The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-17
WRITER VIEWS
 SOUTH'S RICHES
Forbes Learns That Fortune Is
 Laid At Feet Of Many
By 2. c. FORBES

Most or us nave to go out anu searSn for fol tune. Many people, not hum dreds, but thousands and hundreds of thousands, have had fortune brought to their doors and laid at their feet. What do you think of this example? It was given me by the. Rev. Dr. Jacobs. the foremost minister of Houston.
 He lived for thirteen years in q home which cost nine thousand five hundred dollars. The site cost eleven thousand five hundred. At the end of thirteen years the church sold the property.
 The price received was sufficient to pay off the original cost of twenty-one thousand dollars, to pay the real estate agents fee of fifteen hundred dollars, to pay the minister's salary during the whole thirteen years and to leave sur plus of four thousand four hundred dollars. S \
 Major Van zandt, for many years the leading citizen of Fort Worth. pointed to the lobby of his bank and said:
 When I first came here you could into that lobby without crowding them. My COW pen was next to the spot where this building now stands. This same land is now worth over 5000 a front foot.''
 Colonel Robert Ewing, citizen of New Orleans for upwards of forty years ana the player of . most influential part in the rennaissance of this city, pointed out place after place where land, for merly worthless, had become yerita- ble gold mine for it's owners. Such land was not confined to the heart of the city. Places formerly outside the city area, places now enriched by the building of the industrial ship canal, as well as places lying farther afield. all had doubled, trebled, quadrupled in value during the last twenty years. \
 M. F. Foster, publisher of The Hous- ton, Chronicle, told me of having paid $24,0O0. for property for which he was which is now worth more than $2oo,000; also he paid down 5000 cash on $100,000 purchase on which the profit In one year was more than 200 per cent On this property now stands ten story building worth $800,000, housing merce and other large tenants.
 At different places in Florida one hears real estate records that sound like fairy tales; the waving of a wand brought unimagined gold pouring into the laps of the fortunate. Both on the east coast and on the west coast of this garden and playground, land svalues have risen dazzlingly. Mayor Alsop of Jacksonville drove us through both res- idential sections and business sections, where the owners have become richer and richer without exertion on their part. sE+
 Dallas has been growing at a faster pace than almost any other southern city, so that here, too, land has been turning to gold. I listened to an anil mated discussion among group of Texas bankers as to whether the dis covery of so many oil properties had been a good thing or bad thing for the state. Among those around the table were:
 MT. Wilkerson, president Continental National bank, Fort Worth; MT. Gus Taylor, president Citizens bank, Tyler; Mir. Mckinney, governor Federal Re- serve bank; Reese T. Allen, capitalist. Wichita Falls; MT. A. c. Thomas, vice president Continental National bank, Fort Worth; MT. McNaIly. vice presi- dent National Bank of Commerce, St. Louis; MT. Royal, Port Royal National bank, Palestine; John Sonor, attorney, Dallas; R. E. Harding, vice president Fort, Worth National bank, Fort Worth: Charles Carson, vice president Chemical National bank, New York; Bob Dupree, vice president Central Ma tional bank, Waco; W. E. Connell, pres ident First National bank. Fort Wort h 1; MT. Grace, president Texas Bankers as- sociation. s97s - .s
 One side argued that sudden riches had in most cases proved curse rather than blessing to the simple folks whose land had been found to contain oil. Also. that the wild, lightning like, springing up and expansion of oil cities had usually been followed by col lapse, carrying down banks, business concerns and others.
 Mighty few families can stand sud- den wealth." continued one banker, who had lived through the thick of an oil boom in his territory. Tt takes ex- perience to handle money so that 1t will help you and not hurt you. When a family bcct mes better off gradually and through hard effort, then there is a chance to learn how to handle money. But 1t is more than most individuals and most communities can stand to have, their whole mode of existence turned topsy turvy in hand clap"
 The other side claimed that, while some of these suddenly enriched might lose their heads. and some communi- ties be demoraiized' By the upheaval usually accompanying the discovery of rich oil field, the industrial benefits to the state had far more than counter- balanced such drawbacks.
 As always, while on a fact-seeking Journey of this kind, I preferred to lis ten, but was finally appealed to for an opinion. While recognizing the many unhappy consequences, flowing from sudden unearned riches, I favored the viewSth the bringing in of hundreds of millions of new and honest wealth was of economic value to the state and the nation as a whole. ....-
 What do you think k?-(Copyright, 1924, by B. c. Forbes). s3
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