United labor bulletin., 1910-08-04
LAND MONOPOLY.
(By Rev. Charles stelzle.)

Land monopoly led to the settlement
of America. 1t is the landless citizen
of the fatherland who comes to this
country as an immigrant. 1t was not so
much the form of government which
sent him forth as the inability to earn
a living. The free land of America was
louder call than its democratic form
of government. But the opportunity to
obtain free land in America has now
gone by The three million square miles
in the public domain of the United
States cost the nation $4.70 an acre. In
the disposition of this immense area
the nation has become almost land i'm
poverished. The Pacific railroads alone
acquired one-twelfth of it. In addition
TO a right of way across the continent
of 100 to 400 feet wide, with such land
as was needed for sidings, stations and
yards, a subsidy of every alternate sec
tion of one square mile on either side
the right of way was added as an aid to
construction. 1t is said that the grants
to the Northern Pacific railroad alone
were worth one thousand million dol
lars. The dealings of the Pacific rail-
ways with Congress with regard to land
transactions have been notoriously
scandalous.
Following the railways came the land
grabbers and ranchmen, who have ap-
propriated great tracts of land which
they are still holding unlawfully. One
individual became the owner of 14,539,-
900 acres of the richest land in Cali
fornia and Oregon, an area three times
as great as the state of New Jersey with
it's population of 100000. The public
lands commission appointed by President
Roosevelt reported that in the acquiring
of the large number of estates which
they investigated, almost without ex-
ception, collusion or evasion of the let
ter and spirit of the law was involved.
Land values are increased according to
the demand for land. Therefore. with
the increase of population land values
in every part of the United States are
bound to advance. 1t has been calcu-
lated that by the mere fact of his ar
rival each Immigrant increases the value
of the territory of the United States by
about $4O0 Others have said that the
figure is nearer $1,000. When the i'm
migrant lands upon the American shore
he practically makes a contribution of
a years earnings to the value of the
land But at the same time he makes
the 90,OOO,O0O people already living here
poorer by his coming, because the bur-
den of rent of all the people is increased
in consequence.
Scarcely a century ago the ancestors
of the Astor family invested a few
thousand dollars in farming land lying
about the outskirts of what wds then a
mere village. In less than so years
time the crowding of 100000 people
around Manhattan Island has given a
value to the Astor estate of S450,000,000.
And this great increase was brought
about not by what the Astor family has
done, but by what society has accom-
plished Meanwhile those who actually
created this great fortune have been
compelled to pay the price in increased
rentals.
In New York approximately $100,OoO,-
900 was raised by taxes on real estate
out of total budget in 1908 of $143,-
100000 in 1910 about $1O6,S35,O00 out
of a total budget of approximately
$163, ,OOO, 900; or about five-eights of the
total is raised by taxation upon real
estate The tenants unquestionably pay
the greater part of this tax and the
question of rent for the poor is an al
most uncomfortable burden. New York is
merely typical of every other city in
this respect
y