St. Paul daily globe., 1889-06-02
The Present Building Activity
Most Valuable to the
City.
Will the Sale of Reform School
Lands Come Oft This
Week?
Brokers Report Increased In
terest by Outsiders in St.
Paul Real Estate.

in real eState-the first lively market
so far as the transfer of lots is con-
cerned, the second lively building
boom. The question to be considered
at this stage of ST. Pauts history is,
which of the two is the more beneficial
to the city? A long list Of transfers re-
Veals speculative interest in property:
buying and selling in the hope of a
speedy realization of profit. What has
been the result Of all such spells OF ac-
tivity? A great deal of property changes
hands, and great deal of money
changes hands, but the practical out
come Of it all is that a few Shrewd men
make money, while the benefit accru-
ing to the city at large is nil. In what
way the city is benefited by a man
bnying farm, plating it into lots and
selling them, is hard to see. The lots
change hands. it may be many times,
but farm remains Just the same. The
status of affairs after the change is: Il
have your lot and you have my ymoney,"
or vice versa. The value of the lot is
the money paid for it, consequently
there is little benefit to any one, and
Still less to the general public. A big
DulluluS DOollt SuSll tto hcl. L otti 10 llON
undergoing benefits every one. The
laborer who digs the foundation. the
bricklayer, stonemason, carpenter,
moulder, ironworker, paperhanger,
decorator, painter, all have plenteous
EMPLOYMENT. The furniture man, the
carpet dealer, every hardware and
crockery dealer are called in to supply
the house with the necessaries of life,
while the butcher, baker and grocer
are all benefited by the arrival OF a
tenant. A big building boom puts
more money in circulation than any
thing else could possibly do. This
is more emphatically the case
when the building is done by
residents, not for speculation, but for
permanent and legitimate investment.
houses in the suburbs, and even in the
more populous districts, are nine out of
ten of them putting houses up for their
own use. 1t is safe to place the per-
centage of houses now being built by
men who propose to live in them at 80
per cent of the aggregate number of
houses now in course of construction.
This is large percentage. and speaks
well for the prosperity of the city. An
activity Of this kind is infinitely more
desirable than real estate boom. 1t
brings money and men into the city. 1t
fills the mouths OF men, women and
children with bread and butter and pie.
There is no danger of OVERRIDING this
sort of building, and the vast number of
houses to which this spring has given
birth is the best proof of the prosperity
of st. Paul. Say not that times are dull.
Ye croakers, give us peace! Times
are not dull. Business is ON 4
healthier basis than it ever has
been before 10 those who pre-empted
property in the old territorial days, who
Sat still in their log shanties and
watched their land grow valuable, who
moved step by step from log cabin to
Summit avenue mansion. TO these men
it naturally appears that times are dull.
Comparatively speaking, they may be.
but may the good Lord preserve us
from such activity as characterized st.
Paul few years ago. This sort OF ac-
tivity only
TIGHTENs THE PURSE STRINGS
of those Eastern capitalists who to-day
are casting their eyes towards this city,
and every day arriving to look the field
over with the view of placing few
thousand of their Supertiuous capital.
The best evidence of the solid basis on
which st. Paul is founded is the we'll
known character of the men who are in
vesting the most heavily to-day. The
Endicotts and Germania Life people
are celebrated for their conservatism.
They are not in the habit of building
ponderous blocks anywhere; they are
among the most conservative of in.
vestors. 1t is apparent that the blocks
now lifting their giant heads heaven
ward are away ahead of present require
ments. They cannot be filled by the
,NffS ~, md
the only way for them to make decent
st. Paul to greatly increase in pOpula-
ton. That such men have enough con-
fidence in the certainty of this imme-
diate increase is palpable evidence that
the hopes of the most Sanguine are
founded upon basis as firm and solid
as the grey limestone rocks upon which
the city rests. The conclusion to be
drawn from these facts is that the
prices at which st. Paul lots are now
held are very low. Recent arrivals from
the mushroom cities on the Pacific coast,
Tacoma, Seattle. Portland and others,
unitedly affirm that prices in these little
towns are as high as those now ruling
in st. Paul. 1t is evident that property
here must rise in value very rapidly
within the next few years, and the
moral to that is that the millionaires of
New York, Boston, and other Eastern
cities, surfeited as they are with rail-
road securities and suffering for lack of
channels of investment, can do no bet
ter than come right here to-day and look
at what we car offer them. The real
estate board held short meeting yes
terday morning, which. unfortunately,
was but meagerly attended. The same
all-absorbing topics were discussed,
rapid transit and unification of values.
The conclusion is becoming universal
that rapid transit is an absolute neces-
slty. Steps are being taken to secure
it, and few weeks will see important
developments in this line. Mean
being prosecuted by those interested
with all the vigor possible. Every day
for some time meeting has been held;
the contract with the car company is
almost ready to be signed, and the
lengthy operation of ascertaning the
actual benefit which will result to each
lot from the proposed extension is very
nearly concluded. The work is in the
hands of some of the largest property
owners in the Midway district, who are
themselves putting in their share of the
total 100000. When this is done every
owner will he called upon and shown
the assessment list. 70 those residing
in other parts of the world copies will
he mailed and they will be urgently re-
quested to pony up" The work of uni
tication Of values proceeds but slowly,
and cannot be completed for some
months. A little better attendance at
the weekly meetings of the real estate
board will materially expedite matters,
however. The sale of the state reform
school lots comes on this week,
that is to say, if the board
of directors at +t their meeting
rangement of lots. If they do not, it is
almost certain that the register of deeds