood low at recitations, 
they stood high in general information and the independ 
ent use of their faculties, for he would talk or read to 
them on whatever topic arose which could be brought 
within their understanding; and at dinner table, when 
the family was alone, he would ask them in turn questions 
touching history, literature, public matters or elementary 
science—such things as may have come up in previous con 
versations. When they could not answer, he himself would 
do so. Eeading was encouraged, and the boys, at least, were 
directed to such books as the father delighted in when of 
their age. A copy of "Eobinson Crusoe"' was the first book 
he gave to his eldest boy—a tale that all his life fascinated 
Henry George and is frequently referred to in his writ 
ings. Another book-present to his children was the "Ara 
bian Nights," which he sent while they were in Philadel 
phia, and which, he wrote to his wife, he had, "like a goose, 
spent the night re-reading." Thus the children might 
constantly fail in the school lessons they were expected to 
study at home, but if asked, could recite from Tennyson, 
Browning or Macaulay, had heard of the buried cities of 
Egypt and Yucatan, and in their own way, could talk 
about the rotation of crops, the forms of water or the 
nebular hypothesis. From either parent a request was a 
command, with corporal punishment swiftly following de 
lay or delinquency; yet affection blended with obedience. 
Visitors added materially to the children's education; 
for at the table, where the children were brought when 
old enough and taught to be silent, the guests were drawn 
towards topics most congenial to themselves, good feeling 

 254 LIFE OP HENRY GEORGE 

was let loose, and anecdotes, strange adventures, curious 
bits of information, flashes of wit and tales of humour 
poured forth. The host had the habit of politely with 
drawing to the place of questioner. This was most agree 
able to his personal modesty. It also gratified a never- 
ceasing desire for information—information, apparently, 
of any kind and every kind, which, like his miscellaneous 
reading, was to be drawn on when needed, many a dinner 
talk later serving him with happy illustrations in his 
writings. Men from various parts of the world came, 
and as it were, poured out their contributions to the 
varied and instructive symposium. 

Mr. and Mrs. George had now grown closer than ever 
before. In the early days of their marriage, when they 
were struggling along in poverty, she had refrained from 
inquiring into the matters outside of domestic affairs that 
interested her husband. Believing her mission to be to 
look after his health, his rest and recreation, she avoided 
all matters of business and tried to draw his mind into 
other channels. But as he advanced as a writer and their 
manner of living improved, she entered the council of his 
general affairs and came to be his close adviser. 

The Georges had a small number of intimate friends. 
They never desired to move in the fashionable circles. 
Formal social occasions always had their snares and pit 
falls for the husband. On one occasion when he was led 
to attend a reception at the Ealston residence alone, his 
wife being ill, he returned disgusted. "Such people live 
in a frivolous atmosphere," he said. "There was Mrs. 
—— for instance. She had nothing to talk about but the 
weather." "The weather!" exclaimed Mrs. George, some 
what doubtfully. "Why, yes," answered the husband; 
"she asked me what kind of a season we were likely to 
have, and I told her the indications were for a wet sea- 

 Age, 34-37] DISLIKED SOCIAL EVENTS 255 

son!" Mrs. George broke into merriment. "Your social 
butterfly," said she, "wanted to know about the outlook 
for social events—receptions, concerts, balls, weddings, and 
the like!" 

But if Mr. George disliked formal social gatherings, 
he deferred to his wife in other particulars. He took her 
to the theatre, even when he himself cared little or nothing 
for the performance; and to concerts, though he had no 
taste for any but the simplest music. On ladies' night, 
when his newspaper friend, Daniel O'Connell, or his actor 
friend, Henry Edwards, presided over the fun, he took 
her to "high jinks" at the Bohemian Club, of which he 
was one of the earliest members. 

The dream of wealth, indeed, the desire for it, had long 
since departed. The dream of increasing the world's hap 
piness and of raising the mass of men out of the slough 
of poverty had taken its place. But the wish to get be 
yond the anxieties of a hand-to-mouth way of living drew 
Mr. George into mining investments now and again, when 
the atmosphere became surcharged with the mining fever. 
When in 1872 silver bonanza discoveries occurred on the 
Comstock lode in the Washoe Mountains, Nevada—prin 
cipally in the Crown Point and Belcher mines—he was 
drawn into investments during the general excitement, 
and came out with losses. His wife's letter to him from 
Philadelphia (May 17, 1872) touching the matter ran: 

"I won't blame you. You feel it as much as I do. 
It was a risk at any rate, and I'm not surprised. You 
know I'm far off and can look at these matters coolly, 
while you have all the excitement. Don't gamble in any 
thing else than newspapers. That is the only way you 
make anything." 

But in 1875 he went in again. There was at the time 
the wildest and most general excitement that San Fran- 

 256 LIFE OF HENRY GEOKGE [1873-1876 

cisco had ever seen. It grew out of the discovery in the 
up to that time practically unproductive Consolidated Vir 
ginia mine on the Comstock lode of a bonanza that it was 
said would yield fifteen hundred millions. The mine was 
managed, under the firm name of Flood & O'Brien, by 
four men—James C. Flood and William S. O'Brien, who 
had kept a drinking saloon on Washington Street, San 
Francisco, and themselves served customers; and John 
W. Mackay and James G. Fair, who were practical miners 
on the Comstock, and who, with some real or fancied 
knowledge of conditions, drew the other two men with 
them into the purchase of the Consolidated Virginia mine. 
They paid for it less than $100,000. During the first half 
of 1875 the monthly output was more than a million and 
a half of silver, and the shares that had been purchased 
for less than one tenth of a million rose towards one hun 
dred and fifty millions. Contagion of speculation "bulled" 
the whole market of mining stocks, during which, the man 
agers unloaded their shares, reaction set in and the whole 
list fell with a rush. Mr. George's investments were in 
Ophir and Consolidated Virginia. He reaped a loss, which 
cramped his circumstances. 

And as his wife was his counsellor in his mining losses, 
so was she when the break came on the "Evening Post" 
and he went out penniless. He quickly recovered his self- 
poise in the latter disaster, so that he could write from 
Sacramento shortly afterwards (March 14, 1876): 

"Mills1 tells me that they are willing to sell the Tost,' 
lock, stock and barrel, for $35,000 over its receipts. 
Jones, he says, is heartily disgusted, and the chances are 
that he will soon drop the thing. For my part I would 
not touch it, unless it was given to me outright." 

1 William H. Mills, of the Sacramento " Record-Union." 

 Age, 34-37] STRONG MARRIAGE BOND 257 

Mr. George received strength from his wife when he 
needed it, and in return supported her when occasion 
called, for instance writing to her (February 24) touch 
ing the condition of her uncle, Matthew McCloskey, who 
was on his death bed: 

"I am sorry to hear about Matt. I do not think much 
of the new doctor that will talk that way—that is if he 
talks so to his patient, as the most potent thing in medi 
cine is hope. But however it may be, you must not 
suffer it to make you blue. We must all die, and what, 
after all, signifies a few years more or less. It is not 
Christian or reasonable to grieve about what God has 
appointed, nor is it wise to borrow trouble. I wish 
when you feel so you would go out somewhere." 

They read much from general literature together and 
discussed what they read; and besides this, Mr. George 
now read some law, which he thought would be useful to 
him in understanding and discussing public affairs, even 
though he should never follow law as a profession. A 
letter dated Marysville, May 26, 1876, while he was on a 
meter inspecting trip with his brother Vallance touches 
on this: 

"I have a good square day to loaf in, as Val is at 
work, and one can get ahead as well as two. Going 
to bed at nine o'clock, and right off to sleep, six in the 
morning at this season of the year seems late. After 
breakfast I went up-stairs and took a tussle with Kent. 
I was making fine progress till all of a sudden he threw 
me, and stretching out on the bed, I snoozed for an 
hour—very pleasant those sleeps are. . . . It is a 
nice day here—warm, but yet not oppressive. There 
is nothing particular though to see or to do and I shall 
put in my time this morning reading and writing. I 
feel encouraged by my progress in law, and really inter 
ested, though it does put me to sleep, and I think I can 

 258 LIFE OF HENEY GEORGE [1873-1876 

in a year make as much progress as ordinary students 
do in three or four." 

There were times when his over-wrought, highly strung 
nerves brought a flash of irritability; but this was all—a 
flash—so that there was never anything like a lasting dis 
agreement. The current of devotion ran even stronger 
and freer now than when, entering manhood, he went 
courting the girl who had just come from the convent 
school. And what affection and the marriage tie were to 
him only his own words can adequately tell—letters writ 
ten by him from Sacramento to his wife in San Francisco 
during a few days' separation in the fifteenth year of wed 
lock. 

Sacramento, March 18, 1876. 

"I have been sitting in the Senate listening to a de 
bate on the divorce bill—Pierson's bill to limit cause 
for divorces to adultery. I think the bill is in the right 
direction. We have found out, as Pierson said, that it 
was dangerous to talk of divorces in mixed company. 
He also said that there was one divorce granted in San 
Francisco for every three marriages, and that divorces 
were often got in a single day. 

"If I ever had any leaning to the modern doctrine 
in this matter I have entirely got over it. Marriage 
is not only the foundation of society; it is the divinely 
appointed state which confers the highest and purest 
happiness, and I have no doubt that if people knew that 
they could not separate from each other, the result 
would be to make them try harder to live comfortably 
with each other." 

Sunday evening, March 27, 1876. 

"I have wanted to write to you all day; but I have 
been moving around, and though I have thought vol 
umes, I did not have a chance to write them. 

"I got at noon to-day your letter of last night. Many 
thanks. I hardly expected it, but thought it would be 

 Age, 34-37] LOVE LETTERS TO WIFE 259 

BO nice if I should get a letter, and when I went down to 
the 'Eecord-Union' after the train got in, there it was. 

"You are a dutiful little woman, my darling. By 
my own feelings, I know how hard it was for you to 
have me stay away; but it pleased me to think you ap 
proved of it, and it made the separation lighter. I have 
felt happy all the afternoon. In all the pauses of the 
talk the face of the woman I love rose up before me. 
A man is a bundle of inconsistencies. It delights me to 
think that you are wholly and absolutely mine. There 
is a pride and pleasure in feeling that I am really your 
'lord and master'; and yet yoiir approbation, it seems 
to me, outweighs that of all the world. What a blessed 
thing it is to be truly married, as we are married—in 
body and mind and soul. I often thank God for it, and 
when I hear, as I often do, how married men sin against 
their vows, I think what poor fools they are, not to 
realise how much more real pleasure there is in the 
love of one virtuous woman. 'If my darling is mine, 
I also am hers. If I have the right to her, she also 
has the right to me. All that I can achieve she must 
share; my full possession of her involves just as com 
plete a possession on her part of me. The old ideas 
are right and are founded on the depths of human 
nature. The 'love, cherish and protect' on one side, 
and the 'love, honour and obey5 on the other, are more 
than any other contract; and when the binding force 
of the obligation is felt, the touch of the chain, instead 
of galling, is a pleasure. 

"How much fresh delight there is in our love. From 
the time I first saw you and was captivated by that 
something in face and voice and manner, which I never 
could explain in words, it has gone on increasing and 
increasing. Husband and father, I am still more lover 
than when I used to stop in my work to take out your 
picture and steal a glance at it. Satisfaction only 
crowns desire, and the love of the mature man is not 
only deeper, but more passionate than that of the boy. 
And this love is the great thing with me. All outside 
ups and downs are trivial compared with that." 

 260 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1873-1878 

March 30, 1876. 

"Mills was saying the other night that if a man and 
woman kept up their love, they never grew old to each 
other, and I told him he was right. You are to me 
prettier, more loving and more tempting than when you 
were a little delicate slip of a girl. Do you know that 
it is a keen delight to me to think how you have im 
proved. I tilways have felt towards you a good deal 
as Abelard must have felt towards Heloise—as though 
you were my pupil as well as wife." 

March 31, 1876. 

"Did jrou ever notice one thing about the higher pleas 
ures—they don't pall, as the grosser ones do. On the 
contrary, they become more exquisite. The very regu 
larity of the letter gives it new delight. There is such 
a proud satisfaction in feeling you are not mistaken. 
I like even that boy1 to know that 'my girl' thinks so 
much of me. And then they weave such links between 
us, and keep us together in spirit, even though we are 
separated in space. I once read a little story—I don't 
know where it was—of how a husband was beginning 
to wander in thought a little from his wife when he was 
away, and how her letters held him and brought him back 
to her, more her lover than before. And is there not 
something in this which goes even beyond the present 
life? Others may, but it is not for you and me, my 
darling, to doubt the goodness of God. The more I 
think of it, the more I feel that our present life will not 
bound our love." 

TTpon such a foundation of affection was reared a noble 
superstructure. One day as his wife sat close beside him 
in a low chair, the husband while lying on his sofa said: 
"What do you most admire in a man?" 

"Courage," the wife answered. 

1 Reference to a hotel boy, who, bringing his letters, would 
say, "Another letter from your girl, Mr. George " 

 Age, 34-37] QUALITY OF COURAGE 261 

"Courage," ho repeated, jumping up and walking the 
floor. "I thought you would say virtue." 

"No, not virtue, because I have come to perceive that 
the world sets up separate standards for men and women, 
and that what would he a breach of virtue in the woman 
might not he considered as such in the man. I do not 
say that that is right, hut I do recognise that the world so 
holds it." 

"But why courage ?" asked the husband. 

"Because it is the manly quality." 

"But courage might seem to go with physique—and I 
am a small man. How do you find this courage in me?" 

"I do not mean physical courage," replied the wife, 
"but moral courage; the courage that impels a man who 
sees his duty to follow it, though it mean to make sacri 
fices—to stand up against the world." 

The husband said that this strengthened as well as 
gratified him, and that some day he might have to ask her 
to support him when duty called him to stand up against 
the world. 

 CHAPTER VI. 

FIEST SET POLITICAL SPEECH. 
1876-1877. AGE, 37-38. 

WILLIAM S. IKWIN, Democrat, the new Governor 
of California, was sworn in at the State Capitol at 
Sacramento on January 1, 187G, and one of his first acts 
was to appoint Henry George to what was regarded as 
among the most lucrative offices within the Executive gift 
—State Inspector of Gas Meters. He did this partly from 
a motive of assisting a man who had through the "Even 
ing Post" and the "Morning Ledger" done much to help 
his election. But E. W. Maslin, who was the Governor's 
private secretary, says that another motive played an im 
portant part in the matter. 

"Henry George was recognised as nominally a Demo 
crat, but not a partisan. He had no political backing 
and was regarded to be without political claims upon 
the Governor. It was therefore a political surprise 
when he was appointed Gas-Meter Inspector. The ap 
pointment was more than anything else a tribute to 
intellect. 

"I was the Governor's private secretary, and in the 
leisure hours of the office we were accustomed to discuss 
books, public men and measures. The Governor was 
chary of giving praise, yet not once but many times he 
expressed his strong admiration for Mr. George's intel- 

262 

 Age, 37-38] GOVERNOR IRWIN'S TRIBUTE 263 

lectual ability, and laid peculiar stress upon bis logical 
mind, power of statement and clear and brilliant style. 
In one of those conversations he declared that George 
possessed the clearest and finest style of all English 
writers. I was not surprised that the Governor should 
speak of the logic and power of statement, for this arose 
from the character of his own mind. He had little 
imagination, but he was logical, well read and highly 
trained. I was not surprised that he should speak of 
similar qualities in George; but 1 was astonished that 
the latter's style should have attracted his attention. 
I myself had in 1871, when Secretary of the State 
Board of Equalisation, supplied George with some sta 
tistical matter which he used at the time in his pam 
phlet, 'Our Land and Land Policy,' and I had read a 
number of things, long and short, from his pen after 
wards; but though 1 recognised his ability, J did not 
appreciate his mode of expression, as did the Governor. 
The fact that this cold, unimpassioned man should so 
often break into praise of George's 'elegant and brilliant 
etyle' made a profound impression on me." 

Henry George took official charge on January 13 and 
within a few days began to "test" the registry of meters 
by forcing a measured quantity of air through them in 
place of gas, fastening a brass seal on all that met the 
lawful requirements. A set fee was allowed on every 
meter so tested and sealed. 

The office of inspector of gas meters had been estab 
lished for the protection of gas consumers and did much 
to correct impositions. But a loop-hole had been left, 
perhaps inadvertently, by which the law did not reach 
some of the towns scattered over the State, where large 
numbers of meters, purchased from or through the San 
Francisco Gas Company or its officials, had without being 
inspected and sealed been put into use. George, or rather 
his friends who were most zealous for his interests, had 

 264 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [1876-1877 

an amendment introduced into the legislature which should 
compel companies to submit for inspection all unsealed 
meters in use or intended for immediate use. The gas 
companies, and particularly the San Francisco company 
through its president, raised hot opposition. After cut 
ting off some features to which the companies particularly 
objected, the measure went through and the inspector dur 
ing the next few months went to the chief cities through 
out the State and demanded that all unsealed meters be 
brought to him to be tested, his brother, John V. George, 
going with him to assist in the work. Though at first 
by virtue of this amendment of the inspection law, Mr. 
George obtained what seemed to him like large sums of 
money from places like Marysville and Grass Valley where 
numbers of untested meters were in use, the office of in 
spector yielded only an intermittent revenue and on the 
whole only enough to live on comfortably and without 
extravagance. Mr. George for a while entertained the 
expectation of going East in the summer to visit the old 
folks and to see the international exposition then to be 
opened with great ceremony at Philadelphia in commemo 
ration of the hundredth celebration of the nation's inde 
pendence. This had to be given up, as for the time the 
receipts from the office fell off. 

"Though my official duties were light," said Mr. George 
when reviewing this period,1 "I never ate the bread of 
idleness, but was always very hard at work." Among the 
matters engaging him were a number of measures before 
the State legislature and chief of these were two bills in 
troduced by William M. Pierson in the Senate, both relat 
ing to the publication of newspapers, one to compel the 
retraction of false or defamatory articles and the other 

1 Meeker notes. 

 Age, 37-38] PERSONAL JOURNALISM 265 

requiring the signature of all original articles or corre 
spondence. Mr. George was particularly interested in the 
latter and wrote in support of it two bright, vivacious, 
signed articles for the "Sacramento Bee," which were af 
terwards printed in pamphlet form. His contention was 
that the march of concentration was putting newspapers 
more and more into the hands of massed capital, making 
newspaper workers more and more dependent upon spe 
cial interests and utterly helpless to get outside recogni 
tion so long as they should work anonymously. 

"The effect of the present anonymous system is to 
make the newspaper everything, the writer nothing. 
The tendency of the personal system would be to trans 
fer importance and power from the newspaper to the 
writers—to diffuse instead of to concentrate; to make 
the men who see for the people and think for the people 
independent of capital, instead of dependent on capital; 
and to facilitate the establishment of new papers when 
ever the old ones abandoned the popular cause." 

He got some personal satisfaction from this article, 
for he wrote to his wife (March 14) : "I spent a good part 
of the afternoon listening to the debate in the Senate 
upon the signature bill. Uncle Phil [Philip A. Eoach. 
one of the editors and part proprietor of the "San Fran 
cisco Examiner"] threw himself in opposition, though he 
made a very handsome allusion to me, as all the principal 
speakers have done." Both the signature and the retrac 
tion bill, while they passed the Senate, had the powerful 
opposition of the San Francisco papers and were killed 
in the House. 

As helping to make his ideas known, the articles in sup 
port of the signature bill were probably worth the effort 
he made, but a few months later there was an occurrence 

 266 LIFE OF HENEY GEOEGE [1876-1877 

of much greater importance to Mr. George personally—the 
first set speech. At various times, beginning as far back 
as 1865 when a member of the Sacramento Lyceum, he 
had got upon his feet for a few impromptu remarks. 
Now came a chance for a formal effort. The Presidential 
campaign was opening, with Governor Rutherford B. 
Hayes of Ohio, candidate of the Eepublican party, and 
Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York, for the Demo 
cratic. Mr. George entered on the campaign with lively 
feelings, for Hayes, he considered, represented the reac 
tionary policy of his party, while Tilden, he believed, was 
a free trader, and while demanding the remission of war- 
tax burdens, would take the side of the industrial masses, 
just now idle in thousands all over the country. 

Animated by something akin to the admiration Gover 
nor Irwin had for George's abilities, a number of ener 
getic young men of radical opinion in San Francisco, en 
rolled in what was known as the "Tilden and Hendricks 
Central Club," asked Mr. George to speak under its aus 
pices, hoping, as one of them, Walter Gallagher, said, "to 
make this speech the keynote of the canvass in California." 
George was thereupon formally invited. He spoke before 
a big meeting in Dashaway Hall on the evening of August 
15, on "The Question Before the People." He stood be 
side the reading desk on which he had his manuscript 
spread out, read by glances and spoke slowly and distinctly. 
He avoided the usual political declamation and struck a 
high tone at once. 

"Eemember this, the political contest is lifted above 
the low plane of denunciation and demagogism, and 
becomes not a contest for spoils in which the people are 
simply permitted to choose which gang shall plunder 
them; but a solemn, momentous inquiry, demanding 
from each voter a conscientious judgment." 

 Age, 37-38] FIRST FORMAL SPEECH 267 
The kernel of the speech was this: 

"The Federal tax-gatherer is everywhere. In each 
exchange by which labour is converted into commodi 
ties, there he is standing between buyer and seller to 
take his to1!. Whether it be a match or a locomotive, 
a dish-cloth or a dress, a new book or a glass of beer, the 
tax-gatherer steps in. He says to Labour as the day's 
toil begins: 'Ah! you want to do a little work for your 
self and family. Well, first work an hour to pay the 
interest on the national debt and defray the necessary 
expenses of government; and then another hour for 
the national banks and subsidised corporations, and the 
expenses of governing the Southern States! Then an 
hour for the army and navy and the contractors thereof; 
then an hour for the manufacturers of New England, 
and an hour for the iron millionaires of Pennsylvania; 
half an hour for the Marine Corps and the various com 
fortable little bureaus; and then, after you have done a 
little work for your State Government, and a little work 
for your county and municipal government, and a little 
work for your landlord—then you can have the rest of 
the day to work for yourself and family.' . . . 

"Fellow-citizens, negro slavery is dead! But cast 
your eyes over the North to-day and see a worse than 
negro slavery taking root under the pressure of the pol 
icy you are asked as Republicans to support by your 
votes. See seventy thousand men out of work in the 
Pennsylvania coal-fields; fifty thousand labourers ask 
ing for bread in the city of New York; the almshouses 
of Massachusetts crowded to repletion in the summer 
time; unemployed men roving over the West in great 
bands, stealing what they cannot earn. . . . It is 
an ominous thing that iu this Centeunial year, States 
that a century ago were covered by the primeval forest 
should be holding conventions to consider the 'tramp 
nuisance'—the sure symptom of that leprosy of nations, 
chronic pauperism. . . . 

"Be not deceived! You might as well charge the 
bullet or the knife with being the cause of the death 

 268 LIFE OP HENRY GEOEGE [1876-1877 

of a murdered man as to think that all the things of 
which you complain result from the accident of having 
had bad men in office. What can any change of men 
avail so long as the policy which is the primary cause 
of these evils is unchanged ?" 

Ex-District Attorney Thomas P. Eyan was president of 
the club. He presided at this meeting and says of the 
speaker and the speech: 

"At that time he looked to me to be about thirty 
years of age. He impressed me then, as he always did, 
as being a man of naturally nervous temperament, but 
one who had so schooled himself as to give no expression 
as a rule to that fact by his manner. In repose his 
habit was calm, almost placid, and age sits lightly upon 
those so blessed. In action there was no want of fire, 
and when the situation required, it was fittingly dis 
played. If we rate his speech that night by the stand 
ard of eloquence of the great French orator, Bishop 
Dupanloup—a thorough knowledge of one's subject— 
he was indeed eloquent. That the address was extraor 
dinarily able and convincing was the universal opinion 
of those who heard it. The impression it left on me is 
lasting and the best evidence of its force and effect is 
to be found in the fact that at this late day I am, almost 
without effort, able to recall in the main most of the 
facts then presented and the circumstances surround 
ing the speech's delivery. 

"At its conclusion, Mr. James G. Maguire, since BO 
devoted a disciple of Henry George, and distinguished 
as an upright judge and Member of Congress, arose 
and said that it was the ablest political address to which 
he had ever listened, and moved that it be printed for 
distribution as a campaign document, which was done. 

"The audience was a large and most appreciative one, 
Governor Irwin, among other distinguished men, being 
present. 

"Touching this speech, and indeed, of everything else 
Henry George said and wrote subsequently, I have car- 

 Age, 37-38] AN INFOBMAL SPEECH 269 

ried in my mind the thought so happily expressed by 
Mommsen in speaking of Renan: 'He is a savant in spite 
of his fine style.'" 

This Dashaway Hall speech was carefully prepared. 
Mr. Gallagher tells of an unprepared one that Henry 
George made very soon afterwards. 

"Some days after the Dashaway Hall meeting Mr. 
George was present at a very large and enthusiastic 
meeting at the Mission in Humboldt Hall. I was ex 
pected to speak at that meeting and did not expect to 
see Henry George there. Cameron H. King, I think, 
presided. Mr. George, who was familiar to a large 
number in the audience, was vociferously called for. 
He was very backward about responding and hesitated 
quite a while before he was finally persuaded to go upon 
the rostrum. 1 think I can picture him now in my 
mind's eye as he appeared on that night. He was sit 
ting close up to the front where he could easily see and 
hear all that was going on. He held a little old soft 
felt hat crumpled up tightly in his hand. When he 
finally made up his mind to respond to the cheers and 
calls he went with a rush. It seemed to me that he 
ran to the rostrum and immediately in a loud, full 
voice, at a very high pitch, entered into a discussion of 
the issues before the people—all the time holding his 
hat in his hand. The audience expected a different kind 
of speech from him than from the rest of us. The audi 
ence was not disappointed, for what he said was full of 
thought and force. But I remember that his elocution 
was not of the best. He was earnest and sincere, but 
his manner and gesticulation were not to be commended 
as accompaniments of oratory. He did not have the 
proper control of his voice, and there appeared to be 
in his manner an absolute disregard for those little arts 
of the orator which have so much effect upon a crowd." 

But it was the speech on "The Question Before the 
People" that attracted chief attention and the Democratic 

 270 LIFE OF HENRY GEOEGE [1876-1BV7 

State Committee invited him to "stump" the State and 
deliver it in the principal cities and towns. From no 
speaking reputation whatever, he sprang through this one 
address to the place of a leading speaker in California, 
and was given the honour of making the final speech of 
the campaign in Platt's Hall, San Francisco. Dr. Shorb 
was chairman and knew George well, but amused himself 
by introducing him as "Colonel Henry D. George." Mr. 
George, somewhat disconcerted, protested that he had nei 
ther a title nor a middle initial, whereupon somebody in 
the audience shouted: "Oh, go ahead, Harry. We all 
know who you are." 

So the campaign passed; election day came and went, 
and the decision was not yet clear when Mr. George wrote 
to his mother (November 13) touching his personal in 
terests : 

"Well, the campaign is over, though its result is as 
yet unsettled. I cannot say that I am glad that it is over, 
for although I think Tilden is President, the way this 
coast went is a great disappointment to me; but at any 
rate I shall now have a resting spell—a longer one and 
a better one than 1 have had before. 

"I did my best, for my heart was in it, and that is 
a consolation. And personally what I accomplished 
was very gratifying. 1 have shown that I could make 
myself felt without a newspaper, and shown that 1 
possessed other ability than that of the pen. I have 
always felt that I possessed the requisites for a first- 
class speaker, and that I would make one if I could get 
the practice; and 1 started into this campaign with the 
deliberate purpose of breaking myself in. It was like 
jumping overboard to learn to swim. But I succeeded. 
I think no man in the State made as much reputation 
as I have made. From not being known as a speaker 
I have come to the front. I wanted to do this, not as a 
matter of vanity or for the mere pleasure of the thing; 
but to increase my power and usefulness. Already well 

 Age, 36-37] AIMS FOR THE FUTURE 271 

known as a writer, I knew that this kind of a reputa 
tion would aid me immensely in the future. And so it 
will—whether I go into politics, into the law or into 
the newspaper business again. I do not intend to rest 
here; but to go ahead step by step. 

"You need not be afraid of politics doing me harm. 
I do not propose to mix in lower politics, nor do I pro 
pose to chase after nominations. I shall wait till they 
seek me. I propose to read and study, to write some 
things which will extend my reputation and perhaps to 
deliver some lectures with the same view. And if I 
live I shall make myself known even in Philadelphia. I 
aim high. 

"So far as my personal interests are concerned, defeat 
is as good to me as a sweeping victory—in fact, I think 
better, as a man of my kind has a chance of coming 
forward more rapidly in a minority than in a majority 
party. However, about all such things, I am disposed 
to think that whatever happens is for the best. Talent 
and energy can nearly always convert defeats into vic 
tories. I could easily have started a paper during the 
campaign, and could, I think, readily do so now. But 
I don't feel like going back into newspaper harness. 
The best thing for me, I think, is to keep out of news 
papers for a while." 

Thus he wrote of himself. What he meant by want 
ing to be a speaker "not as a matter of vanity or for 
the mere pleasure of the thing," but to increase his 
"power and usefulness," he could not bring himself to 
tell any one as yet. He must wait for time to show even 
his mother the exalted purpose he had in his heart of 
hearts. 

When he wrote to his mother, Mr. George believed that 
Tilden had been elected President. It was conceded that 
the Democratic candidate had received the largest popular 
vote, and that from the States where the returns were un 
disputed he had received one hundred and eighty four 

 272 LIFE OF HENEY GEOEGE [1876-1877 

electoral votes, so that he lacked just one vote of the num 
ber required to elect, while Hayes lacked twenty. The 
difficulty lay with the returns of Oregon and three South 
ern States—Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida— 
which were contested. This condition of things, involv 
ing such great consequences, could not fail to stir to the 
depths an active participant in public affairs like Henry 
George. As weeks passed without a settlement and the 
time fixed by the constitution for the inauguration of the 
new President approached, he became BO aroused that in 
January he wrote a long presentation of the matter and 
put it in the form of an eight paged pamphlet entitled, 
"Who shall be President?—A Survey of the Political Situ 
ation," saying that the fact that who should be President 
should be treated as an open question was "both scandalous 
and dangerous"—scandalous because the uncertainty im- 
implied "a doubt of the efficacy of law"; and dangerous 
"because when law fails, force is the necessary resort." He 
made a careful analysis of the matter to show why he be 
lieved Tilden was entitled to the office, giving his explana 
tion of the persistent contention by the Hayes partisans 
that "a coup d'etat was contemplated." 

It was Mr. George's intention to send this paper East, 
where he thought it would get consideration; but before 
he could carry out his plan news came that Tilden had 
given his consent to remand the question of returns to 
the decision of an electoral commission—a tribunal spe 
cially created by Congress. This commission, composed 
of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, by a party 
vote decided in favour of the Republican electors in 
every ease, thus awarding 185 electoral votes to Hayes 
and 184 to Tilden, and placing Hayes in the Presidential 
chair. 

Nine years after this, in the pages of his "Protection or 

 Age, 36-37] DISGUST OF TILDEN 273 

Free Trade," Henry George gave expression to a great 
change of feeling towards Mr. Tilden.1 

"A wealthy citizen whom I once supported, and called 
on others to support, for the Presidential chair, under 
the impression that he was a Democrat of the school of 
Jefferson, has recently published a letter advising us to 
steel plate our coasts, lest foreign navies come over and 
bombard us. This counsel of timidity has for its hardly 
disguised object the inducing of such an enormous ex 
penditure of public money as will prevent any demand 
for the reduction of taxation, and thus secure to the 
tariff rings a longer lease of plunder. It well illus 
trates the essential meanness of the protectionist spirit 
—a spirit that no more comprehends the true dignity 
of the American Eepublic and the grandeur of her pos 
sibilities than it cares for the material interests of the 
great masses of her citizens—'the poor people who have 
to work.'" 

1 Chap. XXX, (Memorial Edition, p. 827). 

 CHAPTER VII. 

LECTUEE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF 
CALIFORNIA. 

1877. AGE, 38. 

AS by distinct stages, Henry George's mind showed de- 
J\. velopment. In the first half of 1877 came the last 
two stages before it was to break into full flower. The 
first of these took the form of a lecture on political econ 
omy before the University of California; the second, of 
an oration on the Fourth of July. 

Scarcely had the Presidential question ceased to absorb 
him when he was invited to deliver several lectures before 
the students and faculty of the University of California 
which now had been established permanently at Berkeley, 
adjacent to Oakland. He was to be one of a number of 
prominent men to give a course of addresses on various 
topics, and the first subject that it was agreed he should 
treat was "The Study of Political Economy." 

There was no separate chair of political economy in 
the University and now came talk of establishing one, 
with George to fill it. His Chinese article; his pamphlet, 
"Our Land and Land Policy"; and many of his "Evening 
Post" editorials marked him as qualified to hold such a 
position. It was thought that the lectures he was about 
to deliver would make the ground of his appointment. 

274 

 Age, 38] HOPE OF COLLEGE CHAIK 275 

Touching this he never afterwards had much to say, in the 
family observing that there had been talk of a chair and 
of him to fill it. He never mentioned who of his friends 
were interested in the project. At the time, possibly from 
his old habit of secretiveness, but more probably from a 
feeling of modesty until the project should take definite 
form, he said nothing about the matter to his wife, except 
indirectly remarking that there was no title in the world he 
cared to have save that of "Professor." 

At any rate, on March 9, accompanied by his friend, 
Assemblyman James V. Coffey, he lunched with Professor 
John Le Conte, the President of the University, after 
which the three men proceeded to the hall where the stu 
dents and most of the faculty were gathered. The lec 
turer read from his manuscript and occupied about three 
quarters of an hour—probably three quarters of an hour 
of astonishment for regents and faculty. 

He said that as his lecture was to be more suggestive 
than didactic, he would not attempt to outline the laws 
of political economy, nor even, where his own views were 
strong and definite, to touch upon unsettled questions. 
He wished to show the simplicity and certainty of a science 
too generally regarded as complex and indeterminate; to 
point out the ease with which it may be studied, and to 
suggest reasons which make that study worthy of attention. 

"The science which investigates the laws of the pro 
duction and distribution of wealth concerns itself with 
matters which among us occupy more than nine tenths 
of human effort, and perhaps nine tenths of human 
thought. In its province are included all that relates 
to the wages of labour and the earnings of capital; all 
regulations of trade; all questions of currency and 
finance; all taxes and public disbursements—in short, 
everything that can in any way affect the amount of 
wealth which a community can secure, or the proper- 

 276 LIFE OF HENBY GEORGE [1877 

tion in which that wealth will be distributed between 
individuals. Though not the science of government, it 
is essential to the science of government. Though it 
takes direct cognisance only of what are termed the 
selfish instincts, yet in doing so it includes the basis of 
all higher qualities." 

A hundred years had elapsed, the lecturer said, since 
Adam Smith published his "Wealth of Nations," .yet po 
litical economy had made little progress. This he thought 
"referable partly to the nature of the science itself and 
partly to the manner in which it has been cultivated." 

"In the first place, the very importance of the sub 
jects with which political economy deals raises obstacles 
in its way. The discoveries of other sciences may chal 
lenge pernicious ideas, but the conclusions of political 
economy involve pecuniary interests, and thus thrill di 
rectly the sensitive pocket-nerve. For, as no social ad 
justment can exist without interesting a larger or 
smaller class in its maintenance, political economy at 
every point is apt to come in contact with some interest 
or other which regards it as the silversmiths of Ephesus 
did those who taught the uselessness of presenting 
shrines to Diana. . . . What, then, must be the op 
position which inevitably meets a science that deals with 
tariffs and subsidies, with banking interests and bonded 
debts, with trades-unions and combinations of capital, 
with taxes and licenses and land tenures! It is not 
ignorance alone that offers opposition, but ignorance 
backed by interest, and made fierce by passions. 

"Now, while the interests thus aroused furnish the 
incentive, the complexity of the phenomena with which 
political economy deals makes it comparatively easy to 
palm off on the unreasoning all sorts of absurdities as 
political economy. . . . But what is far worse than 
any amount of pretentious quackery is, that the science 
even as taught by the masters is in large measure dis 
jointed and indeterminate. As laid down in the best 

 Age, 38] THE DISJOINTED SCIENCE 277 

text-books, political economy is like a shapely statue 
but half hewn from the rock—like a landscape, part of 
which stands out clear and distinct, but over the rest 
of which the mists still roll. . . . Strength and 
subtilty have been