The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-01-27

FRIDAY. JANUARY q, 1851.
From THE PACIFIC COAST.

From THE PACIFIC COAST.
The Cost Of Living-Brsss Bands And Pape
Townsville Boom in Gan Disgo-oold-
en- Showers and Muddy Streets
-Pasadsna and Old Friends.
SAN DIEGO, JAN. 8, 1888.
1 believe was speaking Of the ex
orbitant rents charged here. in thu
cioeing paragraph of my last letter
On the principal streets here ordinary
storerooms-say twenty-five by eighty
feet-readily rent for from two-hund.
red and fifty to three hundred dollar
per month. Add to this the rental Of
the upstairs Offices, for from thirty to
fifty dollars per month, and it IL easy
to see that the fortunate owners oil
such buildings are pretty we'll fixed
against a rainy day Some Of your
best residences in lola, if eituated here
relatively as convenient to business rs
there would easily command q humid
dred and fifty or two hundred dollars
per month. As to the price Of resi-
dence property, or building cites, even
at distance of o mile from the bust.
ness center, an, eligible site of fifty feet
front cannot be had for less than IF.
teen hundred dollars. 1t is readily to
be seen that in view of the high rents
and the figure which residence proper
ty has reached, that people of moder-
ate means and comfortable homes in
the east, had better think twice before
they let go all hold and come to this
or any other of the boom cities of south.
ern California. The cost of living here
that is, of provisions, fuel etc.--will
average 1 think, about ten or fifteen
per cent higher than with you. Fuel il
high and hard to get. Gasoline, Of
course, is extensively used and costs
thirty cents a gallon. Coal is at pres
emit twenty-five dollars ton-soft coal
at that-but this is famine price,
and word ia just received that several
coal laden vessels will be in port i'm a
few days. The usual price of coal is
from twelve to fifteen dollars ton.
To return for moment to real estate
figures, business lot was sold last
week for $1,000 per front foot.
This, I think, il the highest price yet
realized for vacant property. This
was purchased by Mr.. Heating, of
Heating & Smith, Kansas City. So
far as have been able to notice, the
numerous articles in the Eastern press
from Correspondents at this point or
those having been here, respecting the
boom and the state of affairs. generally
1t seems to me that they 60 to
extremes one way or the other. One
makes up his mind that it is all a
wind blown bubble and that d;sas.
trous collapse is imminent, and he
gives to the public only such facts as
seem to sustain his conclusion, sup
pressing all favorable coniiderations.
Another lie carried away with the en-
thusiasm that sees in the near futureA
great metropolis here, and he becomes
at once special pleader to bring every
condition to support his view. But
there is q middle ground that holds
the truth. AS matter Of fact there is
much of folly and madness in the boom
methods resorted to by many Of the
real estate agents, and I think it quite
probable that il any ordinary amount
of foolishness and recklessness could
make q bubble of the San Diego boom
and burst it disastrously in the end, it
would have been done, or would yet be
done. But san Diego is too evidently
lefty of destiny" to succumb to even
the fatuous methods Of professional
boomers. Nothing short Of an earth
quake or visitation Of the yellow
fever-both of which are nearly las
likely to happen in your own country
can keep it from being large Icity.
With the only perfect-and indeed the
only good-harbor south of S3n Fran
cisco in the United States, being, too,
some five or six hundred miles nearer
than San Francisco to several foreign
ports with which we have extensive
and important, commercia intercourse,
with the Santa Fe Company already
making it its terminus and securing inn
mense wharfage privileges, and with
the Southern Pacific railroad sure to
have direct line here within . year,
thus furnishing two great competing
trunk lines to meet the ocean COM
merce at this point, the conditions
could scarcely be more favorable it
would seem. And this is saying moth.
ing Of q climate that is itself, in con-
nection with the charms Of tho ocean,
capital sufficient to insure q city of no
mean importance. I cannot, within
the limits Of this letter discuss the
"back country" question. That, you
know, is the great bugaboo. In the
face of the conditions above mentioned
/ don't consider back country an alb
solutely vital necessity. But time
and water-will develop more back
country than is now dreamed of.
Perhaps the most damaging feature
in the present condition of things here
is the craze for laying out new towns.
Every week aimee have hoen here