Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1889-09-30

OF COPY of this publication to Eastern |
friends. The illustrations are acknowledged to
be the best ever issued in this city.
A Case of Injurious ExaggeratiOn.
A writer in a contemporary, who is
located at The Palms, sscribes to the
high price of lands in this county one OF
the most serious difficulties in the way Of
settlers making homes here He says
that "when nDen of moderate means
have to grab lands at from $500 to $500
an acre, there isn't any likelihood of
rapid settlement" This same writer
excoriates the tendency Of the age to OK
aggeration, and we could hardly find
more striking confirmation of the exist
ence of that tendency than the wild and
reckless statement quoted. What lands
are held here at from $500 to $500 an
acre? Certainly not unimproved lands,
or lands that sre 80 located that they
can hardly in reason ever become
other than desirable for agricultural
purposes. We venture to assert that
the gentleman who made that in
furious statement cannot point out any
unimproved farming land, which pos
sesees no prospective speculative advan.
tage of location, and which the owners
wish to sell, that is held at anything
like the absurd figures he states. If land
suited to the wants Of settlers OF moder-
ate means is held at such figures in the
vicinity of The Palms, We have failed to
hear of it. We know that as fine fruit
lands as can be found in this county-in
a locality where tree-raising has been
remarkably successful-can be pur-
chased at figures far below those
given by this. writer. 1t lie.
not very long since syndicate which
owns several thousand acres within
eight or ten miles Of this city, and lying
beautifully in the valley where the Los
Angeles river rises, scaled down their
prices from $50 per acre-the highest
to 500, and on terms which any settler Of
moderate means would take no risk in
accepting. We presume this gentleman
will claim that even 500 per acre ia too
high, as he tells US that his settlers can
procure land elsewhere for $25 per acre.
Yes, land can be bought for that in An
telope valley and in some parts of Tulare
but what does that prove? Only that
land is cheaper in sparsely settled
regions, with transportation difficulties,
and remote from centers of population,
than it is here. Nor can those lands
be graded as fruit lands, when
the lands near this city have been
very successfully tried in that respect.
If forty acres of really good land, within
eight or ten miles of this city. are not a
much better purchase for the intending
settler than four times that area in
Antelope valley or in the unsettled por-
tons OF Tulare, we are at loss to know
why.
We have just cited this one fact to
show that it is not true that intending
settlers must be prepared to pay from
$500 to 5000 per acre for land if they
want to make home in Los Angeles
county, and such statement is harmful
and misleading. 1t ia not likely that i'm
vines upon them, can be. had for less
than the figures named by the gentle
man from The Palms. If those prices,
or greater ones, are asked for them, they
are doubtless worth it. But what is the
matter with lands that can be bought in
the alfalfa Compton region for $50, and
even less, an acre? Six crops of hay are
easily cut from those lands every year.
Does our friend doubt that that is fair
price for lands that are capable If such a
yield? Or can he claim that lands east
of the Rockies that are to be had for his
favorite figure ($25 per acre) are better
wortn that sum than these are worth
$3.50?
The writer to whom we refer touches
upon truth when he says that the set
Element of the county is great retarded
by the refusal of the owners Of extern.
eive ranches to cut them up. This has
been one of the greatest obstacles to
growth and development we have had to
contend with here from the start. Lands
held in large tracts do not contribute to
the general prosperity, and the people |
of this part of the State have
done much TO discourage this kind
of monopoly. If there was one
provision which more than another
made the new Constitution popular with
the mass of the people, it was that which
sought to break up into small holdings
the great ranches of this State. That
instrument provides that Cultivated and
uncultivated land, of the same quality,
and similarly situated, shall be assessed
at the same value" That provision has
done much to divide up the ranches of
this State, and it is the Only way /
In which the object can be
If the county assessors would
carry out it's mandate honestly the
owners Of many Of the great ranches
would be compelled to cut them up. We
balieve, however, that sven now there