The planet Mars is held to be the inheritance of those who are born upon it. Admitting the self evident and uncontrovertible justice of this view, our government ages ago assumed the ownership and property control of it in trust for the equal benefit of all. It has proceeded in accordance with this view to grant its uses for all the purposes of industry and pleasure, in such a manner as to bestow the income of its rent equally upon every living inhabitant. I can only give you some outlines of our admirable manner of accomplishing this purpose.
Our agricultural districts are divided into small farms, even in size, with graded rents in accordance with the richness of their soils, and other conditions. Sub-letting is not allowed, and a chief purpose in making these allotments is, that the family residing upon each farm will be able to perform all the labor required. This is in accordance with a principle which our government carries out in all possible ways, to bring labor and capital into partnership. The cultivator of the soil goes on with his[Pg 151] improvements, in the assurance that they are as secure to him as though his title were perpetual; for in the event of a change of tenancy, which is exceedingly rare, a fair value is returned to him for all the fixed property which is the product of his labor. It is provided that there shall be no competition in the occupancy, and as the rent is but a nominal sum, he feels no insecurity in his possession. Agricultural rents are graded annually, and are payable shortly after harvest. They may be either higher or lower than those of the preceding year, depending entirely on profits.
Landlordism, as it exists with you, is unknown amongst us. The rapacity which under your unjust system is admitted to an ownership in which no competition can possibly exist, and at the same time is permitted to avail itself of that unlimited competition which the pressure of public necessity induces, has neither foothold nor abiding place upon our planet. Under our system, you will perceive that any increase of the profits of land is met by the tenant with an increase of rent, and all those natural causes which advance the value of landed property add to the government income, and in that way are shared by all. Our government derives its sole support from rent,[Pg 152] and no other tax or exaction is known. With a percentage of the profits from the use of the land, which is never burdensome to the tenant, it has been enabled, and has found it to its interest, to carry out agricultural and municipal improvements and enterprises which individual ownership would never undertake. It has drained our marshes, and reclaimed our desert lands in the most efficient manner, without the necessity of creating, as with you, an exacting monopoly, which would claim of industry its lion’s share of profits from the work.
The government interest in our municipal progress, by virtue of its holdings, has led it to carry out in the most complete manner those sanitary enterprises which render city life safe and enjoyable. With its advantages of sole ownership of city land, it is enabled to enforce certain uniform rules of taste in house and street construction, which have made our cities as complete and harmonious as single works of art; their symmetrical combinations of lines and curves as consistently meeting each other as in a separate architectural elevation.
As I have already hinted to you, a cultivation of the beautiful in art and nature is a part of our religion, and we indulge in the gratification of esthetic inclinations as[Pg 153] one of the greatest charms of life. Our government erects no buildings except public ones, and in their construction and fittings is manifested that universal love of the grand and beautiful which everywhere prevails. Your imagination is scarcely able to conceive the magnificence of our temples of worship, and the charming perspectives of our streets and highways. Yet even our industrious attention to all this pleasing effect for the eye is held to be a matter of secondary importance, when compared with the health-giving measures and regulations which prevail.
From the ground rents alone of every municipality, free and abundant water, light and heat are supplied to every inhabitant; and from the same source of income a complete insurance is furnished against individual loss from accidents, and all our dead are disposed of without cost to relatives and friends. We place no dead bodies in the earth as you do, considering such a practice not only barbarous, but dangerous to the health of the living. On the contrary, we extinguish them in a manner which you cannot follow from a lack of the required advance in chemical science. Ever since our discovery of the elementary unit we have had the power to reduce all[Pg 154] matter into its original state, and it serves us well, that with our chemical appliances and due solemnity not a vestige of the dead is left to be preserved, except their memories.
For the purpose of exhibiting to you the marked difference of effect on labor and industry between private and government ownership of land, let us trace the institution and progress of one of your cities in comparison with one of ours. These combinations of individual enterprise are to be found upon your planet in all stages of growth, and may be most conveniently observed by you in this vicinity in their earlier periods of development. They are instituted mostly with you in a fortuitous way, a few individual interests forming the nucleus around which capital and labor are attracted, under the outlook of increased population and trade, to supply and create the various products of industry demanded. The whole land surface of your new city, including its prospective limits, is immediately appropriated at a trifling cost, by a single one or a smaller number of owners, under laws conveniently designed for their purposes. From this time forward the most extraordinary exactions from industry begin. Every stroke of the hammer and[Pg 155] revolution of the fly wheel adds to the value of these possessions, until in a short time there is no limit to the price or rent of them, but the ability of industry to stand the tax.
During the earlier stage of your city’s growth, conditions exist which disappear later. Labor is specially favored. The demand for it is as great as the supply, if not greater, and its savings enable it to get a share, by small investments, in the steady advance of land values. Your new city, supposing it to be a metropolis, is invested with all the elements of prosperity. Capital comes to it abundantly from abroad, induced by the opportunities of profitable investment, and labor is equally attracted by high pay. Population increases, together with all the enterprises of industry, and your land, conveniently divided into small lots, changes hands from one purchaser to another, each realizing a satisfactory and handsome profit. The monopolizing influences of land ownership are not generally felt, because of the large and unoccupied area of surface, and the facility to all in the acquirement of titles. Labor enjoys an era of remarkable prosperity outside as well as within the limits of your city. Your government has donated to it millions of[Pg 156] acres of fertile agricultural lands, whose surface, for the most part, requires no great outlay of capital to fit it for the uses of husbandry; and altogether, the general contentment and thrift indicate that all material interests are equally equipped and uniformly successful in the struggle of life. Labor goes cheerfully to its daily toil, and returns to its abundant board with a hope and ambition it has seldom known before. All human purposes appear in a flourishing state, except, it may incidentally be observed, that your religion at this period droops, without its usual attention and support.
You are now, we shall suppose, at the end of the second decade in the history of your city, and many changes are observable, due to the progress of your society and civilization. Your metropolis may contain now about one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. The market value of its land surface, about three miles square, has increased, from the government price at which it was purchased by the single or half dozen purchasers, from about seven thousand to three hundred and fifty millions of dollars, and the whole value of the products of industry upon it may be reasonably estimated at a like sum. With the privileges and partnership[Pg 157] which labor has enjoyed in this great increase of values, it is so far quiet and satisfied; but unfortunately the inevitable outcome is not so promising to it. The evil effects of your private ownership become more and more apparent as your city advances, and when, under the promptings of human greed and selfishness, your landlords have fairly commenced their raid upon the industries of the city. They now exact from you a tax in the form of land rent alone which consumes yearly the twentieth part of all the products of industry upon their possessions. This enormous tax is exacted without the return of any service whatever except the privilege of a dwelling place.
Your inhabitants are called upon also to provide for the necessities of government, and an additional tax is levied therefore, which takes from the profits of labor and capital an amount equal to the tenth part of all their savings. Because the privilege of becoming a land owner is equal to all, and is the hope of most of you, you have permitted the transformation of this gift of nature into a monopoly, the most arbitrary and consuming that can be conceived.
This gift of nature, however, is not the only one diverted from its equitable distribution, and permitted to[Pg 158] become the material of unrighteous exaction. The process of the water, heat, and light supply, so manifestly among the duties of your government to institute and superintend, is given, like your land, to the management and control of private individuals; thus converting these indispensable elements of life and comfort into money getters for wealth, and subtracting to an unnecessary degree from the profits of industry and the savings of labor.
We shall now suppose that your city has arrived at the termination of its fourth decade. Its population has increased two-fold, and its land value has quadrupled; but it is noticeable that your products of industry have not kept pace in their value with this enormous appreciation, and your ground rents alone now consume every ten years the whole cost of all buildings and their co............