SECOND  BOSTON  OBJECT  LESSON  71

land  itself.  It  is  whatever  is  paid  for  the  use  of  a
Whole  property,  land  and  buildings,  less  taxes,  insurance, ­
  and  repairs,  and  a  fair  interest  on  the  value  of
the  buildings.  When  new  buildings,  or  extensive
alterations  are  made  by  the  tenant  which  are  to  revert
to  the  landlord  at  the  end  of  say  a  twenty  years’  lease,
then  one-twentieth  ofV  his  outlay  becomes  a  part  of
the  annual  ground  rent,  because  it  forms  a  part  of  the
price  paid  for  use  of  the  land.  Ground  rent  is  simply
“a  premium  paid  for  the  advantage  of  location;  it
is  the  value  of  the  special  privilege  of  the  occupancy
of  a  particular  spot  of  land  to  all  of  which  all  men
have  an  equal  right,  but  from  which  all  but  one  are
and  must  be  excluded.”  To  tax  this  value  of  land
is  no  burden  upon  the  user,  because  he  can  get  a  better
living  by  using  this  land,  after  paying  the  rent,  than
by  using  some  other  land  that  nobody  wants,  and
that  hence  has  no  rental  value.
The  Transit  Commission  took  the  estate,  northwest
corner  of  Washington  and  Boylston  Streets  (Fig.  X),
by  eminent  domain  for  subway  purposes,and  the  expert
estimates  of  its  value  ran  as  high  as  $625,000,  or  $587
a  square  foot;  the  Commission  conveyed  the  property
back,  allowing  the  owner  as  compensation  for  the  reservation ­
  of  the  basement  and  part  of  the  ground  floor
for  transit  purposes,  $150,000,  a  sum  only  $17,000
less  than  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  whole  estate,
besides  interest  and  an  allowance  of  $10,000  toward
necessary  reconstruction  of  the  building.  While
this  is  a  very  complicated  case,  and  the  owner,  a  wellknown
  Boston  merchant,  claims  that  the  sum  received
by  him  for  damages  does  not  compensate  him  fully
for  the  diminution  in  the  value  of  the  estate,  the  facts