234 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



cariying through the farm-colony programme which 

 has been greatly extended in these countries. 



When the war is over it seems probable that all 

 of the warring countries in Europe, as well as Can- 

 ada and Australia, will be forced by necessity to 

 resort to the taxation of land, not only as a fiscal 

 measure but as a means of rehabilitating the state 

 and of finding homes for the returning soldiers. 



Not only will the taxation of land values end 

 speculation and break up land monopoly, it will 

 automatically determine the size of farms. In some 

 localities where truck-farming is the rule farms will 

 be small. They may be of not more than 10 or 

 20 acres. In other sections there will be farms of 

 from 40 to 50 acres that can be cultivated by a 

 single man, while in the grazing States of the West 

 the land wiU be divided into cattle-ranges much as 

 it is to-day. For men will take only such land as 

 they can profitably use. The taxes will not be ad- 

 justed to the amount of land. They will be ad- 

 justed to the value of the land. Taxes will be low 

 on land of little value. They will be high on land 

 about the city or of high fertility. The basis of the 

 tax is the value, not the amount, of land. And the 

 value of land is always determined by its location, 

 its fertility, its value to society. 



Under the proposal men would only pay for what 

 society gives them. They will pay for advantages 

 enjoyed in location, in the inherent value of the 



