Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-11-20
ONE THING WANTED.
A Real Estate Exchange Necessary to
Handle Business Properly.
SOME ADVANTAGES POINTED OUT.
Sequel to Remarkable Boom That Swept
Over Southern California.
NEW ENGLAND FARMING PLAYING OUT

ly all the sales were by auction, but this
system is rapidly falling into disuetude, e1-
cept when required by law. From the
auction to the exchange is big jump, but
that is the trend of the business. Real es-
tate exchanges exist in nearly all of the
principal cities, and are found to work sat
isfactorily to both sellers and buyers. There
is no good reason why Pittsburg should be
behind in this important matter. Business
is already too large to be rapidly and conven-
iently transacted any other way
Real estate exchanges promote business
wherever established. This statement has the
support of statistics, and is in harmony with
the opinions Of leading operators in realty who
have from time to time given their views to the
public. And there is good reason why they
should They bring business men into closer
relations, where they can discuss affairs face to
face They bring buyers and sellers together,
very important matter in business; for more
can be accomplished in personal interview Of
few minutes than in days or weeks of corre-
spondence They benefit agents by simplifying
and expediting business. They do not have to
keep a large force under pay to
drum up business. 1t comes to
them. They insure unity of action
among agents, by putting all members on an
thus making throat-cutting impossible, and
guaranteeing fairness to each other as well as
to their clients Profits of individual agents
or firms are as great or even greater, than
under any other system since sales are more
quickly made and expenses smaller. There are
real estate agents in Philadelphia who did next
to nothing before the exchange was estab-
lished, but who have had all they could do
since, and some of them have amassed for
Tho ru0u1d ha Ia Pitts
burg.
There has been considerable talk here about
establishing real estate exchange and those
favoring it even went so far as to appoint
committee to visit Philadelphia. New York
and Chicago to examine the workings of the
institutions in those places and report; but for
some reason the report has been held back and
the matter allowed to drop almost out of sight.
Interest in it is reviving however, and there is
ground for hope that the project will yet be
carried out. Some of the most influential busi-
ness men of the city are in favor of an ex-
change and it is intimated that they will soon
take steps to bring the question to direct
issue. If this be done with anything like
unanimity on the part of friends of the enter
prise, the result cannot be doubtful. Pitts
burg will have real estate exchange.
History fails to record more signal collapse
VI d I6dl oSIdb6 DOOu IOdu budJ huICu DLOhOOuh
in Los Angeles and the adjacent counties in
Southern California in 1885 and 1887. The fall
in values has been something perfectly enor-
nous. At Oak Knoll lots which sold two years
ago for 81 500 at present find no takers at Sl00
large tracts of alkan lands, at one time laid out
in lots but at present the home of horned toads |
and jack-rabbits, assessed at $50 an acre. and
are not worth one-tenth the sum; and list Of |
property can be shown which had been sold for |
axh0n nOh
ent are not worth their assessed value-some |
500 ,0O0
But the imitation in town sites went to an |
extent that seems absurd to an outsider. |
There were some 80 paper towns Gre |
ated in different parts of Los Angeles county, |
comprising $3.50 town lots-enough, say, for |
800, 900 people, and nearly 40 0OOmOre than there
are in New York between Fifty-ninth and One |
Hundred and Fifty-ffth streets At present |
there are 235l people living in these towns
Border City had ,920 lots, and not a single i1f-
habitant to take advantage of them; Chicago
PARK, 2,2S6 lots, and but a single occupant;
Carlton, 4.060 lots, and not an inhabitant; Man.
chester, 2304 and the same overwhelming pop
ulation; West Glendale, S12S lots, and no H.
habitants; and Sunset 207Z lots, and one soli-
tary watchman, who looks after an expensive
hotel and q deserted town.
Booms and balloons are much the sarre. They
90 up III unt SLyles dulIu Iu0 applause OF |
thoughtless people. but nearly always come
down In a collapsed condition.
It seems that farming in New England is
playing out 1t certainly is in Vermont, if the
may be credited, and it comes from
so high a source that few will be disposed to
dispute its truthfulness. A party of State Of
fcials, among whom was Mr.. George Valen-
tine, while standing on hill in Bennington
county, and looking over the valley of the
West river tributary of the Connecticut a
few days ago, counted Is contiguous farms, of
perhaps 100 acres each, all fenced, with dwell
ing houses and barns in at least tolerable con-
dition, without a single inhabitant Beyond,
toward the Connecticut, but hidden by the
groves in the valley, were, as they knew, Is
more also deserted, yet all well situated and
still showing signs of their former fertility.
Statistics show that a similar condition pre-
walls all over the State. In Windham county
alone are more than 10000 acres of land once
but now deserted, and in the whole
State the number of abandoned FARMS COM
plete with houses, fences, barns and outbuild.
ngs. must be several thousand. Yet Vermont
Is one OF the pleasantest healthiest, most fer
sile and most civilized States in the Union. In
its river valleys is no malaria while its hills are
covered to the summit with vegetation.
The reckless agriculture which has made
portions of the country nearly barren has never
been favored in Vermont, where a century or
more of stock farming has rather enriched than
exhausted the soil; yet the people who once
'ound happy homes there have crowded into
,he towns, or have left the State altogether. In
70 years, from 1850 to $780, the increase of popu-
alton IN Vermont was per cent while the |
population Of the whole country was more than
loubled, and that of the adjoining State of
increased by nearly so per cent.
t is not little curious that region SO favored .
n climate and position should be retrograding
10 rapidly. There is material here for political
to ponder over.
When men begin first to become familiar
With the methods of measuring mechanical
,ower they often speculate on where the breed
# horses is to be found which can keep at
work. raising 3S, 900 pounds one foot per minute.
IT the equivalent. which is familiar to men ac- ;
to pile driving by horse power. of
aising $50 pounds 100 feet per minute Since
8 900 pounds raised one foot per minute is
allied one horse power it is natural for people
o suppose that the engineers who established
hat unit of measurement based it on the !
ctual work performed by horses. But that
Fas not the case The horse power unit was
established by James Watt about century I
go, and the figures were settled in a curious
ray. Watt, in his usual careful manner, pro-
eeded to find out the average work which the
orses of his district could perform, and he
Ound that the raising of q, 900 pounds one foot
er minute was about an actual horse power
At this time he was employed in the manu-
acture of engines, and had almost monopoly
+ the engine building trade. Customers were
o hard to find that all kinds of artificial en-. !
were considered necessary to in
uce power users to buy steam engines. As :