238 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



mands of the tax-gatherer. And when it is con- 

 sidered that a great part of these colossal holdings 

 were obtained by fraud, fraud so universally ad- 

 mitted that it is not even denied in the West, the 

 justice of such a retaking of a portion of the nation's 

 resources should not be open to question. The 

 Standard Oil Company holds great stretches of land 

 under lease which it does not develop. The coal 

 corporations and railroads have immense hold- 

 ings of coal land that they hold out of use as a 

 means of keeping up the price of that which is pro- 

 duced. If these hoardings were taxed at their 

 capital value, at the value for which they have 

 been capitalized by their owners, they would have 

 to be developed or be sold to some one who would 

 develop them. 



Lower rents would follow more houses. And 

 more houses would follow the ending of land specu- 

 lation. There would be more coal and timber pro- 

 duced if those who owned these resources had to 

 develop them to pay the taxes. And the high 

 cost of living is not a problem of food alone. It is 

 a problem of better homes, of more comforts, of a 

 higher standard of living as well. And far more 

 important than the freeing of the means of distri- 

 bution from monopoly control is the creation of such 

 conditions of economic freedom that the wealth in 

 the land will be opened up to man and the resources 

 now held out of use will be released to labor. 



