The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1914-01-08
rrIE osk sLoosA HERALD THURSDAY. JANUARY 1914

not sold by them, but leased or rented.
The renter erects, at his own expense.
such buildings as he needs, and pays
all the taxes. When his lease expires
he must pay the increased rent which
his own improvements make possible
to charge, or else move, abandoning
his own building. Some recent sales
show the almost fabulous price which
the absentee landowner receives when
he does sell London real estate In the
more favored sections.
What is Great Britain to do about
It? Democracy, which is, or at least
should be, the policeman and the part
ner of industry, is already in the Uni.
ted Kingdom doing something and
plans to do more. Let we'll enough
alone" no longer satisfies, much less
let bad alone, lest the change bring
worse"
National Ownership Makes Roadway.
Three general plans of land reform
have been seriously considered, and
each, to a degree, has been adopted.
The three plans are naturalization
of the land, the small holdings policy.
and taxation. Twenty years ago the
great Gladstone said: If the time
| comes when the British nation finds
| that the land should be nationalized
and it is wise to do it, they have a
perfect right to do So" Nationalist
ton, which means the ownership by
! all the people of all the land, is open
| ly talked Indeed, II is put into prac-
tical effect to a degree in government
| purchase and ownership in the land
| purchase acts. That striking form Of
naturalization known as the single
tax, which "prides itself on being eff.
fected without compensation and by
! the confiscaticn by the state of eco
nomic rent" has many strong advo
Gates. Rent being a value created by
the whole community, say its support
ers, should belong to the whole com
munity All economic rent, the rent
of the actual land apart from the i'm.
! provements, is unearned increment
The single takers would confiscate not
| the land TO the state. but the rent,
/ Compulsory Sale and Leasing.
Another form of land naturalization
| is considered, though not seriously.
This involves the taking over Of all
the land by the state, with compensa.
ton to the landlord. Small holdings
by compulsory purchases and small
holdings by compulsory leasing are
other plans actually pursued. Under
| these schemes the landlord is com
PEELED to sell or lease small acreages
for actual farm use. Land hire by the
state and land purchase are involved
in this general scheme. A more dras'
tic measure has just been proposed by
Mr.. Will Thorne on the house of com
mons. Under the Thorne bill it would
be Illegal for any person to hold. in ag
ricultural districts, any land, exceed
ing fifty acres in extent. in waste OF
uncultivated state, unless it shall not
be possible to cultivate suLl land at a
profit, or unless it Giall have been
devoted to some purpose of public
utility.
"A Tax to Burst Land Monopoly"
The real attack upon the evils of the
present land ownership, the one about
which the fiercest contention has Ia
ken place, is that in Lloyd-George's
budget of taxation. Many forms OF
land taxation have been proposed
considered and, occasionally, adopted
| I 90 In,
tiers into discussion everywhere. This
new land taxation, however, recently
carried into effect by the Liberal gov
eminent, is not tax to raise revenue
but, to quote the pungent phrase Of
the chancellor of the exchequer in pro
posing it, "a tax to burst the land
monopoly" This new system of taxa
ton included five per cent duty on
mining royalties, taxation of gifts oil
nature or windfalls. II included a tar
on the capital value of unworked min
erals, thus stimulating the exploitation
of mines hitherto unworked. The i'm
! portant principles of the new taxation
however, are involved in the incre
ment tax, the tax on undeveloped
| building land and on leasehold reyer
sions. Under these sections two tax
values are placed on land. the site
value and the improved value. The
tendency of the tax, as shown by its
actual workings, is to bring more
building land into the market, thus
relieving congestion in the cities and
the country.
Under the system of long lease
holds. which is peculiar to Great Bri'
tain, the owner OF the freehold OBJ
tains, on the expiration Of the lease
its falling in" to employ an English
| phrsse-"a property which has sub
stantially increased in value by reason
of the general growth Of the commun.
ity and Independently Of any expendi'
turp nf In hor Or nm ~