The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1890-03-20

the land of Canaan In the hands of the
Jews aud provided for an equitable dis.
tribution of property among their chill
dren. It recognized the right of heredi.
ty, but also recognized the equities aris.
ing out of improvements. These equities
were provided for, first, by making the
tenure forty nine years, g period in
which the buyer and his children could
reap the fruits of their labor and get an
adequate return for their money spent for
improvements. The second and most
important provision is in the exception
made in favor of the man who boughta
dwelling house in walled city. a year
was allowed to redeem it, after that it
went into the hands of the purchaser
forever. This recognized the fact that
improvements may be 80 great as to
overbalance the hereditary right.
Village dwellings were not so except
ed. Those were days of war and surpris-
es, and villages we're liable to be swept
away in night; but the walled city
required an army and long siege to
reduce it. The wall and the Notifications
were costly, and the work of man, on
those few spots, was tho chief element of
value. Village houses, unforti6ed and
usually of an in expensive character, were
of little worth in proportion to the land.
The land there had hardly any value
created by man and not given by nature.
In these days there are no walled cities.
There is less need of that kind ofprotec-
ton, but modern cities are fortified at
immense cost against fire, contagion,
epidemics, and many forms of disease.
The mob within is the physical force
which threatens; it has taken the place
of the beseiging host that gathered around
the walled city, and the defensive army
is replaced by the police. The Trojan
horse is now inside the city, and the
danger is increased by the fact that We
cannot always tell who is Trojan aud
who is Greek.
In the protective senao every modern
city is walled city !; walled about with
its quarantine, its fire department, its
police, its sanitary corps, its sewers, and
its paved streets. The rights arising
under all these improvements cannot be
swept away by theory. The improve.
ments have entered into the value of the
land aad make by far the larger part
oft.
Man has added another value with the
protective. His life blood has gone into
it, his presence, his virtues as a citizen,
his social qualities that contribute to the
pleasure and the happiness of the com.
munity, the profits to be made on what
be consumes.
Ifyou take the area of city and
compare it with an equal area of
rural land of the same character in the
same climate, you will see how large q
percentage ofthe value is due to the
presence of the citizen. In Atlanta, for
Instance, the corporation line is a circle
three and one half miles in diameter,
and eucloses 6,154 acres. The average
value of improved land in middle Geor-
gia, would not exceed 500 an acre. At
that price the land on which Atlanta is
built, would cost sl23,000. The real
estate is assessed ct about s30,OO0,OO0.
It is worth probably $45,600,000. The
work and the presence Of men have
multiplied the value of the land 365
times. The agricultural value at present
prices is only little over fourth of one
per cent of the value IS city property
OF the present value one dollar is due to
the land where 1854 are due to the work
and presence of men. The actual work
in the houses is from $25, 100000, esti.
mating the average cost of houses at
50, 900 to S2,50O. The 900 houses built
last year was averaged by the sanitary
inspectors at $4,000 each. They were
nearly all residences and above the
average, but the costly piles of brick,
mortar and stone in the heart OF the city
will run up the average at least to s2 0Oo,
and probably to $4,000. The granite
paved streets, the sewers, the waterworks
and other expensive Improvements
amount 10 several millions, 80 it will be
safe to say the improvements on the land
in Atlanta have cost s30,00O,00O or
about two thirds of the whole value of
the property.
The other third ia what Henry George
calls the unearned increment. Itis due
partly to the general protection of the
city which is obtained by heavy ezpen.
ditures paid mainly out of tax on the
property-in Atlanta this sum amounts
to about million and quarter q year,
paid by property owners and administered
by the city officers. This accounts for
say, half of the remaining third. The
last sixth of the value of city property is
due to the multitude, of privileges and
amenities of city life The whole of this
value is fixed and sustained by the
opportunities for making money-oppor'
tunities that multiply with the increase
of a population, in number and in
purchasing power. This is the bulWark
of the whole, for without it these massive
piles would soon he left to the bats
There is once prosperous city in New
Zealand where the owners give man The
rent if be will Keep the building insured
But within the city there are multitude
of influence that regulate the values ot