Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-09-28
CarSbad is Hard
Hit by the War

| Press dispatches say there are !
few cities in Europe that will feel the |
effects of the war more acutely than !
Carlsbad, according to man living |
in this city, who is familiar with the
peculiar conditions of that Bohemian
spa. While it is not probable that
Carlsbad will suffer from the raw
! ages of an invading army, owing to
/ its secure position in the heart of
Europe, the entire economic life of
the place will be disturbed to such
an extent that the town will be prac-
tically dead so long as the war lasts.
Perhaps there is not another single
city anywhere in Europe so absolute
ly dependent for it's very existence
on financial support from outside
sources. There is no industry of any
kind in Carlsbad that is not connect
ed directly with the springs of health
giving mineral waters, although the
surrounding district is famous for its
large chinaware, toy lace and textile
factories.
Certainly no place, not even Allan
tic City or the largest European sea-
side resorts, represents such large
investment of capital as is tied up in
Carlsbad subject to the good will and
patronage of well-to-do persons of
every nationality. Aside from the
fact that the town is composed al
most exclusively of large, costly ho-
tells that depend at best for their
revenue on a six months season of
activity, the amount tied up in such
enterprises is all the greater because
of the relatively high land values.
Carlsbad is situated in an extremely
narrow valley in one of the foothill
ranges of the Ore Mountains, about
forty miles south of the Saxon bor-
der and the same distance to the east
of the Bavarian frontier.
The gigantic hills of solid rock
rising abruptly from the banks of
the River Tepl scarcely leave suffi-
) cient room for single narrow street
l on either side, and Carlsbad may be
S said to consist of a single street
about two miles long. Since it would
not be practicable to erect hotels at
e a great distance from the springs, the
2 available building space is unusually
, limited Traffic elevators and cog
y wheel railroads have made some of
the hillsides suited for hotels, but
the popularity of the Carlsbad
cures" has grown so fast that even
these less accessible sites are worth
fabulous prices.
A High rents are well enough when
! a paying crowd of summer visitors
can be counted on. Without these
visitors they represent dead loss to
the landlords. To give an idea oi
these artificial values, an old build
ing on Alte Wiese, the main street oi
= Carlsbad was sold recently for $780,
Z 600. The new owner of the site, in
u order to put it in shape for the cree
. ton of a new hotel large enough tc
. show a profit on the Investment, was
compelled to eXcavate more thai
1000 cubic yards of solid rock il
L the rear of the 60x100-foot lot, thus
e adding several thousand dollars more
to the original cost The largest no
n tel in Carlsbad, which, by the way
y is owned by an English baron, cos
II close to $2,000,000 to erect. Thu
annual rental, which means for si
d months, paid by a cafe not on thu
IS main street, is $4,000.
" In addition to the hotels there ar,
many outdoor cafes in and nea
n Carlsbad that, owing to their attrac
IS tive surroundings, represent large in
vestments. When it is considere,
lg that one of these open-air refresh
a ment gardens serves as many as so,
a. 900 portions of coffee, tea and mill
A. in a single day at Is cents each, on
Of can understand why land values eve
" in these cases are so high.
n The largest single property holde
j. in Carlsbad is the city. The munici
pal government not only owns thou
sands of acres of well-kept par
woodlands, but deals extensively i