THE  SINGLE  TAX  AND  THE  FARMER  131

This  extravagant  conclusion  is  set  forth  in  the  hope
that  it  may  prove  a  magnet  that  shall  draw  present
attention  away  from  agricultural  ground  rent,  which
may  almost  be  ignored,  and  fix  it  upon  the  fifty-five
millions  of  ground  rent  in  Boston,  which  the  people  pay
yearly  for  the  use  of  its  land;  upon  the  one  hundred
and  fifty  or  two  hundred  millions  of  ground  rent  in
Greater  New  York;  upon  the  two  or  three  thousand
millions  of  ground  rent  in  the  United  States;  and  upon
the  billions  of  franchise  values  which  in  recent  years
have  sprung  up  all  around  us  like  gourds  in  the  night.
Confronted,  as  we  are  to-day,  by  such  acute  conditions, ­
  we  ask  you  to  pardon  whatever  may  seem  like
impatience  with  a  theory  that  has  dealt  so  laboriously
with  the  cuticle  instead  of  with  the  heart  of  production.
We  seek  a  proper  understanding  and  economic  treatment ­
  of  this  vast  river  of  ground  rent,  which,  like  a
great  Mississippi,  drains  every  field  of  industry,  labour
and  capital,  wages  and  interest,  in  the  whole  country
around.  Our  earnest  contention  is  that  to  such  wise
treatment  we  must  look  for  the  correction  of  most  that
is  now  wrong  in  the  distribution  of  wealth.  Out  of
this  vast  current  of  ground  rent  we  would  provide  for
all  public  need.