HOW TO DO IT.

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that here, and in fact in all the agricultural districts, thevalue of the buildings is usually much less than the valueof the land with which they are connected. As weleave the sparsely settled agricultural districts, and risethrough the more densely populated portions of the State,from the villages to the towns, from the towns to thecities, and from the cities to the great metropolis of thecontinent, we shall find that the value of land, of buildings,and the aggregate of taxable valuation will increase as theamount and accumulation of personal property increases,until land and buildings attain their greatest market andtax value in Wall Street , Broadway , and Fifth Avenue ,where the accumulation of personal property is the great-est. Starting at the bottom of our scale, with the valueof land greatly in excess of the value of the buildingsconnected with the land, it is to be observed that thisdifference gradually diminishes as we progress upwardthrough the more densely populated districts, until inthe cities the value of the building often greatly exceedsthe value of the land on which it is situated.

Under the proposed system, the agricultural districtswould, as now, pay the smallest proportion of theaggregate taxes, and the towns and cities the largest; yetthere would be no injustice, but, on the contrary, oneuniform, equitable rule of valuation and assessment . 1

1 “ Land has no real value of its own ; it cost nothing to produce ; butsince the laws have endowed it with the vital principle of wealth by subject-ing it to individual ownership, it can no longer be obtained without giving