Supposing, however, that many farm tenants hold the grazing and other less valued lands, let us even admit that the general average rent per acre was only $2.75 for all lands hired by these tenants.
By paying then $2.75 of rent per acre, the 1,624,765 tenant families paid $607,662,110 in one year for the 220,968,040 acres of land |THE PROFITS OF LAND MONOPOLIES.| that does not belong to them. And by paying the same amount seven years—from 1891 to 1897 inclusive—they paid $4,253,634,770 worth of wealth to a number of the speculators upon land and upon the energy of the farmers who are the slaves of dividogenesure. It follows that every farming family of this group, on the average, paid about $374 for the land alone.
It seems, however, that there are many farm tenants that pay separate rents for the farm houses. And in the year 1890 these paid |HOUSE RENT ON FARMS.| the total of $140,000,000 of the house rent, says Dr. C. B. Spahr.[[127]] By paying this rent seven years they paid an additional amount of $980,000,000 worth of their crystallized energy. Including this total into the general total of house rents, let us now sum up the above losses of the productive people, which are the gains of the few monopolists and speculators for the seven years as follows in the 1st table of concentration of wealth on the next page:
| Monopolies and Combinations. | Total Net Incomes. |
|---|---|
| The natural monopolies[[128]] | $ 3,945,825,331 |
| Mortgagee monopolies[[128]] | 3,775,470,286 |
| Companies, etc. of rentable houses | 5,166,574,532 |
| Monopolies of rentable lands | 4,253,634,770 |
| Grand total | $17,141,504,919 |
Even this grand total indicates that a nation of thirty millions of individuals would be rich by it, yet it does not include many other net incomes.
Besides these certain facts, the highest rentals derived from the offices, hotels, and other rentable properties found in the central parts of the cities above and below 100,000 population are to be ascertained. And no one will doubt that the comparatively very few owners of these city-centers must have collectively drawn a greater amount of the net incomes from rent, than can be expressed by three billion dollars’ worth of wealth, derived without work by the few owners of the most valuable parts, especially of the 28 cities far above 100,000 population.
Further, we have not treated the net earnings of the companies and combinations filling up the large storehouses of the wholesale and retail business in the same great cities, which distribute the industrial products of the people, for consumption at home and abroad. And while the distribution of these products is carried on by cheap laborers, we have not represented here the few monopolists that grow into multi-millionaires behind the busy work of the distribution. The net incomes of these will be included into the incomes of the Manufacture and Mechanical Trades hereafter.
But further still, we entirely omit the indication of the net earnings of “the meat companies” in the large cities, like those of the Chicago stockyards, “the cattle companies, |THE TRUSTS’ NET INCOMES OMITTED.| uniting more than $100,000,000; combinations of the millions, invested in the elevators of the Northwest against the wheat-growers; in whiskey and beer about $100,000,000; in sugar, $75,000,000; in leather over $100,000,000 (1894). The trust of piano-makers was to have a capital of $50,000,000, and there is the Cordage Trust that gets from 40 to 50 per cent on its capital; the Cotton Seed Oil Trust and Lard Trust” and others.[[129]]
Finally, we have not treated the earnings of some other well-known monopolies, trusts and combinations, which have, as all the others, been established with no other purpose or end in view than to draw from the productive people all they can for themselves by means of speculation. For, drawing wealth by combined speculation is the easiest thing in the world for those who were enabled to make its beginning.
Omitting the above trusts and combinations, because of the uncertainty of their net earnings, we have positive means to find out the |OWNERS OF THE CENTRAL PARTS OF THE CITIES.| highest rentals of all central parts of the cities and towns spoken of before. In estimating the total income of the nation for the year 1890, Dr. Spahr found that “the total income from house and office rents, as estimated in the text” (his text) “is one-seventh of the total income of the non-agricultural population.”[[130]] And the total income of the latter population was $8,200,000,000,[[131]] one-seventh of which is equal to $1,171,428,571 3-7—apart from the agricultural land rents. This one-seventh, then, paid seven times in seven years, amounted to the same $8,200,000,000, which amount shows that the owners of the central parts of the cities and towns obtained at least $3,033,425,468 rent from their properties.