The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-09-15
THE FRUITS OF OWNERSHIP
AND PRIVATE MONOPOLY
BY SCOTT NEARING.

BY SCOTT NEARING.
This generation realizes with diff
Guilty the meaning of frontier. In
colonial days the man who was dis
gusted or discouraged stepped to the
edge Of civilization. He fed, clothed
and outfitted himself-nOt at public
expense, but at natures expense.
Today, the United States Is bounded
by the oceans and by Mexico and Can
ada. There is no frontier-no free
for ALL" America is living new life.
With the ending Of the nineteenth
century the free land in the United
States vanished. Long before that
timber, minerals, water power and
fertile agricultural land--had been
labeled mine" by relatively small
group Of powerful industrial and fl
nancial interests The ownership Of
agricultural land was still widely scat
tered. The ownership of the most i'm
pOrtant timber and mineral resources
was being rapidly concentrated.
What will be the result Of this pri-
vate ownership of natural resources?
The time has come when that question
must be faced and analysed scientif-
ically -
asking, no man could put a price upon
them and demand to be paid because
Of his land ownership. The moment
that free land disappears, land owner
ship. commands monopoly price. In
the center of trade and industry this
monopoly power is enormous. Where
it is exercised over very rich resources,
! like coal lands or timber lands, the
| monopoly power Of private ownership
is likewise very great. Consequently,
immense prices are paid for pieces of
land that a short time ago were prac-
tically valueless. Thus the hard, I'M
yielding rock soil of Manhattan, all of
which was sold by the Indians for a
! few dollars, is now valued in places
at upwards of $40,000,000 an acre.
This immense valuation is the result
of the presence Of population, of trade
and of industry. The owner of the
land need have done nothing in the
way of Improvement.
The land upon which the city of
600 in 1890, and at $672,000,000 in
1910. The interval of twenty years
resulted in doubling of these land
values. The farm land of the United
States was worth 3,00o,Oo0,0O0 in
1900 and $4,000 ,0OO,0 in 1910. Dur
| ing the same period the value of farm
land in Illinois rose from $1,5OO,OOO,-
900 to $3,0O0,000,0O0; in Iowa from
| $3.50, 100000 to $2,750,000,00o; in
Kansas from $1,000, 100000 to $780,
100000. The fact that the land is
| limited in amount, and is in great de-
| mand, is sufficient to place upon it a
! high monopoly price.
| The private ownership of natural
| resources was a scheme that was de-
vised to stimulate thrift, energy and
ambition. It was intended to give an
opportunity for life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.
When the principle of individual
ownership was first resorted to the
| United States was wilderness. Re-
sources existed for all, and in abund-
ance. Since that time free land has
disappeared. The whole economic
foundation of life has been revolution
led There is no more free land and
the frontier has disappeared.
Each change in economic conditions
gives rise to new needs and new rela-
tions. Social forms are modified be-
cause the basis for life is altered. Two
generations ago the country's adjust
ment to life included a safety valve in
the form of frontier. The frontier
meant cheap grazing land, free agri-
! cultural land, free timber and free
minerals. Today each first-class piece
of land in the United States has it's
| price.
| Sooner or later the American pub
lie must decide whether a system Of
private property in natural resources
can work advantageously after free
| land disappears. Up to the point
where land ownership carried with it
no monopoly power, many legitimate
Qualifications could be urged in its
favor. Now that, private property in
land almost inevitably carried with it
the power to lay a monopoly tax upon
; the industry of the community, the
! situation takes on a very different as
| Dect