The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 3, 1921, Page 5

B - huge, speculative profits, pos- . - the people who must use the b Land SpeCulato’rs‘ ‘and Their Victims - The Cause of High Prices and Reduced Markets for Farm Products Explained— - _ Fifth Article by Noted Economist and Financial Writer ~-BY JOHN LORD _ John Lord is fhe pen name of a student of financial, political and economic questions who until recently was * financial editor of a large eastern daily paper. HAT is the cause or what are the causes of the high cost of living? political economists have given us many answers to this question, the . most often used answer being “prof- iteering.” Undoubtedly there has been profiteering, but who are the profiteers? Prior to October, 1920, they told us in the cities that the farmers were the big-profiteers. Rosy pictures of farm life were presented. The farmer was pictured with his light plant, his auto, his player piano and other. luxuries. The farmer was getting rich on eggs, butter, cheese, grain and meats. Some of us who had lived on farms and were familiar with country life knew better, but many city people believed these fairy tales. After October, 1920, however, — when the farmer was deflated, when the price of his wheat was cut in two while bread still came in the same stingy loaf at the same old price, and when the price of the steer fell one-half while the price of the juicy steak-still remained juicy, these tales of the profiteering farmers were no longer - - told. Then the newspapers laid the cause of high prices on labor. We heard of the silk shirts purchased by the working men and other similar stories. But labor had its inning after the farmers were deflat- ed. Beginning first in New England, labor has been deflated in varying degrees clear across the continent—in some cases back to the pre-war level. Just the other day the steel trust lowered the wages of unskilled -workmen to thirty cents an hour— $14.40 per week, out of which the workman must pay rent and buy foed. - Not much chance for prof- iteering there, and little chance of the workman who gets these low wages being able to buy much farm produce. : g : Finally the newspapers told us that it was the retailers who-were the big profiteers, but the re- tailers tell us that they have reduced the prices of their goods in some instances below the cost a year ago. g ~ Despite all the drives against the profiteer and notwithstanding all the c:planations which are made, the city dweller finds. it hard to wrap his pay check around his expenditures. There is something radically wrong with these explanations. ¥ The real profiteer, the most e o merciless profiteer today is the landlord. The Federal Re- serve board through its cur- tailment of money and credit _ R AN AN has deflated everything and everybody except interest and rent—the usurer and the land- lord. The Reserve board did not want to deflate the interest | taker (its own business). And it COULD not deflate the land- lord.” By landlord I mean, not _the owner of land who himself uses it and makes it produce, like the farmer, but the holder of land who rents it or holds it for a speculative, unearned value. " FEW IN BIG CITIES OWN ANY LAND The landlord can not be reached by = deflation, unless of course, deflation is carried to the point where nearly everybody is ruined. The land- _ lord has his feet on the ground and a fence built around his feet. = Those who own the earth’s surface and rent it to ‘ others or hold it out of use for ‘sess' a monopoly. - The earth’s surface is a fixed quantity—it" neither increases nor decreases. % The owners may and do charge i o= The big daily newspapers and’ their— THE FARM MA See editorial on page 3 of this is- sue for discussion of points-made by Mr. Lord in this important article on high prices and land speculation. earth, but who (io not own any earth, an increasing price for the privilege merely of living. = The land question is, therefore, the most impor- tant of all.. In New York City 3-per cent of the population own all the land. Ninety-seven per cent own no land. The 97 per cent must therefore pay the 3 per cent whatever price the 8 per cent may fix, in order to live at all, In Chicago 20 per cent own all the land on which the buildings of that great city stands. The remaining 80 per cent are in bondage- to the 20 per cent. § It is difficult ‘to get accurate figures on home ownership and tenancy. It is claimed by those who have made a careful survey that 65,000,000 of -our American people pay-rent. The same authorities assert that the rent bill paid in 1921 will amount to something like $6,000,- 000,000, which is the equivalent of $100 per capita for those, who are actually. paying the rent.. Re- duced to heads of families, this amounts to an av- erage of about $500 per family, per year. The same authorities tell us that rents have in- creased from 1914 to 1921 300 per cent. With farmers deflated 40 per cent toward the end of -1920, and with the campaign to deflate labor on in full force in January, 1921, Chicago landlords raised the rents in the spring of this year 25 per cent, and as I write these lines, these same landlords are planning additional increases. The processes of deflation have not touched the landlords at all. Have the farmers any interest in the ques-- tion of rent paid by the city. workers? They have, because the farmers have to pay a part of this bill. Rent enters into the cost of every item which the farmers buy. The landlord takes the first toll out of everything that is purchased. Rent in some form is attached to every pound of nails, every yard of cloth, every pair of shoes, every gallon of gasoline, in short, every article that the farmer buys. Rent not RKET /.- PAGE FIVE —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. only is added to the price of goods as one of the items of cost, but it also enters into the power to purchase on the part of those who buy and consume the products of the farm. The city landlords can not eat the products of the American farm. These farm products are con- sumed in the main by the working class. The first item of cost which the working man-and his family must pay is rent. After the rent bill is paid, the worker and his family may be- gin to buy food and clothing. All the econ- omies which the working man’s family prac- tices must begin after the landlord has taken his toll. It is true that the Tandlord has to pay - more for the upkeep of his property than in 1914. So that 300 per cent increase is not all profit, but a very large part of it is pure profit and profiteering. How may we-deflate the landlord? The Federal Reserve board has not touched him. Public opinion has not moved his stony heart. Legislatures seem unable to deal with him by law. And yet there is a certain and sure way to get at the landlord. The people possess one sovereign power which, if rightly used, will deflate the land- ‘lord and keep him deflated. This is the power of taxation. ’ LANDLORD NOW HAS BEST 'OF ALL OTHER CLASSES But how shall we use the power of taxation? When you tax business, the business man simply adds the tax to the cost of doing business. If you tax the landlord’s buildings, will he not add the tax - to the price of rent? The answer is, he will. BUT IF YOU TAKE THE TAX OFF THE BUILDINGS AND PUT THE TAX ON LAND VALUES, THEN THE LANDLORD CAN NOT ADD THE TAX TO THE RENT. Moreover, the effect of such a tax will be to REDUCE the price of rent. This is true for two reasons: (1) By taxing land values, the tax will fall on idle lots and subdivisions just as heavily as on those * lots on which buildings stand. The effect of such taxation-will be to reduce immediately the selling price of the idle lots. An idle lot produces nothing and it buys nothing. Tax the idle lot. Tax it hard enough and the owner will either erect a building on that lot or dispose of it to someone else who WILL erect a building. (2) By removing the taxes from buildings, the ~ erection of new buildings will be vastly encouraged. . .TI N l Now, this is all very simple, SYSTEM IN AC 0 __but the landlord doesn’t like it because such taxation will de- stroy his monopoly. Every real estate board in every city _ whenever the taxation of land values is mentioned. Why net? Who ever voluntarily vacated a monopoly? It took a bloody war to abolish chattel slavery. The slave lord fought. to the last ditch to retain his slaves.. The landlord will fight to the last ditch to re- tain his privilege of collecting rent for the use of the earth. ~ The people engaged in the industry of collecting rent have become a distinct class and all of the balance of so- ‘ciety, the farmer, the wage . earner and the merchant” are working for this class. The landlord is the nation’s great- est exploiter. There was a time when, the business of tak- ing interest had far and away’ the best of the class that lives from rent, but when the land fit for cultivation was all taken up, and when our great cities came into being, the landlord steadily forged ahead of the —M.u Morris. s | of the United States sees red . interest lord until now the - landlord has quite the best of - AT