competitor, steam.)

Let us be especially careful not to confound this seventh law of
competition with a certain doctrine which is now receiving more and more
credence, which is, in brief, that the private ownership of the gifts of
Nature used in production should be abolished. The grounds in opposition
to this doctrine we will discuss in a later chapter. The law we have
stated says nothing of the right or wrong of the private ownership of
the gifts of Nature. What it does say is, that when any of these are
limited in amount, those who control them are given an advantage over
other would-be competitors, which constitutes a monopoly.

In considering the natural agents enumerated above, we can easily see
the truth of the law. Agricultural lands, the most important of natural
agents, are in this country so abundant that their rental is entirely
fixed by competition. In England, where they are so much more limited in
area, rent is fixed by custom. As regards land for purposes of
manufacture or commerce, we have already pointed out the cases in which
monopolies are prominent, as also for transportation routes. As regards
mineral wealth, deposits of iron are so numerous and widespread that no
monopoly has ever yet succeeded in controlling competition in the
manufacture of pig-iron to any great extent. But the rarer metals, like
copper, tin, nickel, and others, are largely controlled by monopolies.

Now, while this seventh law says nothing as to the right or wrong, the
expediency or inexpediency of the private ownership of natural wealth,
it does follow from it that this private ownership generally constitutes
a monopoly, as we have defined it. For of no class of natural agents is
it true that their richness and availability are absolutely equal. Those
competitors who have the richest and best natural resources to work with
have an advantage over their competitors which is essentially a
monopoly. Thus the owners of fertile lands near a large city have an
advantage over the owners of less fertile lands far removed from
markets, which is of a monopolistic nature. If any one doubts this, let
him say how this case is logically different from that of the ownership
of a mine of native copper so near to New York City that the cost of
laying it down in the market there will be half what it is from any
existing mine; or, for a second case, take the New York Central railway,
which has the control of such a valuable pathway between the