Spencer Heath
Encyclopedia
Spencer Heath was an American engineer
, attorney
, inventor, manufacturer, horticulturist, poet, philosopher of science and social thinker
. An anarchist and a dissenter from Georgist
economic views, he pioneered the theory of proprietary governance and community in his book Citadel, Market and Altar. Heath's grandson, Spencer Heath MacCallum
, popularized and expounded on his ideas, including in his book The Art of Community
, studying electrical
and mechanical engineering
. While working for the Navy Department he earned law degrees at National University Law School. In 1898 he married Johanna Maria Holm, a suffragist and friend of Susan B. Anthony
. They had three daughters.
As a patent lawyer and engineering consultant
his clients included Simon Lake
, inventor of the even-keel-submerging submarine, and Emile Berliner
, inventor of the flat-disk phonograph record. Heath helped Berliner design and build the first rotary engine
blades used in helicopters. Heath developed and first mass-produced airplane propeller
s, including 70 percent of the propellers used by Americans in World War I
. In 1922 he demonstrated the first engine-powered and controlled, variable and reversible pitch propeller
.
In 1929 he sold his patents and facilities to Bendix Aviation Corporation and retired to work on projects in horticulture and the natural and social sciences, including research with the aim of establishing the basis for an authentic natural science of society.
His articles on aeronautical engineering were published by the Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, the Journal of the Franklin Institute
and other technical journals. International Who's Who
listed him in 1947-1949 and Who's Who in the East in 1948-1951.
free-trade stance, Spencer Heath became recording secretary for the Chicago Single Tax Club and participated in the movement for 40 years. He assisted in the formation of the Henry George School in New York City and conducted public seminars there on community organization in the early 1930s. School Director Frank Chodorov
later fired him for straying from the Georgist line.
Heath had rejected Georgist's antipathy toward land and had come to believe that society only could outgrow its subservience to the state through a proper use of land. In 1936, he self-published his views in a monograph entitled "Politics versus Proprietorship." It was the first statement of the proprietary community principle. In 1952 The Freeman
published Heath’s polemic “Progress and Poverty Reviewed”, a critique of Henry George's land argument.
Heath completed his major work, Citadel, Market and Altar, in 1946, publishing it through his Science of Society Foundation, Inc. in 1957. In a review of the book Manas journal
wrote:
In the September 15, 1970 issue of The Libertarian Forum, (Vol. II #18), prominent libertarian
economist
Murray Rothbard
wrote:
Heath himself wrote:
The model for Heathian anarchism
is proprietary communities, multi-tenant properties such as hotels, shopping centers, industrial parks, and apartment buildings. Multi-tenant properties are the opposite of traditional real-estate developments; the developers would lease the homes rather than sell them, and thus be responsible for providing community services to maintain rental income and land value.
Heathian anarchism has been the model for intentional community
and "new country" projects such as Werner K. Stiefel’s 1970s motel community and “Atlantis” projects.
Heath’s grandson Spencer Heath MacCallum
hold’s Heath’s papers in the Heather Foundation, of which MacCullum is director. Heath was good friends with, and exchanged free market
insights with, alternative monetary theorist
E.C. Riegel
whose papers also are held by the Foundation.
MacCallum has built upon and promoted his grandfather’s ideas of proprietary community in his 1970 booklet "The Art of Community" and many articles, including his 2003 articles "The Enterprise of Community: Market Competition, Land, and Environment" and "Looking Back and Forward" (which describes the influence of his grandfather) and his 2005 article on stateless social organization "From Upstate New York to the Horn of Africa."
Heath’s views on rent were discussed in John Chamberlain (journalist)
’s 1959 book The Roots of Capitalism and Gus Dizerega’s year 2000 book Persuasion, Power, and Polity: A Theory of Democratic Self-Organization. His views on community were discussed in John McClaughrey’s 1995 article “Private Idahoes” in Reason Magazine, a chapter of the 2001 book City and Country called "The Completely Decentralized City: The Case for Benefits Based Public Finance" and Gabriel Joseph Roth’s book 2006 Street Smart: Competition, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Roads.
Heathians suggest that the most practical way to create a libertarian enclave may be using leasehold rather than freehold. They point out that private single-family housing is historically quite new, and see an evolutionary trend toward the leasehold type of ownership. The term "multi-tenant income property" and the very existence of shopping malls is a phenomenon of the last 50 years. Heathians generally believe that the multi-tenant property approach will, over time, evolve to take over traditional public services such as water, sewer, and street maintenance from municipal governments. They see the Heathian landlord as protecting the individual from two different sources of aggression: criminals and governments. Land-holding firms would compete on how well they can protect their tenants from crime and taxation, a distinct improvement over monopoly government.
Heathian anarchism differs from the standard anarcho-capitalist private defense agency
(PDA) model. The latter envisions competing security agencies in the same geographical area rather than a proprietary zone. Citing Spencer MacCallum, economist Edward Stringham discusses how an anarchism composed of many proprietary communities would encourage landlords to provide police in a way that their tenants value most, even if there were one provider of law in a given area. Stringham contrasts that vision of anarchy with one that focuses on having multiple law enforcement agencies.
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, inventor, manufacturer, horticulturist, poet, philosopher of science and social thinker
Social thought
Social thought provides general theories to explain actions and behavior of society as a whole, encompassing sociological, political, and philosophical ideas. Social theory is used to make distinctions and generalizations among different types of societies, and to analyze modernity as it has...
. An anarchist and a dissenter from Georgist
Georgism
Georgism is an economic philosophy and ideology that holds that people own what they create, but that things found in nature, most importantly land, belong equally to all...
economic views, he pioneered the theory of proprietary governance and community in his book Citadel, Market and Altar. Heath's grandson, Spencer Heath MacCallum
Spencer MacCallum
Spencer Heath McCallum , commonly known as Spencer MacCallum, is an American anthropologist, business consultant and libertarian anarchist author...
, popularized and expounded on his ideas, including in his book The Art of Community
Life and technical career
Heath graduated from the Corcoran Scientific School in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, studying electrical
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
. While working for the Navy Department he earned law degrees at National University Law School. In 1898 he married Johanna Maria Holm, a suffragist and friend of Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony
Susan Brownell Anthony was a prominent American civil rights leader who played a pivotal role in the 19th century women's rights movement to introduce women's suffrage into the United States. She was co-founder of the first Women's Temperance Movement with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as President...
. They had three daughters.
As a patent lawyer and engineering consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
his clients included Simon Lake
Simon Lake
Simon Lake was a Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines for the United States Navy.Born in Pleasantville, New Jersey, Lake joined his father's...
, inventor of the even-keel-submerging submarine, and Emile Berliner
Emile Berliner
Emile Berliner or Emil Berliner was a German-born American inventor. He is best known for developing the disc record gramophone...
, inventor of the flat-disk phonograph record. Heath helped Berliner design and build the first rotary engine
Rotary engine
The rotary engine was an early type of internal-combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration, in which the crankshaft remained stationary and the entire cylinder block rotated around it...
blades used in helicopters. Heath developed and first mass-produced airplane propeller
Propeller (aircraft)
Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...
s, including 70 percent of the propellers used by Americans in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1922 he demonstrated the first engine-powered and controlled, variable and reversible pitch propeller
Controllable pitch propeller
A controllable pitch propeller or variable pitch propeller is a type of propeller with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change their pitch...
.
In 1929 he sold his patents and facilities to Bendix Aviation Corporation and retired to work on projects in horticulture and the natural and social sciences, including research with the aim of establishing the basis for an authentic natural science of society.
His articles on aeronautical engineering were published by the Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, the Journal of the Franklin Institute
Franklin Institute
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
and other technical journals. International Who's Who
International Who's Who
The International Who's Who is a Who's Who reference book to notable people worldwide. It has been published annually since 1935 by Europa Publications, from 2000 by Routledge an imprint of the UK publishing group Taylor and Francis....
listed him in 1947-1949 and Who's Who in the East in 1948-1951.
Economic and political views
Around 1898, attracted by the Georgists'Georgism
Georgism is an economic philosophy and ideology that holds that people own what they create, but that things found in nature, most importantly land, belong equally to all...
free-trade stance, Spencer Heath became recording secretary for the Chicago Single Tax Club and participated in the movement for 40 years. He assisted in the formation of the Henry George School in New York City and conducted public seminars there on community organization in the early 1930s. School Director Frank Chodorov
Frank Chodorov
Frank Chodorov was an American member of the Old Right, a group of libertarian thinkers who were non-interventionist in foreign policy and anti–New Deal...
later fired him for straying from the Georgist line.
Heath had rejected Georgist's antipathy toward land and had come to believe that society only could outgrow its subservience to the state through a proper use of land. In 1936, he self-published his views in a monograph entitled "Politics versus Proprietorship." It was the first statement of the proprietary community principle. In 1952 The Freeman
The Freeman
The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty is one of the oldest and most respected libertarian journals in the United States. It is published by the Foundation for Economic Education . It started as a digest sized monthly study journal; it currently appears 10 times per year and is a larger-sized magazine. FEE...
published Heath’s polemic “Progress and Poverty Reviewed”, a critique of Henry George's land argument.
Heath completed his major work, Citadel, Market and Altar, in 1946, publishing it through his Science of Society Foundation, Inc. in 1957. In a review of the book Manas journal
MANAS Journal
MANAS was an eight-page philosophical weekly written, edited, and published by Henry Geiger from 1948 until December 1988. Each issue typically contained several short essays that reflected on the human condition, examining in particular environmental and ethical concerns from a global perspective....
wrote:
Mr. Heath returns to the socio-economic relationships of pre-Norman England for the foundation of an ideal society which will combine freedom and justice. This is a serious book with carefully worked-out plans and precise definitions. Mr. Heath's notion of ownership is very like Gandhi's conception of the stewardship of wealth: “In its Anglo-Saxon meaning, now only dimly
realized, to own was to owe. Ownership was inclusive of others, not exclusive. What was owned, chiefly land, was held in trust, as it Were.”
In the September 15, 1970 issue of The Libertarian Forum, (Vol. II #18), prominent libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
Murray Rothbard
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
wrote:
The Heathian goal is to have cities and large land areas owned by single private corporations, which would own and rent out the land and housing over the area, and provide all conceivable "public services": police, fire, roads, courts, etc., out of the voluntarily-paid rent. Heathianism is Henry Georgism stood on its head; like George, Heath and MacCallum would provide for all public services out of rent; but unlike George, the rent would be collected, and the land owned, by private corporate landlords rather than by the government, and the payment therefore voluntary rather than coercive. The Heathian 'proprietary community' is, of course, in stark contrast to the scruffy egalitarian commune dreamed of by anarchists of the Left.
Heath himself wrote:
To obviate the essential tyranny (coercion) of political administration the proprietary authority, suitably organized, must extend its jurisdiction, and thus its revenues, by itself supplying police and other community services without coercion, out of its own revenues and properties, and thus raise its own values and voluntary incomes.
The model for Heathian anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
is proprietary communities, multi-tenant properties such as hotels, shopping centers, industrial parks, and apartment buildings. Multi-tenant properties are the opposite of traditional real-estate developments; the developers would lease the homes rather than sell them, and thus be responsible for providing community services to maintain rental income and land value.
Influence
Murray Rothbard based much of his criticism of Henry George on Spencer Heath’s writings. These in turn have influenced many libertarians. He also mentioned Heath’s views on community a number of times in his book Man, Economy and State.Heathian anarchism has been the model for intentional community
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
and "new country" projects such as Werner K. Stiefel’s 1970s motel community and “Atlantis” projects.
Heath’s grandson Spencer Heath MacCallum
Spencer MacCallum
Spencer Heath McCallum , commonly known as Spencer MacCallum, is an American anthropologist, business consultant and libertarian anarchist author...
hold’s Heath’s papers in the Heather Foundation, of which MacCullum is director. Heath was good friends with, and exchanged free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
insights with, alternative monetary theorist
Alternative currency
Alternative currency is a term that refers to any currency used as an alternative to the dominant national or multinational currency systems...
E.C. Riegel
E.C. Riegel
Edwin Clarence Riegel , generally known as E.C. Riegel, was an independent scholar, author and consumer advocate who campaigned against restrictions on free markets that harmed consumers and promoted an alternative monetary theory and an early private enterprise currency alternative.Best selling...
whose papers also are held by the Foundation.
MacCallum has built upon and promoted his grandfather’s ideas of proprietary community in his 1970 booklet "The Art of Community" and many articles, including his 2003 articles "The Enterprise of Community: Market Competition, Land, and Environment" and "Looking Back and Forward" (which describes the influence of his grandfather) and his 2005 article on stateless social organization "From Upstate New York to the Horn of Africa."
Heath’s views on rent were discussed in John Chamberlain (journalist)
John Chamberlain
John Angus Chamberlain is an American sculptor.Born in Rochester, Indiana, John Chamberlain spent much of his youth in Chicago. After serving in the navy from 1943 to 1946, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago and Black Mountain College...
’s 1959 book The Roots of Capitalism and Gus Dizerega’s year 2000 book Persuasion, Power, and Polity: A Theory of Democratic Self-Organization. His views on community were discussed in John McClaughrey’s 1995 article “Private Idahoes” in Reason Magazine, a chapter of the 2001 book City and Country called "The Completely Decentralized City: The Case for Benefits Based Public Finance" and Gabriel Joseph Roth’s book 2006 Street Smart: Competition, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Roads.
Heathians suggest that the most practical way to create a libertarian enclave may be using leasehold rather than freehold. They point out that private single-family housing is historically quite new, and see an evolutionary trend toward the leasehold type of ownership. The term "multi-tenant income property" and the very existence of shopping malls is a phenomenon of the last 50 years. Heathians generally believe that the multi-tenant property approach will, over time, evolve to take over traditional public services such as water, sewer, and street maintenance from municipal governments. They see the Heathian landlord as protecting the individual from two different sources of aggression: criminals and governments. Land-holding firms would compete on how well they can protect their tenants from crime and taxation, a distinct improvement over monopoly government.
Heathian anarchism differs from the standard anarcho-capitalist private defense agency
Private defense agency
A private defense agency is a conceptualized agency that provides personal protection and military defense services voluntarily through the free market. A PDA is not a private contractor of the state and is not subsidised in any way through taxation or immunities, nor does it rely on conscription...
(PDA) model. The latter envisions competing security agencies in the same geographical area rather than a proprietary zone. Citing Spencer MacCallum, economist Edward Stringham discusses how an anarchism composed of many proprietary communities would encourage landlords to provide police in a way that their tenants value most, even if there were one provider of law in a given area. Stringham contrasts that vision of anarchy with one that focuses on having multiple law enforcement agencies.
See also
- American philosophyAmerican philosophyAmerican philosophy is the philosophical activity or output of Americans, both within the United States and abroad. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that while American philosophy lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevertheless be seen as both reflecting and...
- Spencer MacCallumSpencer MacCallumSpencer Heath McCallum , commonly known as Spencer MacCallum, is an American anthropologist, business consultant and libertarian anarchist author...
- E.C. RiegelE.C. RiegelEdwin Clarence Riegel , generally known as E.C. Riegel, was an independent scholar, author and consumer advocate who campaigned against restrictions on free markets that harmed consumers and promoted an alternative monetary theory and an early private enterprise currency alternative.Best selling...
- Private communityPrivate communityA private community is a residential community that can be an association or a proprietary organization. Associations can include condominiums, homeowner associations or cooperatives....
- Voluntary communityVoluntary communityA voluntary society, voluntary community or voluntary city is one in which all property and all services are provided through voluntary means, such as private or cooperative ownership...
- Intentional communityIntentional communityAn intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
- GeorgismGeorgismGeorgism is an economic philosophy and ideology that holds that people own what they create, but that things found in nature, most importantly land, belong equally to all...
- AnarchismAnarchismAnarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
- LibertarianismLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
- List of American philosophers