GEORGE

george, henry (1839-1897), american author and political economist, was born in philadelphia, penn., on the 2nd of september 1839. he settled in california in 1858; removed to new york, 1880; was first a printer, then an editor, but finally devoted all his life to economic and social questions. in 1871 he published _our land policy_, which, as further developed in 1879 under the title of _progress and poverty_, speedily attracted the widest attention both in america and in europe. in 1886 he published _protection or free trade_. henry george had no political ambition, but in 1886 he received an independent nomination as mayor of new york city, and became so popular that it required a coalition of the two strongest political parties to prevent his election. he received 68,000 votes, against 90,000 for the coalition candidate. his death on the 29th of october 1897 was followed by one of the greatest demonstrations of popular feeling and general respect that ever attended the funeral of any strictly private citizen in american history. the fundamental doctrine of henry george, the equal right of all men to the use of the earth, did not originate with him; but his clear statement of a method by which it could be enforced, without increasing state machinery, and indeed with a great simplification of government, gave it a new form. this method he named the _single tax_. his doctrine may be condensed as follows: the land of every country belongs of right to all the people of that country. this right cannot be alienated by one generation, so as to affect the title of the next, any more than men can sell their yet unborn children for slaves. private ownership of land has no more foundation in morality or reason than private ownership of air or sunlight. but the private occupancy and use of land are right and indispensable. any attempt to divide land into equal shares is impossible and undesirable. land should be, and practically is now, divided for private use in parcels among those who will pay the highest price for the use of each parcel. this price is now paid to some persons annually, and it is called _rent_. by applying the rent of land, exclusive of all improvements, to the equal benefit of the whole community, absolute justice would be done to all. as rent is always more than sufficient to defray all necessary expenses of government, those expenses should be met by a tax upon rent alone, to be brought about by the gradual abolition of all other taxes. landlords should be left in undisturbed possession and nominal ownership of the land, with a sufficient margin over the tax to induce them to collect their rents and pay the tax. they would thus be transformed into mere land agents. obviously this would involve absolute free trade, since all taxes on imports, manufactures, successions, documents, personal property, buildings or improvements would disappear. nothing made by man would be taxed at all. the right of private property in all things made by man would thus be absolute, for the owner of such things could not be divested of his property, without full compensation, even under the pretence of taxation. the idea of concentrating all taxes upon ground-rent has found followers in great britain, north america, australia and new zealand. in practical politics this doctrine is confined to the "single tax, limited," which proposes to defray only the needful public expenses from ground-rent, leaving the surplus, whatever it may be, in the undisturbed possession of landowners. the principal books by henry george are: _progress and poverty_ (1879), _the irish land question_ (1881), _social problems_ (1884), _protection or free trade_ (1886), _the condition of labor_ (1891), _a perplexed philosopher_ (1892), _political economy_ (1898). his son, henry george (b. 1862), has written a _life_ (1900). for the single tax theory see shearman's _natural taxation_ (1899). (t. g. s.) george pisida [georgios pisides], byzantine poet, born in pisidia, flourished during the 7th century a.d. nothing is known of him except that he was a deacon and chartophylax (keeper of the records) of the church of st sophia. his earliest work, in three cantos ([greek: akroaseis]), on the campaign of the emperor heraclius against the persians, seems to be the work of an eyewitness. this was followed by the _avarica_, an account of a futile attack on constantinople by the avars (626), said to have been repulsed by the aid of the virgin mary; and by the _heraclias_, a general survey of the exploits of heraclius both at home and abroad down to the final overthrow of chosroes in 627. george pisida was also the author of a didactic poem, _hexaemeron_ or _cosmourgia_, upon the creation of the world; a treatise on the vanity of life, after the manner of _ecclesiastes_; a controversial composition against severus, bishop of antioch; two short poems upon the resurrection of christ and on the recovery of the sacred crucifix stolen by the persians. the metre chiefly used is the iambic. as a versifier pisida is correct and even elegant; as a chronicler of contemporary events he is exceedingly useful; and later byzantine writers enthusiastically compared him with, and even preferred him to euripides. recent criticism, however, characterizes his compositions as artificial and almost uniformly dull. complete works in j.p. migne, _patrologia graeca_, xcii.; see also _de georgii pisidae apud theophanem aliosque historicos reliquiis_. (1900), by s.l. sternbach, who has edited several new poems for the first time from a paris ms. in _wiener studien_, xiii., xiv. (1891-1892); c. krumbacher, _geschichte der byzantinischen litteratur_ (1897); c.f. bahr in ersch and gruber's _allgemeine encyklopadie_.