The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-18
Lord Tired egar's
"Golden Mile" an
Example of Hold
ings That Yield
Royaltieso of $780,
100000 a Year in
Aggr egate and
Come Under Revo-
lutionary Measure
LORD DUDLEY.

- REAT BRITAIN is in a state
Of revolution-free, however.
~ from the customary concomi-
tants Of civil war. bloodshed and out
breaks of lawlessness and anarchistic
outrage. Indeed, the United Kingdoms
are in the throes Of changes Of politi-
cal, social, and above all. economic
character. more drastic than any
which have taken place since the
days of the Reformation, when Henry
VIII. confiscated all the rich posses
sions of the church and of the re-
ligious orders, and distributed them
among his mobiles, his courtiers and
his servitors.
From that time forth, the possession
of the land remained concentrated in
the hands OF a select few, that is TO
say, in the families descended from
those favored by the Bluebeard mon
arch, in his distribution OF ecclesiasti-
cal spoils; or in the hands OF those
capitalists who had been able, by
means OF their wealth, to purchase big
estates, In order to acquire thereby
political influence and social consid-
GRAFTON. Tho ownership of land was
indispensable TO a place in the social
system. and it used to be looked upon
as q sort of unwritten law that no
hereditary honors should be bestowed
by the Crown upon any one who did
not include in his fortune estates ex-
tending over thousands OF acres. In
this way the land Of the United King
A-f-
and especially to the aristocracy, titled
and untitled, which was in the main
territorial.
The only method by which a man in
moderate circumstances, or of the
farmer class, could obtain land for
building purposes, or for agriculture
was either as a leaseholder or as a
tenant. In London. with its popula-
ton OF 100000; in Liverpool, Man
chester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and all
the great cities of the United King
doms' the land is almost wholly lease
hold. That IS to say, 1t is vested in
the hands of relatively small num-
Der OF great mobiles, such as the Dukes
OF Westminster. Of Portland and Of
Bedford, the Marquis of Northampton
Lord Portman, Lord Cadogan, &C.,
who only sell their real estate on the
basis OF a ninety-nine year lease, at
the end OF which term, the land re-
Verts to them, with all the buildings
erected thereon, as we'll as the other
improvements, free of cost. and with
out any compensation whatsoever to
the leaseholder, who is confronted by
the alternative of purchasing a re-
neWal or the lease, under much more
onerous terms, owing to the improved
character Of the property. or else Of
sacrificing his entire investment.
IT is this system Of leasehold in the
Dig cities OF Great Britain which is a
source OF so much social unrest and
discomfort, and the colossal fortunes
derived therefrom by the ground land
iords are denounced, not without some
reason, as unearned increment.
The Rural Tenant.
ihen there is the question of the
rural tenant, the farmer and the
peasant In the agricultural districts.
In France. in Belgium, in Holland and
III number OF other Continental
countries tenants do not figure for
more tnan 10 per cent. in the owner
snip or land. In certain countries the
percentage Is even smaller. In Great
Britain on the other hand, tenants
represent over so per cent in the hold
Ing OF land In the rural districts.
From an economic point of view this
is all wrong. For tho land under the
small ownership system in France and
other Continental countries, where the
so~eaiied petit culture prevaiIs
ylelds on an average twice as much
KSmDs a. does the soil In the United