Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1821-10-02
From the philadelphia Union.
REAL, ESTATE.

REAL ESTATE.
Correct dgment concerning the value
of real estate being necessary, not only
for the guidance OF private individuals
but also for the furtherance OF that sys-
tenn of legislation which the times require
we trust that few remarks on the pres
emit mode of estimating landed property,
will not be considered amiss, IT they
should serve only to call the attention or
the community to the subject.
The hopes which land owners entertain
of obtaining for their property the sum
they originally gave for it, as well as the
complaints we daily hear OF the deprecia.-
tion of houses and farms, and OF the sacrl-
fees made whenever sales are effected,
appear to us to be owing to mistaken no
tons The price Of land Is determined,
specially by the price of produce, and, In
common with other things, by the quaint.
ty of currency. Double the amount OF
circulating medium, and prices will ad-
vance; diminish it, and they will decline.
If produce falls, land falls also; if 1t rises,
land experiences corresponding en-
hance This being promised, if we
can ma it appear, that there is little or
no probability Of our currency being aug
menteu, and Of produce rising in value, it
will follow that those who build their
hopes OF wealth OH the rise of real estate.
build them on sandy foundation.
In the first place as regards the curren-
CIV, this will not increase IN quantity
Bubbles must burst. 1t is not their ma
ture to be permanent Sooner or later
oar banks will be regulated, and when
this Is done, large amount OF notes Will
! be drawn from circulation. Some or
! these institutions, it Is expected, VIII then
| he enabled to increase their issues, but
! the whole amount will be diminished
There NAV be some additional lmporta-
tions of specie, but expectations to China,
! for the purchase OF goods, and to Europe
in payment tor surplus imports, aud OF
bank and government dividends, Will sui
! fer but little to remain III the country,
and the aggregate amount OF currency,
oaper and money taken together, VIII
probably be less than it is at present.
lnth second place as regards the price
| of produce This, we are OF opinion, will
not rise We have lost our foreign mar
! Ret, and government either will not or
cannot create domestic one. The pub
lie must not be deceived by the late ad-
| vance in the price of -four, which has not
been caused by any extension Of the mar
ket, but partly by the failure of the crops,
and partly by speculation. Our know
ing ones guess that there will be n long
and general war in Europe, and that the
people in that quarter Of the globe will be
so busy fighting that they will not have
leisure to till the earth. So they guessed
last wear, with how much correctness is
we'll known. Their gueSSes then raised
-four about so cents a uarrel; and it is
probable they have had similar effect on
the present occasion, tor it does not seem
lilely that the deficiency in the crops is
so considerable as to cause an advance of
one third in the price O! one OF the neces-
saries of life.
Flights Of fancy, which properly belong
to the poet, may be occasionally allowed
to the philosopher or the politician; but
the latter should be careful not to let the
vagaries of his imagination influence the
practical concerns of the people at large.
These fluctuations of price can be of no
advantage to the community. If some
Gain by them others lose. We do no. de-
nv that the guesSes of the knowing ones
are very ingenious, and may prove cor
rect; bat it will not do for the whole ma
ton to be governed by calculations foun-
ded on remote contingencies. Our rea-
.onings concerning the future, should he
predicated on what we know to certain
ty of the past and o. the present.
Lest we should be accused of the fault
which we have just been condemnlng, we
| BEG leave to observe that we give no po-
sitive opinion as to the price bread stutfs
will bear before the end of the year. We
know not for how much further advance
they will be indebted to the gweSSeS OF the
| ingenious: nor whether facts will not ans
wer to their predictions. Weare neither
prophets. nor sons of prophets; conse-
auently, we are unable to detect pr"ten-
| ders to the art of diyination, till the time
shall have passed by in which what they
fortell should have been fulfilled. For
the satisfaction of plain matter of fact
men, who have no other means Of judging
Of the future but by what they know of
the past and of the present, we will state
that, though wheat is quoted in our Phil
adelphia price current at | O5 bnshel,
it is selling at Lexington at so cents. II
it should experience further advance,
! the farmers in the interior will be able to