The Washington herald., 1910-04-03

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sewers, water mains, and for the estab-
lshment of a gas plant and a street
railway. The cities are growing faster
than their councils and citizens can pro-
vide adequate facilities.
city Real Estate Values.
With this growth CT the cities there has
been a corresponding growth in wealth
as expressed in land values. The exam
pie of Regina serves to illustrate this.
The assessed value Of its taxable prop
erty in 1893 was $3.ll6,94S For 1910 it will
be about $l5,Oo0,0oO Besides park lands
owned by the city and city lots TO the
value of over sl.0OO0OO. Regina owns.
without debt, her city hail. which was
recently built at a cost of $150,000. One
nightly multiply indefinitely instances
.of remarkable increases in city real es-
tate values. but the following transac-
tons yesterday at Saskatoon is not at all
too extreme a case to cite:
In this case the Royal Bank of Canada
became the owner of fifty 'front.' feet in
about $4,000 The twenty-five-foo lots
represented in the deal were purchased
seven years ago for $3.50 and 1925, respec-
lively. One sold a year later for $3.50
The two resold a couple of years later
for $500. and the property now passes
into other hands for $40 per foot
Railroad Building Goes On.
The three transcontnental railroads
Canadian Pacific. Canadian Northern.
and Grand Trunk Pacific-are building
branches through the wheat provinces as
fast as the work can be pushed. The
prairie Of few years ago is beginning
to look like gridiron of railroads. A
new road is to be built this summer
from Edmonton north 10 the Athabasca
River and line Is about to be com
menced to connect Prince Albert with
Hudsons Bay. Interurban electric rail-
ways have not yet entered the field of
the Canadian West, but ore is now being
projected TO connect Regina and Moose
Jaw. about fifty miles apart. but with a
well developed farm country between.
With the established system of govern
ment guarantee of railroad bonds very
great railroad development is assured.
Investments Pay Well.
Seven. eight. and nine per cent invest
ments are to be had by reason of this
rapid advancement. Farm mortgages at
s. 3. and 10 per cent and city mortgages
al 7 per cent are not hard to find. Farm
mortgages usually are given by the am
bilious and successful farmer who de-
sires to extend the scope 0f his activities.
lie figures that he can readily afford &c
pay as high as 10 per cent for money
that will enable him TO buy additional
ground and implements from which TO
take from thirty-five TO forty bushels of
wheat per acre in single season.
That his judgment IS sound IS borne
out by the experience the loan companies
have with this form Of security Seven
per cent is readily obtained for any form
of loan on city property. II is unneces-
sary TO enumerate profitable .orms of in
vestment- The basic facts are that the
country is now rich. and growing richer
faster than any other section OF the
North American continent. and its peo-
pie are beginning to demand all the con
veniences and luxUries of an older COM
munity. Then there is almost unlimited
room for growth and the natural re-
sources Of the country are scarcely
known.
BRrOmeters and Thermometers
The banking of the Canadian west is
done almost entirely through branch
banks established by the large banking
institutions of the eastern provinces. In
charge OF these banks are shrewd man.
ayers, who come intimately into touch
with the conditions Of their surrounding
territories. They are at once the coun-
try's barometers and Thermometers. pre-
dieting with careful judgment the devel-
opment Of their various communities and
registering the wealth. In my talks with
several Of these gentlemen in each of the
principal cities from Port Arthur and
Fort William to Edmonton they all state
that business conditions were never more
satisfactory and never looked better for
the future than they do at present
The snow has entirely disappeared f-er
the prairies and for the past ten days the
thermometer has ranged daily between
IS and 90 degrees. Some spring sowing
has already commenced, but these bank
ers say that if the present weather con-
ditions continue for another week gen
eral sowing of the largest acreage of
wheat in the history Of the country will
have begun from two weeks to a month
earlier than is usually the practice.
Every indication points to an enormous
yield of wealth in 1910.