Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-03-20

reason In the Rogue River Valley
and, strange as it may seem, it has
permeated into the editorial sanctum
of the Medford Mail Tribune. Up to
a few weeks ago anyone who dared
in the least to insinuate that real
estate property had any limit to it's
value was a knocker, a traitor of the
deepest die and had not ought to be
permitted to live an hour in the
valley or out of it. When conserva-
tism was preached the men who
preached it were driven out of the
commercial clubs CT the valley, and
the man who did not declare that
the immediate future was going to
/ see great advances in value was not
only fool but double-dyed viii
vain. How great the change, then,
when the Medford Mail Tribune can
| give place to an editorial like the
! following:
WHATS THE MATTER WITH
OREGON-ONE THING.
Oregon and the northwest are
suffering from the effects of land
speculation. The era of rapid devel-
opment of the past decade attracted
in its wake a flock of spectators,
whose contribution to prosperity
consisted in initiating values.
iC AA,htf,,1 g
gambling is harder upon a country
than land gambling. 1t upsets and
unsettles communities. Given a
touch of the get-rich-quick magic of
buying on margins today to sell at
an advance tomorrow and the indi-
vidual is spoiled for the humdrum
life of toll.
Land speculation is the same in
theory, farther reaching in results,
as faro, roulette, poker and other
games of chance. 1t not only demor-
allies the individual, but the COM
munity as well. 1t retards rather
than builds up, creates a fictitious
base and supplants plodding devel-
opment with feverish expectancy and
anticipation, hectic flush that
counterfeits real health.
Land speculation not only with
draws individuals from useful pro-
duction, but also land. No perma-
nent prosperity can be built upon
the process of swapping property,
increasing valuations or stalking out
town lots. The citizen who lives by
a raise in the price of property due
to the growth of the community full
fills no useful part in the commun-
ity's existence-is simply a parasite
upon it.
Initiation of land values is simply
trying to discount today the develop
ment of tomorrow The speculator
is trying to cash in advance the in
dustry and enterprise of the next
decade or two. His contribution to
society is no more beneficial than
that of any other gambler.
Productive wo-l. is the real basis
of prosperity. Land is worth just
what 1t can be made to produce.
Without labor it is unproductive and
therefore valueless to the commun-
ity. No one is entitled to more than
he creates, but everyone is entitled
to all that he creates. But what
does the speculator create?
Every section has to go through
the land speculative era-sometimes
several succeeding speculative crazes.
After artificial initiation has had its
day, there is always the reaction
the period of depression-and the
community is then in much better
shape, much healthier, much sound
er. When the artificial initiation has
been squeezed and people cease try
ing to live without labor, cease dis
/ counting the future and get down
to brass tacks,' quit grating and go
to work, then the community has an
assured future-and the sooner it
realizes this, the better.
The entire Pacific coast country
is going to have a phenomenal de-
velopment during the next decade,
following the completion of the
Panama canal, the San Francisco ex-
position and the railroad and high
way development in prospect. But
care should be exercised in every
community to make prosperity per-
manent by preventing land specula-
tion and initiation, that the future
may not be too fast discounted and
that there may be no prolonged
period of depression following"
This is what the Tidings has been
advocating for months; that the only
permanent value of land was based
upon its earning capacity-not its
selling price. The writer struck
Ashland, Wis. 25 years ago, just af-
ter a speculative boom bursted. A
friend in the real estate business
was asked what caused the COLLAPSE
ara replied with n twinklino ava