266 THE HIGH COST OF LIVING 



lar co-operative elements. Among the measures 

 that must be incorporated into a programme for 

 the reclamation of agriculture are the following: 



One — the taxation of land values as a means of 

 ending speculation and the cheapening of land. 

 Other reforms are dependent upon easy access to 

 the land and the ending of all ownership but own- 

 ership sanctioned by cultivation. No man has a 

 right to more land than he will use and use profit- 

 ably. No man has a right to withhold the resources 

 of the earth from others. Land is the common en- 

 dowment of humanity. It is the gift of nature to 

 all people. The only title sanctioned b}' justice is 

 the title of use, and taxation is an easy method and 

 a just method for opening up the resources of the 

 earth to labor. 



Two — credit must be socialized. Next to the land 

 it is the most essential of all elements to the en- 

 couragement of agriculture. There is no reason why 

 the farmer should pay 10 per cent, interest on his 

 loans for the mere privilege of transportation to 

 the market. Certainly it is one of the absurdities 

 of our system that money can be had by hundreds 

 of millions for speculation on the stock exchange, 

 for speculation in wheat and corn and meat, in eggs 

 and in poultry, at from 3 to 5 per cent., while the 

 farmer, with the best security in the world, has to 

 pay from 10 to 12 per cent, for his commercial loans. 



Credit should be an agency for production. Bank- 



