The Globe-republican., 1905-10-12
Letter From @. |. Wing.

No more erroneous opinion Is common
In the east than The one which ideallzes
| California's climate and its resources.
1t Is not my intention to be knocker but
to tell somo truths which are seemingly
kept in The back ground for very obvious
reasons.
1t Is needless to say that the majority
of people who come here from the east
to hew out fortune or spend their de-
cliniug years IN blssfnl repose ale sadly
disappointed. This is due in 10 measure
to human weakne.s which Is always seek.
ing the uua.iaiha1le, but the prime canse
Is the gross xalgeratloDs praellced fuis
the purpose Of booming California. CAL
ifornia ia the worst doomed state have
ever seen considering its resources. In
the vicinity of Los Angeles there are no
less than half duxen beach towns re-
Gently opened, railroad franchises are
being secured electric lines being built
expensive Improvements are being made
and hundreds of cottages being bnilt.
Real estate has reached sky rocket prices
One hundred thousand dollars is not an
uncommon price for lot and choice cor
ner lots half a million. You can buy
town lots miles away from town with
proposed electric line 10 pass your door
and the wild cat assurance of being in
the heart of booming city 10 short
time
These fabulous prices and wild specu-
lation is not confined to city property
either. Orange and Lemon ranches arc
being held at from Ave TO twelve hum
dred dollars per acre, Declduous fruit
ranches three to eight hundred and way
out on the desert where they are ralsi:g
melons and cantaloupe, land is selling for
$3.50 per acre. All of this land must be
farmed by irrigating too, which makes
1t In most places very expensive.
The Sunday edition of the Los Angeles
Times contains 10 pages % of which are
devoted entirely to real estate talk and
advertisements and this Is only small
part of the systematic advertising being
done. One cannot help but think after
reading any Of the Southern California
papers that the only business which pays
Is the real estate business and there are
more people engaged 10 II than In any
other occupation. sometimes wonder
when reading the GLOBE REPUBLICAN II
my friend Pat Sughrue hasn't been ''put
next by some California paper.
The natural inquiry which suggests
itself to conservative person is-What,
II anything Is there to maintain these in.
fated prices? There are no factories
worth mentioning none of these towns
have any harbors OF Importance and no
natural advantages Of location or other
inducements for capital to invest. They |
must subsist entirely on money brought |
In by tourists. | see 1t 10 alleged by
Chicago paper that tourists leave eighteen |
millIous of dollars in California every
year, fourteen million Of which Is left In
Southern California, In the vicinity Of
Los Angeles. Orange and Lemon ranches |
are an expensive luxury. They do not
pay expenses, have talked with great |
many men who said after being at the |
heavy expense Of raising, picking. pack
Ing and shipping their oranges they often
did not bring enough to pay the freight |
and many Of them now have accounts
against them by the railroad FOR freight
on fruit shipped two or three years ago. |
Lemons are not worth picking and are
allowed to rot on the ground. This con-
dtion Of affairs 10 charged to the heart
less robbery by the railroads and the |
graft OF the managers OF the association |
(all the citrus fruits are handled by 40 |
assoslatlon.)
Thus It will be seen that the principal |
resource OF this part OF California IL
Tourist money and that cannot possibly
maintain the present high handed busi-
ness activity and there must atno very
remote period DO 4 pay day when values
will take q tumble.
Il may be little surprising to know
that fruit except In season costa about %
much here ~ u does N Dodge, tho we
| are Within 10 miles Of thousands 81 acres
lof oranges md lemcus. A large part of'