XI 



THE RENT AND VALUE OF FARM LAND 



Introduction 



But first, a word concerning distribution in general. 



The present chapter constitutes the beginning of a new division 

 of our subject- -the distribution of agricultural income. We have 

 been examining, in chapters iii to x, the process by which wealth in the 

 form of agricultural goods is produced. We have seen how the labor 

 of the rural portion of our population, together with the assistance of 

 such implements and appliances as they can secure, is applied to the 

 resources of nature, for the purpose of producing certain plant and 

 animal products. We have observed further how these producers of 

 agricultural goods seek to market that part of their product which is 

 converted into cash in such manner as to secure for it as high a price 

 as possible. The ultimate aim is, of course, to make the farm enter- 

 prise yield the largest total of wealth in return for the goods and effort 

 put into it. 



But the enjoyment of wealth is a personal matter, and the indi- 

 vidual is concerned about the way in which a private income for him- 

 self is to be carved out of the total sum of wealth produced by the 

 industry in which he has participated either by personal effort or by 

 the use of property which he owns. Accordingly, we shall now, in a 

 sense, retrace our steps and examine the relations of the several factors 

 of the productive process from the point of view of the claims to income 

 which are created by reason of the assistance which they have each 

 contributed to the process. We shall inquire what claim the landlord 

 is able to enforce upon the farmer who grows crops upon his land. 

 Then we shall ask what percentage of the value of equipment the 

 one who advances capital can require each year of him who uses it. 

 Next, what of those who do the actual work ? The laborer, worthy of 

 his hirewhat wage is he able to collect ? And finally, what of the 

 surplus profit which remains to be enjoyed, or of the ultimate loss 

 which remains to be borne by the enterpriser who has been responsible 

 for directing land, labor, and capital into these particular lines of 



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