THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION

•4

but  it  is  of  far  greater  importance  to  understand
clearly  what  is  the  source  of  ground  rent,  and  especially
to  what  extent  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  social  product.
Inasmuch  as  all  the  contributions  representing  these
activities,  so  far  as  enumerated,  are  from  the
treasuries  of  the  people,  it  is  correct  and  proper
to  say  that  ground  rent  is  chiefly  and  peculiarly  a
social  product.
From  one  point  of  view  (that  of  demand)  it  may
be  said  that  the  value  of  all  commodities  is  a  social
product.  But  when  we  come  to  consider  the  other
side  of  the  value  problem,  we  find  that  most  other
commodities,  e.  g.,  houses,  increase  or  decrease  at  man’s
will,  according  to  the  principle  of  cost,  the  value  being
a  resultant  of  a  balancing  of  social  desire  against
social  cost.
With  land  it  is  more  generally  true  that  the
quantity  either  cannot  be  increased  at  all  or  can
be  increased  only  at  increasing  cost;  and  hence  the
practical  determinant  of  the  value  of  land  is  almost
entirely  in  the  social  and  private  activities  that  make
the  use  of  land  desirable.
VI.—The  Maintenance  of  Ground  Rent
So  far  as  the  cost  of  streets,  lights,  water,
sewerage,  fire,  police,  schools,  libraries,  museums,
parks,  play-grounds,  steam  and  electric  railways,
gas  and  electric  lights,  telegraph  and  telephone
companies,  subways,  ferries,  churches,  private
schools,  colleges,  universities,  public  buildings,  well
appointed  houses,  stores,  and  office  buildings  is
what  constitutes  the  cost  value  of  the  land,  just
so  far  the  maintenance  of  all  this  public  or