Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-12-23


property Of the whole associated community In order
to illustrate his idea it will only be neccssa to state his
new theory of rent in which is involved, Of course, the
whole theory Of property The questions here four
Frst. What is rent
Second. How does rent originate?
Third. What is its natural amount
Fourth To whom should 1t be afiocsted
lst What is rent The general and nominal dehni-
ton Of rent the price paid for the Of something,
and rent Of the soil IS then the price paid for the Of
the SOIL Rent is also vaiae but the value Of what
Mr. Dove answers, "0f productive capacity Of the ma
al so phieh productive capacity represents the natural
profit of human labor This proposition he attempts to
make good by the following argument The great fact be-
longing the terrestrial economy, in this view Of the
subject is that the earth is capable Of producing more
than the of the labor expended it, the cost Of the
labor being that which the human frame requires to
maintain it in proper health, according to CHI
mate &c. On this fact depends the possibility of poll
teal economy or Of oil profit derived from human labor
The three conditions of all logical reasoning are, an
agent, an object and product which here represented
by man. agent) the sar, object) the produce of the
earth, product y or, specially
phraseoogy the three terms Human labor, the pro-
dscpe capacity of the SOIL and the produce of the SOIL
Now labor the productive capacity Of the SOIL and
its produce must assign values, which values must
be determined and regulated by common measure,
as the unit or standard Of valuation
Let, then, says Mr.. D., the expenditure which man
requires make during the time he abors be called the
Of his labor "a unit, which will Of course vary with
different nations and the surplus return which he re-
ceves in the value Of the produce be called the profit the
natural gret of his labor that is the profit which the
EARTH aconstituted by its Creator is made capable Of
yielding and above the cost Of the labor The first
equation them will be this The produce Of the soil ~
the cost and natural profit Of human labor But having
assumed that the earth has productive capacity which
alone makes it cultivabe with profit may also state
second equation, follows The produce Of the soil
the cost Of labor plus the value Of the productive capacity
of the SOIL Hence, from the two equations the produc
tive capacity of the soil the natural product of human
labor. And, again. by Transporting the second equation
we have, the productive capacity Of the soil the pro-
duce minus the cost of labor But rent las value is
the pdlue of the productive capacity Of the so Hence we
have by substitution, ~ the produce, minus the
cost Of labor production and also rent - the nau
raj profit Of human labor.
Or since actual labor and actual capital which is
densed and accumulated labor may appear together in
efecting the production Of articles needed by man,
may specifically the cost of production in the
following formulas Cost Of production cost Of labor,
plus interest-value Of capital Hence rent value Of
produce, minus cost of labor, plus interestvaue Of
capital) But productive capacity Of soil=the pro-
duce minus the cost of production. Therefore, produc
tive capacity the produce minus cost Of labor plus
interestvalue Of capital Or assuming capital to be
capable only Of nterestvalue but also of prof
over and above the interest," we have
The produce Of the soil = Of labor, plus interest
value Of capital plus profit Of labor plus profit Of CAPT
tai. But, as before
1.h n1r
interestvalue Of captal) And consequently, by SUBJ
shutting in this equation the value Of the produce" as
stated in the equation above and throwing out the
common terms "cost Of labor and interest-value Of
capital which cancel each other, we have
Rent = profit Of labor, plus profit Of capital
Or, assuming capital represent only much accumu
lated natural profit Of formerly expended labor we may
still finally condense the formula Of rent as follows:
Rent the natural profit Of labor.
I'd question. How does rent originate? Where the
whole population food producers and each man pro.
duces from the soil all he needs there can be no place
for rent But since the earth is capable of returning for
one mans labor not only much will support one
man, but also two three men, it follows that
there is capacity for producing profit and above
the mere cost of labor there be any demand for this
surplus production Rent originates in this fact and is
the price paid for the capacity of producing such profit
Sd question What is the natural amount Of rent This
is not determined by the richness of the SOIL The poor
est field New York or Lowell is worth more rent
than the richest farm in New Mexico, If there we're any
rich land in that forlorn region.
"Labor and capital" says Mr.. D., expended on
particular portion Of soil will create 6eenal rent
that is rent and above what would be paid had
such labor and capital not been expended But this is
question of relation between portion Of the soil and
another whereas the main question is why does the
whole soil pay rent and what is the natural amount
of that rent?
/" That which determines the whole amount Of rent in
country is the whole amount Of the whole iabors Of
country; that every Improvement in machinery
every means of facilitating labor every means Of pro-
ducing the same quantity Of goods in less time or at
less expense every increased facility Of transit every
means Of doing more than could formerly be done,
increases the amount Of rent directly the improve
ment Of the soil ITSELF Demand is only the empirical
Of rent The rent depends not on the demand
the demands the consumption who are oodproducers
and the consumption of those who
depends on their number and social condition."
Hence the natural of rent in any community de-
ponds the relative number and social condition of
those who are not foodprodueers compared with those
who foodproducers In order to illustrate this by
concrete example, let US, with Mr.. Dove, assume DO
pulaon of six, Tor six thousand six millions or sixty
mions and let suppose the cost Of maintenance Of
each individual to be say s12 per annum this cost will
be the unit Of calculation, and will vary in different
countries according the social condition of the aborng
classes.
When the supposed six 1--WE employ this number in or
der to simplify the illustration the rule would be the
same sxty 81 hundred mr. s;x fhoreora -, -