VALUE  OF  LAND  AN  UNTAXED  VALUE  37

The  illustration  is  intended  to  show  the  effect  in  a
normal  or  advancing  community  of  mortgage  interest
and  taxes  upon  the  market  value  and  cost  to  the  user
of  a  lot  of  land  and  a  house  respectively  having  equal
purchase  and  rental  value.,  and  each  subject  to  the
same  mortgage  interest  and  taxes.
FIRST:  THE  LAND
Proposition  1.—Let  it  he  supposed  that  you  want  a
piece  of  urban  land  that  is  worth  I300  a  year  to  you  for
use.  You  can  afford  to  pay  I300  a  year  and  no  more,
a nd  it  can  be  had  at  an  annual  cost  of  $300  a  year.
Let  us  then  proceed  to  acquire  this  piece  of  land,
exercising  diligence  and  caution  to  profit  by  each  step
m  the  transaction.
(a)  At  the  very  outset  the  question  arises,  what  is
die  thing  for  which  you  are  proposing  to  pay  I300?
Surely  it  is  not  the  soil  itself,  because  it  is  a  question
°f  a  building  site,  which  could  be  had  out  in  the  country
l°r  little  or  nothing.  It  is  not  merely  the  area  upon
Which  to  dig  a  hole  in  the  ground,  wall  it  about,  and
er ect  a  building,  for  the  same  space  can  be  had  elsewhere ­
  for  a  song.  In  short,  it  is  not  the  earth’s  surface; ­
  it  is  not  the  inherent  capabilities  of  the  soil;
d  is  not  light  and  air,  or  other  bounties  of  nature
resident  in  that  lot  of  land;  it  is  not  natural
resources  of  which  you  are  thinking  as  worth  to
you  $300  a  year.
(&)  But  what  you  are  going  to  pay  for  is  the  accompanying ­
  and  incidental  use  of  a  great  many  expensive
things  outside  of  the  piece  of  land,  things  which  you
^11  need  and  must  have,  which  you  cannot  afford  to