GROUND  RENT  A  SOCIAL  PRODUCT  29

rent  of  land,  are  altogether  owing  to  the  good  government  of  the
sovereign,  which,  by  protecting  the  industry  either  of  the  whole
people,  or  of  the  inhabitants  of  some  particular  place,  enables
them  to  pay  so  much  more  than  its  real  value  for  the  ground
which  they  build  their  houses  upon;  or  make  to  its  owner  so
much  more  than  compensation  for  the  loss  which  he  might
sustain  by  this  use  of  it.  Nothing  can  be  more  reasonable  than
that  a  fund  which  owes  its  existence  to  the  good  government  of
the  State,  should  be  taxed  peculiarly,  or  should  contribute
something  more  than  the  greater  part  of  other  funds,  toward
the  support  of  that  government.”—Adam  Smith,  “  Wealth  of
Nations,”  Book  V.,  Chapter  11.,  Part  2,  Art.  I.
“The  ordinary  progress  of  a  society  which  increases  in
Wealth  is  at  all  times  tending  to  augment  the  incomes  of  landlords ­
  ;  to  give  them  both  a  greater  amount  and  a  greater  proportion ­
  of  the  wealth  of  the  community,  independently  of  any
trouble  or  outlay  incurred  by  themselves.  They  grow  richer,
as  it  were  in  their  sleep,  without  working,  risking,  or
economising.”-—John  Stuart  Mill,  “Principles  of  Political
Economy,”  Book  V.,  Chapter  II.,  Sec.  5,  Par.  2.
“  Ground  rent  is  the  advantage  accruing  to  landowners  from
the  use  of  certain  uncreated  or  socially  created  powers  and
utilities  connected  with  land,  including,  besides  mere  fertility
°f  soil,  also  mineral  wealth,  water  privileges,  location,  etc.
“  Let  a  considerable  number  of  human  beings  settle  in  a
new  country:  special  value  instantly  attaches  to  particular
localities,  and  this  with  no  act  of  creation  save  the  act  of  the
People  in  coming  there.  .  .  .  Such  dearness,  springing
though  it  does  from  a  sort  of  human  agency,  is  not  the  product
°f  conscious  doing  on  the  part  of  any  one  person.  In  bringing
into  being,  A,  B,  and  C  were  instruments,  not  agents.”—
Andrews,  “Institutes  of  Economics,”  p.  168,  and  footnote.
o
“The  utility  of  a  piece  of  land  may  be  increased  by  the
natural  growth  of  the  community,  when  no  labour  is  exerted
directly  to  increase  the  usefulness  of  the  particular  tract  of