The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-06-23

The national associations Of real estate
men meet in Detroit today for the con-
sideration of problems which confront the
dealer in Mother Earth One Of these is
that of how TO sell property. one might
conclude. after reading the advertisements
which appear every day in this newspa-
per, that the problem had been solved.
But the real estate man wants still fur
Their to improve He is after business
and the more he gets the more he wants.
So he has gone TO Detroit TO undergo
careful intrOspectiOn in order that he may
discover just where and what are his
shortcomings. The sale of property on
the installment plan viii be carefully con-
sidered, as well as the hundred and one
other questions which relate TO the sue
cessful management of d real estate bust
ness.
Uncle Sam is a pretty nifty owner Of
real estate. In fact his holdings Of real
~ are greater in value than the entire
wealth OF any other nation When the
census bureau experts took stock of his
realty holdings in 1875 they found their
aggregate value to be more than S62tt0,-
100000 This is approximately equal to the
aggregate wealth Of John Bull. 1t is more
than the total wealth of France, and
greater than that of Germany. 1t is near
ly double the total wealth of Russia, and
equal to that OF all the rest of Europe
taken together. If the ratio Of growth
of realty values has been as great since
1904 as il was from 1900 TO 1904 the forth
NDtAAllib ttlteQS viii Ltc4tt tllt AOAal FdAltt
in 1910 at something like Si5,OJ0.0 600 90. The
same ratio would make the total wealth
Of the nation at that time about SlO,-
GO, coo.
Four dollars a square inch stands as
the worlds record price for real estate.
II was made in New York a few years
ago when plot of ground on Wall street
sold for 5000 square foot. Even Lon
don cannot boast Of any such figure,
its best record being under $500 a square
foot Paris, Berlin and the other great
cities Of Europe even come below the
London mark. In a number Of the cities
Of the country men have seen realty val
ues rise many thOusanCfOld. Men are
living in Chicago now who were living
when they might have bought property
by the acre for almost what it now sells
for per foot.
The principal cities of the United States
show remarkable growth of assessed land
value in the twO-year period of 1906-190S-
New York leads with an increase amount
ing 10 S9S3,SOS.544 Chicago comes next
with an increase amounting to S256.645. i3J.
Other cities follow i'm the order named:
PittsburE, having increase her area from
p square miles to about 40 square miles,
S243,S20 .2l9; st. Louis, S91,549,995; Cleveland.
So 459, go; Philadelphia. 81 .S23. 40; Balti-
more, S65,52o.96S; Boston, $40 900; De
troit, $50. ESQ., go; Buffalo, S21,5l7.2l5. 1t IL
claimed that no foreign city in the world
shows such rapid increase in land values
as is shown by some in the foregoing
list
The real estate association of Seattle
not long ago made d very valuable series
of Investigations into realty conditions in
the cities of the world, the result of which
showed that the highest price per front
foot recorded in Baltimore is S4000, and
in Atlanta, $500. although Baltimore has
four times the population Of Atlanta Sc
attic, with a population now comparable
to that Of St Paul, shows a front foot
record Of $500, as compared with 81 $50
for St. Paul Rome, Italy, with a pOpu-
latiOn equal to that of San Francisco, |
shows a front foot record of S24, while
San Francisco shows $1,000. 1t has been
the experience of many cities that every
thousand added to the population in
creases realty values in the business dis
trict about So to SIC per front foot, al
though the population of some cities has
swollen 10000 without increasing residen-
tal district values a single dollar.
1t was long thought that the shyscraper
got the drop on the little building by
its side, injuring its value as it was over
lowered. But real estate men know the
opposite to be true The menace of the
little building being replaced by a sky
scraper IS always present in the mind Of
the skyscraper owner, and usually the
owner of the little building names his
own price when he gets ready to sell.
In some instances where there are two
high buildings to be erected on either side
of a low one, the capitalists financing
the two will pool interests and acquire
the low structure, holding it in perpetuity
TO prevent the erection of a high build
ing on its site. 1t is said that there are
many instances where the razing Of a
little building adjacent to a sl1ysCraper
and the erection of a tall building there
on would serve to cut down the earn
ing capacity Of the skyscraper at least
a third. owing to the cutting off of light
and air.
Men often think of the treatment &C
corded the Indian by the white man as
having been unjust Some one has fig
uTed that If the money that was paid to
the Indians for the island of Manhattan ,
had been carefully compounded at per
cent interest it would now equal the pres
ent assessed value of the island. 1t is