ABSTRACT
The speculative builder may have his faults, but, on the whole, he has cheaply and well provided, at his own capital cost, for the housing of the people, the landlord financing the builder who leased his land. When that land came to be developed for building purposes, if the municipal authorities of the group of boroughs in the City had purchased that estate, they would have provided ample opportunity for housing the people. Capital was attracted to other and more lucrative channels. This led to widespread loss, and many owners of cottage property and builders could not go on, and in a great many cases the owners of property were ruined. Every owner of cottages, notwithstanding the increased cost of building, is a keen seller at less than the present cost of building. In the United Kingdom, however, labour was only 4 per cent, as compared with the productive power represented by both labour and machinery.
