Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-05-10
posed upon productive and distrnDutlve

labor
The net increase in wealth for the
decade 1SS0-9O is given as twenty bill
lions of dollars, gross increase of so
per cent, and an annual compound
rate of 4 per cent. But at least three
billions of this represents fictitious cap
italization, or water, notably of our
railroad system and municipal franchise
corporations. while not less than seven
billions of it represents the increased
rental, or value of bare land.
This increase of value in land repre-
sents that much of the product of the
many absorbed and appropriated by
the few, without equivalent. AS three
fourths, or more, of the dwellers in
cities and towns are renters, owning no
land, in such cities and towns, the in
crease in the value of land represents
the absorption by one-fourth of the
urban population, or one-tenth of the
whole population. of wealth produced
by and belonging to the whole commu-
nifty, while the fact that nearly FIVE
eighths of the total increase in value
of the nations land attaches to cities
and towns, shows that the very few
city land owners are almost the sole
benefciaries.
All actual, TANGIBLE, material wealth
is produced by labor and represents. in
its own proper self. an increase or adj
dition to the visible stock of valuable
things Land values, while created by
the joint labor, energy and prosperity
of the whole people and resulting from
the pressure of population, do not after
all constitute an increase in wealth, be-
cause the quantity of land is not in
creased, it being simply the rental and
selling values of the same quantity of
land that are increased Hence, in
stead of being an increase in wealth,
increased land values are an addition to
the burdens of a people. What one
sells, another must buy. so that in
creased land values mean that those
who have no land must either buy at ~
advanced price or pay d greater amOQI4t
OF rent for the use OF land. And yet
neither the productivcneso or utility Of
lanI shows any increase, so that the
real value must remain the same and
the increase inheres not IN the real bat
in the monoPolistic value I'll land Thie
raise in the monCpOlistic value of Ian
hurts those who own and occupy gri-
cultural lands as badly as it hurts .! ose
who own no lands, because, for the last
twenty years, prices of farm proGucts
have steadily tended downward, whlIs
the investment represented by l9ni
values have steadily increased in v"la,
thus calling for Il grca ter amount OF
interest upon investment and heavier
taxes. OF course. IN speaking of land
values. ] mean bare land only. imrrry,,-
ments being an actual, tangible adLi
tiOn to the nation wealth.
As a result OF very careful investiga-
tions, I sub.ait the following as the in
crease in values .ot bare Ian is IN $3.50:
L Ais cm race. Sd. ....lni ..... do -,
.-.uds Ia cries ami rouns .-. "a, -
4 .",cu ed rm ana NIB r lands 10 o.
Mines, pc rolcum AMI coal lands go. o. lO;.t
Total increase ........ 81 Il. . o,
During the decade 1sSS-90 the farms
of the United States increased in acre
age about 80 per cent. and in value
about 20 per cent, or two billion dollars
for the decade. This increase in the
value of farms consists very much more
of the added values of new farms i'm
proved and opened up. than in an in
| CREASE III lHe value Oh IN Cne OlOcr
| states in very many of which the value
| of farms shows a decrease rather than
an increase. Indeed, it is doubtful if
| the value of farms increased in the
amount | have shown for the year 1890,
but, in the absence of reliable statistics,
| have given about the true arithmet-
ical progress for the tenth year of de-
cade showing a gross increase of 20 per
cent, the increase being compounded
| annually. So far as the other classes
of lands are concerned, | feel reasonably
sure of my ground and believe my fig
ures do not fall far short of exact accu-
raey.
| AS one-third of all the farmers are
tenants, very little reflection will
| prove that the most of the increase in
value of United States lands inures to
| the benefit of city land owners, while
the increase in rent, consequent upon
the increase in land values. forms an
| addition to the burdens the consumers
| of the nation have to bear
The enforcement of use and occu-
pancy' as prerequisite to claim to land,
would at once wipe out and destroy
speculative land values. non occupying
landlordism and monopoliStic rent.
GEORGE c. WARD.