THE OREGON SUNDAY ; JOURNAL POftTLANtv SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20, 1913.'
M.'!i2l.iUX!
ACOUSTIC IDEAS IN
iFROMTABERHACLE
Famous Mormon Structure at
Salt Lake Studied- by : Lee
1 De Camp, Architect for the
''ff All outside'..: scaffolding hiding ths
; tiew Empress theatre at Seventh and
r Yamhill : streets will be removed in a
ff day or so and .the handsome ' $$78,000
J show house will shine In all its ivory
beauty on the site which has been
k , bustling with the ; excitement of eon
o atructlon work for the past year, The
new theatre is far nearer completion
' : than revealed by a casual glance from
the street, and It la now certain that
, M playhouse will be reaay for its first
show March' 1.- '
-I The heating and ventilating plant of
the theatre en oil systems-was. com
V4 pleted several weeks ago, and the plant
.'has been In operation day and night
I . in the process of drying the treatre for
31the decorators. All the plaster and
jty"stucco work is in place and the decora
ot tors will begin their task tomorrow,
M the interior scaffolding . being left
,i standing for that purnose.Jk feature-of
. . L- - a . .... II I ' . ... .
if " siucco jneutiiea in me new ineaire
is that, it is all molded and not sawed
:; to fit, as is usually the casa Every
W . KU . . - I i . . . m
i Mil oi . stucco , dm Deen insiauea, ana
, because of the molding system followed
' not a single rough edge protrudes In
any of the wall or celling decorations.
The decorative colors to be used
throughout the -theatre -will be Ivory,
gold and. tan, and these hues will pre-
dominate in all the embellishments,
, from the lower floor to the highest
point in the gallery. The 30 boxes are
V, complete and In .their three colored
'beauty shine as f particularly bright
spots in the rising playhouse. It "Is
. expeoted that the Interior decorating
will be complete within 15 days. Then
, the interior scaffolding will be removed
In readiness for installation of seats,
. -'-.scenery and other theatre paraphernalia
r which is all stored pending completion
I of work by the decorators. The mural
decorations are painted on canvas and
will be placed on the walls as they are
received from tha artist.
The acoustic orooertles of the new
v1 Empress have been pronounced perfect
by Lee De Camp, architect and builder,
'wno naa emnooiea pians louowea in
the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City in the
.construction of the Sullivan & Const
dine theatre here. Before undertaking
construction of the Empress Mr. De
Camp made a long study of the souna
qualities of the famous Mormon audi-
. tortum.
,,; , Mnrhlo wIM ppffn In,, tha, new TTCmprfHB
from the lowest floor to the highest
All the wainscoting Is of marble, four
feet high, and the heavy, highly pol
, ished material will border every stair
way In the theatre.
The seating capacity of the new Em
press will be 2000, and the seats have
' been designed to vary In width from
, 20 inches to 22 Inches. All will be up
holstered. "
' H. W. Pierong, manager of the Em
press, left for Seattle Friday night on
business in connection with completion
of the theatre.
Probably within a year the members
of tha Irvlngton club, at East Twenty
first and Thompson streets, will be m
a handsome new building, to take the
place of the present clubhouse. Plans
for the raising of a fund with which to
build this structure have already been
discussed, and at the annual meeting of
the members last week, when officers
were elected, it was announced that
$250 had already been received to be
used as a nucleus for the fund.
- The present clubhouse Is said to be
too small for the club's needs, and with
an added membership of 120, for which
a campaign -has- beeiu atarteiL-amuch
larger building will be necessary.
While only a general Idea of a plan
of the proposed new building has been
outlined, it is stated that the club will
cover more ground than the old build
ing, and will be probably a story high
er. Everything will bo most modern,
and will be one of the big features on
(the .east side of the river.
FEDERAL OWNED POSTAL
TELEGRAPH SERVICE URGED
(United Prest Leaeed Wire.)
'. Sacramento, Cal., Jan. 25. The Cali
fornia assembly went on record today as
favoring the establishment of a govern
ment owned postal telegraph system to
be operated in connection with the mail
service, wnen it adopted a Joint resolu-
: tlon requesting congress to enact such
legislation.
The memorial sets forth that the gov
ernment could undoubtedly operate - a
public telegraph service at rates consid
erably below those charged by private
corporations, as well as provide better
facilities.
New Failing School
t 'i ii hi t f
SI MIL
vnnm mniTtiri
nnrrv iffi new fei&rr ar,
New Falling school building at Front and Hooker, streets. This magnificent school building, which has cost
$180,000 to erect, will be ready for occupancy on February 10, when school opens for thtsecond term.
Prpctlcally all the .work haa been completed, except finishing touches. .This structure, which is "U"
chaped, is 18Q1 feet square. Tiie grounds will be improved about this building at a cost ot 120,000.
Workmen Rearing Scaffolding From
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i
New Empress theatre at Beventh and
, , moved
increase in Land Values Alone
Ample Financial Guarantee
That Plan Is Success, De
dares William E. Harmon.
That playgrounds pay for themselves
by increasing land values Is the con
tention of William E. Harmon, prominent
and wealthy realty dealer of New York
City, who strongly urges that the prac
tice of devoting one block in every sub-
poses. In an article printed In the Sur
vey for the Playground Association of
America.
In order to determine the oplnon of
those who should be familiar with the
situation, Mr. Harmon put the follow
ing hypothetical question to six lead
ing realty dealers:
"Assuming you were about to de
velop a tract of suburban property for
residential purposes; .that said tract
contained to or 40 acres; that in the
center of the tract the city had laid
out a small park of four or five acres;
that said park fitted perfectly into your
street plan, as shown by the accom
panying diagram; assuming that If the
park were not there the average retail
price of the lota over the wholo par
cel to be $1000 each, what effect would
the park have upon the land in "A,"
"B and. "Q" represented In percent
age of increase or decrees on tha av.
erage inside lot value of $1000?"
In every instance, the promoter de
clared, there would be a substantial
Increase, the only variance being in the
amount, which wae estimated from 26
to SO per cent
Zand sines Considered."
"Small public parks, If intelligently
planned," says Mr. Harmon in the arti
cle, "may be taken from almost any
residential land area at the beginning
of the period of active development,
without loss to the owner or developer,
or expense to the municipality in which
they are situated. , Obviously, if this
contention can be established it opens
up the door to an almost unlimited ex
tension of a certain type of jmbllo park.
"In order to bring the fact out clear
ly It will be necessary to go somewhat
into the inner workings of the subur
ban real estate business. I will take
up the first relative cost of acres and
lotsland values at wholesale and at
retail. A sueoessful real estate devel
oper must follow fairly closely the fol
lowing figures:
"Cost of land and physical improve
ments thereon, 40 to 45 per cent of total
selling price.
"Cost of selling and collection, 25 per
cent of total selling price.
"Cost of maintenance, carrying
Charges and profit, 26 to 25 per cent
of total selling price.
"These figures are given only to show
approximately the average successful
development; there are variations in
very high-priced and very low-priced
real estate, but these figures will an
swer our purpose.
Intelligent Planning Zfecessary.
"Upon the- foregoing basis the actual
cost of a lot of land with physical Im
provements completed represents say
K-n Per cent of total selling price, and
to sustain our theory we must secure
this amount from the increased value
Building Will Be Ready Next Month
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Yamhill streets.- The scaffolding
,T--v;-v,"2'';:Vv:vi;:-.'3,v I 3 1 Jii I I Hid I
1 f w I inn ;irl
early this week. Work Is being ruBhed.
Segregation No Burden on Landowner
IIIM'III HI
STREET
ft & 8 -:;
& 9 ? a ? " 8
1
"aL 1
STREET
XL
Map showing typical park, 200 by 5
of the lots adjacent to the land segre
gated for park purposes.
"The first -requisite to success is in-
p1)lirfT'ti rlf "'rgi 3th 11 pBrlMi mvptn
be distributed eo as to give the great
est value to surrounding land, and must
be laid out of such size and conforma
tion as to distribute their burden of
cost over as wide a district as possible.
These park areas should not have a
greater width than the depth of two
lots; in other words, the width of a
city block. In New York City that will
mean 200 feet; in Chicago 266 feet. In
both places the principle would, operate
equally well, as It is the number of
lots and not their size which measures
the burden. The length of such a park,
properly planned, would be from 400 to
600 feet, though this may be extended
somewhat without a serious effect; at
least, until the length reached 700 feet.
"Having our typical park thus In
mind 200 to S00 feet In width (two
lots; and 400 to 600 feet in length-
let ua proceed to the distribution of Its
cost on the adjoining land.
"Whlle l have repeatedly -demon
strated to my own satisfaction that
these small parks give to the surround
ing land an increased value sufficient
to offset their cost, I realize that my
own conviction may not be shared by
others, and as it is difficult to get
satisfactory data on the parks already
m existence, for the reasons hereafter
stated, I concluded to submit a typical
park plan to a number of the most
competent real estate developers, with
a hypothetical question as to the lnflu
en.ee that such a park would exert on
the surrounding land if incorporated in
a development or their own.
Diagram Shows nan.
"As these men set thev price at which
tha publio-purchases-their -real estate,
and do so through an expert knowledge
Of the conditions, and as they are sub
Ject to loss if their opinions as to value
are in error, it would seem that such
a consensus of opinion would approxi
mate the truth.
"At the beginning of this article I
have also stated that hypothetical ques
tion and the valuations given by six
of the most prominent real estate men
accessible to me at this time. The
typical plan is ehown in the diagram.
"It would seem that this testimony
of independent operators would demon
strate my proposition beyond dispute,
but If further evidence is desired it
will only be necessary to examine any
number or paries, from the center to
the circumference, in any number of
cities, keeping always in mind that an
increase of value of 20 to 26 per cent
in the land immediately about the Jjark
(as distinguished rrom the land and
buildings) will wipe out the land cost
of ray park in a new district. The
difficulty of getting data of any value
rrom existing parks in built-up sections
comes from the fact that they are
almost invariably of the wrong shape to
support my proposition, and, further,
fed;
i IB
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; ii rw f.fyi
LI ' I V
111
New Playhouse
Tr;.v;'-.V v.:;:-.- ., ,
...si.Uhf . Ul Til
IT
kbout this structure will
Z
C
n
00 feet, size of lots 20 by 100 feet.
that the land values are retail values,
as distinguished from wholesale values.
Lands Fronting on Parka.
crease shown in the lots Immediately
fronting the Dark, a second question was
asked as to the effect of such a park
over the whole tract. The opinions
ranged from 'definite sentimental
value' to 15 per cent In .the .writer's
opinion the effect on land not'directly
contiguous would be measured by In
creased selling value as much as by
the Increase in attractiveness of the
whole proposition; therefore, no oon8id
eration is given to it
"Let us confine ourselves to the in
creased value given to land fronting on
the park and see how far this Increase
offsets the cost of the land embodied
in the park and the Improvement of
the street surrounding the same.
"Assume the cost of the land and
improvements to be 45 per cent of the
selling price, $1000 per lot Taking
typical park shown on diagram:
"fin lnts tnkpn nn bv nark at
cost of S450 each ....$22,500
"60 lots in tr increased izso -
each (minimum percentage of
. Increase shown in estimates). 12,600
"40 lots (20 in 'A' and 20 in 'B')
Increased $250 each (minimum
percentage increase shown in
estimates) 10,00
"Total increase in value of sur
rounding land $22,500
lUalmnm Figures Used.
"It should be noted that I am using
only the minimum figures furnished by
my appraisers; the average would be
considerable in excess of these est!
mates. Furthermore, I am not taking
the benefit of the increased valuation
of-Xorners,which . wouldL.ba somewhat
In excess of inside lots; nor any in-
creases in the main body, of the land,
which might either be measured by an
increase in price or a decrease in sell
ing expenses.
"Variations in the length of the park
would, of course, affect the result, but
hot appreciably till 700 feet la reached,
which should be the maximum length
for a park of this kind.
"If you will, however, accept, my type
of park, my statement of relative whol
sale and retail values, and the testi
mony of disinterested practical experts
upon the effect of parks on adjacent
values, you cannot escape my conclu
sions.
"It would be hard to estimate the
economic value of my theory in avoid
ing the wasteful expenditure of publio
moneys in the purchase of grounds for
park purposes. If its correctness be
admitted it will strengthen the work of
those engaged in playground propa
ganda, and it would solve the problem
of certain' kinds of open spaces in the
cities of the future.
So Borden oil Landowner.
"There are two directions In. which
the data shown In this report can be
made available. One Is in its applica
tion In the business Interests of those
engaged .in the work of suburban real
estate development, who are naturally
anxious to get the beneficial coopera
tion of municipal authorities. I know
of no public act which would result
4n a deeper 8nsa Of-appreolatioh or
stronger disposition to cooperate than
the voluntary gift of lands to cities.
The second direction is in the use of
these facts, supplemented by further in
vestigations, to encourage legislative ac
tion in various states. This action could
take the form Of permitting cTties to
scgxgata.JandsXox-paxkpuxpaaeain.
connection with future city : planning.
the cost being placed on the abutting
properties. If, as I stated before, parks
are. intelligentlyplanned," f ronrtito"10
per cent of tho total area of unplotted
ground within the borders of our cities
could be segregated without any burden
whatever upon the landowner.
"PAY DIRT" IS STRUCK
NEAR POMONA, CAL
(United Fresi Leased Wlre.i
Pomona, Cal., Jan. 28. Excitement
was caused here today by the discov
ery of gold made by Elshery W." Rey
nolds, a Chicago publisher of Harold
Bell Wright's books. v v
' "Pay dirt" was picked up by both the
publisher and the author when examin-Inr"thaWeavalOnorfc'-'swImmIng
pool, on of tha Improvements at Rey
nolds' new home In the foothills near
here.
Aasayers say' that a big mining pro
ject ran be launched. JleynoMs de
clined to discuss his plans at this UOts.
1 e T ; k.;-Has J
be re-
SURVEY PROVES
TAX ASSESSivlEHTS
Logical Relationship Between
Cost of Buildings and Val
uations Recorded With As-
' sessor, Does Not Exist. "
With the first, unit of the Portland
real estate cehsus completed by Arthur
I. Street, and in the hands of the Port
land Realty Board, startling facts and
interesting comparisons are brought to
light One of tha results Is to show
that there is no logical relationship be
tween the cost valuations of buildings
as officially recorded with the building
Inspector and the assessment valuation
of improvements as given la the records
of the assessor.
' The first unit of this census covers
a complete summary of realty develop
ments of Portland for the six years end.
ing December 81, 1912, In all additions
to the city the names of which begin
with the letter "A."
The Journal has already published a
summary of , a section of this report.
The following data has been gathered
from the completed report, which shows
the maximum and minimum of. "the
building activities in some of the dis
tricts. One of the peculiar features of this
report is that activity in building In
one section of the city oould not be
taken as an indication that there was
similar activity In all sections. The
maximum building period In Avends ad
dition was In 1908 when the total was
$22,000 and the minimum was in 180,
when the total was but 83500. In Aik
ens, the maximum was reached in 1911,
when the total was $26,700, and the
minimum was In 1912, when the total
was $24,000. ......
Values Uore Than Double.
In Alblna, the maximum was reached
In 1911 when the Improvements aggre
gated $108,974, and the minimum was in
1909, with $71,020. The maximum in
Alblna Heights was in 1910 with $14,350,
and the minimum in 1907, with $1100.
The maximum in Alblna Homestead was
In 1908 with $73,200, and the minimum
In 1910 with $10,900. Alton Park, maxl.
mum, 1912, $17,930, minimum, 1907,
$1740; Arbor Lodge, even for three years
from 1909 to 1912, at about $10,000; Ar
cadia, maximum, 1911, $24,100, mini
mum, 1910,j at $4900; Arleta Park, max
imum, 1909 at $18,600, minimum, 1910,
at $2000.
Interesting facts can be gleaned from
a comparison of the fluctuations In the
average sost of the new dwellings In
these districts, In , ilngaorth.,traf.t the
averages grew from $800 In 1907, to
$1900 In 1909, and then fell off to $1600
in 1912. In Alblna they grew from
$1844 in 1907, to $3818 In 1912. This
average was raised considerably by the
fact that there were many flats and
apartments erected In 1911 and 1912. '
In Arbor Lodge the average grew
from $060 In 1907 to $1700 In 1912. In
Avalon the average lnoreased from 8760
in 1907 to $1800 in 1912.
In speaking of the result of the in-
Every Stockholder is a
Partner in this Business
and Receives a Partner's
Share of all the Profits
Were you half owner of a grocery store, you would be en
titled to one half the net profits arising from the operation of
that business. Were you the owner of only one third, your
profits would be one third. If you owned out a tenth, then
one tenth of the profits would be your share. In other words,
your earning.is in proportion to the proportion of the business
that belongs to
This company is incorporated for $2S0,000. If you owned $125,000 of tfii
stock of the company, your income would be one-half of all the profits real
ized by the investment of the company's capital in the building of homes, tp
aging 10 or better per annum, or slightly over $12,000 per year. The pro
portioft of the stock that you purchase determines the proportion of the i earn- '
ings that belong to you.
There is a wise limitation provided
by the Board of Directors of this
company, prohibiting any stock
holder from owning more than $10,
000 of its stock. By this method,
centralized control is avoided, and
the actual operation of the affairs of
The stock of this Company is secured by the same collateral .
' as a banker 'demands. Shares are now $10.25 each. t: ;E " :
Investors' Building
and Trust Company
' BUILDERS OF HOMES . ,
407-408 YEON BUILDING, PORTLAND, OREGON 1
vestlga'tlons,; Mr. Street said: "There
were a large number of, permits Issued
in 1907 and 1908 for temporary dwel
lings to cost from $60 to $300, but these
have diminished to such an extent that
by 1912 this class of permits waJ almost
extinct This can betaken as an indi
cation of Increased Stability In home
building as well as tha steady Increase
of the prosperity of home building."
,' Assessments rail Short. ,
These figures show a big discrepancy
In -the manner of making assessments
of improvements. The proportion of the
sasessed valuations of the new improve
ments to the value of the improvements,
vary all the way from 8.2 per cent to 67
per cent, while the law requires, that the
valuation be at least 75 per cent Of tbs
value. ' ,. i -'v, : ,
In Abends, for Instance, the average
cost of dwellings was $2964, yet the
assessed valuation is 11082,; This is but
26,6 per cent of the valuation of the
Improvements. , ; , :
In explaining this condition, Mr.
Street said, T do not pretend that tha
figures yet arrived at constitute either
a stricture or a vindication -of the
Method' of making assessments In this
tlty, but. we have gone far enough to
show that there is no logical relation
ship between the records in the building
inspector's office and the assessor's of
fice. '
"Our figures cover only the dwell
ings erected since the beginning of 1907,
and take no account of those already in
existence at that time.
"Neither does it include the cost of
new business structures. . They do show,
however, that In Abends addition on the
east side, where the new buildings con
stitute 80 per cent of all improvements,
the assessed valuation on improvements
is only 86 per cent of the average cost
of the new buildings.'-: In AJnalea Place,
where the new dwellings constitutes
66.6 per cent of the total number of im
provements, the assessed valuation is
only 2E.8 per cent of the coat of the
f ytt
new buildings.
Some xnteroBtlXLf Comparisons.
"As en. Illustration of disproportion
on the other side of the fence, our fig
ures show that In the Alnsworth tract,
where the new dwellings constitute 15.5
per cent of all the Improvements, the
assessed valuation is 64 peroent of tha
actual cost of the new buildings,
"In Alta Vista, one of the star sec
tions on the West Bide the ration of
the assessor's valuation to the cost of
new buildings is 60 per cent, and these
new buildings make tip half of all the
Improvements. Again In Ardmore, an'
other west side choloe district, the as
sessor's figures are 67.4 per cent of the
actual cost of the new dwellings, the
latter amounting' to over 86 per cent of
the total lmuroyements, while in Avenel,
on the east slue, the assessor's ratio
runs as low as 6.2 per cent
"In Albion, the valuation made by the
assessor runs at 20 per cent of the total
cost of new buildings, and in this dis
trict, the new buildings only constitute
34.5 per cent of the total Improvements.
In Alroy, the valuation is about the
same ratio, but the percentage of new
dwellings to total Improvements runs
un to 75 per cent
ii'Pleaae de not-get. the Impression that
this book has any intention of doing
anything except presenting twmptled
figures for the purposes of j study and
analysis. I hope that the assessor will
find them quite as useiui as win prop
erty holders, and If they servo any pur
pose in the way of throwing light on the
vexed problem of municipal taxation, I
shall feel that the enormous work in
volved- has not been in vain."
Journal Want Ads bring reaults.
you. , ,
the company rests with the stocte
holders at large, through a regularly
elected Board of Directors. There- -fore,
whatever amount of stock you
purchase, from $100 to $10,000, that
amount determines the percentage
of therjompany8 irofitsthatTrecni
to you. It is eminently fair.
REALTY fMiLI
101
MIILV" II hi-
UULOUillOlt
llRffllSK:
Country Transactions Report
ed From Many Sections of
State; 440 Acres of Fruit
Land Sold for $75,000.
From all points in the state coma
optimistic reports of activities In the
realty . market, in the sals of timber,
farm ' and town properties. ; Many Im
portant deals weremade during ths
past week, according to ths reports that
have been racetvad here. . ,
The acquirement of approximately
one-fourth of tha entire Kinney's addl-
tlon to Roseburg by the Himes a Oli
ver company from A. Crcason for a con
slderatlon of$45,000 was one of the
most Important deals of the week. The
new owners' intepd to continue ths sale
of ths property. -
Many important deals have been made
at Newberg, but In most of the trans
fers that have been filed for record
but nominal considerations are shown. .
The report of the sale of 440 acres of
fruit land near Nyssa by F. O, John
son to tha Idaho Trust A Title company,
pf Boise, for $75,000, Is an Important
Item noted, -EH.' Test and H. M. Grieg,
of Nyssa, hare sold to Charles K. Mar-
shall, of Texas, 120 acres of raw land
on Shoestring Ditch for $10,000. - A sal
was made last week In the office of C.
A. McKenna A Co., ot Portland, of a
section of land in Llnooln county, by
Francis L McKenna to Borero. for
$6400. This is an undeveloped tract,
suitable for pasture land, and ths own
er intends to develop It for stock aa4
dairy farm. " ,
W. B. Kahler, of Central Point,' haa
purchased an 80-acre farm in Bams Val
ley for $3500. This place has 50 acre
under cultivation. Lee Bllyeu, of Leb
anon, has sold 40 acres of his farm to J,
M. Ramsey, of Lebanon, for $8000. -
C K. Marshall, of Hood River, last
week purchased from F. L. Wood his
farm at Balem for $23,000. This farm
includes 283 acres, a large part ot whloh.
Is cleared and under cultivation. As a
portion of . the consideration, Mr. Wood
aooepted a group of seven lots on Bast
Twenty-sixth street, between Tillamook
and Thompson streets. ; , v -
G00DNOE HILLS COMPANY
SELLS INTEREST IN LAND
(BpeeUl to The Jursi. "'
Ooodnoe Hills, Wash., Jan. 25. Sev
eral transfers of Goodnoe Hills prop
erty have been recently reported, ths
iarrAa nf whtah la th sale of a nn&r-
ter interest in the Goodnoe Hills Im-
acres of which is set to apricots, al
mond nuts and grapes. The price paid
waa $22,400., William Mortrude, of
Valley City, N. D., is the purchaser;
and is very well pleased with his in
vestment. The orchard is In a high
state of cultivation, and rapidly in
creasing in value.
Bales of several 10 and 20 acre tracts
of bearing trees are about ready to
close, all around the $400 per acre
figure.