327. The Jersey Flats.—Right over against property whose taxable value is $3,000,000,000 lies another property worth literally nothing. Step over from Manhattan Island, where every foot of land needs to be overlaid with silver round-moons for its purchase, to New Jersey, and you will find 27,000 acres of marsh lying under the very nose of the metropolis—land hardly worth a song. Why is this? Simply because capitalists have not been wise enough to improve this great waste. In Holland, by a system of diking, land in a similar condition is now covered by great warehouses and factories, and cannot be bought for hundreds of millions of dollars. Here is the opportunity for capitalists. Why invest money in far-off gold fields when you have a Klondike here at the very threshold of the metropolis? “The first step,” says the State geologist, “is to build an embankment and a pumping station. The cost will be about $1,000,000. The main ditches should be made, and the whole area laid out in twenty-acre farms, and sold on the express condition that each plot shall be immediately ditched and brought under cultivation.” If we put the cost of ditching, and of other incidental expenses at $500,000, we have a total cost of $1,500,000. Then, if we estimate the worth of the land at only one-fourth the average price of land on Manhattan Island—which is the average worth of land in Jersey City—we have a value for the total 27,000 acres of $50,000,000. Profits, $48,500,000.
328. Abandoned Farms.—There are 4,300 abandoned farms in New England alone. These with a little expense could all be made profitable. Some are selling, buildings complete, as low as $700, and even $500. Many of these abandoned farms, costing $1,000, could, at the expense of another $1,000, be put in a highly thrifty condition and sold for $4,000. An Abandoned Farm Company will some time be organized with chances of good profit.
CHAPTER XII.
MONEY IN THE FINE ARTS.
Some Things Everybody Ought to Know—An Institution that Teaches “Without Money and Without Price”—A Woman Who Earns $3,000 a Year—The Old Glue-Maker’s Gift to Women—How a Little Girl Earned $300—A Young Woman Who Earned More Than Her Father—“As Rich as a Queen”—Fortunes in Designs—Livings in Lace—One Painter’s Earnings Last Year—Checks in Charcoal—Book Publishers Who are Looking for Ideas.
This is one of the most enjoyable as well as one of the most remunerative occupations. One of the noblest things which Peter Cooper ever did was to found a Free Art School for Women. Not only is it absolutely free to all women, but opportunities are afforded for meritorious pupils to earn no mean sums during their period of instruction.
329. Crayon Work.—A teacher in the Cooper Institute says: “During the previous year forty of my pupils in art have made $7,000, or $175 each, while learning the art of crayon-photography. Every year one hundred women on leaving the Cooper Institute make from $400 to $1,200 a year by art work.”
330. Drawing.—One graduate of the Cooper Union is now receiving from $2,000 to $3,000 as a teacher of drawing in the New York public schools, and another has been appointed manager of a decorative art society in New Orleans, with a salary of $150 a month, and opportunities to earn as much more by private tuition.
331. Photograph Coloring.—“A little girl,” says Mr. Cooper, “came to my house to thank me for what she had learned at the Institute.” “I have earned $300 coloring photographs,” she said with enthusiasm. The coloring of photographs gives employment to many hundreds of young women, and there is no prospect that the market will become glutted.
332. Oil Painting.—A man in middle life met Mr. Cooper on the stairs of the Institute. “My daughter,” he said, “makes $1,300 a year by teaching painting, and I never earned more than $1,200 myself.” The chief points of oil painting are a good tooth (a canvas which will take color from a brush readily), perspective, fineness of touch, delicate perception, an eye for shades of color, and a bold, free hand. Oil paintings bring from $5 to $50,000, according to merit.
333. Water Colors.—Paintings in water colors are popular because less expensive than those done in oil. Good work in this department is, however, well paid. Much depends upon the subject and its treatment. It is said that the artist, Mr. John LaFarge, sold about $15,000 worth of water colors last year.