Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-08-06
REAL ESTATE BOOMS
PREC|P|TATE PAN|CS
Prominence OF Value of Realty Hinges
Upon Pcrmancncc of Basis
Creating That Naluc.

At the third annual convention Of
| the National association Of Real
Estate Exchanges. held in Minneapolis,
James Scott Of Winnipeg read the fol-
lowing interesting paper on real estate
booms, which usually preciptate
panics and sound the death knen to
many prosperous business establish
mcnt.
Land Is the basis OF all values. Land
hoOms are quite as different from a
steady appreciation Of land values as
can be imagined. Permanencc OF value
hinges upon permanence of the
basis which creates that value
Speculation I'm land values is as
old as history. We read OF King Ahab
ana his little deal which enabled him.
through the cooperation of his
shrewd and not prescriptions queen
Jezobcl, to add "A vineyarder's acres
10 his own domain. and Of Jacob with
tho help OF his mother. ma king the
greatest real estate SCOOP that the
world has ever known for so small
a consideration; but those were the
days before the real estate agent was
known. No such silly deal would ever
have been chronicled had the above
been listed with a real estate agent
So long as men strive for money, so
long VIII speculation In values con-
unue. Legitimate speculation H. not
MS immoral as some people picture Il.
and II is strange that real estate
critics, who are often the headn Of
large concerns, seldom ever express as
constituent AZ the phenomenal in
crease OF their own business. but are
quite lost In wonder when similar
increase in value takes place in real
estate 10 Is a subject that thev do
not understand and hence are natural
ly puzzled But my paper f. supposed
to treat OF land hOoms only These
may bo described as widely differing
from the speculation which seeks out
property and holds II FOR iucrea sed
value and sells at a profit The real
land boom, the kind which hinders
rather than promotes communitys
growth. rs tho carefully planned
scheme which would create e town
where nothing exists but tho land.
aud which has no natural resources
TO keep II alive.
one docs not need a very long
memory 10 recall the celebrated
Wichita boor1 I'm your own country
or that Of Winnipeg IN Canada. Tho
former occurred when tho Kansas
town was the center Of an activity
which attracted tho attention Of the
entire country. From a struggling VIZ
lagc Wichita became "a town Of thou
sands Of real estate boomers. lots sold
-
mail. and there ure hundreds ~ pco-
pie still living On the United states
who hold documentary evidence that
AZ one time they owned ono or moro
lots in Wichita The values were in
natcd bovond an reason and enrich
cd the boomers. who bought farm
land AT farm land prices. suhdivided II
into town lots and unloadcd them no
ITlces which made many ~ them
wealthy men. Tho inevitabl collapse
came Wichita dl1 not recover from
that disastrous boom for mHuy vcars
The Winnipeg boom. with which
am moro familiar began I'm 1881 when
the total populatlon Of that vast coun-
try extending west from the great
lakes to british Columhip was only
l22, 900. including Indians. Happily u
was OF short duration. as n COLLAPSED IN
March. 1851; but while IL lasted n
went through all tho different urada-
tions that entitled Il to bc clnssed as
ono OF tho greatest and navy ~
the remarks applied 10 tho Wichita Z
boom were applicable 20 a.
Sale by auction was tho favorlte |
mode of disU osinE Of town lots, specu- /
laiors preferring 10 buv IN blocks !
suhdividea into lots and let the auc- |
tioneer do tho rest.
There were MANY strange deals made |
previous 20 the commencement Of tho |
boom. which turned ont 20 be very /
profitable investments. one OF them |