Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1926. AN AMAZING BOOM

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 18, 21 July 1926, Page 8

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1926. AN AMAZING BOOM

"We have a population of 1,200,----000," said-the Governor of Florida in October last, ""but can support 40,000,000," and he prophesied that about a quarter of that number would be there in-ten or fifteen years' time. But the 450,000,000 dollars of Northern capital that had been invested in Florida land in 1924, with the addition of perhaps 400,000,000 dollars more during the first nine months of last year, were already making provision for a population half as large again as the maximum mentioned by Governor Martin. The land which had been plotted and staked out for. sale or sold for subdivision was estimated at 20,000,000 lots. With a house on each lot and three persons to each house, room would thus be made for a population of 60,----000,000, or more than half the present population of the United States —a fairly liberal allowance for a State of exactly the same size as the South Island of New Zealand. Yet the faith of the good people of Florida and of the thousands whom the boom was attracting from all parts of the Union was not shaken. Criticising a cartoon which represented Miss Florida blowing Bubbles from a large "real estate" bowl, the "Florida Times-Union" remarked: The only thing wrong about the picture is that the Florida bubbleß aM not of the bursting-kind. . . Florida is substantial; Florida is safe. The confidence of a patriotic member of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce was still more convincing. To the question,"How long will the Florida boom last!"his reply was: "Aslong as the sun shines, the birds sing, and the children laugh and play!'' Yet even nine months ago there were less poetically-minded authorities who did not regard the sub-tropical sunshine of Florida or the song of her birds or the laughter of her children as a sufficient security for the interest on a mortgage or for instalments of unpaid purchase money, and strongly counselled caution. No one knows what property is worth, said two . official observers from Ohio. . Most of the people who are buying property in Florida at present do not expect to work the land or to live in Florida. The conditions are.abnormal because it is a boom. .No one knows how a -boom starts; when it gets started, no . one can control it, and no one knows when it will stop. Real estate men and bankers agree everywhere that the trick is to get out before the period of readjustment arrives. Within six months after the expression of the opinions we have quoted the process of "readjustment" was in full swing. On the Ist June the "Times" reported the liquidation of the Ameri-can-British Improvement which had promoted the Floranada Club between Palm Beach and Miami. The liabilities were over 8,500,000 dollars, against assets of 2,500,000 dollars, and the failure of the enterprise was attributed to "the subsidence of speculative enthusiasm all over Florida." In other words, the slump had begun all over Florida. The extent to which it has now developed was shown by our message from Atlanta on Friday, reporting the failure of 49 banks in the adjoining State of Georgia, and the possibility that the number may reach 120. It is clear that scores of Southern bankers have been wiser in giving advice to others than in standing from under themselves. It is the equable climate and the unfailing sunshine, the soft air, and sea beaches- of Florida that have, especially since the AVar, made this State an American Riviera, and to these natural advantages it has added what is for the wealthy the magnifieant privilege of exemption from inheritance taxes and income tax —a privilege which has actually been secured by incorporation in the Constitution of tho State. More than 1,250,000 tourists —a number exceeding the population of Florida —visited the State during the year ending July last, spending an estimated average of nearly 1000 dollars each. As the traffic was steadily increasing, it was considered by a competent authority to be "not inconceivable that 3,000,000,000 dollars will be left in Florida in the year ending July, 1926." In so far as the3o visitors are genuine tourists they represent a golden stream which will not be checked by the collapse of the land boom, but our authority makes no attempt to estimate the proportion that should be assigned to intending residents and speculators attracted by the most splendidly advertised boom on record. In passing, we may note that

the extent of that advertising and some of its implications may be inferred from the fact noted about a year ago by the New York "Nation," that the lead in advertising space was held not by any of the great papers of New York, Chicago, or Detroit, but by the "Miami Times," a paper published in a Florida city with a population which in 1920 had not reached 30,000, and even last year was 20,000 less than that of Wellington. For nearly ten years it has been a standing joke in the United States that Florida was putting California's nose out of joint by displacing that State's position as the great winter resort and the playground of the wealthy American. But another record which California had held for nearly 80 years has now been broken by her southern rival. In its effect both on wealth and population California's gold rush of 1849 has been completely eclipsed by Florida's gold rush of 1925. In ten years from the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1849 California's gold product amounted to 600,000,000 dollars, and her population had increased from less than 30,000 to 600,000. But from the figures already cited it can be seen that this performance has been dwarfed by that of Florida. For the bullockwagon and the sailing ship, the steamer, the Pullman car, the finely upholstered limousine, and many a ramshackle automobile carrying its owner's household goods have been substituted. It has been a less picturesque and less dangerous trek than its predecessor, but the science which made it more rapid has also made it far more effective. The ■ limits of space will hot permit a dotailcd comparison of the figures, but a single example must suffice to illustrate the astonishing pace at once of speculation and of permanent improvement. The Davis Islands, near Tampa, as photographed in their natural state, look very like a section of the Porirua estuary at half-tide, except, that they are cut off from the mainland by an arm of the sea. These islands have now been connected with the city of Tampa by a bridge and causeway, and in the New York "Nation" on 17th February, Mr. Chester C. Piatt thus describes the other results achieved:— Started only two years ago, the development here has gone forward with wonderful speed. Three million dollars' worth of sand-made lots are said to have been sold, the first day the subdivision was opened, and 12,000,000 dollars worth have been - sold since. A customer who bought an 8000-dollar lot sold it to a friend of mine at a profit. The latter recently visited the islands and called, somewhat impatiently, at the sales office, with the inquiry: "When can I see my lot?" "We will get that lot pumped up within thirty days," was the encouraging reply. But Davis Islands has already completed one of the largest casinos in the State and two large apartment houses. Two hundred Spanish residences have been built. A yacht clubhouse, a country clubhouse, and-a magnificent 2,000,000-dollar hotel are being constructed. Lots sold on Davis Islands originally, at from 6000 dollars to 10,000 dollars. The subdivision was all disposed of several months ago, and now there are many re-sales at prices ranging from 20,000 dollars to 60,000 dollars. The collapse of the boom is, of course, causing great distress not only in Florida but in the neighbouring Stateß and, indeed, all over the Union. But when the wreckage has been cleared away there will remain for Florida herself a permanent endowment of roads, bridges, drainage, harbour improvements, and other public works for which she might otherwise, as the "Manchester Guardian" suggests, have had twenty years to wait.