292 Evolution and Social Reform : 



character. If the people as a whole are entitled to the 

 profit in the one case they are also in the other, and in both 

 cases they are equally entitled to share the loss. 



Now, as a matter of fact the price of agricultural land is 

 falling in all directions. The reports are alike from New 

 Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia, and other 

 States. The New York assessors say that such is the con- 

 dition in almost every county in this State. The same re- 

 port comes from England. In the southern part of our own 

 Kansas one attorney is said to have in his hands for fore- 

 closure eighteen hundred mortgages. "Similia similibus 

 curantur," cries Henry George in effect. "Double the 

 taxes and save them." 



Then, as to the matter of the deduction of the value 

 of the improvements. General Francis A. Walker writes 

 me that, according to Henry C. Carey, '' There is not 

 a State, Coimty, or Township in the United States whose 

 selling price would repay the amount actually laid out 

 in bringing the region to its existing state of cultivation 

 and improvement." Supposing that this is not strict- 

 ly so, any one familiar with country districts must be 

 well aware that the improvements upon the land of the 

 poor farmer are much less in value in proportion to the 

 land than those upon the land of his rich neighbor. The 

 system proposed would therefore fall with greatest weight 

 upon the })oor. What is the case in the cities ? Our ordi- 

 nary observation shows us that the result would be the 

 same. Fortunately, however, we are not left to depend 

 merely upon the rule of thumb. Land and buildings are 

 not assessed separately in Brooklyn or New York, and I 

 could, therefore, get no reliable information here from 

 official sources. From one only of the several real-estate 

 dealers to whom I have ap])lied have I obtained any figures, 

 and an analysis of these shows a considerable excess in the 

 proportionate valuation of im])rovemei'its on the land of 

 the Avealthy, as I had expected. In Massachusetts, how- 

 ever, the law requires a separate assessment of land and 

 improvements, at the actual value of each. The President 

 of the Board of Assessors of Boston has kindly made an 

 examination for me, and sends me the following results: 



In the greater part of Ward 11, which is the Back Bay 

 District, the wealthiest in the city, the proportionate value 

 of land to the total value, of improved property, is 48 1-2 



