Both Locke and George seemed to have similar takes on the ideas of the absurdity of private property. Every man has a natural right to survive using the tools and resources granted to us by God. God also bestowed us with reason so that we could make use of our environment. If every man owns himself then he therefore owns his labor and the products of his labor. In this way land is simply the raw materials and our labor is what adds value to it as we produce what’s necessary to sustain life. Land is essentially valueless in that it is only worth something until it’s value has been increased by its joining to one’s labor. For this reason in nature, it is more valuable to have a large population than avast expanses of space.
While Locke asserts that it is fine to take more than one could need so long that everything that is reaped from the environment is used completely before it perishes however, George writes that the production of a product gives exclusive rights of use and enjoyment to the producer and the producer has the right to use the product however they chose, including allowing it to spoil or be destroyed arguing that it wrongs no one else. The idea that you could hoard resources and allow them to go unused simply because you own the labor that produced them seems to be at odds with Locke’s ideas surrounding the natural limits of nature. This limit exists so that we don’t try to gain more than we will use as to let something perishable spoil before it is used is to rob others of the potential use or enjoyment of said product. It was this switch from valuing perishable goods and the use of them to a more tangible, durable form of currency that could not perish that facilitated to beginning of man being able to hoard wealth and grow their possessions, wanting past what nature would allow. This fundamental shift in valuing items and how much wealth one has amassed is the turning point at which in our desire to have more than we need, we foster injustices pertaining to who is allowed to exist where as the rights of others are infringed upon to the benefit of others.