The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1863-04-25
The Value of Real Estate Dependent upon
Public Prosperity.

The Value of Real Estate Dependent upon
Public Prosperity.
To an intelligent community the remark is
a trite one, that no enterprise Of great public
advantage can be established without affect
ing more or less unfavorably certain individu-
al interests. All general blessings have to be
purchased at the expense of individuals. Prev
alent sickness is public as well as private
calamity, and general good health is great
public blessing, and yet it Is during the preva-
lence of precisely such public blessing that
even the honest and well-read physician finds
his most meagre returns. Laws and courts of
justice are public necessities and promote the
general good, yet many man has suffered
from the "law's delay" and legion is the name
of the poor wretch who has found that even
handed justice was what he had most to dread.
The establishment of railways has proved
the ruin of many richly-paying stage route,
and steam packets have almost driven the old
numbering coasters from our harbors. The
sewing machine has done much to abolish the
profession of "plain sewing" and the patent
reaper has made the old-fashioned sickle an
obsolete instrument, while the moving ma
chine has done much to give an antiquated
appearance to the scythe aud sheath, and the
horse-rake, even In these days of loose moral-
ty and easy virtue, is fast diminishing the num-
Der Of rdkes with which our rural districts
have heretofore abounded. Surely, in abolish
In he e, Of .f
such common use, or In greatly reducing the
demand for them, there must have been many
. man thrown out Of employ, but who will
reason from this fact that improvements are a
curse, or, ignoring all progress, that We should
go back to the Flooding days of "slow coach
es" and sailing packets, of hand sewing and
hand raking, or that We should burn our wash
ing machines and patent wringers, and fall
back upon female knuckles and elbow grease
In former article we have shown, or at
tempted to, that TO build up city there must
be every reasonable facility afforded for the
prosecution of industrial pursuits. Produc-
ers must take the place of consumers, and
productive industry must hold the first rank in
the estimation Of the people. Loafing should
be regarded as the badge of dishonor. The
sweat Of honest toll should be held in higher
reverence than the waters in which the gods
have been wont to battle. To this end all
branches Of honest industry should be en-
couraged, and all that stands in the way of
legitimate enterprise and public spirit should
willingly retire to less conspicuous positions.
By such means only can a dense yirtuous and
prosperous community be maintained. Indus
try alone can prevent such community from
falling into vice; productive and well remu-
nerated industry alone can secure 1t against the
temptations and sufierings Of poverty; and we
have shown that nothing so well contributes to
furnish this needed, this indispensable industry,
IS the establishment of manufactures for the
production of articles Of necessity, of con-
venience, or of luxury.
We come now to another consideration. A
dense virtuous and prosperous population Is
what gives more value to the real estate of
the town than to that Of the rural village.
With no more population to the square mile,
the soil VI Portland would be of little more
value than the soil OF the neighboring towns.
With thirty hundred instead of thirty thou
sand population within our city limits, three
fourths ofall our private dwellings and larger
proportion Of our public buildings would be
worsethan uselcss--would simply cucumber
soil that could be more profitably used for
moving field or sheep pasture. With large
~ decreased population rents would decline
90 that they would scarcely pay the expense
and trouble Of collection, while as business
would lose its lucrative attributes, the tenants
would suffer decline in ability to pay cores
ponding TO their diminution 10 numbers.
These remarks If admitted are sufficient TO
show that the value in real estate, unless
coupled with some unusual advantage, like
that OF superior water power, for instance, is
almost wholly dependent upon the population
sustained upon 1t, or that may be prosperously
sustained upon It. Its value depends upon its
capacity TO yield sustenance to man and beast,
or 70 furnish convenience for the pursuits of
business and the march of enterprise. Every
man, therefore, who has a vacant lot that may
be built upon, a house to let, a lot-improyed
or otherwise-to sell, is personally interested
In promoting the growth of the city. The
great law Of demand and supply regulates in
these as In other things. II there were but
ten barrels Of -four in the market and there
were twenty purchasers in the market to buy,
the seller would not be a sirewd man il he did
not obtain better profit than he would II the
number OF purchasers were divided by four
So, too, of lots to sell or buildings to let.
Every new family added to our population de-
mands an additional house to live in, and that
additional house demands lot of its own to
stand upon. All increase of desirable popula-
tion-and all industrious population is desir-
ble-adds to the demand tor real estate, and
Of course viii increase the value of the supply,
while every house or shop in the city that be-
comes permanently vacated, lessons the de-
mand and, though imperceptibly, affects the
price for which that demand may be met
In view Of the considerations here suggest
ed how important that the holders of real
estate should place themselves in harmony
with the laws of business and trade, and so en-
courage the increased growth of population
that must depend upon such accommodations
as they have TO dispose of; and how supreme
ly foolish and short~sighted are those who,
from penurious spirit or an overgrasping av-
arice, allow themselves to stand as barriers
against the rising tide of public prosperity,
and thus contribute to the very result which
they most dread, aud which would be the sure