150 AMERICAN FARMS. 



classes, for he says : " Let the working farmer consider 

 how the weight of indirect taxation falls upon him, with- 

 out his having the power to shift it off upon any one 

 else ; how it adds to the price of nearly every thing he 

 has to buy, without adding to the price of what he has to 

 sell."' 



Why has the farmer " not the power to shift it off upon 

 any one else ? " Simply because competition is so great 

 in the articles he produces that he is powerless to make 

 his own prices, and every pinch drives him to seek relief 

 by increasing production — that is to say, competition." 



Notwithstanding the fact that many things indicate 

 that land is going at the present time into the possession 

 of large holders, and that the small land proprietors are 

 being exterminated, there is not the slightest probability 

 of competition in agriculture diminishing for ages to 

 come. However, let the monopoly period be near or 

 remote, competition under the single-tax regime would 

 be sufficiently severe to exterminate the value of all 

 improvements to the small holder, either through their 



' " Social Problems," p. 301. 



* When Mr. Edward Atkinson dealt with the question of the rail- 

 way and the farmer in their economic relations, he evidently thought 

 it quite possible for an industry to be so situated that it would be 

 powerless to increase the prices of its products for the purpose of 

 throwing its taxes or any thing else upon the consumer, for he says : 

 " The charge (freights) which can be put upon the wheat is fixed by 

 the price at which East-India wheat can be sold in Market Lane." 

 (" Distribution of Products," p. 259.) He admits in this that the farmer 

 cannot always make his own prices, consequently taxes may rest upon 

 him when placed there. But, since railways may be in monopoly, 

 the price of wheat at Market Lane may have nothing to do with the 

 amount of freight they may take from the farmer ; besides, they are 

 of the industries which may shove their taxes upon those who use 

 them, as Mr. Atkinson elsewhere states. 



