The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-08-28

article in the editorial columns of the Fair
fax Herald:
The Richmond Times has been laboring
for many Years to prove that the country
has been prospecting under the enforcement
OF the so-calied sound money doctrine.
just as It had iabored 10 prove that values
would decline and the people be ruined
Should The Governm ent commit Itself to
If1e free coinage of both gold and silver
The Times has labored with so much abili-
II and ingenuity 10 prove its assertions
that We We're prepared TO see them sub
Stimulated by the reasseSsnent OF real es-
tate in our Capital City. The returns,
however. show the difference between
facts and fancies. Since 1895, when the
last assessment was made. Richmond has
grown in a most gratifying manner. Not
only nave 3 great many new puiiGlnss
been erected. hut there has been great APP
parent industrial development. But, alas!
+ the reassessment shows q shrinkage in real
estate values of Sa06o. 600 as compared With
tbs assessment of 1885. This result has
been reached, notwit hstanding the heavy
investments that have been made in that
city. 1t proves what the bimelalists have
always claimed viz: that under the god
standard there can be no progress. no ma
terial development.
Whenever man gets the calamity fever
have rarely seen such a bundle of incon-
sistencies ana contradictions as our Fair
fax contemporary has packed together in
the above article. Prosperity does not de-
pend upon the value of real estate. nor
does the valuation of real estate necessari-
" indicate either prosperity or depression
A few years ago alleged town lots in
Southwest Virginia were selling at prepos-
terous prices, and if one had judged by
the valuation of real estate in those days
he would have said that Virginia was en-
ioylng such prosperity as she had never
known. Yet, Virginia was on the verge OF
the hardest times that had befallen the
people of this State since the war Rich
mond real estate in those days was also
Doomed, and fictitious Valuations We're put
upon the properly. True, there has been
a reassessment since that time, but prop
erty was assessed up TO the top notch,
and, as afterwards discovered, at higher
prices than il would bring on the open
market. This year many property owners
claimed that they Were assessed too high.
and that they had been assessed too high
since 1885. and the assessors, in justice to
these Taxpayers. reduced the assessment.
Nobody knows just yet what the figures
viii show. The assessors incline to the
opinion that the total VII be less than
the total of the last assessment. But, as
for Richmoads real estate in general
everybody knows that it is inrinsically
was currently reported in 1886 that there
were one thousand vacant houses in the
city of Richmond- On Saturday last an
afternoon paper printed an Interview With
q nromiuert Richmond real estate dealer,
IN which he said he was hardly able to
supply the demand for houses. That IN
almost every instance when he advertised
a house for rent there We're several appli-
caats ready to take 1t. he also SAID mat
Tents had materially increased.
But the prosperity Of Richmond. as OF
any other city, is not IN the value of Its
real estate. Indeed. It were better for the
general prosperity of any city that real
estate should be low. The growth Of many
cites has been retarded by the inflated
|. prices Of lots and buildings. Richmond's
prosperity is in her manufacturing inter-
esrs and her commerce, and there is
abundant proof IN these that her prosperity
IS Beyond anything that she has ever be-
fore enjoyed. In 1886 there were sSs manu-
featuring establishments in Richmond. Civ
sng employment to 1856 hands: on January
Isl. 1900 there We're Las manufacturing
alanrs giving employment to y .222 hands.
Int a more significant statement still Is.
that the capita, employed during the yea.
1893 In the manufacturing business was
only about half million dollars greater
than in 1886. Yet thesvalue OF the product
4,f our manufacturing establishments in
1889 was nearly 100000 greater than In
1895
R:camoaes ,oD1tar business IN 1885