Evening journal., 1894-03-14
LETTERS fRoM THe pgoPLE.

Professor Thompson Answered.
To the Editor OF the Evening Journal.
DEAR SIR: Robert E. Thompson. late
professor OF political economy at the
University of Pennsy lvauia, in his lecture
last Friday before the New-Century Climb
Of this city, and reported In your paper
OF Saturday last, made a number Of
statements that will not stand the test
OF aualy sis bis lecture, in brief. can be
summed up as follows
Rent Is value impressed on land by
labor Rent tends to steadily diminish
with improvements aud inventions which
give larger productive unit with a
given amount Of labor.
The lecturer here cited the law OF rent
as euunciated by Ricardo in language as
clear as crystal, making it almost i'm
possible TO understand why he should
again plunge into a mental quagmire
and tnere TO persistently FOUNDER until
his orb calaris Oris was closed for good
There was, he also stated, au earned as
well as an unearned increment in rent
That In stocks and many other ihinps
there was an unrarned Increment lie o.
hned the obi -ot of single TAX as a means To
take rent for put blic uses Ia lieu Of all other
taxes, that single tax men argued that
AS society as a whole was the creator OF
rent, It was not only just bat wise. TO
resort to this step The lecturer denied
the efficacy or justice of such a measure
He stated that ia the beginning of So
ciety 10 might have been right. but not
uow. In his opinion, it WAS absolutely
impossible TO dlfferentiate Improvement
value FROM economic rent
Every one Of these statements desire
to challenge Ricardo was the first 10
state he law Of rent. aud so obvious is 10
that ali economists of repute have &C
eepted it ever since its formulation. Put
Ia popular way it might be- defued
thus: The bonus men are willing TO pav
for the use Of land 10 is population that
gives value TO land. and the reason is
clear Land is not like thoss things
labor extracts from 10, and moulds into
articles of consumption These things
can be increased OF diminished, but land
Is fixed quantity, and. as it is only pos
sible 90 support life through its agency.
then the more people In a given area
means an Increase price which eau be
demanded for its use Take our own
city for instance There was a time when
its area could have been purchased for
imately, 1000. 0u0 Take the most
valuable piece Of ground In Dover and
con pare h with the most valuable here .
It will be found 10 closely bear ths pro
portionate difference in population
Impress OF labor in Iced Why. took a.
the values impressed upon the land Of
uuthrie' oklauoma territory. in a siugle
night
observe the centuries soflsborimpressed
upon Athens, q city once 80 beautiful that
10 has been the admiration of the whole
world, ever since. A corner lot in the
time OF Psrirles would have demanded a
very much higher figure than now
But, observe how Professor Thomson
confutes his own argument. After saw
Ing that rent Is the Impress of labor
ou laud, he states it Is constantly
diminished With the increased ability
TO produce, effected by inventions. etc
According to this, piece Of land in
WILMINGTON that was worth but So an
acre one hundred years ago, should BE-
worth considerably less than nothing
now.
Now, as TO The earned Increment in
rent, it is fiction, pure aud simple The
editor OF the EvENING JOURNAL con-
tributes 90 the land values Of Whining
ION in the proportion on one 70 sixty
i've thousand. that being the amount Of
composition he everts For another
illustration. take the fam laud of the
same natural capacity; one man rsi es
thirty bushels OF wheat. his shifiless
ueighbor fifteen the acre LIT his
shiftless neighbor change places and the
results are reversed Where are the
earned increnents OF Babylon. OF Nine
vsh and Of ancient TroyS There never