Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-07-17
THE BIG HOTEL.
Shall Los Angeles Have 1t
or Not +?
LAST ATTEMPT MAklNG'
1t is Now or Never for the City
to Get Such Hotel
as 1t Needs.

The scheme of building the big hotel
at the corner Of Tenth and Main streets
has had long sleep, but within a week
it has wakened and is now lively as a
kitten. In other words, last effort is
to be made to build the hotel, and if
this proves abortive then it will be fare
we'll, long farewell to all the greatness
of the Angelic City, SO far as big hotel
is concerned. The plan now proposed is
q very simple one and it ought to sue
ceed. 1t will succeed if there is
any earnestness in the people Of
the >city, or if the people
are capable of seeing their own true
interests. To take the hotel as it is nov
and put it on its feet, get to work on it
and completeit, will require $500, 900. The
stockholders have spent all the money
they propose to spend in this work. They
have spent all they have to spend.
When they undertook to build il times
we're very rapid, and all the people who
went into it were making money hand
over fist. Times are not so brisk now,
and most of the stockholders are bur.
dened with other deals which absorb all
the spare cash they can come by. Ii
brisk times had continued those in the
scheme would have been able to carry
the plan forward to completion, but with
the change that has come about this is
impossible. The hotel, therefore, falls
, back on all the people, to be built by
them or to be abandoned for ever. How,
then, shall this $500, 900 be raised? The
committee in whose hands the matter has
been resting will come forward with plan
to raise the necessary funds. They will
propose the issuing of 500 second mort
gage bonds, each of the denomination Of
$1,000, drawing interest at the rate of
per cent. per annum. The citizens will
be asked TO give their notes, secured by
q lien on some real property, or by some
sort of collateral, for the interest on one
or more of these bonds, for the period Of
years. Each person thus subscribing
for one of the bonds would give his notes
for $50 year for five years. This would
be the gross sum any one would be held
responsible for-the sum of $500 for
each 81 900 loaned, payable in semi
annual installments of $50 each. This is
to guarantee the payment of the interest
on $500, 900 for five years, at the rate OF
per cent. per annum. These notes and
their corresponding securities will be put
into bank, and this bank will give a
bond for the payment of the interest on
the loan for the five years. With such a
guarantee there will be no trouble in
raising the necessary money to complete
the hotel. If 500 of the 80, 900 people in
Los Angeles will bind themselves for $500
each, payable in five years, in ten semi
annual installments OF $50 each, then
the hotel will be built. If
this guarantee cannot be given,
in other words, if there are not 500 such
people in the city then the hotel wilr not
be built. There is the whole matter in a
nutshell. For should this ultimate
scheme fail and fall through, the stock
holders propose to sell the property as it
stands for the best money it will bring,
pay off all the debts of the concern, and
divide up the proceeds pro rata. The
motion is thus before the house, or rather
the scheme before the citizens.
Is it worth while to do this? Will it
Justify the citizens to put up their money
The whole amount involved is $3.50, 900,
if the hotel is not a paying property,
for five years. If it pays at date be-
fore the end of the five years, then it
will be less. But, at the worst, it is
$3.50, 900. payable in semi-annual install
ments of 81 800 each, or that much every
six months. Is the hotel worth to the
citizens $3.50 month? 1t is not large
amount, certainly. If there are 500
people here who think such an affair is
worth to their interests the paltry sum OF
S. month, now is the time for them to
say the word.
The point is like this: The best grade
of tourists will not come here until there
is here the best hotel in the State. Last
winter the Coronado drew to San Diego
visitors to the number of 500 at one time.
That 30 many people at such an hotel
means the spending of at least $4 900 a
day in the city. Are there 500 people
here, who by the spending OF $l20, 900 d
month can each make IS a month or
more back out of it? That
is exactly the financial situation. That
is the problem before the people. II d
book were written, little could be added
to this presentation of the case. There
is no doubt that there are 5000 people,
that is 10 times 500, who will be bene
fitted directly, not So month but $50 a
month by the hotel. This is at the rate
of 100 per cent. benefit from the interest