Walter Moyle Quotes
It appears that land is the true center of power, and that the balance of dominion changes with the balance of property…
Walter Moyle, 1672-1721, British Member of Parliament (Whig), Essay
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See {627027} for an earlier expression of this point.
Nelson was referring to the past. The industrial revolution created other forms of wealth and power as a huge factory could be built on a small piece of land. In farming, the yield is proportional to the acreage tilled. Not so in manufacturing. With the knowledge era, intellectual property could produce much wealth and power, and factory size and land ownership was not necessary.
Use included renting it. What he opposed was simply holding land when whites were driving Indians off their lands because all the unused land outside of the reservation was owned by someone and the asking price was very high. Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.
Essentially whereas many property owners have paid for their ownership in recent times, almost all real estate, wherever it is, that is privately owned was at some time in the past obtained by force, fraud, deceit, from someone else. In most cases, the owners who were killed, defrauded or otherwise removed from their land, had previously killed, defrauded or otherwise removed owners before them. There is almost no guilt untainted land. This was not just a product of capitalism, but has been a factor in every ism that has governed human society.
Wealthy men had purchased cheap land and moved into the area establishing large ranches and farms. The then very wealthy “newcomers” tended to do dominate the local politics and had much influence on national politics. They would employ the locals, but at very low wages.
See {638124} for how this Biblical passage evolved into a concept of property ownership
While the economics of land is described accurately, immigrants from most of the world would never in their home country ever be able to earn enough in a few years to acquire that much land. So the prospect of land ownership was a fundamental selling point and was a major spur to immigration to America where land was and is plentiful.
- Born: November 3, 1672
- Died: June 10, 1721
- Nationality: British
- Profession: Politician Political Writer
Walter Moyle (1672–1721) was an English politician and political writer, an advocate of classical republicanism.
