The Washington herald., 1915-05-13

| They are cutting the outlying districts into
| lots and selling them cheap TO workincmcn Ir
| few years those lots will increase immensely il
value. Now. that increase in value will Of course
have to be paid for and in the end it will be tn,
poor who will pay. That's what | mean by saw.
ing that those people planting poverty"
1t sounds little mysterious doesn't it:
Let's sec II We can trace the meaning
Suppose that you and | buy two OF those lots
In that city. paying $1,000 cash We hold them
tor increase. In ten years We have a chance to
sell them for, let say $4,000. We have had to
pay a small amount for taxes. And we have lost
OF course, the Use of $500 for ten years But
when We get our money find that we have
made large profit.
Suppose VIC had put the ST. 500 in the bank at
per cent interest: At the end OF ten years dur
ing which the money had been used by the bank,
we should lnd to our credit in the bank something
more than S2Ioo. SO, through interest we should
have accumulated about 5000. But merely by
holding land. making of it whatever, we
have gained $500. We have paid perhaps a few
hundred dollars in taxes. So our net profit would
be more than $4,000
In other words, by an investment OF land we
have made about $1,000 more than we should have
made by putting the money into bank
If we had put the money in the bank the
money would have been circulating
BY holding the money in land VIC have simply
made the value OF $500 useless for ten wears
For this proceeding generously re-
wardcd.
The political economists have a word for
money accumulated by the natural increase in land
values They call 1t increment. Some OF us,
not especially interested in scientific definitions
may be content with calling it gambling 1t is
alter all, form of gambling licensed by the state.
We all love gambling. even those of us who
consider it pernicious. We feel kind OF pride in
never playing cards for money playing the
races or betting in any form; that is. in resist
ing temptation to gamble, For, no matter what
our moral principle may be, we are fascinated by
the thought OF getting something for nothing
In some way, this love OF getting something
Tor nothing is associated with deep-seated and
faith in luck, in the possibility that the
uture will bring to good fortune.
But know that there is no such thing in
he world as getting something for nothing. We
nay get things without paying for them But if
NC don't pay for them someone else must pay.
Now. who is it that pays for the increase in
he cost OF land? Naturally the people who come
fter the purchase perhaps the people of another
who need the land to live on and to
ustan their families The price they have to |
Jay, the price they have to take from their store |
nay be serious drain. In many instances it |
rippcs them for the rest OF their lives.
But the greatest hardship is suffered by those
Who ought to live upon land and find it too costly
or them to buy They driven back to those /
enters where the multitude is obliged to gather,
o the overpopulated district of the cities to the
lums.
So, perhaps here we may get an inkIing of
that the observer in that thriving American city
lcant by saying that they were planting pow
rty" there.
For it is curious thing that po erty, though
may be planted in one spot, may grow in an.
ther spot, perhaps in great many other spots,
ar distant from the place where it was planted
Meanwhile, it may be pertinent to ask what the
auses are that create this curious condition. u
What makes land increase in value.
Is it not the needs of increasing population,
These needs create greater and greater demand
'r land. And the greater the demand for land ,
lie greater the value of land |,
In other words, the population, by growing.
attributes to its undoing. IL
Its members heavily assessed for giving
alue to property that they need for their sus-
nance.
They receive no reward for giving On the \
'ntrary, they receive punishment. IL
Let consider for a moment who thew are
e members of the growing population They /
.long to the great body of citizens, exactly as i
u do and do. n
All over the world. by marrying and settling | il
'wn and rearing children. behaving exactly as 6
ey arc taught to behave in the schools and in $
c churches and by the moral forces of the world. u
ey are busily engaged in increasing land values =
n all sides they arc encouraged. They receive =
aise, respect. They are told that their wav of II
ing is right, the best way of fulfilling the law e
God and the purpose of nature. They are The t.
nefactors OF the race the sustainers. b
BY their virtues they make it harder and II
rider tor the future generations to live; that is =
ore and more expensive, more and more difficult =
Suppose we think about it for while n
Then suppose We try to decide what to do Il