e has never given farther attention to it. During all the
years of the city's rapid growth he pays no attention to his land and
takes no part in furthering the growth of the city. At last, at the
height of the real-estate boom, he sells the land, and, whereas it cost
him in the first instance a merely nominal sum, perhaps $100, he sells
it now for $100,000. This value it has, not because of itself, as is the
case with farming lands, but because of its situation in reference to
the community around it. In other words, practically the whole value of
this land has been given it by the people who have come and built this
city around it. It is their labor that has given this property its
value, and, in equity, the value should be theirs. A more detailed
statement of the arguments for the public control of land incomes cannot
be given here. What we are concerned with here is the extent to which
land is subject to a monopoly. It appears too evident to require further
discussion that, as a general rule, agricultural lands in every section
of the country are competing to a greater or less extent with lands in
every other section, and that the lands used for business purposes in
the cities compete likewise, each city with others neighboring and of
similar size, while lands in the same city similarly situated compete
with each other.

VI.

MONOPOLIES IN TRADE.

We have now examined the various forces which are destroying competition
in the production of goods in our factories, and of raw material from
our mines; in the transportation of these goods in their various
journeys between the producer and the consumer, and in the supply of the
especial needs of the dwellers in our cities.

It is an old and well-worn adage that "competition is the life of
trade"; and if this be true, we shall certainly not expect to find the
men who are earning their living by the purchase and sale of goods
endeavoring to take away the life of their business by restraining or
destroying competition. At first sight it seems as if it would be a
difficult matter in any case to destroy competition in trade. The buyer
and seller of merchandise has no exclusive control over natural wealth;
no mine or necessary channel of transportation is under his direction;
nor does he in his trade produce any thing, as does the manufacturer. He
only serves the public by acting the part of a reservoir to equalize and
facilitate the flow between the consumers and p