Jamestown alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1878-1882, 1881-04-29
VILLAGE PROPERTY MONOPOLY.

dpplcCliIc Cuc 1OllOWlIlS comments
OF the Pioneer Press, on the action
of one Of Minneapolis citizens in
refusing to sell land for the pur-
pose and so preventing the erection
of three hundred thousand dollar
building in his city. Jamestown
is daily turning away men of en-
ergy, enterprise and means by hold.
lug business property at exorbitant
prices OF refusing to sell altogether
Several first class buildings su-
perior to any here would have been
in process of erection to-day but
for this blind and rapacious policy
Of some Of our property owners.
minneapolis is not the only city
in which important enterprises
have been blocked by the dog.in.
the.manger selfshness and rapac-
ity of realestate owners, as another
city not a thousand miles away
from Minneapolis can bear feeling
witness. In every promising young
city there is usually brood of har-
pies who, when land is cheap,
pounce upon the most desirable 10.
cations, and who, thereafter, will
neither improve it themselves nor
sell it at reasonable prices for 9TH
ersto improve; but who hold it for
the future value which they have
the foresight to see will
eventually be given to it by the en-.
terprise Of others. These land mis-
ers are the worst curse and blight
which can befall ayoung city. They
usually carry this policy of obstruct.
i've inertia into everything. They
will contribute nothing to public
enterprises dependent upon volun-
tary aid: and they are usually the
fiercest opponents Of all public i'm.
provements which extort their in
voluntary aid in the shape Of taxes.
They will engage in no business en-
terprise of public utility themselves,
but hold on like grim death to the
unsightly gaps Of their vacant lots,
watching and counting, year after
year and decade after decade, as the
miser counts his swelling hoard, the
increase of value which is given to
their land by the labors, and capi.
tai and enterprise and public spirit
of the busy workers who make up
the mass of the community around
him. A number of very important
enterprises have failed from time to
time in St. Paul by reason Of the
refusal of;these land nlisers to part
with lots happening to be so sit
uated as to be necessary to the sue
cess Of the enterprise. There ought
to be some way to make this sort of
business Improbable to the cold
blooded avarice which engages in
it. The evil which is so seriously
felt IN the city is often still worse
in the country, where large bodies
of land are often he'd by absentee
speculators, who hold it often for
many years at prices which no one
can afford to pay for it. And vast
tracts Of valuable territory, which
should be the homes Of thrifty peo.
pie, are thus given up to solitude
and desolation. There is one very
etfectual remedy for this evil. And
that is law authorizing the
imposition Of double tax on all
uninproved land or lots. There
would be wisdom, economy and jus.
tice in such an allotment of real
estate taxes. A proposition for such
a constitutional amendment would
meet with popular favor; for it rests
on the broadest principles of equity
and we are sure will stand the test
Of the severest scrutiny in this re.
gard.