68

THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION

exempted,  the  land  alone  would  yield  the  same  amount,
(161,135,900  at  I18.70  equals  $1,143,672).
Some  Pertinent  Illustrations
There  are  on  this  street,  between  Adams  Square
and  Eliot  Street,  179  buildings,  twenty-one  of  which
have  been  erected  in  the  last  twenty  years.  At  this
rate  Washington  Street  is  confronted  with  the  happy
prospect  of  buildings  of  modern  beauty  and  convenience ­
  in  only  a  trifle  more  than  one  hundred  and
seventy  years,  provided  only  that  none  of  them
grows  old  meantime.  Has  not  fifty  years  been  the
limit  of  a  useful  life  for  the  average  building  of  the
past?  If  so,  Washington  Street  should  have  three
full  crops  of  new  buildings,  instead  of  one,  in  the
one  hundred  and  seventy  years.
All  nature  renews  itself  and  comes  out  in  a  new
dress  once  a  year.  The  more  the  land  is  enriched,
the  more  fertile  the  agricultural  crop.  Why  is  there
not  found  the  richest  economic  crop  of  buildings  on
land  richest  in  value?  Is  not  something  “rotten  in
Denmark”?  If  so,  what  is  it?
The  human  body,  as  man’s  habitation,  is  renewed
once  in  seven  years,  cuticle  and  all.  Of  Boston’s  87,300
buildings  1,657  were  erected  in  1907.  If  one-half,  or
828,  of  these  are  due  to  a  natural  growth  of  less  than
1  per  cent  annually  (the  annual  increase  in  population
is  over  2  per  cent),  and  only  one-half  are  to  renew  old
buildings  already  enumerated,  then  it  v/ill  take  at  this
rate  upwards  of  one  hundred  years  to  scrape  off  the
surface  scurf,  and  give  to  Boston  a  fresh  and  healthy
cuticle.  It  will  require  these  one  hundred  years  even
if  every  new  building  is  proof  against  decay.