Читать книгу Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of Wealth - John A. Ryan - Страница 23

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The defence of private landownership set forth in the last chapter has been conditional. It has tended to show that the institution is morally lawful so long as no better system is available. As soon as a better system has been discovered, the State and the citizens are undoubtedly under some degree of moral obligation to put it into practice. Hence the important present question is whether this condition or contingency has become a reality. The only proposed and the only possible alternative systems are Socialism and the Single Tax. All other forms of tenure are properly classed as modifications of private ownership, rather than as distinct systems. Consequently the worth, and efficiency, and morality of private ownership can be adequately determined by comparison with the two just mentioned.