The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-12-30
IN HANDS OF RING
ARTIFICIAL VALUE GIVEN WASH.
INcToN REAL ESTATE.
Government 90 Well as Residents Is
Compelled to Submit to the Ex-
tortions Of the Owners
Of Property.

f
There is no doubt that real estate
ring holds Washington by the throat.
Houses have been known to stand idle
in Washington for two years at a
stretch because the owners would not
reduce the rent to a fair price. In
the end 1t Is probable that the price
will be got by the owner. Homeseek.
ers are not the only sufferers in this
respect. The people Of the whole
country are pouring thousands OF dol.
lars into the pockets OF the real estate
ring in Washington every year In pay.
ment OF rents for government offices.
Shelllike buildings, such as the cen.
sus Office. are frequently made to pay
for themselves in the course of four
or five years, after which the profit
to the owner is simply enormous. The
government now, despite the growing
number of its buildings, is paying
annual rentals which net per cent
100000. The total value of every
building in Washington now occupied
by a government Office, including the
ground upon which 1t stands, Is not
worth one-third of this amount. If II
were not for the government 1t is
more than probable that the owners
of many of these buildings would
have to scrape the town for tenants
at q much reduced rental and In
some instances the buildings would
never have been erected at all and
the ground upon which they stand
would be vaacnt lots.
There is still another angle to the
real estate ring in Washington. A
bridge and its approaches cost in ex
neighborhood of the geological park
which connected wide break in Con
necticut avenue, fashionable resi-
dence street. due to ravine. The
bridge and its approaches cost in ex
cess of $1,O0O,O0O. On the city end
of the bridge. previous to its con
struction, the piece of property con.
formed to the usual high prices
which prevail all over Washington
On the suburban end. where, up to
that time, no houses stood, the prices
were comparatively moderate. Since
the building Of the bridge large
tracts of property lying on the
further end of the bridge and along
Connecticut avenue for several miles
out have been found in wellknown
hands in Washington, and the prices
asked are so far in advance of what
this land could have been bought for
"a tn
tion, What was the bridge built for
anyway"
There are other ways OF gouging
money out OF householders In Wash.
ington, but IL would be a long story
to recount them. There are associa-
tions among practically all the trades,
which meet frequently and fix prices,
each sort of local trust In itself.
This is not n situation peculiar to
Washington by any means, but 1t Is
system carried to a higher degree
of perfection, without interference.
than In any other city 1t has been
said jocularly. but there is really
serious side to the story, that when
child is born in Washington the as
sociations meet, give him local
financial rating, which is changed
from time to time, and before the
youngster Is able to talk his pros
pective earnings from the cradle To
the grave have been divided an
among the trades of Washington. Ex.
perience would seem to indicate that
the story Is not all fiction.--Ex-
change.