The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-06-25

1t is trite maxim that people learn no.
thing from the experience of others. Either
this is an exaggeration or else the number of
persons in this city having an instructive ex-
perience in one direction, at all events, is
largely disproportionate to the untaught. The
lessons of the past in respect to real estate
speculation or investment are either more ex-
tensively diffused than others, or else so
broad in their distinctive features or compre-
hensive in their details as to obtain wider
acceptance from the masses This is par
ticularly true Of suburban property, in which
so many struggling men of small means have
sunk the savings of years of toiling industry
and wrecked long-cherished hopes of q COM
Portable retirement in old age. Warned by
such example there Is . more general indis-
position to invest in this description Of pro-
perry now than at any previous period. The
most alluring prospectuses are issued without
results to the proprietors Of real estate enter
prises advertisements setting forth the trans
cendent beauties Of various localities fall un-
needed on the public ear; bands play en-
ticing airs, viands are provided of the
most appetizing kind, and free passes lib
orally distributed. The lunches are eaten,
the music applauded, and cheap ex-
cursion enjoyed. Yet the lots remain
unsold. In this general Indifference to the
charms of real estate proprietorship
and ''homes in the country" property good
or bad, well located or otherwise, improved or
wild, is alike included; and those tracts which,
in convenient locations, have been purchased
and improved in good faith, with view to
legitimate profit upon subdivision, share in
the suspicion Of the public equally with waste
farm lands far removed from any railroad and
totally unfit for the uses proposed. In Short
country property of every description, good or
bad, so far as the general public are con-
cerned-that is, the mass of small capitalists
is totally unmarketable at the present time.
1t is not difficult to trace the causes which
have produced this condition of things. Long ere
the philanthropic Mr.. Scadder had propounded
the interesting query, "Air them hands clean
or air they dirty?" the business of disposing
of real estate had passed from the bounds of
practical Straightforward dealings into the
realms of Imagination and exaggeration, and
when that enterprising agent enlarged upon
the many beauties Of Eden he was less original
than initiative of style that had existed years
before he sprung into existence. The story of
Eden may be to some extent overdrawn; yet
has it not had sequel still more remarkable
But who ever now reads the agents descrip-
ton Of piece Of property with full belief in
Its ingenuousness9 Twenty years ago, per-
haps, there might have been some confidence
but the receptions that have been practised
during the last few years-not, we believe,
always consciously, but through the glamour
of this poetic treatment of q subject which,
beyond all others, belongs to severe common
sense-are so fresh in the minds of all as to
have provoked the greatest distrust of any
thing that may be said respecting country pro-
perty. Thus the story of the Frenchman who
years ago bought some lots in a neighboring
suburb ''with fine marine view," and, on
going to take possession, found them covered
with water, has been repeated in a modified
manner much more recently and too frequently.
Acres Of land without a single recommends
ton for town settlers have, in recurring periods
of speculative excitement, been sold in lots
and villa plots, in the neighborhood of New
York, that still lie as primeval forests or I'M
cultivated barrens or morass. In this way one
particular tract has, in the experience of
single individual, been sold out four
times, alternately In lots and by the
acre, and yet remains wholly unimproved.
The latest excitement in country pro-
perry brought into the auctioneer's mart
and obtained the sale of land enough in the
neighborhood of this city to meet the legti-
mate wants of a growing population such as
ours for more than a decade, most of which
remains In the same condition in which 1t was
sold, except in some cases where the stakes
which marked the boundaries of lots have
been uprooted or the surveyors lines of suppo-
sititious streets have been obliterated In this
is included much first class property which, to
men of means, is profitable investment to-day,
great deal Of which was purchased however,
on small margins, to the subsequent distress
of the buyers; some that was almost worthless,
and most of which was purchased at inflated
prices. The present stagnation is natural
reaction from this excessive speculation, and
may be expected to continue while the
memories of the losses which resulted vet
hold place in mems minds. How long this
will be it is impossible to tell, but present
appearances are not hopeful Of an early revival
of confidence to any former extent Of folly.
Another important. influence operating to
limit dealings In real estate of all kinds but
more particularly outside Of New York, is the
scarcity of money. This may seem strange to
some who are accustomed to read the state
ment that has been so long repeated in
the financial articles Of the various news
napers. that money il In free eunnlv