New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1900-03-31

for December
The investment of idle capita
would result in two things of marked
5 benefit to insurance companies: |
E would take it out of the banks
where it lies in wait to spring int,
the arena and compete as soon as i
spies favorable balance sheet
/ and, second, it would enormously
increase insurable values. Wher
capital is employed it erects build
ings and works up natural resources
into merchandise of every descrip
ton; and it is because of the exis.
tence of buildings and stocks thai
fire insurance is a business. 1t thus
becomes clear that the conditions
under which capital lies idle are
the conditions behind which hides
the cause of the greed and avarice
OF insurance managers, which we
are SO fond of deploring; for what
ever operates to bring new compel
itors into the business, and, at the
same time, restrict the creation of
insurable values, must create Il
struggle for self-preservation that
will bring out the undesirable traits
in men.
If, therefore, we find what it is
that keeps capital from profitable
employment, we will have found
the explanation of the unrest that
at present pervades the insurance
world. Now, what factors enter
into the employment Of capital?
Capital cannot erect factories and
create stocks of goods by itself.
Two factors must aid it, namely:
land and labor. Land is the first
essential. We must have land upon
which to build, and all our mate
rials, both for building and manu-
facture, must be obtained from land.
1t is the natural element, indispen-
sable to all work Every material
thing which we possess or enjoy is
obtained from land by the applica-
tion of labor to natural sources of
raw material; that's clear. The
second essential is labor. There
is certainly no scarcity of that fac
tor. Is there, then, a scarcity of
land? The idleness of both capi-
tai and labor would certainly indi-
cate that there is. But the cause
of this scarcity should, l think, be
investigated, for upon the fact of
its being artificial or real rests the
question as to whether or no we
may hope for relief. If natural re-
sources are being utilized to the
limit, then there is no hope; then
many companies must eventually
,be wforcea ont Of business; field
mon, Office men, and agents must
learn new trade, and insurance
journals seek new constituency.
If, on the other hand, this scarcity
is artificial, then reason must find
the institution which is the cause
of it, the institution which locks up
natural resources, and through such
action, by preventing the produc-
tion of buildings and stocks, takes
the foundation prop from our bus
mess.
That it is land speculation-the
holding of land out of use by those
who hope to exact higher price
for it-that masses and wastes cap
ital, from which follows the injury
to our business above noted, we
may clearly see.
When the country was new, and
the great west unsettled, this was
not SO apparent, for then capital
could always get at the soil and find
profitable investment by pushing
out beyond the portions that had
been preempted. Now, however,
the country is settled; all the re-
sources Of any account are in private
hands, and capital must bargain
with the owners of these natural
resources Or remain idle. We do
not see this constant dependence of
capital upon land, because it is a
fundamental truth, blurred over by
academic statistics and the befud-
1ling treatisss of professors of
1t is the price we pay
FOR hiring our thinking done for
Us. An investigation of the SUBJ
ject shows that less than one-twen-
5ieth of the natural resources of the
United States are now in use; the
remaining nineteen-twentieths are
held speculatively. This is a start
ing awakening from the tacitly
accepted belief that our country is
;hickly settled. But we have only
% look about us to verify our con-
victions. In every city, in every
own, acre after acre Of choice
land, both Tor business
ind residence purposes, is held
vacant by nonusers in the hope Of
securing profits from storeseekers
,r homeseekers. Should we wonder
hat we have SO few new dwellings
% insurei Is it not clear that this
scarcity Of land is artificiali 1t is
because land is SO high that many,
wen in our own business, cannot
lfford to build. A question Of eth
cs enters here, too, for it is clear
hat the increased value of building
OTIS is created by the growth Of the
community, and not by the owners
md nonusers of them. The money
hat they receive for these lots is
lot earned by them, yet it will pur-
hase food and clothing and shelter
hat some ones capital and labor
re producing.
IN Editor Finds q Sure Care for
RheHUNfisM.
A. X. De Fluent, editor of the Journal,
Ohio, suffered for number Of
ears from rheumatism in his right shoulder
nd side. He says: my right arm at