Now, first, rent: I confess that I have no patience with any one who
claims, as an inherent right, the exclusive ownership of any part of the
earth. He might as well claim ownership in a section of air. In this I
am very certain that I have the hearty concurrence of every member of
this Club. I am so sure of this, in fact, that I am going to make that
assumption, in which we all agree, the starting point of a little
dialogue, in which, after the manner of Plato, I will put Socrates at
one end of the discussion, and some of his friends, whom we will suppose
to be Phaedo, and Crito, and Simmias, and the rest at the other, and we
will let Socrates and Phaedo carry on the conversation, which might run
as follows:

SOCRATES - We are agreed, then, that no man has any right inherent in
himself to the ownership of land.

PHAEDO - Certainly, we agree to that. Such a thing is absurd, for the
earth is a gift to the human race, and not to particular men.

SOCRATES - I am glad that you think so, and am sure we shall continue to
agree. And if no one man has any right to exclusive ownership of land,
neither have any two men, since it is plain that neither could convey to
himself and another any right which he did not possess, nor could two
men together by any means get lawful title to what neither was entitled
to hold.

PHAEDO - You are doubtless right, Socrates. I do not think any man could
dispute that.

SOCRATES - And if neither one man nor two men can acquire lawful title