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RECORD  AND  GUTOE





January 15, 1910





tell them to go away; that day is gone by. Politics must be
banished from your department. Let every deputy who sets
down a manifestly wrong valuation be dismised at once. He is
not entitled to a trial, but only to opportunity to make an ex¬
planation. The sooner they are brought to realize this the
better. It is doubtful if they ought to be in the competitive
civil service at all, for their duties are not formal, but require
the constant exercise of judgment and discretion.

"Ti-y to find out some owner trying to corrupt a deputy -and
we W'ill have him indicted. No meaner person exists than one
capable of trying to get rid of some part of his taxes by throw¬
ing it on his neighbors. No jury would spare lilm. For sev¬
eral years the great gas plant at Astoria of the New York &
East River Gas Company was valued on the tax rolls at only
$600,000. In 1900 it was raised to $3,oOO,000. Competent per¬
sons say that even this is not one-half of its value, but that
is for you. It was valued by the company in the recent fran¬
chise tax suit at over $10,000,000 in making up the total capital
on which the coiTipany should be permitted to make a dividend
of at least 6 per cent,

"I have several times mentioned the Cutting real estate (not
the ferry property—that has still a similar history—but the
water front property in South Brooklyn), ,It was set down on
the tax books at $1,078,000. It was sold to the city for $4,-
565,367- How that was brought about some or all of you knov/.
I do not say the Tax Department undervalued the property to
the, extent of this excess of l);3,4S7,367. In justice to the Tax
Department I am able to say as my best judgment after ex¬
amination that the property could not have been fairly valued
at over $1,500,000, and that substantially all in excess of that
sum paid by the city was excessive. The spectacle of the city
bargaining through one set of its officials to pay $4,565,367 for
land which another set of its officials valued for taxation at only
$1,078,000 as its true value cannot help but draw the com¬
petency of the integrity of government in question.

"There was another piece of Harway Basin valued on the tax
rolls for several years at about $29,300, when there was ac¬
tually a mortgage on it for $26,000 and the purchase price was
$350,000, These are some samples. Now you have an able
man for your head, but he cannot see everything at once in this
great city. I have appointed you to w-ork with him and give
all of your time to this business, and have it accomplished in
one year. The deputies must no longer be left to do as they
like. The charter says they shall act under your direction.
Let thein understand by your conduct what that means. Go
out and direct them.

"You cannot do this work by sitting in your offlce. See all
sections of the city, and have your assistants do the same. I
am particularly anxious about this borough of Manhattan.
Only the other day the sale o£ a piece of real estate here was
reported for $1,400,000. 1 found it on the tax rolls for $750,-
000- If the dwellings and ordinary holdings were valued on
the rolls on the same basis there would be no injustice, but
they are not. They are valued well up to what they could be
sold for. Look to all this. You, Mr. McElroy, know all about
values in Manhattan. You know how I came to appoint you.
Y^ou have all been carefully selected for your coinpetency and in¬
tegrity, and I feel certain you will not disappoint the people of
the city. Distributive justice in all things is the prime object
of government, and see to it in this matter. Also it is no use
to levy personal taxes on persons who have no taxable per¬
sonal property. It is a general annoyance. Moreover, it re¬
sults in a large deficit each year in the finances represented by
uncollectable arrears of personal taxes. There are many mil¬
lions of such arrears now for which permanent bonds have to
be issued. Please see that this yearly deficit Is reduced to a
minimum by more care in the levy of the tax."

These instructions, if carried out, will result in more benefit
to the real estate interests of this city than any one other pos¬
sible action on the part of the Mayor. The inequalities above
quoted are not isolated cases—the condition is general. If all
real estate were assessed at its fair sale value the tax rate would
be lower.

The business reported by the brokei-s this week is well up to
the average of the past month, with the Midtown and Wash¬
ington Heights sections showing the most activity. In the
foriner section the activity is practically all west of Tth av,
although the leading item of the weeli's business in the district
was the sale by the Realty Holding Co. of 164 to 16S West 27th
st, a new 12-sty loft building, held at $650,000.





THE   AUCTION    MARKET





INTEREST this week in the auction mai-ket centered in the
offerings on Wednesday of Bryan L, Kennelly of the Yard
estate holdings at 148 to 154 West 23d st. The property con¬
sisted of two six and one four-story loft buildings, on a plot
101 feet front. Bidding started at $225,000, and the property
was ill at his home this week. He expects to be at his office
assessed by the city at $338,000. Mr. Kennelly also sold 348
6th   av,   24.8x59,   for  $154,500.     It   contains   1,436  square   feet,





which would make the square foot price $106.11. No. 340, at
the northwest corner of 21st st and Gth av, containing 2,343
square feet, -sold in 1900 for $173,300, or $74.05 a square foot.
No. 581 2d av sold for $139,500, and a vacant lot on 3d av, just
north of SOth st, for $20,000. The only other voluntary offering
sold during the week was the offering of Joseph P. Day of the
plot of seven lots at the northeast corner of Amsterdam av
and 116th st.    Columbia University was the buyer at $23,000,





PARTITION SALE OF INVESTMENT PROPERTIES.

On Thursday, January 27, L. J. Phillips & Co. will sell at
auction in the Real Estate salesroom, 14 and 16 Vesey st, five
valuable investment properties that deserve the attention of
both the investor and speculator. The 4-sty tenement at 2064
to 2070 3rd av, northwest corner of 113th st, and the 3-sty
dwellings at 171 to 177 East 113th st, makes a plot 100x140,
and should be particularly attractive to the speculator, being of
a size suitable for modern improvement.

Another good Second av property at 2183 to 2189, northwest
corner of 112th st, will be sold. 521 Lenox av, northwest corner J
of 136th st, is on a busy avenue, where there is seldom a va- \
cant store; it is only one block from the 135th st station of the
Subway, and is a very attractive investment proposition. The
sale is by order of the Supreme Court. Further particulars may
be obtained of L. J. Phillips & Co., 156 and 15S Broadway.
Policy of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company will be de¬
livered free.





INTEREST CENTERS ON OAKDALE.

There is a circumstance connected with the sale of lots in
Oakdale, on the south side of Long Island, that seems to have
escaped general notice; and that is, Oakdale is situated just
far enough from New Tork for the person who seeks exclusive-
ness to escape the flve-cent zone, and at the same time it
is conveniently accessible to both the railroad station and the
city.

The property is laid out as a substantial home colony, being
sold in tracts of from one to five acres and in plots not less
than 28x200 ft., most of them larger.

Peperidge Hall Estate water front is no further from the
railroad station than is similar property situated in Bay Shore
and Islip, all of which is well improved.

Oakdale's natural advantages, its magnificent water front on
Great South Bay, its proximity to the Motor Parkway terminal
at Lake Ronkonkoma, its healthful climate, pure water, mag¬
nificent shades trees on tlie famous South Country road, and
low taxes, have caused an influx of purchasers during the last
year,

William K. Aston, who owns Peperidge Hall Estate, was far-
sighted enough not to throw the property open to the energies
of speculators, but quietly placed it on the market for the small
investor to avail of and with restrictions sufficient to insure
a good  character of improvements.

Although situated 47 miles from New York, there have been
15 consecutive successful sales of the Aston holdings in Oak-
dale.    Bryan L.  Kennelly was the auctioneer.

The co-operative movement between the wealthy residents of
Oakdale and the Long Island Railroad Co. for the improvement
of the grounds around tlie railroad station has attracted the at¬
tention of many buyers to the place.

As soon as the tunnels under the East River are in use a
building movement is destined to take place in Oakdale, and it
will in turn enhance fee values there.

The sixteenth auction sale is scheduled for February 3, at
the Brooklyn Real Estate Exchange, 189 Montague st, at 12
o'clock noon. The plots to be sold have a frontage on the West
Shore Road and Lincoln Drive, situated midway between Oak¬
dale station and Great South Bay, about six minutes wallv each
way. Permanent shore rights on the Bay will be included.
Sixty per cent, of the purchase price will be allowed on mort¬
gage for three years,  with titles guaranteed.





BIG PURCHASE BY NEW COMPANY.

S. Osgood Pell & Co., through Mark Rafalsky, its vice-presi¬
dent, sold the Manhasset apartment house, which occupies the
block front in the west side of Broadway, between 107th and
108th sts, and No, 85 Sth av. at the northeast corner of 16th
st and including Nos. 5 and 7 East in that street, for Carrie
M. Butler, wife of Jacob D. Butler, to the Realty Assets Com¬
pany, a newly formed corporation. The cash consideration In
the entire deal was approximately $3,000,000.
, E. B. Boynton, president of the American Real Estate Co., is
president of the Realty Assets Co. Richard T. Lingley is vice-
president of the Realty Assets Co. and Harold Roberts is secre¬
tary. Both Mr. Lingley and Mr. Roberts are officers of the
American Real Estate Co.





We print the ASSESSED VALUATION of all property transferred.