FACTORS OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 153 



sustentation of the people, as truly as the alkali plains are going 

 to waste. This is not because of the physical or chemical condi- 

 tions, but because of bad political conditions. The land is gen- 

 erally held for purposes of speculation. The owners are making 

 money out of it, or hoping to make money out of it, not by using 

 it but by keeping it out of use ; that is, they expect it to rise in 

 price year by year. The money which they make in this way they 

 make because the rest of the people are working and increasing 

 the wealth of the community, or because the needs of the rest 

 of the community are increasing. In either case the owner cal- 

 culates that the community will soon be in greater need of his 

 land and that he can then exact a higher price for it. It is a bad 

 political condition where any one is allowed to make money not 

 by using, but by keeping out of use, a natural resource of this 

 kind, not by increasing the productive power of the commun- 

 ity, but by preventing the full use of that power. 



In most of our American states men were formerly encouraged 

 in this kind of waste, and are still encouraged in some of them, 

 by bad tax laws. The man who held his land out of use was in 

 the habit of asking that his taxes be reduced on that account, 

 and it was customary for the assessor to grant his request. Since 

 it was necessary to raise a certain amount of revenue, the taxes 

 on other property had- to be increased to make up for this loss. 

 Thus it happened that a man was rewarded for allowing a natural 

 resource to go to waste, and his neighbor was penalized for put- 

 ting a natural resource to the use for which it was given him by 

 the public. Gradually, however, the public mind is awakening 

 to this situation, and the waster of land is not receiving so many 

 favors as he once did, especially in those states where there is 

 most enlightenment on public questions. It is still true, however, 

 in every state, that the man who improves his land has to pay a 

 higher tax than the man who does not, provided their lands have 

 the same natural value. This goes under the head of taxing all 



