The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-01-13
CALL FOR ANOTHER Halt
Some Reflections and Observations on the
Wichita Situation


A few years ago at fine when Wich-
| ita's licensed real estate dealers were
numbered by the hundred. and the curb
| stone transactions Of each day footed up
| into the millions, when men had hidden
good bye to common sense and stood
| hooting at the admonition of reason and
| experience, the Eagle appeared one
morning with a gentle remonstrance
which was quoted and commented upon
| by eastern papers in q singularly unani-
nous way. The gist of the article was
| embraced in the assertion that some fine
morning there would be found, in place
OF crazy transfers on wildly speculative
figures, a thousand men desiring 10 sell
with not single buyer anywhere in
sight Everybody would be wanting to
sell, nobody wishing to buy, with the re-
suit of a panic and a crash. Without
discussing the wisdom of the article in
| question, or whether il precipitated the
| very thing it was intended TO avert, it
vas nevertheless logical and definitely
conclusive. A thousand bulls became as
many bears in an hour and but compar-
atively few We're able TO cover their
deals
This is not intended as another like
screed OF prophesy, but the truth or what
we here now say is as evident as was
that of the article referred 10. Wichita
property is as much too low today as II
was at that day too high. This declara-
ton is as seif-evident as was the other.
1t calls for no argument nor citation or
instances or details 1t is uLi Tersal con-
viction. So some fine morning it will
happen 10 Wichita that there viii be
thousand buyers and nobody wanting to
sell. The impulse will be sweeping and
it will come not of the conviction that
there is sure money in present Wichita
! prices, for that is something which every
! body already realizes, as they realized
the other situation; but it will come of
some unexpected incident, seen or I'M
seen. 1t is unnecessary to tell anybody
that Wichita is the best city in Southern
Kansas, that it Is the central city of the
Southwest and located the most advan-
;ageously and solidly built. Everybody
knows that 1t will not induce any one
to buy by offering them a come for what
the chimney cost. There are plenty OF
such opportunities. There is no call for
the statement that house of block in
Wichita is unquestionably and for fact
worth as much money as any like house
or block in any town or city in Kansas.
All these things go without saying. All
know that Wichita Is the liveliest town
in Kansas today, and all that, and all
that a million dollars invested in i'm
proved Wichita properties today means
two millions of dollars and more, in the
near future, Of otherwise means a total
loss. The latter is an impossibility. Still
property is offered for a song and no
takers. So just as sure as at one time
everybody, all of a sudden, refused to
buy at the then prevailing prices, just
as sure the time will come when every
body all of a sudden, will refuse to sell
at the prevailing prices of today. There
are greater number of easily made
fortunes in Wichita today, solid sure
fortunes, than there ever were in her
boom days. Property may not be worth
what it cost, but property which can be
| bought for a fraction of what it would
cost to build it in times of depressed
| prices and hard times offers the best pos
sible chance of safe and profitable in
VeStment