FUNDAMENTAL CAUSE OF WAR 339 



to produce and exchange goods, every man would get all that he should 

 fairly have and would hold it untouched even by the government. 

 There could then be no undeserved or involuntary poverty and little 

 or no individual class, race or national Jealousy, envy or hatred. Each 

 individual and each nation would benefit from all of the others and 

 their mutuality of interests would promote friendship and good-will. 

 No individual, race or nation will then have anything worth while to 

 fight for or about. Under present conditions, there are many things to 

 fight for, even aside from the rights of kings to rule or of nations to 

 expand. It is true, however, that but few wars are waged for the rights 

 of the masses. It is also true that but few wars are begun with the 

 consent of the majority of the people. 



It is reasonably safe to say that there can not be peace without 

 Justice. Until justice is established, poverty, crime, disease. Jealousy, 

 hatred and discontent will continue, and industrial, civil and foreign 

 wars will be waged without end. 



As civilization extends, commerce develops, cities grow, and land 

 values increase, there is more and more need of taxing land values and 

 of untaxing industry and commerce. Not only have municipal, state 

 and national revenue needs increased so that, practically, they can not 

 be met in any other way than by taxing land values, but human prog- 

 ress has, apparently, reached a point beyond which it cannot proceed 

 until special privileges in land and in trade are abolished. From now 

 on, times and things will be more and more out of Joint until such 

 changes are made. Even in the matters of health, hygiene and sanita- 

 tion, we can not make much further progress until we tax land values 

 and untax industry and commerce. This is the conclusion reached by 

 Surgeon- General William C. Gorgas. "Poverty," he says, "is the 

 greatest single cause of bad sanitary conditions." 



Some such conclusions as these must be reached by the United 

 States Commission on Industrial Eelations, if its reports are to be of 

 great value to us. 



Gold DEPEECiATioisr 



It is undoubtedly true that the evils of special privilege have been 

 accentuated and increased, temporarily at least, by the accident of gold 

 depreciation. Gold has been depreciating rapidly for about eighteen 

 years. Since 1896 or 1897, the gold dollar has lost about one third 

 of its exchange or purchasing value. Gold is depreciating in value 

 because its supply is increasing more rapidly than is the supply of other 

 commodities. Its supply is increasing because, under the cyaniding 

 and chlorination processes of production, first inaugurated about twenty- 

 five years ago, gold is being produced much cheaper than ever before. 

 The yearly output of gold is now four times what it was in 1890, and 

 ten times what it was in 1860. 



