848 



HKNME 



UK NT 



frequently objected to on the ground of costliness, 

 \ct in the end their lasting qualities mote than 

 coui|M>nsat for this. In i-i~..n Keiinic wiu of ex- 

 tiaonlinary statute and herculean strength. See 

 Smilea's Live* ofthr A'/i'rcr* ( 1H74 ). 



CK.iiKiiK UKNNIK. civil engineer, ami eldest win 

 <if the preceding, was lx>rn in Surrey, January .'I, 

 1791, educated at Kdinhuigh l'ni\i-i-il\ , and coin 

 nienced tlie practical study of engineering, umlcr his 

 father, in London in Isll. In ISIs-he w.-is appointed 

 superintendent of the machinery of (he Mint, and at 

 the same time aided his father in the planning and 

 designing of several of his later work*. After his 

 t a her'* death in 1821 Kennie entered into partner- 

 s'tip with hi." younger brother, John (afterwards 

 .-ir .lohn Kcnnic), as engineers and machinery con- 

 structors; and dining the existence of the hrm it 

 rarried on an immense business, including tlie 

 execution of most of the works which had lie-en 

 planned hy the elder Kennie and the completion 

 of those which he had left unfinished. Their 

 operations embraced the construction of bridges, 

 harbours, docks, shipyard and dredging machinery. 

 steam -factories, both in Great Britain and on 

 the Continent, and marine engines for war- 

 ships. They built ships both of wood and 

 iron, drained large tracts of land in the midland 

 counties of England, and superintended the con- 

 struction of several continental railways. George 

 Kennie died ."nth March 1866. 



His brother, SIR JOHN KKNNIK, associated with 

 him in business till 184.*), was liorn August :). 1704, 

 entered his father's office previous to the construc- 

 tion of Southwark and \Vaterloo bridges, and was 

 knighted on the completion of London Hridge, which 

 he executed from his father's designs. He acted as 

 engineer to the Admiralty for ten years, and, in 

 conjunction with his brother, contributed to the 

 introduction of the screw-propeller into the navy. 

 He had a wide reputation for all subjects con- 

 nected with hydraulic engineering, harliour-works, 

 &c., and a list of his important engineering works 

 will lie found in his Autobiography (1875). He 

 died September 3, 1874. He was author of liritiah. 

 inn! f-'nrrii/H Hiirhiinri (1854) and a monograph on 

 Plymouth breakwater ( 1848). 



Knit, in common s]>eech, is money paid for the 

 use of land or houses. In political economy it 

 usually means money paid for the use of land ; and 

 it is in this reference that the theories and dis- 

 cussion- of economists regarding rent have arisen. 

 Economists have generally held it to be the great 

 merit of Kicardo that he elucidated the true theory 

 of rent. Anderson, Malthus, and West had indeed 

 enunciated it liefore, hut the classical statement of 

 it I fully develo|>ed in his I'miri/ilm i,f l',il,ti,;il 

 {'''ni'iHii/, I HI 7 ) came from Kicardo. According to 

 that theory the amount of rent paid represents the 

 excess of the price of the produce of the land over 

 the cost of production on that land. The cost of 



Jiroduction includes the usual wages paid to the 

 aUmrer. anil the usual interest on the capital 

 applied to the land, as well as remuneration of 

 management. In other words, after the labouter 

 has IM-CII paid the usual wages and the farmer has 

 received tlie usual return for his capital and trouble 

 from the produce of the land, tlie remainder is 

 .fnt. 



It will IK- seen therefore that the amonnt of the 

 lent depends on the price obtained for the produce. 

 Ili-ing prices for agricultural produce mean rising 

 rents. And in this, ILS in oilier departments, prices 

 depend on the relation of demand to the .supply. 

 A rapidly increasing demand, or in other words, a 

 rapidly growing population, and a supply that 

 cannot nearly keep pace with it will lead to a great 

 line in price*. Such was the condition of Kngland 

 at the end of the 1Mb century and the beginning of 



the HMli. when a rapidly growing |>optilation |, : ,d 

 to depend almost solely on the home market. At 

 such a time there was a great rise in rents. During 

 the last generation the population hot. increased 

 with a similar rapidity, yet, owing to free trade, 

 the enormous development of the means of trans- 

 port, and the ojiening up of vaM agricultural land- 

 in America anil the colonies for the supply ol the 

 home market, pi ice- have fallen and also rent-. 

 The demand has increased, but the supply has in- 

 creased vastly more, and in spite of the growing 

 population rents have fallen. The general truth 

 however remains that rent depends on prices, and 

 not prices on rent Or, to use the Kicardian 

 formula, which, however, is not a satisfac-tmy ex- 

 pression of the fact, rent is not an element in tin- 

 price of corn. 



After having lieen much overrated as a di- 



covery in political economy, the liicardian tl \ 



of rent is now in many quarters unduly depreciated. 

 It still remains generally valid under the condit ion- 

 contemplated by its expounder. Those conditions 

 are a system of land-holding by private owners 

 who do not cultivate their land, capitalist lai mei-. 

 and free lalmurere ; the relation of the three da 

 to each other being determined by competition. 

 In other words, the economists who have worked 

 out the theory have hail in view England, and 

 other countries in so far as they are similarly 

 circumstanced as England. But even in Kngland 

 there are many things which greatly modify the 

 operation of the principle the influence of custom, 

 the natural conservatism of all classes, local attach- 

 ment on the part of the fanner and labourer. \c. 

 Very important also is the fact that many of the 

 landlords have regard to social and political con- 

 siderations, as well as to reasons of fairness and 

 equity in fixing their rents. It must, moreover, be 

 remembered that a disturbance in agricultural 

 prices, such as that caused by the introduction into 

 European markets of the enormous supplies from 

 America, may have rendered the Kicardian theory 

 ludicrously inapplicable to the rents actually paid, 

 particularly under long leases. Under these cir 

 ciimstances rent was often paid not out of the 

 surplus of the farmer's profits, but out of his capital. 

 The Kicardian theory of rent therefore formulates, 

 a tendency which, even under the conditions con- 

 templated, accords with facts only in a rough and 

 general way. 



When we consider economic history and tin- 

 existing economic conditions of the world we may 

 perceive how limited in scope the Kicardian theory 

 of rent has been. In many countries custom has 

 decided, and still decides, the rent paid for land, 

 li: very many countries it has not l>een either com- 

 petition or cii-tom that has legulated rent, but the 

 owner has wrung from the cultivator all that he 

 could. The only limit to the exactions of the 

 owner has been his own pleasure or capi ice or the 

 endurance of the cultivator. In countries, how- 

 ever, where the state is the owner of the land rent 

 may more correctly be regarded as a tax. 



The rent paid for land occupied by towns and 

 that paid for mines are in some important icspects 

 different from the rent of agricultural land. The 

 rent paid for land in towns is much more directly 

 influence,] | iy thi' increase of population and the 

 growth of prosperity. Inasmuch as the owner 

 receives great advantages from such causes while 

 contributing little or nothing, economists of stand- 

 ing maintain that such land should be under 

 municipal ownership and control. The rent paid 

 for mines is materially affected by the fact that 

 mines liecome exhausted, while the agricultural 

 pro|>erties of the soil are permanent in the main. 

 AH regards rent generally, it should be repeated 

 that economic formulas are of comparatively little 



