The Crux of the Matter.

They now came to the crux of the whole matter. Would it be honest to give effect to this proposal? (Cries of "No" and "Yes.")He hoped they would not [unclear: shirt] this point or get of patience with it (Applause.) He was determined not get out of patience, though people said it would not be honest. He believed it was honest, and he hoped the audience would bear with him whilst he gave his reasons. Some would say that if they wanted to take way this wrongful value—not morally wrongful, but inequitable—the only righteous way to do so was by paying for it. But let them consider who was going to pay. The land-owners by holding this privilege had enjoyed a great advantage at the expense of the rest of the people and if this privilege is to be bought back, who was to pay for it? Surely not the class that had been injured by the granting of this privilege. It would be a most extraordinary method of compensation, that the people who had been injured all along should have to pay those who had been gaining at their expense all along. They must not buy back the land, for then the State would become the owner, and that would be land nationalisation. Their object was the single tax. The State must not be the land-owner, for that would be landlordism again, and [unclear: they] would have to go cap in hand to some Government officials, and those who had the most influence would be allowed to pick out the choicest spots. They must not dream of this.