(2) The handicap of ill-health must be, so far as possible, removed by state support of mothers-so that children need not inherit a weakened constitution from overtired mothers, or suffer from want of care in infancy; by free medical aid to all; by strict legislation for sanitary housing, pure food, etc; by the provision of public parks and playgrounds.

(3) The possibility of exorbitant profits from industry (profits out of proportion to the actual contribution of the individual in skillful work, mental or manual) must be abolished, by one of the plans discussed in chapter XXVII.

(4) There must be abolition or sharp limitation of unearned incomes i.e., incomes for which a return to society in service has not been made by the getter.  This is the step that is clearest of all theoretically, but the worst sticking point in practice.  If we could persuade men that they should not reap where they have not sown, the gravest inequities of our present order would disappear.  The sources of unearned incomes are, first, the “unearned increment” in land values; secondly, the “unearned increment” in the value of natural resources; thirdly, all interest on investment; fourthly, all wealth inherited or obtained by legacy or gift.

(a) Land in the heart of New York or London sells at fifteen million dollars or so an acre.  The land value of Manhattan Island alone, the central part of New York City, is in the neighborhood of $3,500,000,000, and rapidly increasing.  A few generations ago it was all bought from the Indians for $24.  It is estimated that the “unearned increment” of land values in Berlin during fifty years has been between $500,000,000 and $750,000,000.  What is true so strikingly in the case of these great cities is true, in lesser degree, of all cities and towns and villages that have grown in population.  The total increase in land values in America since the days of the pioneers equals, of course, the present value of its land, since it was acquired by our forefathers without payment, or with only a nominal fee to the Indians.  Almost all of this enormous increase in wealth has gone into the pockets of the fortunate individuals who got possession; very little into the public treasury.  Our cities have remained terribly poor, always in debt, obliged to pass by many needed improvements and to impose heavy taxes on their citizens.  Yet all this wealth (not counting improvements made by the possessor upon his land) has been socially created.  Others have moved into the neighborhood, factories have been built near by, roads and railways and sewers and water systems and lighting-systems and police protection, and a hundred other things, have made the individual’s land more and more salable.  If our fathers had been wise enough to divert a large percentage of this increase in value into the public coffers, no one would have been wronged, but many private fortunes would today be smaller, and the entire population could have been free from taxation from the beginning, with plenty of money for all needed public works, including many that we can now only dream about.