That this upward movement in the value of all three kinds of land will continue without serious interruption, seems to be as nearly certain as any economic proposition that is dependent upon the future. Although millions of acres of arable lands are still unoccupied in the United States and Canada, the far greater part of them require a comparatively large initial outlay for draining, clearing, irrigation, etc., in order to become productive. Hence there is no likelihood that they can be brought under cultivation fast enough to halt or greatly retard the advancing values which follow upon the growth of population and the increased demand for agricultural products. In all probability the greater part of them will not come into use until the prices of farm products have risen above the present level. Obviously this supposes an increase in the value of all farm land, old and new. Nor is the adoption of better methods of farming likely to check seriously the upward movement. Between 1900 and 1910 the urban population of America increased 34.8 per cent., as against a gain of only 21 per cent. in the total population. This disproportionate growth in the number of the city dwellers will if continued make certain what is in any case extremely probable, a steady and considerable advance in urban land values and rents. The circumstance that these remarkable increases in land values are a comparatively recent phenomenon has prevented them from receiving the attention that they deserve, either from the general public or from the students of economic and social problems. The total value of the land of the country has increased steadily from decade to decade, but so has the total value of capital, and even between 1900 and 1910 the increase in the share of the capitalist was exactly equal to the increase in the share of the landowner, that is, 91 per cent.[71] Those persons who complacently make such comparisons overlook the new and significant feature of the more recent advances in land value; namely, that they are due in only a slight degree to an expansion of the _area_ of land under consideration. The increases of value quoted in the foregoing paragraphs are increases _per acre_ and _per urban lot_, not increases derived from bringing new land under cultivation or new tracts within municipal limits. On the other hand, the increases in the value of capital, now as always, represent for the most part concrete additions to the existing stock of productive instruments. Except where monopoly holds sway, particular capital instruments, unlike particular pieces of land, do not increase in value. Hence the owner of a given amount of capital does not profit by the advance in the total value of capital as the owner of the average parcel of land profits by the general increase in the value of land. This means that all those consumers of products who are not landowners must pay an increasing tribute to those who are landed proprietors.