The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-02-26
IMPROVE THE LAND!

good many real estate transfers are
taking place nowadays. The sales go into
the hundreds some days, and the purchase
money aggregates hundreds of thousands
weekly. AT the rate we are going on the
land transfers for the year will amount to
many million dollars. If these sales mean
what they should mean, Salt Lake will be
rich and populous city almost before any
of us are aware of it. And what should
they mean! you ask. Well, they should
mean more than gamble Men may go on
eternally buying and selling lot, and
with each transfer of the title raise the
price, and If nothing shall be done with the
land the city will not be benefited. If the
land lies idle and unimproved, it will be
of no advantage whatever to the CT ty
that it is sold every day in the
year, and every time for more money than
the previous purchaser paid, except the ad-
vantage which comes from the trifiing fees
following each change of owners. There
Is vacant ten-acre block in the western
partof the city-the Old Fort square 1t
is owned by the corporation and is held for
pleasure park, we believe. For many
y
garden and nursery, and for that purpose
is no more valuable to the city to-day than
1t was twenty years ago 1t can produce
no more now than it could have produced
then, and its earning capacity is no greater
Ii the square were offered for sale it would
fetch perhaps fifty times as much as could
have been obtained for it twenty years ago.
Ii the buyer at the advanced price were to
continue to use it as market garden the
intrinsic value would be no greater than it
was twenty years ago, and the
transfer Of ownership would bring no
benefit to the community. If the square
were utilized for factories in which men
and women could earn wages, if it We're
covered with houses to be occupied by
newcomers, if it were put to any use
which would make it more productive of
value or Of employment for workers,
then its worth to the public would be in
creased
+ What THE HERALD wants to see is not
fewer transfers Of real estate titles but
more Improvement of land. When lot is
sold we would like to feel that the pur
chaser did not buy solely with the view to
selling again at an increased price, but
with the intention of making the land
more valuable in other than speculative
sense. We want to feel that most of
the transfers mean dwelling houses.
stores, factories, in short, mean something
that will induce people to come here to
stay and provide them with opportunities
for earning a living. He who provides
labor at fair wages for one man, and thus
increases the permanent residents Of the
place is worth more to the city than dozen
spectators who trade to the extent of
thousands of dollars, but spend no money
for improvements or in labor giving en-
terprises.
What Salt Lake wants is people who
come to stay. Wewant mechanics if there
is employment for them; we want laborers,
if there is anything for them to 90; we
want capitalists who will build mills and
factories, erect dwelling houses and en-
ploy their money in ways which will benefit
the city. In short, we want any number
of men who will improve the lots which
they buy.