Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-02-11

they come One jostles up against the
Spaniard and Parsee, the Jap and the
Yogi of India, the pagan and Christian, the
Jew and the Mohammedan. Down town, on
dozen streets. the throng surges by all
day, an endless procession, people, street
cars, automobiles. trucks. One crosses the
street at the peril of his neck A stranger
might imagine a circus was at the gates
or that the strenuous president of the
United States was a guest of the city.
Los Angeles Is a city of hills--very steep
and very picturesque, very beautiful
There is Bunker Hill. Crescent Heights and
Angels Flight. with long, level stretches
hills rising beyond hills and so on and on
for forty. square miles. Here the hills have
been left in their beauty as they came
from the hand of God. and not cut and
graded and dishgured, as was done I'm
Omaha. Just now they are talking Greater
Los Angeles, which would mean, ] sup
pose everything between here and the Pa
Cific ocean.
The whole country is network of cleo
trio roads, and still they are building more
Huntington has done most of this work
The city council and county commissioners
have been very prodigal granting perpetual
J franchises to him right and left until
realizing their mistake, of late they have
been limiting new franchises TO twenty-five
and thirty years, much TO Mr.. Huntington's
disgust. Mammoth hotels-and there are
hundreds of them-crown the crest Of the
! hills. commanding magnificent views.
| Winding roads lead up to these hosteries,
whore the ambitious tourist can develop
! his muscle and spare his purse. or for a
penny an electric lift will whirl him in a
jiffy to his dinner among the clouds.
Business of Soaking "sackers."
| Everywhere-in the cafe i'm the car, In
| the babble of voices that rise above the
! noise of the street-one hears of lots of
! investments, Of acreage and syndicates.
Real estate offices spring up like the frogs
| of Egypt and the property man, with his
| wares, dogs your steps like the villain IN
the play. You pause to listen to his glib
tale of a golden opportunity for you, and
| while you are delving into your pocket to
| dig UP the hard cash and gain a moment
for reflection. you are told that the bar
gain has been nabbed up and the price
advanced 80 per cent. You are vexed and
resolve to be more expeditions next time
And you are, alas! but then you are wiser
and have discovered the trick for making
new dollars, and making them quick We
have read much of late about frenziec
What Wall street is to finance Los An
geles is TO the realty market in a way
An agent buys up tract, charges the
original owner a good fat commission fol
selling the land TO himself, advances tn,
price from 50 to 100 per cent, forms a syn
dicate' sells the land TO Il, pocketing an
other big commission. proceeds to plat anC
subdivide the tract; charges another goot
round commission for directing this work
sells the lots TO eastern tourists-"suckers'
they call them here-getting another big
juicy slice for his services All the kerne
and a good share of the shell has beef
appropriated by this time and the sucke
is left in peaceful possession OF the res
u OF II, after he has footed all the bills
Little wonder that a number OF real es
tate men have made a million or so In tn
last year or two. The average agent is a
constituencies as an oyster and will lool
you in the eye and lie and lie again with
out the culver of an eyelash.
Land varies I'm price from 500 TO 500
per acre, according 20 locality and quality
Much Of this land is sandy. but will pro
duce good crops II there is plenty OF rain
Rain. however, is very scarce in southern
California, and as there are only Unite,
possibilities for irrigation, crops are fire
quently entirely out of the question owe
large areas. Now. l do not wish TO dis
parage the country. II is beautiful an,
the climate is most delightful and varied
from the braeing air OF the seaside to tn