NATIONAL TAXES 41 



be equitable to give an economic meaning to 

 this barren legal right of sovereignty. In 

 the concrete the question, as now put, 

 generally means : Ought " land - values " 

 to be subject to exceptional or differential 

 taxation ? 



This naturally leads up to the consideration 

 of the historical argument. In the strongest 

 form, this argument involves the idea that 

 in virtue of this ultimate ownership by the 

 people, certain exceptional burdens have 

 always been imposed on land, and that 

 land has been bought and sold on this 

 understanding. 



In the past, there have been notable cases 

 in which the customary rights of the people 

 of a locality have been sacrificed to the 

 rights of private ownership because the 

 private owners got the full advantage of 

 the letter of the law, and the rights of the 

 community were such as could not be 



