lOO  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  UNEMPLOYED

§  j.  Various  forms  of  “  Social  Property  "
Amenable  to  Taxation.
“It  certainly  is  true  that  any  increase  in  the  rental
value  or  selling  value  of  land  is  due,  not  to  the  exertions
and  sacrifices  of  the  owners  of  the  land,  but  to  the  exertions ­
  and  sacrifices  of  the  community.  It  is  certainly
true  that  economic  rent  tends  to  increase  with  the  growth
of  wealth  and  population,  and  that  thus  a  larger  and
larger  share  of  the  product  of  industry  tends  to  pass
into  the  hands  of  the  owners  of  land,  not  because  they
have  done  more  for  society,  but  because  society  has
greater  need  of  that  which  they  control."  *  Here  then  is
indicated  a  large  property  “  earned  ”  by  the  work  of  the
community  which  might  be  usefully  consumed  by  the
community.  But  these  land  values  by  no  means  exhaust
and  probably  do  not  form  the  largest  portion  of  that
annual  property  directly  created  by  public  effort  or  the
pressure  of  public  needs.  Part  of  the  profits  of  all
monopolies  or  protected  businesses  and  of  many  businesses
not  formally  protected  but  assisted  by  some  dependence
upon  land,  some  advantage  of  position  or  vicinity  to
markets,  is  clearly  due  to  the  same  social  causes  as  are
operative  in  the  direct  growth  of  land  values.  Profits
obtained  from  various  branches  of  local  services,  many
departments  of  the  transport  trades  and  of  retail  distribution ­
  are  often  enhanced  by  this  extraneous  support.
In  some  cases  the  profits  which  thus  arise  go  to  swell
rent,  as  is  largely  the  case  with  the  profits  of  shops  in
advantageous  positions,  in  other  cases  sufficient  competition,
direct  or  indirect,  may  survive  to  enable  the  consuming
*  Professor  Francis  Walker  (“  First  Lessons  in  Political  Economy”).