Arizona republican., 1920-01-01
BUILDING IN PHOENIX
 PASSES ALL RECORDS
 1873 |S REMARKABLE

| s"There has never been a time in the history of Phoenix when many houses have been built regardless of the almost prohibitive cost" said F. w. Griffen, president of the chamber of | commerce. in discussing the rapid strides which Phoenix has made in | building during the year 1919. Every
 one knows that the town is growing as
 never before, and if anyone douhts, let him go to the office of the county recorder. where from 20 to 30 real
 estate deeds are handled in day now. as compared with four or five two and three years ago."
 Mir. Griffen was most optimistic over 1 the growth which has been made, and estimates that in 1925 the city will have population of 10O, 900 people. He called particular attention to the growth in that portion of the down town district bounded by First and Seventh avenues, Washington and
 Monroe streets, where more than halr million dollars worth of construction is in course at the present time, he says.
 Tn addition to the dwelling houses which are being sold as fast as they can be built" continued Mir Griffen we must look back over the year and
 remember tfie new hotel, the new
 Heard building, the country club, the centralization here of the business of the Babbitt company, and other things which have either been definitely planned or actually set under way. The packers of the new country club will have invested between $150,0O0 and s175,000 when it is finished, and it will be something we all can be proud of. It is something which we have needed for long time.
 Paving is of course being continued at a rapid rate. The success of the recent Y. M. c. A. campaign is another evidence of prosperity. New money is being invested in banks, as witnessed by the reports issued the other day from the National Bank of Arizona and from the Central bank. A new bank the Commercial National, is coming in That is the greatest feature of the year, to me. the large investments which have been made by outside capitalists.
 Land values have gone skyward, o1 course. On January 2S, 1916, for in- stance, so acres of land near Peoria sold for S60 an acre. Last week it was re-sold in smaller tracts at $500 an acre. That is an increase of S33 per cent. I know that there are pessimists who are looking for a slump, and al- though values now hinge on cotton, I don't think there will be slump. I believe that day is past when a dollar will buy a bit more than it will buy today, at the close of 1919
 Cotton, of course is practically king. l think everyone should be con- servative, and instead of making in- vestments with so cent cotton in view make them figuring cotton at 50 cents a. pound for next year. Then anything above that will be an agreeable sur prise.
 Another thing I think we s1ould look forward to is the elimination of disastrous floods such as the last one by building dams on all the wateO< sheds of the valley. We can irrigate twice as much land as we do at present by the conservation of water
 T am optimistic as can be over fu- ture prospects. We mustn't 20 crazy. but there is certainly every excuse for optimism"
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