RENT. 59 



a wage fund 1 Say lands vary in fertility from 15 bushels upwards, 

 then 1 5 bushels will be the wages of labour not merely on the free 

 lands, but also on the most productive soils, and rent will take all 

 the product in excess of 15 bushels. Second — Suppose population 

 increases so that society must take in a lower quality of land, say a 

 12 bushel tract, then wages would fall to 12 bushels while rent will 

 be inci'eased by three bushels. Here we may notice, as pointed out 

 by Ricardo, a movement of antagonism — the reduction of produc- 

 tion, labor getting out of that reduced prodiiction a reduced propor- 

 tion while rents increase. And it may be further noticed that in- 

 creased rents mean not increased wealth but diminished wealth. 



After an examination and refutation of the teaching of Bastiat in 

 his Economic Harmonies that- rent is payment for service, and after 

 showing that Carey's criticism of the Ricardian theory is founded 

 largely on a misapprehension of that theory, he then proceeds to 

 examine the proposal of George that ground rent should be appro- 

 priated by the State. Walker gives his ready concurrence to the 

 proposal of Mill that all future increase of ground rent shoidd go to 

 the State, if it were practicable, but he does not believe that the at- 

 tempt would pay ; but that the State should appropriate present ren- 

 tals he repudiates as unjust. Here Walker seems to be inconsistent in 

 his teaching. From his exposition of the Ricardian theory we see at 

 once that to allow individuals to appropriate ground rents has the 

 inevitable effect of dividing society into toilers and idlers, imposing 

 the whole toil of the world on one part of the population and allowing 

 the rest to enjoy lives of luxurious idleness ; that it establishes an 

 antagonism in society, an increase of population depressing the 

 toilers and enriching the idlers; that it condemns the majority of 

 mankind inevitably to lives of toil and poverty ; that it places an 

 everlasting barrier to the progress of a large majority of the race. 



Dr. Meredith thought rent was the measure of the differ- 

 ence in productiveness of soils, but a soil near a city produces 

 a greater rent than a soil of the same quality further off; the 

 unearned increment is independent of the owner of the lands ; 

 land differs from all other commodities in some respects, and 

 society has a right to modify its tenure ; in personalty value 

 depends on the labour put into it, but it is otherwise with land. 



