The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-01-07
MAY BRING RUN TO CARLSBAD.
Resort Depends Absolutely on Tour
iSt Trade.

will feel the effects Of the present
war more acutely than Carlsbad, ac-
cording to a man living in this city
who is familiar with the peculiar
conditions of Bohemian spa, says a
London dispatch to the Register and
Leader. While it is not probable
that Carlsbad will suffer from the
ravages of an invading army owing
to it's secure position in the heart
heart of Europe, the entire economic
life of the place will be disturbed to
such an extent that the town will be
practically dead so long as the war
lasts. Perhaps there is not another
single city anywhere in Europe so
absolutely dependent for its very ex-
istence on financial support from out
side resources. There is no industry
of any kind in Carlsbad that is not
connected directly with the springs
of health-giving mineral waters, al
though the surrounding district is
famous for it's large chinaware, toy,
lace and textile factories.
Certainly no place, not even At
lantic City or the largest European
seaside resorts, represents such
large investment of capital as is tied
up in Carlsbad subject to the good
will and patronage of well-todo per-
sons OF every nationality. Aside
from the fact that the town is COM
posed almost exclusively of large
costly hotels that depend at best for
their revenue on a six months sea-
son 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 Noun
tains. about forty miles south Of the
Saxon border and the same distance
to the east coast of the Bavarian bor-
de-.
Consists of Single Street.
The gigantic hills of solid rock
rising abruptly from the banks Of
the River Tepl scarcely leave suffi-
cient room for single narrow
street on either side. and Carlsbad
may be said to consist Of single
street about two miles long. Since
it would not be practicable to erect
hotels at a greater distance from the
springs, the available building space
is unusually limited. Traffic eleva-
tors and cogwheel 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.
High rents are we'll enough when
paying crowd of summer visitors
can be counted on. Without these
visitors they represent a dead loss to
the landlords. To give an idea of
these artificial values an old build
ling on Alte Weise, the main street
Of Carlsbad, was sold recently for
S25O,000. The new owner of the
site, in order to put it in shape for
| the erection of a new hotel large
enough to show a profit on the In
vestment, was compelled to excavate
more than 1000 cubic yards of SOL
id rock in the rear of the 6OX1OO
foot lot, thus adding several thous-
and dollars more to the original
cost. The largest hotel in Carlsbad
which, by the way, is owned bN~an
English baron, cost close to S2,O0O,-
900 to erect. The annual rental,
which means for six months, paid
by a cafe not on the main street is
$4,000.
Many Outdoor Cafes.
In addition to the hotels there are
| many outdoor cafes in and near
Carlsbad that, owing to their park
surroundings, represent large invest
ments. When it is considered that
one of these open-air refreshment
gardens serves as many as $4,000
portions of coffee. tea and milk in a
single day at 1Sc each. one can under
stand why land values even in these
cases are so high.
The largest single property holder
in Carlsbad is the city. The munl-
cipal government not only owns
thousands of acres Of we'll kept park
woodlands, but deals extensively in
city real estate as a broker. The
annual budget runs into millions.
| Unlike most health resorts, Carlsbad
operates all of its bath houses it.
self and the city administration is
divided up into more departments
than are necessary even in large cit
les like New York. About the only
! concession that is farmed out is the
| r;pht to shin the mineral waters and