The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-02-09
CHAPTER &Vt.--Continued.

IA You see, | give the value to the
n land by building the roads, Then
bell the land and get that value back
ri Rnd after that, there's the roads, all
u carrying folks back and forth and
earning big money. Can't lose. And
there's all sorts Of millions In 1t. I'm
#going to get my hands on some OF that
water front and the tide-lands. Take
Between where I'm going to build my
III bier and the old pier. It's shallow wa
Der. can fill and dredge and put In
a system Of docks that will handle
n hundreds of ships. San Francisco's
water front Is congested. No more
room for ships. With hundreds OF
ships loading and unloading on this
side right into the freight cars OF
three big railroads. factories will
# start up over here instead Of crossing
TO San Francisco. That means factory
sites. That means me buying In the
factory sites before anybody guesses
the cat is going to jump, much less,
which way. Factories mean tens OF
8sthousands OF workingmen and their
Nj miles. That means more houses
ard more land, and that means me-,
fpr I'll be there to sell them the land.
II Then there's the water. I'll come
pretty close to owning the watershed.
#Why not the waterworks too? There's
two water companies In Oakland now.
u lighting like cats and dogs and both
about broke. What a metropolis needs
Is a good water system, They can't
give 1t. They're stick-in-the.muds. I'll
81 gobble them up and deliver the right
N article to the city. There's money
y there. too-money everywhere. Every
thing works In with everything else.
u Each improvement makes the value Of
n everything else jump UP. It's people
II that are behind the value. The big
" ger the crowd that herds in one place,
he more valuable Is the real estate.
And this Is the very place for a crowd
TO herd. Look at 1t. Just look at II!
& You could never find q finer site for a
d great city. All It needs Is the herd,
and IN stampede a couple Of hundred
thousand people In here inside two
n years. And what's more, It won't be
one OF these wildcat land booms. 1t
win be legitimate. Twenty years
from 0 there'll be a million people
on this side the bay. Another thing
is hotels. There isn't a decent one In
the town. I'll build a couple Of up.to-
N date ones that'll make them sit up and
take notice. | won't care II they don't
pay for years. Their effect Will more
than give me my money back out OF
the other holdings. And, oh, yes, I'm
going to plant eucalyptus. millions of
them, on these hills"
But how are you going to do it?"
Dede asked. "You haven't enough
money for all that you've planned"
I've thirty million, and If | need
more ! car borrow on the land and
other things. Interest on mortgages
wont anywhere near eat up the In
crease in land values, and I'll be sell.
Ing land right along"
II In the weeks that followed, Day.
hgnt was a busy man. 1t meant quick
~ork on a colossal scale. for Oakland
and the adjacent country was not
allow to feel the tremendous buying,
but Daylight had the ready cash and
u had always been his policy to
strike quickly. Before the others
could get the warning Of the boom. he
quietly accomplished many things. At
the same time that his agents we're
purchasing orne lots and entire
CLOCKS In the heart OF the business
section and the waste lands for fac.
tory sites, Daylight was rushing fran
chtses through the city council. cap
turing the two exhausted water com.
4 panles and the eight or nine inde-
pendent street railways, and getting
MS grip on the Oakland Creek and
the bay tide.lands for his dock system
tide.lands had been In litigation
LOT years, and he took the bull by the
horhs-buying out the private owners
ana at the same time leasing from the
eity fathers, By the time that Oak
and was aroused by this unprecedent
90 activity In every direction and wal
questioning excitedly the meaning Of
y daylight secretly bought the chief
~Sepablisan newspaper and the chief
democratic organ, and moved boldly
'oIo his new offices. OF necessity. they
we're on a large scale, occupying four
soors OF the only modern office build
ing IN the town--the only building
mar wouldn't be torn down later on.
daylight put 1t. There was de