East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-10-18

BE Fully Warranted.
Not alone in Pendleton and UNA
tilla county are land and property
prices high, but the tide of high
prices extends all over the United
States, being more pronounced else
where than in this vicinity.
In a comprehensive review of the
movement, the Seattle News says:
In Seattle the advance in property
is due to gradual growth. But in the
country at large there is wonderful
expansion in prices, part of which are
due to ordinary causes. while others
are the effect of downright specula-
tion. The purpose of this article is
to show what opinions are held else
where on this subject and to give ac-
tual facts from which observers may
draw their own conclusions.
Active Speculation Elsewhere.
The question. then, is very import
ant, how general is this real estate
movement? Is the whole country
rushing into it? If not, what is its
scope and does it seem to spread?
These questions were put recently
to some real estate experts in New
York. with broad knowledge of con-
ditions not only in that city but else
where in the United states. The in
formation received was highly inter
esting. First, this is the most general
speculation of the sort since 1878;
on this all agreed. Between that time
and this, real estate movements have
been sporadic, governed by conditions
peculiar to each community.
Realty Speculations.
Just now the widest excitement by
general admission is in the farm lands
in the western part of Kansas, South,
Dakota, North Dakota and oklahoma.
Some sections seem to have been
| made immune from the present COM
motion bv the ordeals they have pre-
viously passed through.
Chicago had a sporadic epidemic
some years ago, and is now free from
| the craze with which other sections
are visited. There prices had been
going down since 1891 until the de-
! Yet st. Louis. which previously
| boasted of its freedom from booms,
| is now in the midst of a craze which
| is about as violent as any of those
! since the present movement began.
| Pittsburg is going through much such
a craze as New York has had. the
movement there being largely due to
| the rapid production of wealth rather
than, as here, to its rapid accumula-
| tion.
An Exports Opinion.
Commenting on some of the pecu-
| liarly interesting phases of the pres
| ent speculation in real estate. an OPP
! orator who is in touch with the move
ment at all centers and who ranks as
| one of the shrewdest judges of values
in the United States. said this week in
New York:
"You have to get outside of this city
to Judge this great movement In its
true significance. Few operators
here take the trouble to gain n proper
perspective. New York dealers are
| the tape readers of the real estate
| market with about as much knowl-
edge of general conditions as the pro-
fessional trader in the stock market
has of basic values.
Prices Partly Warranted.
Taking the country as a whole,
think it safe to say that much of the
enhancement of values has been JUS
titled by the prosperity Of the people
The farmer in Ohio. whose land was
worth s35 an acre 10 years ago, is ac-
tually earning today by reason of the
high prices at which commodities are
now selling. a good return on the
present valuation of $50 an acre
Farm lands in Ohio, Kentucky, Dako.
ta. Massachusetts and Mississippi are
fully so per cent above what they
were in 1896. The craze has not rur
wild in most sections by any means
but no one can tell what excesses
might result - 1t continues to ex.
pand."
Changes Since 1900.
1t is noted that the census of 1906
estimated the value of farm real es
tate alone in the United States al
S16,614, 900. 900; a sudden rise of q
ceivable. would call for three billior
dollars in new capital for the purchas
ers.
No such general rise as this occur.
; or has occurred; but on the othel
hand, there are millions of acres o.
farm property which have latel!
risen, not 20 per cent, but so per cent
and which have been bought at thos'
prices on borrowed money.
= Besides, the 16 billions named abov'
do not include the enormous invest
ments in city lots and new building
in places such as st. Louis and Pitts
burg, where speculation has at time
lately been very wild. 1t does not in
clude suburban property, which IL
many instances, around New Yorl
and some other great cities has beei
" jumping 25 and so and 100 per cen
! this year.