Buildings.

Land.

Ratio.

Mashpee ......................

$ 46,530

$ 140,020

33-100

Peru ...........................

22,680

84,825

27-100

Florida ......................

30,790

119,246

25-100

Winter St., Boston...

605,200

8,272,000

7-100

 

Buildings.

Land.

Ratio.

County of Suffolk ...

$ 444,441,725

$ 673,208,750

66-100

Other 13 counties....

949,283,781

679,071,599

140-100

       

Whole state

1,393,725,486

1,352,280,349

101-100

 

Buildings.

Land.

Ratio.

Lenox .................................

$ 2,306,500

$ 1,731,375

133-100

Pittsfield .........

8,685,715

6,971,255

124-100

North Attleborough..

2,411,210

1,256,613

191-100

Gloucester........................

9,388.650

7,886,470

119-100

Haverhill ........................

12,392,960

9,772,050

126-100

Lawrence .......................

22,854,800

18,587,850

123-100

Lynn .............................

29,892,705

23,238,785

128-100

Holyoke .......................

18,194,860

15,456.380

117-100

Springfield .....................

37,188,415

36,131,445

103-100

Cambridge ...........

49,245,700

39,989,600

123-100

Lowell .............................

33,293,590

26,389.020

126-100

Newton ............................

27,590,325

22,878,475

120-100

       

Total .................................

253,445,430

210,289,318

120-100

In the following seventeen cities and towns, representative of their class, the valuation of the buildings is in the average double that of the land :

Land.

Ratio.

$ 1,204,097

193-100

1,967,307

215-100

634,610

275-100

2,206,250

248-100

899,535

204-100

2,221,270

275-100

1,397,681

203-100

2,379,681

221-100

1,085,300

239-100

4,827,075

150-100

3,474,395

158-100

5,214,520

211-100

408,720

836-100

891,323

263-100

8,922,300

163-100

760,410

163-100

1,395,618

270-100

39,890,011

205-100

   
 

Buildings.

Athol ............

$ 2,324,908

Clinton ...................................

4,246,230

Abington ..............................

1,749,697

Plymouth ..............................

6,477,025

Amherst ...............................

1,839,225

Chicopee ............................

6,115,900

Amesbury ..........................

2,841,815

Newburyport ....................

5,269,850

Adams ..............................

2,598,950

North Adams ....................

7,257,210

Attleborough .....................

5,479,385

Taunton .............................

11,024,365

Easthampton .....................

3,412,906

Rockland ..........................

2,346,350

Chelsea .............................

14,600,570

Blackstone .........................

1,244,065

Gardner .............................

3,767,096

   

Total ......

81,595,727

Another illustration [page 86]. The St. Paul's Church property on Tremont Street, Boston, standing between two large stores, furnishes another good illustration of what we have been saying and reiterating.

Less than ten years ago $1,500,000 was offered for this property for business purposes, and the offer was declined. Since then the assessed valuations of the adjacent Tremont Street estates between Winter Street and Temple Place have increased more than 75 per cent. In view of these facts it should be very conservative to estimate to-day :

The value of St. Paul's Church property at................ $2,000,000

For this value the St. Paul Society paid in 1820.......... 100,000

The people of Boston have since contributed by their aggregate and particular activities, industries and expenditures 1,900,000 An annual contribution for 87 years of much above........         20,000

But, in recent years, this increase in value has been at the annual rate of not less than...........................         75,000

Church property being exempt from taxation, the people of

Boston have to make up the amount of the exemption.

This, in the case of St. Paul's is $22,500, and for all church property in the city is $385,000, a year. If then to the above average annual contribution of the public there be added these taxes for 1907, more than .... 22,000

The total annual contribution amounts to................ 97,000

An amount equal to the 5 per cent ground rent of almost $2,000,000 worth of land, or to the taxes, at $15.90 per thousand, on $6,100,000 worth of property! . . .

The undervaluation of urban or village land [page 125], A few illustrations will show how this potential agency, ground rent, escapes observation both in small and large towns, and in small cities as well.

In the following illustrative examples, the ratio between assessed valuation and actual net value of land, as indicated by actual rentals, is calculated by deducting from the net income of the entire estate (i.e., total income less taxes) an amount equal to 10 per cent of the assessed valuation of the buildings, to cover interest, insurance, repairs, and depreciation. Twenty-five specimen estates in Lawrence, Scitu-ate, Clinton, and Whitman, Mass., show ratios, thus calculated, as follows:

Land 9

Leaving out the city of Lawrence, the ratio for the three smaller communities of Scituate, Clinton, and Whitman averages only 30 per cent.

The figures for the above twenty-five estates in detail are as follows:

In Lawrence, a cotton manufacturing city of 70,000 inhabitants, of seven estates the several assessed valuations were respectively 72, 67, 62, 48, 42, 38, and 15 per cent of the net value. The average valuation was 48 per cent of the net land value.

In Scituate, Mass., a shore town of 2600 inhabitants, of four estates the several assessed valuations were respectively 52 1/2, 50, 48, and 13 per cent of the net value. The average assessed valuation was 37 1/2 per cent of the net land value.

In Clinton, a manufacturing town of 13,000 inhabitants, of five estates the several assessed valuations were respectively 38, 37, 34 1/2, 27 1/2, and 22 1/2 per cent of the net value. The average assessed valuation was 32 per cent of the net land value.

In Whitman, a shoe manufacturing town of 6500 inhabitants, of nine estates the several assessed valuations were respectively 83, 62, 45 1/2, 43, 32, 27, 23, 19, and 14 per cent of the net value. The average assessed valuation was 21 per cent of the net land value. ...

The minor importance of agricultural rent [page 129]. The Massachusetts valuations for 1907 offer a market illustration. . . .

Thus the land valuations of the 284 small towns ($123,-986,089) and of the 70 cities and large towns ($1,228,294,260)

Assessed valuations.

Land.

Buildings.

Total.

33 cities ................................

$1,088,329,177

$ 998,896,745

$ 2,087,225,922

37 large towns .....................

139,965,083

178,810,787

318,775,870

       

70 cities and towns ...

1,228,294,260

1,177,707,532

2,406,001,792

284 small towns ...................

123,986,089

216,017,954

340,004,043

       

354 cities and towns

1,352,280,349

1,393,725,486

$2,746,005,835

are seen to be about in the ratio of one to ten. Nor must it be overlooked, that there is a larger proportion of urban property in small towns1 than of farm property in the large ones. The State census, which gives farm values by themselves, corroborates the above estimate.

1 [The Western reader may observe that the New England "small town" is a township, largely rural.- Ed.]