Who Owns The Land? Poem by Robert James Campbell Stead

Who owns the land ?
The Duke replied,
' I own the land. My fathers died
In winning it from foreign hands,
They paid in red blood for their lands ;
Their swarthy villeins bit the dust
In founding the Landowners' Trust;
And many generations dead
Substantiate what I have said,
The land belongs to us because
We've had the making of the laws.'

Who owns the land ?
The Common Man
Said, ' Government adopts a plan
By which the land is held in fee
For common folks, like you an' me.
The man who 'd alter it's a crank;
I got the transfer—in the bank—
I've little time to think about
These theories silly fellows shout,
I have to work to beat the band
To pay the mortgage on the land.'

Who owns the land ?
The Statesman said,
' The land supplies our daily bread,
And raises wheat, and corn, and oats,
And simple husbandmen—and votes—
The land was won at awful cost
And many soldiers' lives were lost.
Too bad! They 're mostly silly boys
Who go to battle for the noise.
Here's a quotation I admire:
'The people's voice is God's desire,'
And as I rule by right divine,
I half suspect the land is mine.'

Who owns the land ?
The Farmer said,
' What puts that question in yer head ?
I own it. Tuk a homestead here
An' lived on it for twenty year;
I bet a new ten dollar bill
That I could hold it down until
I got the patent, an' I won;
The land is mine, as sure's a gun;
When city blokes come here to shoot,
You bet, they get the icy boot!
But 't made me mighty mad when that
Danged railway come across the flat
An' cut my homestead plumb in two.
But there I wuz — what could I do ?
But just set down, resigned to fate,
Fer fear that they 'd expropriate.'

Who owns the land ?
The Speculator
Said, ' Land is just an incubator
In which to let your dollars hatch
And, some fine morning—sell the batch.'

Who owns the land ?
The Indian Chief
Said, ' Ugh, the white man mucha thief!
He steal my lan' because he's strong
(By gar, it take him pretty long),
He steal my lan', an' call it law,
He turn me out, me an' my squaw;
He let us die, because we not
Like him, can live in one same spot;
He talk so much of civilise —
He's civil — sometimes — an' he lies !'

Who owns the land ?
The Over-Rich
Said, ' All these people claim to, which
Is satisfactory to me,
So long as they cannot agree.
Let them arrange it as they will
As long as some one pays the bill.
The present plan is, surely, fine;
The interest, at least, is mine.'

Who owns the land ?
In meek surprise
The child said, ' Like the air, and skies,
And running water, flowers, and birds,
And lullabies, and gentle words,
And rosy sunsets, clouds, and storms,
And God revealed in all His forms—
'Tis plain the land's the right of birth
Of every creature on the earth:
No man can make a grain of sand;
How can he say he owns the land?'