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E.AL Estate Record
AND BUILDERS^ GUIDK
ToL. XXIX.
NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, JANUAEY 28. 1882.
N-. 724
Published Weekly by The
Real Estate Record Association
TERBIS:
ONE YEAR, in advance ----- $6.00
CoTcmimications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway.
J. T. LINDSEY'Business Manager.
Mr. William P. Esterbrook, Inspector of
Buildings, lias drawn up an act amending
our building laws, which is to be presented
to the Legislature. There are many altera¬
tions in the law, interesting, indeed of vital
importance, to architects and builders, and
all affected would do well to get a copy of
the proposed act at Inspector Esterbrook's
ofii®e. In view of the Grand street disaster
and tlie Ring Theatre fire, the Legislature
will be forced to do something to appease
popular clamor. The danger is that the law
will bp amended so as to make its provisions
unnecessarily burdensome to builders and
that there will be a waste of capital m con¬
sequence. Mr, Esterbrook has an excellent
reputation as a builder, himself, and the
-changes he recommends are enforced by the
fact that he has a thoroughly technical
knowledge of his profession. The Building
Department ought to be an indrpendent
bureau; the Five Commissioners should have
nothing to do with it. The Inspectors
should be appointed and removed by the
Mayor; when that is done wa will know
who to blame wlien any great building dis-
-aster occurs.
A New York real estate auctioneer, who
•does a verj- large business, is under the
impression lliat the long expected boom in
real estate will take place this coming spring.
He says there will be lieavy sales and high
prices within the next few months. Every
one in the trade will of course hope lie is
light in his prognostications; but it is almost
too soon to be very positive about what the
market will be. There are a good many
transactions under way, the Real Estate Ex¬
change is thronged daily, bidding is spirited
and the prices for desirable property are
good. As yet there are no evidences of any
unusual excitement in real estate circles.
The city is growing in numbers very rapidly,
of that there is no doubt: this is shown by
the increased business of the street cars and
elevated roads and by the large number of
children that cannot find room in our schools.
But plans for new buildings do not as yet
promise any great activity in the building-
trade, and there is no unusual demand for
vacant lots. Still, we are liable at any time
to see the beginning of any sharp investment
in real property ; it has got to come, aud it
cannot be long delayed.
Experienced dealers in the street say that
the outlook in prices has a stormy look.
They predict that prices will go up and
down with great rapidity. Up to last July
the bulls had matters pretty much their own
way ; since then, the bears have had control
of the market, but hereafter there will be
blows to give as well as blows to take on
both sides. The situation lias materially
changed, so far as the leadei"s are concerned.
Jay Gould, who had been trying to sustain
prices up to the beginning of the j-ear, is
now a pronounced bear : Avhile Vanderbilt,
having practically settled the railway war,
has thereby api^arently ranged himself on
the bull side. Hereafter, the. war of rates
will not be a disturbing element, and doubt¬
less an advance would have been attempted
during the past week were it not for the
panic- on the Paris Bourse, which affected
prices on the London Stock Exchange and
through it our money market. By many it
is believed that a severe pinch in money
would be a good thing, as it will break
up the bull pools in Chicago. There are
120,000,000 bushels of grain Avhich must be
marketed before the next crop, and when it
begins to come forward it will give the trunk
lines all they can do. But ilie contending
influences on the Stock Exchange are both
very strong, and like the "tug of Avar"
among the athletes, prices will be pulled
first one way and then another with great
violence. It will be no market for the aver¬
age outsider. Only those who have courage
or large means will be able to play the game
with any degree of success. The general
business of the country is not so active as it
was, but this was to have been expected at
this time of the year.
FINANCIAL LEGISLATION,
Of the many schemes before Congress,
there are none which look towards a con¬
traction of the currency. The correspondent
of a leading New York paper admits that a
proposition to repeal the Legal Tender Act
would scarcely be entertained in either
House, which is not wonderful in view of
the fact that it would render the future
very uncertain. Any catastrophe in trade,
in the absence of any legal tender provision,
would inevitably bring about a fearful fall
in prices, as the moment gold was at a pre¬
mium there would be a contraction to the
extent of the gold and silver money afloat.
Congress seems intent ujjon utilizing the
silver products of the country. There will
be no repeal of the Coinage Act unless xiro-
vision is made that any one who brings
bullion, either gold or silver, to the mint,
can liave it coined at some. ratio to be fixed
by the Government. A very popular scheme
is to issue gold and silver notes based upon
the actual deposit of bullion iu the Treasury,
This would at once render available every
ounce of silver and gold in the country, not
used in the arts, for currency purposes. It
will be a currency, too, which will be abso¬
lutely secure, for every dollar afloat would
represent a real gold or silver dollar locked
up in the Treasury and paj^able on demand.
Another i)roposition is to issue Treasury
notes in place of the greenbacks and bank
notes now afloat, to redeem which a reserve
of thirty per cent, in gold and silver is to be
»kept in the Treasury.
It is surprising that something is not done
to get rid of the one and two dollar bills.
Were they withdrawn, the silver dollar and
our small gold coins would immediately
become current in all the channels of the
retail trade. Once established, a coin cur¬
rency would help retain buUio" in the coun¬
try- when exchanges go against us. The
withdrawal of the small bills need not
involve contraction, as the amount cancelled
could be reissued in larger denominations.
The Monetary Conference will reassemble
in Paris in April. Should an agreement as
to the ratio between the metals be estab¬
lished, it would have an immediate effect
upon prices the world over. The acknowl¬
edgment that silver was a money metal side
by side with gold, would not only enhance
but steady ijrices. It would be a practical
admission of the silver of the world to the
coined circulation of the world; this, of
course, would enhance prices everywhere.
That the Conference will come to some
understanding seems very ptobable, and the
United States, of course, will back it up
by all necessar,y legislation. There is not
enough gold in the world to satisfy the
requirements of modern commerce, and
England and Germany have been especially
embarrassed by the demands the United
States and Italy have made on their gold
reserves.
The great trouble will be with the national
banks. Should Congress attempt to inter¬
fere with their present privileges, it may
lead to some such catastrophe as that which
occurred last February, But, apart from
that, the evident disposition of the members
is to promote speculation and to make things
pleasant for their constituents. We allude
to this matter because the fiscal legislation
of the country directly effects prices in real
estate as well as in all other purchaseable
articles. We see nothing to permanently
depress values, while legislation will in
every way be on the side of the speculative
classes.
Certain Brooklyn people who live in the
Eastern District are anxious to have a park,
but Mayor Low is of opinion that while a
park would be desirable, it is better to
wait till the Brooklyn Bridge be completed.
Brooklyn has suffered so much from assess¬
ments for improvements, that no doubt the
property owners will sympathize with the
Mayor in his desire to save them from further
taxation.
A real public interest has been created
in the reform of our law.-, relating to the
transfers of real estate, Mr, Dwight H.
Olmstead's lecture on that subject has been
widelj- and eagerly read. It would, it
seems to us, jiay to get up a syndicate of
landowners and real estate dealers to press
this matter upon the Legislature, When
the transfer of land is as easy and cheap
as the ptirchase and sale of stock cer¬
tificates, real estate will advance twenty
per cent, in value. It is the tedious lega