The Alaska daily empire., 1914-10-10
GARLSBAD
By Gertrude E. Mallette

uedllu NGeOAN pu NuS 4bpA AAfNAg ASeA it's influx with the Eger, about one hundred and sixteen miles north of Prague. Carlsbad's season" is from April to october and during that per iod 1t Is freQuented by the men of wealth of all nations.
 A correspondent familiar with the peculiar conditions in the Bohemian "spa" writes as follows; Whne 1t Is not probable that Carlsbad will suf- fer from the ravages of the invading armies, owing to It's secure position in the heart of Europe, the entire economic life of the place will be dis turbed to such an extent that the town will be practically dead so long as the war lasts. Perhaps there ia no other single city anywhere in Eur: ope absolutely dependent for its very existence on financial support from outside sources. There is no indus try of any kind in Carlsbad that is not directly connected with the springs of health.giving mineral waters, all though the surrounding district Is famous for its large chlne-ware, toy, lace and textile manufacturies,
 Certainly no place, not even At lantic City or the largest European seaside restorts, represents such an immense investment of capital as is tied up in Karlsbad subject to the good will and patronage of the well.t-do persons of every nationality. Aside from the fact that the town is com posed almost chiefly of large costly hotels that depend at best for their revenue on six months season of ac tivity, the amount tied up in such en' terprises is all the greater because of the relatively high land values.
 Karlsbad is situated in an extreme ly narrow valley in one of the foot hill ranges of the Ore mountains, about forty miles south of the Saxon border and the same distance to the east end of the Bavarian frontier. The gigantic hills of solid rock rising ab' ruptly from the banks of the river Tepl leave scarcely sufficient room for single narrow street, and Karls bad may be said to consist of sin gle avenue about two miles long. Since it would not be practicable to erect hotels at great distance from the springs, the available building space is usually limited. Traffic ele' yators and cogwheel railroads have made some of the hillsides suitable for hotels but the popularity of the Karls' bad "cures" has grown so fast that even these less accessible sites are worth fabulous prices.
 High rents are we'll enough when paying crowd of summer visitors can be expected. Without these visi tors they represent dead loss to the landlords. To give an idea of the artificial values, an old building on the Ate Wiese, the main street of Karlsbad, was sold recently for $250,' 900. The new owner of the site. in order to put it in shape for the cree tion of new hotel large enough to show a profit on the investment was compelled to excavate more than 4,O00 cubic feet of solid rock in the rear of the 6Ox1OO foot lot, thus adding sev' eral thousand dollars more to the or. iginal cost. The largest hotel in Karlsbad, is owned by an English Baron, and cost close to $2,0O0,0O0 to erect. The annual rental, which means for six months. paid by cafe on the main street is S6,OOO
 In addition to the hotels there are many outdoor cafes in and near Karls' bad that, owing to their attractive DO. sition and elaborate park surround ings, represent large investments. When 1t is considered that one of these open,air refreshment gardens serves as many as SO,OOO cups of coffee, tea and milk in a single day, at eighteen cents each, one can un. derstand why land values, even in these cases, are so high.
 The largest single property holder in Karlsbad is the city itself. The municipal government not only owns thousands of acres of well kept park woodlands, but deals extensively in city real estate as broker. The an. nual budget runs into the millions. Unlike most health resorts, Karlsbad operates all of it's bathhouses itself and the city administration is divided into more departments than are nec- essary even in a large city like New York. About the only concession that is farmed out is the right to ship the mineral waters and salts, the city's income from that source alone being more than $1O0,O00 a year.
 There is a district in Carload known as the West End" which depends almost entirely on English and Ameri- can custom. This is the most expen. sive neighborhood, and only the wealthiest visitors live in it's hand some villas. Every year foreign roy alty is entertained in this district and lesser lights than kings and arch dukes are so common that they are scarcely noticed.
 The city of Carlsbad, or Karlsbad, as it is known on the Continent, was founded by Charles the Fourth in 1S47 and was made free town by Joseph the First. Perhaps the cheif event which history has connected with Bo- hemia's fountain of health is the Con. gress of Carlsbad at which convened the ministers of Austria, Prussia and many small German states in August 1919 for the nnrnnse of discussing the