The Washington times., 1911-10-24
HARRIEs AND THE
UNEARNED INCREMENT.

General Harries, long the most dis
tinguished and active personality in
connection with street car manage
ment in Washington, has discovered
who earned the unearned increment.
He finds that the street cars did it,
and that they are being badly treated
because other folks got it, and still
want universal transfers!
The local street railway organ and
publicity agent for General Harries
has printed the generals Atlantic City
speech to the street car mems conven-
tion, in which he presents this highly
important economic discovery.
It will be recollected that Henry
George maintained that the unearned
increment ought to belong to the com.
munity, because 1t represented in
creased value in land which was put
there by reason of the growth of
population and the increased demand
for its facilities. Mr.. George has ac-
quired considerable following and
wide acceptance of his idea. But it
appears that he was in error.
General Harries shows just how the
street cars injected the increment into
number of typical pieces of prop
erty. He says of one case:
In 1902 total Of 4oe acres. stretched
alongside an extension. had an average
brought up in eight years of operation
from $40 per acre. In 1906 the average
assessed value was $968 per acre; In
1908 It was 31,1lS, and in 1911 it was
the city's tax revenue from that property
was of course correspondingly increas-
ed. On this same line was a famous
old,time estate of S52 acres. This was
an acre. Today the least desirable Of
1t Is bringing Is cents a square foot,
while the better portions are 40 cents
or more square foot.
Certainly that is a telling demon
stration of how the street cars have
been making us all rich. But lest we
might not be skillful enough to draw
the conclusion just right, our genial
military economist proceeds to state
it:
THE RAILWAY AND THE RAIL
WAY ONLY Is RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIS
PER ACRE AND $4,000 PER ACRE
1T Is A REASONABLE CONCLUSION
THAT WITHIN THE PAST FIVE
YEARS THIS LINE HAS ADDED
=, ,OOO, 900 TO LAND VALUES IN ITS
IMMEDIATE VICINITY.
Our friends in the real estate bust.
ness, who plat and improve and sell
the lands. the plain people who buy
them from the real estate men, and
live on them; the tens of thousands
whose addition to the city's popula-
tion in recent years-all these have
had nothing at all to do with it.
For "THE RAILWAY AND THE
RAILWAY ONLY is RESPONSIBLE"
The Government opening streets,
paving, lighting, and sewering them {;
providing police and fire protection /;
the people, building houses and living
in them and paying taxes with which
to do all this development-an these
didn't contribute to that added value,
for
"THE RAILWAY AND THE RAIL
WAY ONLY is RESPONSIBLE
The assessed valuation of this town
has increased, since the railroads were
started, by enough to make a Rookie
feller fortune. For adding all this to
us they are getting nothing more than
our nickels and an ungrateful howl
for universal transfers.!
No wonder General Harries is turn.
ing his back and shaking the 4O-cents-
per.square- foot dust of so unappreci-
ative community off his pedals.
In the light of his appeal, will not
some public spirited citizen be suf-
ficiently ashamed to come forward
and hand the general little honor
arium of, say, $loO,OOO,OOO, as a slight
testimonial that we do appreciate his
having made us all 20 rich?