The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1925-09-21
They Should Know

a Los Angeles newspaper Is telling Florida how
booms react. Having witnessed several Of the
hectic kind the Pacific coast, Californian can
qualify an expert booms, their rise and fail.
The home Of tn" 1909 boom has for sometime been
on the Pacific coast. Recently rival for the hon
of precipiHtng real noisy, super heated boom
comes forward in Florida.
The Los Angeles Times doubtless has noted i
trend of the tourist travel away from sun kisSc |
California to h" pcnnsuar state 1t hascns to
give some very good advice boomS and thcii
reactions
As expert opinion booms gathered from
decades OF actual experience, the editorial is here
with reproduced in hopes that some may find So.acc
warning in its admonitiCns:
After visiting Florida recently pronincn;
Omaha merchant, head of the Retail Association
of that city, in an interview in the Omaha Evening
Bee, warned the people of Nebraska not to invest
their money in the Peninsular state. An the
crooks, graers and reaestatc sharks Of the coul
try, said this trus; worthy informant, have nockch
to Florida. If one does business with them he is
likely to find that he has been trimmed. While
trains coming into Miami crowded, it i'm.
possible to get accommodations the trains Leaving
Miami There are more people leaving the city thar
coming ill.,. The merchant said further that living
costs high in Florida land values out of sigh
and work
'This is but one in hundreds of recent report
of the land boom in Florida. Felix lsman, one OF
the best known real-estate of New York, had
an article in the Saturday Evening Post telling of
the frenzied state Of affairs in which land specu-
lators had cleaned up millions of dollars at the
expense Of many innocent investors and warning
the public against this method of land7buying
1T is extremely regrettabe that Florida, beau.
tful State with mild climate and splendid natural
those demoralizng eXperiences-a land boom, Fo:
it is the history of all such fictitious, ephemcral
and misleading indications of prosperity that they
react terribly upon the community, giving it name
for false promise and unfair dealing from which it
may not recover for many years. Victims go abroad
spreading tales Of decetfu lures and grievous
losses which put the locality the blacklist OF
the homeseeker and him to settle almost any
where in the place where many have been
badly stung.' 1t is injurious to those who remain,
for they must live through the parlous years of
reaction, adjustment to lower standards and srenu-
Gus efforts to get back to normal state of AFFAIR."
One Of the keenest of the growing pains of Los
Angeles the boom of 1887 which for years re.
tarded the substantial development of the city in Il
way which the old timers recall with shudder.
There is much difference between land boom
and the solid development which Los Angeles has
enjoyed during the last five years there is be
tween house Of cards and house of granite.
wild speculation is thing safe and sound
investment is another. The Wallingford stuff, with
its horid prospectuses and its inflated values. is not
the foundation upon which real prosperity is built.
No community afford to risk the inevitable re-
action that follows like blight every soaring land
boom. Short OF far-sweeping tidal wave, one OF
the worst things that could have happened to Florida
is the present boom for, when it collapses col
lapse it must and soon, it will leave ruin in its
wake and turn many of the friends OF the State to
foes
s"From that sad condition of affairs Florida will
rally rise and prosper. But there is bound to be a
period, and probably long and narrowing one in
which she will suffer the effects Of the present in
nation Land values cannot be boosted to such alb
surd levels as $4,000 to $4,000 a front foot in
city like Miami with only $4,000 popuation, with
out subsequent collapse. But after passing
through the purgatory of depression, Miami and the
other boom cities of Florida doubtless will return
to their normal state. And this is devoutly to
he hoped for as the present situation is to be de
plored."