The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-12-21

similar to that which still prevails
in great part of Europe, a system
which, up to the French Revolution,
was the prevailing method of land
ownership in all of the European
countries"
This is one of the many sur
prising statements made by DR..
Frederic c. Howe, immigration COM
missioner of the Port of New York,
in his new book entitled "The High
Cost of Living" just published by
Scribners. DR.. Howe here tells in
clear, swift sentences how food pro-
duction and distribution in America
has fallen under the control of
wheat gamblers, warehouse men,
cold storage men, packing companies,
and land spectators, with private
ownership and control of the rail
roads, terminals and banking facili-
ties as other important factors. He
says.
"There is a submarine zone about
the farmer which costs our people
hundreds of millions annually. These
agencies include the railroads, the
warehouses, the terminals, the
slaughter houses, and the banks"
But overshadowing every other
evil that is sapping the vitality of
American agriculture, according to
DR.. Howe, is our system of land
tenure. Of the many important
and fascinating chapters of his new
book, probably the most important
is that on Opening Up the Land"
He says:
"The free land of the West is all
gone. The encloure of the public
domain ended the first great era of
American history. 1t marked the
close of an era in the history of
the world. For the enclosures of
the free land ended the freedom of
choice enjoyed by the city worker,
it ended the freedom of choice of
the would-be farmer, in a sense it
ended the freedom of the western
world.
"And when the free land was gone,
all land began to have monopoly
price irrespective of it's real value.
1t acquired speculative value. No
longer was land desirable only be-
cause of it's greater fertility or near
ness to the city. All land now
had a scarcity value, value due
to the fact that all of the land was
privately owned. Then the price
of land began to rise. 1t rose with
great rapidity. A million incoming
immigrants increased the demand,
not only for land, but for food as
well. And this increasing demand
upon limited supply affected all
land values. 1t has been especial
ly operative during the past few
years. Fifty years ago land in
Iowa; Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska and
the Dakotas was held at from SO
to S. an acre. Today it is held
at from 500 to $500 an acre. The
farming land in America is held at
a higher price than it is in Eng
land.
"This speculative price of land is
one explanation of the decay of ag-
riculture and the failure Of. farming
to keep pace with our needs. The
man of average capital is unable to
buy or to make living on the
land at the price which he has to
pay for it. From 1900 to 1910
farming land increased in value 118
per cent.
"Not only is the would-be farmer
excluded from the land by prohibi-
tive prices, but hundreds of millions
of acres are held in great estates,
while over 400,000,000 acres of land
enclosed in farms is not under cul-
tivation at all. While food has al
most reached famine prices to the
poor, while millions of people are
herded in tenements and about the
great industries, while hundreds of
thousands of farmers have migrated
to Canada and nearly 40 per cent
of our 100000 farmers are tenants,
there exists in this country land
enough, if converted into moderate
sized farms, to provide comfortable
homes for at least 30,0OO,OO0 people
"How can idle landholding be end
ed? How can we limit the amount
of land man may own to that
which he actually needs and cult
Yates? How can we break up the
200, 100000 acres held in great es-
tates and throw open to use the
00,000,000 acres enclosed in farms
but not cultivated by the owners
"Of all the measures proposed for
the solution of these problems the
taxation of land values is the sim
IA 4.