DIVISION FOUR — BOOM. 305 



' ' The following schedule of legal points as to the rights of women in 

 huying or selling real estate was originally prepared by Dr. H. A. Reid for 

 the use of his own firm, the lyyman Allen Land Co., and is now permitted 

 to be published for general information." Then follows an explanation of 

 how contracts or deeds must be worded when there is a woman in the case, 

 either married, single, or widow, to guard her separate property rights. 



Commissions were 5 per cent, on sales up to $1,000, and 2^ per cent, 

 on amounts over $1,000. For renting property the charge was 10 per cent, 

 of first month's rent, and 5 per cent, for collections thereafter. 



The ofl&cers of the exchange were : W. L,. Carter, president ; Col. J. 

 Banbury, vice-president : Hon. P. M. Green, treasurer ; J. R. Riggins, 

 secretary ; E. D. Hough, office manager, and editor of the Daily Bulletin. 

 Directors : Carter, Banbury, Riggins, H. W. Ogden and J. C. Studebaker. 

 Then there were standing committees on finance, on exchange and member- 

 ship, on arbitration, on public enterprises and information. A list of mem- 

 bers published in September, showed 149 real estate firms then in Pasadena. 

 A revised list published February 20, 1888, showed 142 — so 7 had dropped 

 out of the ranks. A daily and weekly paper called The Bulletin^ was pub- 

 lished. [See page 220.] 



Many of the firms had two, three, or four members, so that a total of at 

 least two hundred men were engaged in the real estate business for a few 

 months. A large proportion of them were men without literary culture or 

 skill, and with no experience as conveyancers — yet all making out papers 

 for their own customers. And this accounts for the many defective papers 

 in real estate transactions which so often resulted in lawsuits or other 

 troubles in later months. 



BOARD OF TRADE PAMPHLETS. 



Early in 1888 the Board of Trade issued a pamphlet of 40 pages, 

 beautifully illustrated, and on page 22 this statement Was made : 



' ' The extraordinary migration to Pasadena of homeseekers has resulted 

 in a sudden rise in real estate values, and in two years property has in- 

 creased in the business center from $40 per front foot to $800, and the actual 

 values of land for the purposes for which it is required are far from being 

 reached yet. Probably more fortunes have been made in real estate here in 

 the past two years than in any city in the country, and the transactions for 

 the year past amount to $12,786,263. The sales have been the result of 

 what in the East is known as a " boom.'' 



This was a boom pamphlet, well written, neatly printed, and artistic- 

 ally illustrated and embellished. And it is both sad and amusing now to 

 look it over and see how many boom projects and enterprises mentioned, 

 pictured or described in its pages fell dead when " the boom bursted." On 

 page 18 it gives $1,987,800 as the cost of buildings erected within the 

 fifteen months preceding January i, 1888. And on page 34 there is a 

 schedule of wages paid during that period, as follows : 



20 



