A LITTLE LAND 

 AND A LIVING 



and cities, nearly all of which is now held idle 

 for speculation, is the land out of which they 

 should get their living. Nine-tenths of Greater 

 New York is not in use. 



The normal and healthy growth of our com- 

 munities is strangled by a system which hugely 

 rewards men, at the expense of the workers and 

 improvers, for keeping the available land va- 

 cant. Those lands about every centre of popu- 

 lation in every civilized country are grossly un- 

 dervalued for taxation, often at only five per 

 cent, of what they would sell for. 



Bay Shore, Long Island, for instance, but by 

 no means the worst one, is choked by the Law- 

 rence Estate of some seven hundred and fifty 

 acres on the west; the bulk of which is worth 

 $600 per acre, but assessed at $135,000, includ- 

 ing improvements; by the South Side Club's 

 some eight hundred acres on the east, which could 

 not be bought at $500 per acre, but is assessed 

 at only $15,000. And the village is cut in two 

 by the Dominy lands of some eight acres, worth 

 upwards of $10,000 per acre, and assessed at 

 about $18,000 for the plot. Meanwhile, the 



