The herald., 1897-04-11
ECONOMIC RENT

. !
Nowadays we hear a great deal about
economic rent. That 1t is the basic
cause of falling prices of falling wages.
of plutocracy on the one hand and Of
deeper and deeper poverty on the other;
philosophers, professors and intelligent
political leaders of every party are
united on the fundamental truth of this
one proposition. 1t behooves US, there
! fore, as citizens of a common republic
to fully understand the meaning, scope
and application of this term, economic
rent.
Now though description of our Cali
fornia boom of ten years ago might we'll
serve as an illustration of this principle.
| 1t will nevertheless be more modest, as
| well as convenient, to refrain from local
| color, and so back to the time of Adam,
the first landholder. Let us fancy Adam,
| then, forced by train of circumstances
over which he had no control, emigrat-
! ing from the Garden of Eden and settling
in the most fertile spot that he there
after CHANGED to pitch his camp upon.
/ Here he stakes out and encloses not
! only enough land to supply himself and
Eve with sufficient products of the soil,
but. like wise father in expectancy,
he includes enough land for his sons as
well. Time passes people multiply ac-
cording to Genesis. Distant relatives of
Adam take up land at point after point.
steadily bearing away from the original
homestead of Adam and encroaching
even unto the barren foothills of the
mountains and the sandy shores of the
seattle margin of cultivation.
Adam, however, remaining at home,
finds himself at the center of cultiva-
ton, and, at the same time, the center
of a society that is not only pleasant to
live amongst. but which is able by COM
bning its forces, TO accomplish prodi-
gies of production that are absolutely
impossible at the remote margins OF
cultivation. Hence, through no virtue of
his own, without recourse to the modest
phrase of survival of the fittest," so
common to alleged seif-made busi-
ness men, but simply because
he was the first man on earth, |
Adam finds that his land is want
ed by others, and that he may now retire |
as a landlord. His great great-grand- |
children object to going out into the |
margin of cultivation; they prefer to live !
near Adam, where society is good. where !
there is home market for produce, and |
besidss, Adams land is better and more
fertile than can be obtained at remote
margins. Let US estimate the annual
value of Adams produce at $1,000. and
the annual produce of the new settlers
land on the margin OF cultivation at
$500. assuming that Adam and the new
settler are equally industrious. Hence,
we see there is difference of $500 per
year in favor of Adams land; a new
conner, therefore, prefers to pay this
$500 per annum to Adam for the use of
his land, rather than going out to the
margin of cultivation. This sum repre-
sents economic rent.
John Stuart Mill says that the rent of
land consists of its return above the
eturn to the worst land in cultivation.
Hence the poorer the margin the richer
the center; the less the laborer can pro-
luce at the margin, the more the land
ord can exact of the laborer at the CEN
ter. Neither is it necessary that there
should be but one center surrounded
by only one margin; for in fact, there
nay be many all over the face of the
.arth, and the effect of economic rent is
the same on all alike.
There comes a time, however, where
there is practically no margin left; when.
instead of being forced outward onto
the prairie, the newcomer is thrown
backward into the cities and downward
beneath the surging ocean of competing
forever and forever as we move" so,
with wonderful rapidity, the sum total
Of econimic rent advances at the center. 5
Now, shall we pause here to speak OF
of the fittest? Because some
man happened to be born ages ago near
the center of cultivation, is he or his de-
scendents any filter than the men now
born. who must dwell upon the margin
when, they can find margin? Does it,
reouire any reasoning power whatso-
ever to understand that as economic
rent advances-and advance it does and
and prices must tend ever
lower and lower; that riches Will
double among the recipients of rent and
that luxury and servants will in
crease while the faster they increase
the cheaper they will get? While wealth.
genuine wealth that grows from the ap-
plication of labor to mother earth, must
become naturally less and less with
each advancing year. DIR. FULLER.