The herald., 1896-01-22
A CHANCE FOR CAPITAL

Observer calls attention to the oppor-
tunity offered capital in the fruit pre-
serving and canning lines. AS the OBJ
server says, there are annually i'm
ported by the United States from Eng
land, France, Italy, Germany and other
foreign countries, jams, marmalades
and various preserved fruits to the
amount of over million dollars.
If we could not produce as good a
line of preserved fruits as those we i'm
port and do it as cheaply as we can
buy the foreign product, there would
be good reason for continuing the i'm =
portations, for, of course, it is funda-
mentally wrong for people to engage
in Improbable production. But when
it is considered that here in Southern
California we have a soil that is as
productive as any in the world, that
our fruits are as good for preserving
and canning, if not better, as those of
any country on earth, that we produce
the sugar essential in the preserving
of fruit and that we are nearer the
market the foreign countries sell in
than the latter are, it is certainly rea-
sonable to suppose that Southern Cali
fornia can sell preserved and canned
fruit to the American people to better
advantage than the countries from
which mportations are now made
The enormous consumption of pre-
served and canned goods from abroad
by the American people is not so much
because the latter prefer the imported
article as it Is because that article is
the most prominent in the market.
Wherever you go in the United States
foreign jams, jellies, marmalades and
preserved and canned fruits are in am
pie evidence, while outside of the Pa
cific coast the contrary is the case with
the California product. When the lat
ter is turned out in quantities commen-
surate with the demands of the domes-
tic market and pushed with enterprise
and intelligence, great shrinkage in
the sale of the foreign product in this
country will be speedily visible.
This field of enterprise should at
tract some of the many people who are
seeking opportunities for profitable in
vestment. That there are hundreds of
this class in Southern California is un
questioned; the healthy size of the local
bank deposits testify to this fact, The
lack of development along the line ad-
verted to and other important indus
trial lines, is not because of an INSULT
cheney of available capital in this
section. 1t is because apparently of a
failure to recognize and appreciate the
excellence of the openings offered.
AS is usual in comparatively re-
Gently settled parts which give
promise of being rapidly built up,
many people of means have been
prone to concentrate their attention
on real estate speculation as affording
the most expeditions method of ac
quiring wealth, and before they realize
it, their time and capital is devoted ex-
clusively to turning over corner lots.
But there can be limit to even real
estate speculations, and the business
of buying and selling realty may be-
come frayed at the edges if it is ham
died by too many. 1t really looks as
though Los Angeles and Southern
California generally had full compile
ment of speculators sin dirt" and
needed now more spectators in pro-
duction, manufacturing and distribu-
ton. Real estate values themselves
depend on industrial and commercial
activity. No piece of land has value
of and by itself. 1t becomes valuable
in proportion to the demand that pop
u'ation and prosperity create for it.
Real property in business communities
is worth vastly more than in residence
places. The transfer of a corner lot
creates no wealth, but the growing of
an orchard, the building of a factory
or cannery, the preparation of fruit.
meat, fish, vegetables, or of anything
else that people use, for human con-
sumption, does create wealth. And as
development goes on, and business ey-
pands, and industry thrives, land goes
up in value. So it is to the interest of
the landowner to promote industry
and trade and to encourage people to
go to work instead of going to pure
aud simple speculation.