The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-07-18
- 6be BRITISH CRISIS -
XIII-THE BURDENSoME LAND LAWS.
BY FREDERIC j. HASKIE.

best land OF England Is thus entliled
and those who own 1t have for gen.
erations imposed themselves upon
the people as the governing class"
To interfere with OF 10 abrognte the
right thus 20 transmit landed prop
erty undivided from generation TO
generation yet unborn. is construed
as an attack upon the institution OF
private property. Just such an at
tack was made, however. in the Brit
ish colony Of Virginia and ii was
eminently successful. Even il 1t did
destroy TO certain extent the
rights OF private property. 1t pre-
vented In the United States the for
nation OF a Land Trust such as now
feeds upon the heart OF England.
II in England land was divided on
the death OF the owner among his
children 1t is probable that within
fifty years the two thousand owners
of half the land OF England would be
increased TO fifty thousand. and in a
century the land would be so divided
as TO make impossible that coher-
enee requisite TO monopoly. In some
parts OF the United States one begins
to hear murmurings against the prac-
tice of buying and holding large es-
tates by absentee landlords. but be-
cause OF the American land laws
these large estates cannot be en-
tailed, and therefore soon Will break
up Of their own weight.
In England land rarely Is sold. II
Is let TO tenants by the year; IT Is
leased, for long or short terms; its
use Is disposed Of In many ways. but
there is seldom an outright sale. Sus-
tanning the natural prejudice against
parting with land, the law makes the
transfer OF ownership so difficult and
expensive as to discourage any gen
cral trading in land, Parliament time
and time again has refused TO require
the registry Of deeds. so that the
title to land always is difficult to
trace. Where sales are made, the
tracing Of the title and the expense
of transfer averages 10 per cent OF
the value Of the land, and In many
instances two or three times that
amount.
Not only is the peasant farmer
forced to pay tribute to this ALIEN.
bracing Trust, but the industries al
SO are compelled to contribute large
ly to Its Golfers. For example. take
the Rhondda Valley. coal mining
region OF South Wales Sixty years
ago the valley had only a Thousand
people; now It's population is $4,000.
The same landlords. with perhaps
a minor exception or two. who owned
the land then. own It now. Then
they received practically nothing from
rents: now they receive s150.o00 a
year from ground rents and more
than 81 100000 a year from royalties.
on the basis Of twelve cents a ton
for the coal taken out The operators
of the coal mines pay all OF the taxes.
which amount TO 100000 year
When coal was discovered there, the
landlords refused absolutely TO sell
and thus they have been reaping, for
many years past. an annual harvest
of nearly a million and a quarter dol
lars year. without paying a cent OF
taxes, without taking any risks. with
out exercising any business In
genuity or any talent Of direction
They simply own the land and col
lect the money
mining company which makes profit
vi fio'VoV yVeI' pays SoV'VoV d year
rent and royalty 10 the landlords and
S17.500 year in taxes II ever there
was a Trust in the United States
which absorbed that much OF any par
ticular melon. none Of the muck
rakers has as yet discovered It
The first real movement in hostility
to the Land Trust was the Lloyd.
George Budget. which imposed cer-
tain taxes which would make the
ownership of Idle land so burdensome
as to compel it's sale OF return to
agricultural uses. But even that
would not affect to any considerable
degree the farm lands now under
cultivation.