TWO AND A HALF PER CENT. 



349 



their rights to the use of the earth is to commit a crime inferior 

 only in wickedness to the crime of taking away their lives or per- 

 sonal liberties. 



10. The right of each man to the nse of the earth, limited only 

 by the like rights of his fellow-men, is immediately deducible 

 from the law of equal freedom. The maintenance of this right 

 necessarily forbids private property in land. The theory of the 

 co-heirship of all men to the soil is consistent with the highest 

 civilization, and, however difficult it may be to embody that the- 

 ory in fact, equity sternly commands it to be done. 



In the foregoing digest, beyond one or two connecting words, 

 the language is that of Mr. Herbert Spencer himself. Does it not 

 constitute an unanswerable argument in favor of the nationaliza- 

 tion of the land ? If the author would permit it to be reprinted, 

 what an admirable tract the ninth chapter of " Social Statics " 

 would be for the propagation of Socialistic principles ! But he 

 now seems to repudiate the offspring of his own genius ! We 

 have, however, a right to ask that, instead of a vague repudiation 

 in general terms, Mr. Herbert Spencer should tell us specifically 

 what deductions he has abandoned and why he has abandoned 

 them. We might then endeavor to answer his answers to his 

 own propositions. Yours, 



John Laidler, Bricklayer. 



-*- 



TWO AND A HALF PER CENT. 



By GEORGE ILES. 



THE fall in the rate of interest is one of the most striking facts 

 in the financial history of this generation. At times the 

 price of money has risen, and investors have hoped that the good 

 old rates were to be a permanency ; but interest has soon declined 

 again, vibrating about a point a little lower than the center of its 

 former seesaw. 



Last April, the city of New York, in purchasing certain up- 

 town parks, sold stock bearing 2% per cent per annum, maturing 

 in twenty years, and exempt from city and county taxation. The 

 stock, $7,457,000 in amount, brought on an average 100 T 3 o. High 

 as the credit of the metropolis stands with investors, still higher 

 stands the credit of the United States. Its bonds last April netted 

 a return at current market prices of but 2*07 per cent. During 

 the decade ending with January, 1889, the average rate realized 

 on a United States Government bond was 2'72 per cent ; during 

 the preceding ten years it was 4'06 per cent, very nearly one half 

 more. Comparing the nine years and nine months ending Octo- 



