The herald., 1897-05-28
ECONOMIC RENT

weary ali tnere ID OF logic may be re-
duced to mere accuracy Of statement
Properly stated. many a case contains
nothing to argue. while many Of tn
longest-winded arguments are almos
wholly because Of improper statemen
OF the facts. A vast amount of brea t.
and ink has been exhausted about eco
nomic rent, and 1t bids fair to distrac
the world for many day to come.
Economic rent is generally defined a.
the difference between land values a
the centers Of civilization, and at tn
margins. All very we'll But this II
merely used as the framework for pic
ture in which the man at the center Il
wallowing in wealth, comfort and pleas
ure, all created by the poor wretch Al
the margin, who Is STEPPED in poverty
and the deprivation OF all that makes
life pleasure, and at the came time
being gradually crowded into the great
abyss of darkness and despair that lies
beyond the margin.
| The writer was raised in one Of these
great centere of value and luxury and
comfort. has spent over thirty years on
the margins, and has seen both in about
every shape and form. A far truer
statement of the case is the following:
As country settles come prefer the
chances of fortune with all its uncer-
tainties and life Of toll, floor-walking,
dyspepsia. Brights disease and nervous
prostration-a constant struggle with
the duplicity and meanness OF man. ac-
companied with an almost constant load
of debt. and wife and children who can
not understand your sorrows and dis
appointments, but who clamor ever for
more money in order to equal the show
OF the more fortunate, or. more likely,
of some deadbeat who puts on ctyle at
others expense.
Others prefer the certainty OF living
with sound sleep and freedom from care.
They scatter out upon the land. where
they do not have to wear white shirts
or a swallow-tailed coat to go to So
ciable. They recognize the fact that
there. is no large fortune in 1t, and prob
ably nothing more than living. with
hard work and cioee economy. But they
prefer it on account of the certainty,
freedom from care, from exactions Of
fashion and from conventional re-
straints.
For a time the farmer is called the
most independent man In the country,
and he truly is so. Making his living
from the soil, he cares nothing about
financial crises, az does his brother in
the city The farther out he goes the
more independent he is. Though the
first settlers in the backwoods have no
money worth speaking of. they need
none. And though some, like the Nor
mons. may have hard time at frs
from enccuntering new conditions. IL
there ie any work in them they soon sue
ceed and are living well. almost to a
man, when two-thirds of their brethren
who have been putting on style in the
cities are wondering what minute the
sheriff is coming.
But suddenly the independent farmer
discovers that the man in the city Is
enjoying this, that and the other thing,
and why should not he have them also?
Is he not the producer of all this and has
he not an equal right to its enjoyment?
So he sends his spare cash to the city
to get something he can go without as
we'll as ever The next step Is to send
to the city for things he used to make ct
home. Those from the city look
little better. The fancy harrow and
the green painted rake are so mucn
neater than the ones he made out os
timber cut on the farm when he first
went there.
The money thus sent to the city for
gimcracks accumulates in the hands Of
the fortunate, the Industrious, the
shrewd and the saving, and following "A
natural rule of human nature that looks
to securities, does not return to the
as fast as the farmer thinks it |
should. Finding his money heaping uo |
there. with the whole world competing |
With him in the raising of food, wh,!o |
MS attention is now centered more on
The getting of luxuries, he naturally
kinks he is being robbed by those who
nave taken all the chances of business
'enters shifting and the thousand vicis-
STUDIES of trade.
The next step is simple. Finding the
and in the center SO valuable it is sud-
lenly discovered that a mistake has
'een made in the location of the center.
instead of being New York or Chicago IL
San Diego, Seattle. Spokane or Wichi-
a. A thousand others quite as meritori-
'us in their own eyes spring up. Everyone
wants some of the valuable land and
ither spends his spare cash or runs in
lebt for 1t. Money is borrowed from
he real centers, the productive farm is
nortgaged. the farmer and his family
re discontented with the farm and he
must move to town to get rich on real
state. The security is thus impaired.
nd the lender, who is a hard-working.
saving, business man. retired in i'll
ealth with little money to live on.
ute as often as he is a rich money!
oaner, is impoverished The owner of
he farm is made poor and closes the
rama of life by turning Populist and
wing round town looking for an office of
ONE kind.
If the people who are talking economic
ent would run this picture out a little /,
arther they would find the whole COM
aunity getting crazy fits Of much the
anne kind at periods that run in waves
yer the whole country What starts ,
hem no one can tell, but 1t is easy to
ay what ends them, though no one car,
ell when the end will come. But ey-
ry one thinks he knows and gambols on
hetop of the wave. There is no theory of
rent. no single tax, no cur
ency no amount of money, no quality
brains. no fertility of soil or perfec-
lon OF climate, ozone, matchless seer
ry, or any other of the many attrac-
ons of America or the west that will ,
bviate the consequences that last for !
lany year from the day when human !
q oil onct |