724 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



says, " one of the most intricate problems society will one day have to 

 solve." But though the inequity of private property in land has been 

 so generally seen, and though it has also been seen that grave practical 

 injury must result from such a wrong, no one, so far as I know, has 

 before attempted to follow out the effects of this wrong in all the 

 ramifications of industrial society. To understand in any way ade- 

 quately Mr. George's position, the arguments which support his con- 

 clusions, and the facts which he has brought to bear upon the ques- 

 tion, a study of his book is necessary ; but some idea may be gained 

 of the character of his inquiry, though none of his interesting and 

 graphic treatment, by such an outline as can be here given. 



Land and labor are the two factors from whose union springs all 

 wealth. Land is the storehouse of all materials, and the place on 

 which all labor must be exerted. Labor is the force which unceasingly 

 shapes these materials into forms suited to human use. Between 

 these two factors all the wealth created must be divided. Labor may, 

 however, be separated into two forms, past and present, or capital and 

 labor. The division of wealth, then, is between land, capital, and 

 labor. The respective shares of these factors are rent, interest, and 

 wages. 



Before proceeding it will be necessary to determine the meaning 

 Mr. George attaches to some economic terms used. In an economic 

 sense labor is all human exertion in the production of wealth. Wages 

 is the return made to this exertion. The payment received by the 

 hired laborer, the clerk, or the professional man, the game of the 

 hunter or the gold of the gold-digger, are equally wages. The kind 

 of work done, or whether the work is done for one's self or for some 

 one else, does not affect the character of the compensation. Whatever 

 is recompense for exertion is wages. As to the meaning of capital, 

 economists are not so well agreed. Mr. George defines it as "that 

 part of wealth used to obtain more wealth " — the part in the hands of 

 the producer to be devoted to productive uses. The term " wealth " 

 Mr. George confines to those things whose destruction would decrease 

 and whose increase would augment the aggregate possessions of a 

 community. Bonds, mortgages, etc., when they are between the 

 members of a community, are not, in this sense, wealth. By land is 

 to be understood all natural capabilities, which are a gift to man. It 

 includes fertile fields, ore-deposits, water-powers, the air, the sea, etc. 

 Rent is the compensation received by the owner of any of these natu- 

 ral capabilities for their use. In ordinary speech the term is used to 

 express the return for the use of some of the products of labor and 

 capital, such as houses, improvements made on land, machinery, etc., 

 but as used in economics it excludes the return made for any of these 

 things. Return for the use of such things is properly interest on capi- 

 tal ; return for the use of those things freely given by Nature to man 

 is alone rent. 



