Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-10

real estate situation is contributed by
Julius r. Black OF the real estate firm
Of Black Bros:
5ooms and Booms
There Is an anecdote illustrating a
popular fallacy concerning the subject
of booms II is as follows:
A thrifty married couple were solic-
tied to invest their savings in n piece
Of unimproved real estate. The sales
agent. inspired by a knowledge Of the
fact that he had that rara avis of the
real estate business, a genuine bar
gain" succeeded in arousing the enthu-
siasm Of the husband almost to the
buying pitch when the wife interposed
with an objection, saying;
Don't buy vacant land when things
are booming. IT'S too much like spec
ulation."
And like a good, obedient husband
he did not buy. Later the agent sub
mltted to them choice improved in
side business property paying per
cent net per annum.
Again the wife interviewed with her
objection: Don't buy; things are
booming too much; it's speculation"
In desperation the agent suggested
TO the twain: 'If that Is the way you
look at 1t, invest your savings in
United States government bonds Snd
leave real estate alone"
To which the woman craftily shook
her head and replied: ooh, no; not
while things are booming; it's too much
like speculation"
Booms Not Bugaboo
To the mind OF the tirnid investor the
word boom is q species of terrifying
bugaboo. carrying with 1t powerful
portent Of trouble, initiation of values
and instability of growth. But sucn
Is not always the case. The peculiar
quality of development which we des-
ignate as a boom is not always of H.
legitimate birth. AS a matter of COM
mon knowledge there is no other word
In the English language which so aptly
applies. as this, to a certain vigorous
condition of American growth. for the
word, like the condition itself, is ma
tive to the soil. A boom is not always
of the unstable variety. Rapid and
voluminous urban expansion is not al
ways of the mushroom species. Soaring
land values do not invariably return
to earth. And it is equally certain that
spectators who persist in buying at
the tippest top of the market do not
always lose.
The inevitable conclusion must be
that there are booms and boons, one
variety superlatively bad, another SUI
perlatively good. OF the superlatively
bad little need be said. Want of cause
for the fact of it's existence is strong
and sufficient condemnation. But when
we are facing a vigorous expansion of
town and country. due to great gen.
eral prosperity, no discriminating OBJ
server will place that particular kino
of boom In the same category with the
superlatively bad.
Growth of Los Angeles
Los Angeles enjoys the distinction of
being one of the few cities in the
United States, if, in fact, not the only
one, to have lived through the devas-
tating effects of the one and in later
years to have experienced all the great
and glorious prosperity which accom-
panies the other. And so superlatively
good has the other proven to be that
the predominant note today In the face
of the man from little old Los Angeles
is one of contented and k-sided
prosperity.
When the population doubles at the
rate of twice in a decade; when bank
clearings increase at a greater rate
than elsewhere on the Pacific slope;
when more than a million q month
goes into building operations year in
and year out; when manufactured
products amount to the comfortable
sum Of $25,000,000 per annum; when not
and grows exceeding fat, it becomes
necessary to readjust our ideas as to
Just what is meant by "boom," for
If this be a boom then, in the words
of Macbeth, Lay on, Macduff, and
damned be he who first cries hold"
1t Is little to be wondered, therefore,
that real estate values have a ten
dncy to soar among us and that thrifty
people have tendency to take advan-
tage of that fact to their profit. The
wonder would rather be If they failed
to do so.
Los Angeles and Frisco
AS a cause for prosperity a boom is |
blighting and disastrous. 1t is a house |
of misfortune built upon the sandiest |
of sandy bottoms. and they who enter
may as we'll leave behind hopes. riches |
and peace of mind AS an effect and |
an evidence of prosperity it is beiS1- |
cent, entering into and vivifying every |
artery of human endeavor, stimulating |
the arteries of the populace themselves |
and making of the individual the cen. |
ter of an energy worthy of no less |
qualification than that of hundred |
hustle power. And whilst the balmy |
climate of our sunny southland has, in |
the north, a theoretically enervating |
effect upon human energy and ambi- |
tion, the fact remains that something
has inspired the average business man
of Los Angeles with more ambitious
and energetic hustle than the average
business man of San Francisco, al
though the colder climate of our north
ern neighbor has. theoretically. an ex-
ira bracinB effect upon those same Vir-
tues. That inspiring Something" may
be found to be concealed in the "boom."
1t is to be contended, therefore, that
a boom. as an effect of prosperity, is
nothing that the most cautious ana
need fear. On the con-
trary, 1t should be welcomed as a use
ful and profitable condition of devel-
for it is the purest spirit of
American constructive energy reduced
TO its ultimate analysis.