Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1873-04-08


Supper was administered to large number Of
communicates on last Sunday morning. Rev.
Dr.. Roszell preached very powerful sermon
| from the words: ''This do in remembrance OF
| me-" There was no service at night
Thursday night. May 1st has been fixed upon
| as the time for holding the Sunday School Exhi-
ton.
BAPTIzED.-On last Sunday, Rev. VIM. Simp-
son (colored) baptized II females and Is males
in the dam near the farm of W. W. Donaghe
deceased.
IAN int resting series Of religious meetings are
going on at old Bethel, near Greenville.
GROUND RENTs.-In a recent issue We called
the attention of our builders and capitalists to the
system of ground rents as an important and pow
erful agency in promoting the growth of our
City. 1t has been tested in many Northern Cities
with marked success. and has met the appreciation
of builders, renters purchasers and capitalists.
1t has been one of the chief causes of the rapid
| growth Of philadelphia, where this system has
been followed probably more extensively than
anywhere else. 1t enables labor and capital to
combine readily, and thus avoids any conflict
between these, usually antagonistic agents of pro-
gress and improvement
We would like to see this system begun here.
It is the only way in which the demand for good
houses at low rates can be supplied, and this
want now is the great drawback to the rapid en-
largement of our city.
We have master builders who capable
and long headed as any city can boast. Our
capitalists are also shrewd, business men, and
must see the great advantages attending such a
union of capital and labor as is brought about
by this system of ground rents.
We will briefly explain the operation Of this
system.
Say A. owns tract of land on which he de-
sires to erect number Of houses, but he has not
enough capital to build them himself He lays of
his ground into streets and lots and goes to B,
master-builder, and tells him he will advance a
certain per cent of the cost Of erecting certain
| number of houses, and that when completed he
| will convey the houses to B., reserving an annu
al ground rent on each house, equal to the inter-
est on the cost of the lot and cash advanced. B
| having some capital Of his own and credit On
| the faith Of the houses he intends to build, goes
ahead and erects the houses. They are then con-
veyed TO him and he can pay off his workmen
with soma of the houses and the others he can
|
or renting them.
| B thus becomes possessed of a number OF
houses on which he is only required to pay the
annual ground rent and so long as he does so,
| A cannot compel him to pay the principal, yet
| he has the liberty of paying it whenever he is
| able and it is to his advantage to do so. A
ground rent thus differs from o mortgage, for
the owner of the rent can never foreclose so long
as the rent is kept paid up. Hence houses thus
encountered are readily sold, for large portion
| of the price of the house is represented in the
| ground rent, the principal OF which need never
| be paid This enables mechanics and persons OF
small means to become purchasers, and thus
| opens the market to larger number of buye
than can be done in any other way, and supplies
the want which is felt, in all growing cities, OF
cheap comfortable houses for laborers and per
| sons of limited means.
| We hope to see this system soon begun in our
| City, and will venture to prophesy more rapid
increase in the number, and Improvement in the
| character of the houses erected within the next
| five years than the most sanguine could possibly
| hope for in twenty years under the present plan
of building.
| TRUE VIRGINIA BoY-A correspondent in.
forms US ''that Ebin Locher, the enterprising
and energetic Junior of the firm of Locher Bros
| g. Co., Proprietors of the ]. R. s. K. Cement
| Works, Balcony Falls, has made great improve
ments in the working of the Cement Mines
| Where they, for years had been leaving a large
mass of fine cement in the heading" he now
takes it eli out by tirnbering up the earth, thus
adding 40 per cent to the product of the mine
and greatly facilitating the work. He has alsc
opened an ore bank on Col. Paxton's land neal
Cement mine, and is getting out fine ore." HI
is the right kind of metal to build up old Va,
and has done well to stick to her, instead Of wan
dering over the West leaving her untold resour
ces undeveloped With his brother, H. o. Loeb
er, he commenced without capital, and by ener
CIV. skill and devotion to business, they have
built up, and now carry On, the largest cemen
business in the South. 1t affords US pleasure t.
mention such enterprise and hold it up ex
ample to the young men of Virginia.
ADJOURNED. The Circuit Court adjourned