LEST novelty should receive a check from the cessation of inventions, it
is intended to construct a new railroad, to be called the
Electro-Intellecto-Mesmeric Railroad, the object of which will be to
expedite the March of Intellect.
One of the peculiar features of this railroad will be the use of brass
instead of iron for the trains; and, as the projectors possess an
inexhaustible stock of the former article, there will be no difficulty
in procuring it.
Another peculiar feature of this railroad will be, that the shareholders
may act as sleepers.
One of the peculiar advantages of the Electro-Intellecto-Mesmeric
Railroad consists in there being no occasion for steam, the power of
raising the wind by the most active and continued puffing being
considered sufficient to carry all matters to the terminus of
popularity.
There are already two or three engines in the possession of the
projectors, one of which is the Humbug Locomotive, of very considerable
power.
It is intended to celebrate the opening of the line by a grand march of
intellect; Lord Brougham and the projector of the Aerial Ship have both
promised to attend. The latter will refute the assertion as to the
Aerial Ship having been thrown up; for, instead of being thrown up, it
has never been elevated in the smallest degree, nor is such an event at
all likely to happen.
AN ESSAY ON RENT.
BY A POLITICAL ECONOMIST.
Rent is the price of land; but there is some rent that is not the price
of land: for instance, it must be said of the Repeal Rent, that there is
no real ground for it.
An English acre will sometimes yield six per cent.; but the Irish
wiseacres have been known to yield much more. It must, however, be
remembered that in the latter case draining has been carried to the
greatest extent possible.
Rents in England go up when the country is settled; but in Ireland it is
quite the reverse: for the Repeal Rent rises when the people are worked
up, and it is then they appear willing to come down with it.
The profit of a landlord and the profit of a shopkeeper partake equally
of the character of rent. The former lives by tilling his land, and the
latter by putting into a till (which is the same thing as tilling) his
money.
It is an obvious truth in political economy that the more rent a tenant
has to pay, the more a landlord will have to receive, and the better it
will be for him. Thus, if a tenant pays no rent for a whole year, more
rent will be due, and the value of the property would seem to be
increased; at all events, the landlord's claim would be a larger one
than if the rent had been regularly paid every quarter.
If a farmer pays five pounds a quarter for his farm, and gets twenty
shillings a quarter for his corn, he may consider the difference between
the maximum of one and the minimum of the other as the mean product.
The landlord and the tenant equally profit by consumption: for the more
that is consumed, the greater the value of what is left. Thus, if a fire
consumes a haystack, or consumption of a galloping nature carries off a
horse, the owner would, according to political economists, be all the
richer for it.
Capital and labour belong legitimately to the subject of rent. The
greatest labour is sometimes employed in raising capital; as in the case
of the labour bestowed on raising the capital for the statue of the
Nelson column. Labour is often intimately connected with rent, for in
some neighbourhoods there is a vast deal of labour in collecting it.
Quarter-day is the day when rent comes due. But, when due, it does not
always come; and a landlord who expects his rent punctually at the
quarter is too sanguine by half.
[Illustration:
QUARTER DAY
]
PROSPECTUS OF
THE AERIAL BUILDING COMPANY.
A few gentlemen having taken the air for the purposes of building, have
formed themselves into a Company, and are anxious to let in a limited
number of the public. A surveyor, employed to survey the air, has
reported that he sees nothing to obstruct the views of the Company. It
is one of the peculiar advantages of this Association that there need be
no outlay for land; and the great hope of success in this speculation
arises from the fact that there is no ground for it. The Company will
apply to Parliament for an Air-Enclosure Bill, on the same principle as
the proposed measure for shutting up Hampstead Heath; but, in the
meantime, the treasurer will receive deposits on shares, and take
premiums for air allotments. The intention of the Company is to form an
Aerial City; and an architect has drawn plans, including sites for the
various contemplated buildings, the whole of which buildings may be seen
(on paper) at the Society's office, so that the sites may be at once
secured and paid for.
The Company, not desiring to express any opinion as to the various
contrivances for navigating the air proposed within the last few years,
will leave it to the public to decide which principle it will be best to
adopt, the Company declining to have anything to do with any principle
whatever.
The Company, it must be understood, will convey the air under hand and
seal; but the purchaser will have to convey the building. It is a
desirable point in this speculation that there will be no tax for paving
or lighting, there being no charge made by the Trustees of the Milky
Way, nor is there any star-rate payable.
It is suggested that much may be done by parties willing to speculate in
the air, when they are once comfortably settled there. Though it is true
that the experiment of procuring sunbeams from cucumbers was never
successfully carried out, the Aerial Building Company would hint the
possibility of reversing this project, by getting cucumbers from
sunbeams.
Further particulars may be had at the office in Air Street, where any
questions may be asked; but, to save trouble, no answers will be given
to any but _bonâ fide_ shareholders.—There are vacancies for a few
clerks, who, on taking shares to the amount of £500, will receive 30s. a
week for their services while the Company lasts, in addition to the
usual dividend.