for such an opportune question! Its answer leads
directly to a discussion of the question of taxation.

"A land monopoly, is more to be feared, more harmful to the poor and
more disastrous to the interests of the general public, than any other
kind. The worst form of land monopoly, may be found in full force, along
the outskirts of large cities. These monopolies are made possible, by
the unjust application of a faulty system of taxation.

"As a preliminary step, a hungry host of individual capitalists and land
syndicates, proceed to purchase large tracts of adjacent lands at farm
prices. These lands are then sub-divided into villa sites, and into a
variety of sizes of town lots. Prices are placed on these lots, which
would about equal the value of the ground, when in course of time, at
the edge of the city, they should be covered by dwellings or business
houses. This accomplished, the holders like cormorants, sit and wait for
the growth of the city and the efforts and capital of other people, to
so increase the value of their holdings, that they can realize their
prices and take their profits. These periods of waiting, may cover a
long time, often, from one to twenty years. Meanwhile, these monopolized
lands are kept out of use, because on account of high price, they cannot
be used for agricultural purposes.

"Why can these land monopolists afford to wait so long? Because an
inequitable system of taxation, discriminates in their favor; offering
aid and encouragement for them to do so. Without this aid, it would be
impossible to keep these lands out of use.

"How can this happen? In the first place, these sub-divided lands, as a
whole in large tracts, are assessed at the rural rates applied to unused
and unoccupied lands. These assessed values, may be so low, as to be
less than one per cent of the asking price of the lots. As time passes,
they are liable to be slowly increased. Under such a discriminating
system of assessment, the taxes that may be collected, are merely
nominal. This unequal system of taxation, is applied, in a proportionate
degree, to all unoccupied lands inside the city limits, which are held
out of use by the land speculators.

"How does this state of affairs affect city rents, and at the same time,
assist in preventing the poorer classes from enjoying the advantage of
country homes? First, it establishes a broad zone of monopolized land
around the city. This zone continues to increase in width w