178 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



vision for sickness. Rents are rising and rising 

 rapidly. The increase in rents in New York during 

 the spring of 1917 was on the basis of 10 per cent, 

 all around. Now, increase in rents are primarily 

 traceable to increasing land values, and year by 

 year the land values of the city increase with popu- 

 lation and industry. They are a social product. 

 The annual increment to the value of land under- 

 lying New York City is in the neighborhood of 

 $150,000,000. The ground-rents of the average city 

 amount to from $150 to $250 a family. The total 

 ground-rent in the city of New York is approxi- 

 mately $200,000,000. Year by year the tribute ex- 

 acted by the ground-landlord increases, and year 

 by year the standard of living of the people is 

 reduced. 



Ground-rents of every kind are passed on to the 

 consumer. The great department store which pays 

 a quarter of a million dollars ground-rent for a piece 

 of land which a generation ago was used as a cow- 

 pasture, passes the rental on to the buyer just as 

 the tenement-owner passes it on to the tenant. 

 And rent approximates about one-third of the 

 average worker's income, of which from one-third 

 to one-half goes to the landowner, who grows 

 richer year by year by the increase of population 

 and the growth of society. 



Increasing land values levy tribute on the worker 

 and the consumer at every turn. They grow while 



