Denver labor bulletin., 1916-07-29
(From the Committee on Industrial
Relations.O

(F1Om Cne committee on lu0uStIld1
Relations.)
WASHINGTON, Monopoly of natural
resources held at monopoly prices in
evitably means poverty for the many"
writes Benjamin C. Marsh to the Com
mittee on Industrial Relations.
Mr.. Marsh is taxation expert. and
economist of New York, and is promot-
ing the series of conferences on real pre-
paredness thruout the country.
Frank p. Walsh at one OF those oon-
ferences in New York said: The great
fault of industrial justice and social well
fare is monopoly-monopoly OF land,
monopoly OF natural resources, monopoly
of power to control other mems lives
The great evil in the monopoly of land
is shown in the sinister increase of ten
ant farmers and landless men in the
cities, who would be farmers if they
could. The monopoly of natural re-
sources other than of land is shown in
the brutally low wages paid to those who
dig coal in the bottom of the mine for
the enrichment of those who take the
profit at the top OF the mine. 1t is
shown in the concentration OF farm land,
OF mineral lands, of oil lands and of wa
ter powers in the hands of giant corpo-
rations and in the hands OF an exploit
ing CLASS OIL speCuldlois, Duilheis anu toh-
cession grabbers."
Big Incomes of the Few.
Giving some specific figures of the
concentration of wealth in the hands of
the few and the growing monopoly in
private hands of natural resources
which naturally belong to all, Mr.. Marsh,
who was quoted above, writes to this
committee:
"In 1914 our natural income was ap-
proximately twenty billions of dollars.
This included interest on Investments
and loans, profits from business, and
wages and salaries.
'Seventy-five hundred and nine per-
sons, each of whom had a net taxable
income of $4,000 or over, received, in
1914, an aggregate income of about one
billion dollars, approximately one-twen-
tieth of the total national income.
Three hundred and fifty-seven thou
sand. five hundred and fifteen persons
subject to the federal income tax, re-
ceived that year an aggregate income OF
about four billion dollars-nearly one
fifth OF the total national income.
cone or two per cent Of the city's pop
ulation own the major part OF the value
of land in large cities.
Concentration of Land Values.
Thirteen families own about one
twentieth of the total assessed value OF
land in Greater New York. One hun
dred families own one-ninth of these
land values, and five thousand families
own about one-half of these values; al
tho the population of the city is approx
imatelv 100000, comprising about
l 100000 families.
I'm Chicago the site value of one hun
dred and five properties in the loop dis
trict amounts to nearly one-seventh OF
the land values of the city. Similar con
centration of land values exists in most
large American cities.
In 1910 nearly one fifth of the acre
age of farm lands in the country was
held in tracts of one thousand acres or
more, while over one third of the farms
were less than fifty acres.
"The official governmental bulletins
show that III per cent of the number
of farms in the country represent over
80 per cent of the value of farm lands.
The farm lands in Illinois, with only
about twenty seventh of the total
acreage in the country and one-twenty-
fifth of the farms, is worth nearly one
ninth of the total value of farm lands
in the United States.
Nearly 5 per cent Of the population
own nearly all the value of land and
nearly all the acreage.
Commissioner Davies of the Bureau OF
Corporations reported in 1914 that 1884
timber owners hold in fee over one-twen-
tieth of the land area of the United
States, from the Canadian to the Mex
lean borders-a total of l5,6OO,0OO acres.
lean borders-a total Of l5,6OO,O0 acres
while sixteen holders own nearly half
of this or AZ 100000 acres.
Hold Revenue Producer.
"The United States Steel Corporation
controls about 60 per cent of the avail
able Lake Superior ores Of the country,
and about lE per cent of the stockhold-
ers of the United States Steel Corpora
tion own 81 per cent of the stock.
"The known Standard Oil concerns
marketed in a recent year SS.T per cent
of the illuminating oil.
'This concentration of revenue pro-
ducing properties, even tho some of it
is not producing an income at present,
because being held merely for speculative
purposes, explains the enormous concen-
tration of income"
Mr. Marsh asks how this monopoly can
be broken, and answers:
Taxation will be the most effective
method of breaking up the monopoly of
farm, urban and timber lands, etc. To
break up the monopoly of mines, oils,
railroads. etc. taxation is altogether too
slow a method. The government should
take over these monopolies, paying those