Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-11-29
LAW OF ADVANCE.
A PROBLEM THAT NEWPORT NEWS
HAS TO CONFRONT.
Pre~ure for New Houses Continued
Building operations-rhe study
of Capitalists.

NEWPORT News, Va. November 2s.-I OBJ
serve that the rumor current here last
week that Richmond company were
negotiating for the purchase OF large
block of building lots at Newport News
and would commence building operations
at once has materialized. This company.
it appears from tho charter, has a capital
of 100000. Well they can put every dol
lar of it in buildings at Newport News and
still not supply the demand for houses.
There Is one remarkable fact about New
mort News. and that IS that 10 has never
suffered any depression In the way OF
building operation--a fact that argues
more than anything else in favor OF It's
permanency, unless it be the further fact
that so many people own thor own MONIES.
PROBLEM.
AS this being so-activitY regarding
building-so far as the past is concerned,
what must be said Of the future! IL Is no
stretch of imagination, but a prediction
founded on the soundest of logic, 70 say
that next spring a problem of the place
will be how TO house the mechanics that
will be brought TO Newport News merely
TO erect dwellings, and this Gays nothing
of the question of taking care OF the
steady inflow of mechanical population to
meet the demands Of the rapid develop
ment of work at the numerous dry-docks
and ship-yards, and in other industries.
woNDEB.
The wonder is that lots have not gone
up in Newport News TO speculative
prices, but at the same time it is crafty
ing that they have not. 1t is true there
has been steady advance in values, and
all here see as plainly as they see the
rapid growth of the place that this adj
vance must continue. / can only account
for a non-speculative condition OF things
by the fact that the people are banded to-
gether in O conservative understanding to
build for the future rather than the I'M
! mediate present Yet there must OF ne
cessity be large profits in lots IN
the immediate future, and those who
have bought already or may buy very
soon are certain of making splendid and
safe investment. The proposition ts clear,
and is being more emphatically demon
strated every day, that Newport News
mus. have more houses-that building
operations are vital to the place. Equally
clear is the proposition that before you
build you must get your lots, and whether
the lot-holder builds himself or sells to
others to build on, he must reap largely.
LAW OF SUBSTANTIAL DEMAND.
If there is any certainty in human calcu-
lot anywhere IN the place that will not
in the spring be worth double what
it has cost its owner, and these
figures are very moderate. Property
values here cannot be guaged by
property values in booming towns; their
standard is that held and which regulates
the advances in the older cities Newport
News is spreading, not in scattered but
in compact way. The business part OF
the place is crowding on the residential sec
ton, and whenever that is the case
the prices are regulated by law of
substantial demand. The city has
nucleus in the way of population
and industries that is continuously at
tracing other population and increasing
the necessity for new industries. This
in time increases the necessity for dwell
ings and the sequence is O pronounced adj
vance IN values. II is by studying these
problems and taking advantage of them
that much money has been made in real
estate here OF little risk, and yet the har-
vest, as all must admit. has scarcely begun
either for the man who owns lots and IS
waiting for ON inevitable advance or he
who intends to depend upon a rent-rolL