The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-07-14
An ossn Letter. 70 Every Evening.
[colfMuNfcATEp.l

titled "A Shantytown Argument" 1
have never seen single argument In
your paper against the sugar tax. The
statements OF your correspondents
you can contradict and you can ridi-
Guile, but can you answer them In o
logical and scientific manner
In all that emanates from your eht-
torial column In regard to the prodpc-
ton and distribution OF wealth, In.
Guiding. Of course, taxation OF all
kinds, you consider but two factors
involved, viz: labor and ca pital, and
their corollaries, wages and interest.
Now, ell eoonomlsts agree there are
three. and this other factor is land.
This the Every Evening cannot dis.
pute.
Land. labor and capital. then, are
the three fifctors OF production, and
all wealth produced is divided bet wden
them In the shape OF rent. interest aud
wages.
Now. tent In politiosI economy
means the price which 10 paid for the
use OF bare land. l have never seen
the term economic rent mentioned
In the editorial column OF any news
paper published In Delaware. una yet
you cannot discuss the production Of
watch without including IL.
II Id owing to the fallacious assu mp.
tion entertained by most people. lin.
GLIDING edltors) that labor and capital
are tho only two factors In produce
ton, therefore capital employs labor
and that the hallucinatlon, that wages,
OF course, must be drawn from CAPT.
tai.
j will not attempt to discuss these
phantasmas, for tho moment we
recognize land as the principal ele.
ment In production and consider As O
sequence what effect private Absorb.
ton OF rent has upon the distribution
OF wealth. there ID opened up to Us q
truth that nothing III recorded hu man
knowledge equals. for IL mankind will
feurlessly follow that truth to Its logi.
cal conclusion noe only will the sun.
day Break fast Association DO out pf a
job. but the blind, unreasoning fury
OF mobs and tho use Of dynamite as q
social corrective will have had their
day. -
BY following Gods intent. the nntu.
raj law, peace and plenty would lake
the place OF charity, and greed and
avarice. which are born of poverty OF
the fear OF poverty, would cease to ex.
list. Land Is as necessary to human life
as the air we breathe or the water we
drink. There is nothing we make use
Of In any sense, food, clothing, Rrti.
Giles OF luxury and adornment OF every
Kind, but what Is produced by tho mp.
plication OF labor to land.
God made the earth as a storehouse
from which all mankind for all lin q
to come should draw their sustenance,
The land then Is the common heritage
OF all. that 1t Is not Gods fault but
mans. The people starve or want for
food In the sight Of plenty, who ale
able and willing to work, Is not owing
to the niggardllness OF nature. or the
want Of foresight on the part of the
Creator, but to the denial of those,
who having appropriated the store.
house by fraud. pass IL on BY sale and
bequest to others, who compel the
balance OF mankind to pay tribute fur
that which man cannot live unieb he
has access to.
Think OF the enormous increase
in the productive power OF the
iaat one hundred years, multiplying
production hundred fold, and yet
tlere are laborers Ia WilmlnR ton
working for ono dollar day, when
they can get it to do. Inventions dis.
coveries. Industrial economies, all
tend to increase rent and lessen tue
amout the other two factors, wages
and interest, get. Rent Ia the amigo.
nism OF interest as we'll ae wages,
Wages and interest are falling the
world over. but land is rising n all
progressive communities.
Lot us look at the question Id this
light: Suppose all the wealth that we
could produce in Wilmington we
should store up for one year.
At the end OF tho year labor comes
along and takes it's share from the
heap. This we call wages. Labor has
given an equivalent for what It takes
in fact takes out Ieas than what 1t pu,
In, else labor has been employed at @
loss. and this never happens In a gen
eral sense.
Now comes capital and takes Its
share. This we call interest; capital
too. gives an equivalent and is entitled
to what it takes. II loan q man ona
hundred doilors do more, l advance
to him the time 1t takes to make one
hundred dollars. This In essence is
titurges dcIlniuon OF interest, and lie
conceded by economists the world
over to be the only satisfactory one
yet adduced. Adam Smith, Mills.
Ricardo and others usually attribhting
Interest q due to abstinence or rather
as the reward OF abstinence.
George ID not only the friend bf the
capitalist. inasmuch as he would take
taxes OF of all capital, but ju$tities
interest In way that leaves no room
for argument. having discovered the
law OF Interest as he has the law OF
wages.
Capital can never Cypress labor
where land 10 free, and even now
1t Is exceptional where 1t does. The
conflict is not between labor aud capl-
tai. but labor and capital on one Sue.
and rent on the other. Thu CON petit
tlon between those using capital
in production 10 as keen and merciless
as that between labor.
1t is the private absorption OF rent
that Is emitting the heart out OF our
modern civilization,
We have now seen that labor and
capital have taken their share cut OF
the heap and have given an equlvRlen t
In 1eturn. Now comes rent Id the
shape of the landlord and takes all
that is left. Two hundred years ago
the land that now comprises the area
of Wilmington got no rent. and all
the production was divided between
wages and interest. One hundr ed
years ago the same thing could 1racti.
cRlly be said.
To-day the land values OF Whining
ton are about seventeen millions OF
dollars, and before wages and Interest
can get their share current votes of
interest on this vast sum, must first
be given up. Twenty five years from
now under the came System and this
same area will mulct the oitizens on a
valuation any where between forty and
fifty million dollars. What does rent
give In exchange for what 1t takes out
OF the heap2 Nothing. The lant God
gave. 1t has sustained the life VI all
who have ever lived, and In a Ihilllon
years from now will still be doing the
same by giving natures tribute labor.
Landlords as landlords Produce
nothing. Even the value of hia land
and for which he exacts tribute was
created by those whom he levys the
q xe upon.
From the moral standpoint. from
the fiscal aide, from the side OF justice
and humanity 10 1t not demande ID that
lund lie &c xed according TO its value