Hutchinson gazette., 1900-08-09
SERVICE FOR SERVICE.
The Lack Of Equitable Exchange of SER
vices Ia What DlGerentiaiss tho
Rich ana tho Poor.

nont singlc-tnNer, under the cnption
"Servlce for Service" ably and yet
simply portrays the manner In which
non-occupying lNndlordlsm, or spec
ulntive ownership Of land by non-oc-
cupyng land monopollsts, eXtorts
service without rendereing any service
In return, | quote;
"rhe most universal method, hove
ever, az II liz the fundamental one,
OF getting service without giving SER
vice, through the enforcement of le-
gal obligations 10 serve, Is that OF
lind monopoly, This method operates
TO effect the result IN two ways;
First, by eXtorting private compensa-
tion for the enjoyment of q common
rights secondly, by abnormally les
senlng opportunities to use land, aud
thereby abnormally reducing the price
of service
"All incomes from lnnd-not from
Its use, but from the mere power of
forbidding It's use-nre uneNrned,
That II, they consist Of services rem
dered by Others for which no service
Is rendered in return. For no man
can render his fellow man service
by allowing him 10 use land, any
more than he can render him service
by allowing him TO breathe, There
is no service IN either case unless IL
has been preceded by commensurate
injury, Fan enemy grabs my throat
and chokcs me, he may indeed do me
service by allowing me 20 breathe,
But IL he had In the first place recog-
ni2cd my right to breathe, there would
have been no need for his permission,
II would be wrenching language TO
call such permission Il service. The
same remark Is true Of the service
of allowing men TO use land, to which
all mems rights are equal IL there is
such u thing as morality in the uni
verse, II In only by diyesting men Of
their natural right TO land that they
mission to use land Is service, The
principle OF service for service de.
mands that service by work shall be
repaid with service by work, Nothing
else satisfies H. Consequently rent
eXnctons for private benefit as com.
pensation Cor permission TO use land,
are hostile to this principle. They
enable the benehciaries to that extent
to get service without giving any,
and therefore compel others to the
same extent to give service without
getting any.
"'rhe system of land monopoly
which thus enables land monopolists
TO get service without giving service,
produces the secondary effect noted
above. 1t Is infinitely more subtle
and vastly more oppressive than the
first, Through occasional phcnom-
enal rises Of some land in rent-yield-
ing qualities, whereby families have
become very rich--ncquiring thereby
great power to exact service without
rendering 0ny-n craze for buying
land and holding Il for q rise has be.
come chronic, in consequence of
which the whole earth, though but
slightly used, is almost completely
monopoll2ed. One result Of this is
to set the seryce-rendering elements
of society into deadly competition
with one another for opportunities to
hsc the earth in rendering service.
For use of the earth Is necessary in |
all occupations, A city storekeeper,
for example, requires more land for
his business than n country farmer
does for his--mensuring the land by
value, The inevitable effect of that
competition has been TO reduce the
value OF service, as compared with
the value Of opportunities TO render
service, until those who render it
must invariably give more service than
they receive. So the principle of SER
vice for service in society is turned
topsy-turvS'
After q puiusal of the foregoing,
one is, more than ever, possessed with |.
" NNHll' w 'NlVN llt IEuluNlullS VI
the indcfcnsible private monopolicsH
denounced in the Kansas City plat.
form.
In the course of the same article,
Mr., Post says
Service cannot he saved Even.
when congenIed in conSumnhlc things,
it can he saved for only little while.
Society as a whole lives almost liter
ally from hand to mouth. The work
TINT Is done to-day serves the wants of
to-day. We cannot save ii for future
generations. But we can and do save
obligations TO work. And this is
what is really meant by saving wealth.
"Nor is such saving necessarily in
compatible with The principle of serv.
ice Tor service. If n farmer, for eX-
ample, works day for his neighbor
in corn planting time with I'm under
that the neighbor is to help
him in harvest, he will in effect have
saved days service from corn plant
ing time till harvest time. Or if a
farmer delivers 100 bushels of grain
to the storekeeper upon an agreement
that he shall have its equivalent in
dry goods upon demand, and he does
not demand them for year, he will