414:





The Real Estate Record





April 29,1882





to pay. It is notorious that investments in
New York real estate do not, on an average,
pay more than 5 or 6 per cent. Any agita¬
tion which would render this kind of prop¬
erty insecure as an investment, would result
in a grievous additional tax upon the general
community, for if capital is frightened away
from real estate to stocks and bonds, there
will be fewer houses built and those in the
market would command a far higher rental
to make up for the insecurity.





WALL STREET.
The stock market still wants a leader.
The bears as yet as a general thing still have
command of the street, but thei'e are many
reasons which render selling short somewhat
risky. We have very easy money, a heavy
immigration and a number of other factors
which ought to advance prices, but of course
there can be no decided upward movement
expected until there is some assurance that
we shall have good crops. So far the condi¬
tions of weather and growth have been fav¬
orable, and if these indications continue
good, a buying movement will in time re¬
sult. It may take thirty days to create a
decided impression for or against the new
crop, but if the indications should be favor¬
able by the early part of June, an active
rising market may come with the advent of
hot weather. Tlie weak points in the mar¬
ket are the suspicion there may be a fight
among the coal roads, and the heavy falling
ofl compared with last year of the East-
bound freight business. If any stocks
should have real prospective value, it is
those of the Northwest. Indeed the entire
country north of Kansas and west of the
Mississippi is growing so enormously, that
with a fair average crop there ought to be a
large addition to the price of the shares of
the railways which have a monopoly of that
region. Northwestern, St. Paul & Omaha,
as well as Rock Island will profit very
lai-gely this coming season, provided the
crop is a fair one. But it is difficult to find
a bull argument for the Vanderbilt stocks
east of ihe Mississippi. Lake Shore will be
subject not only to the competition of the
New York, St. Louis & Chicago, but when
navigation is open, the Welland canal will
tell as a competitor, now that its depth is
twelve feet. Indeed much of tlie depression
ia the trunk lines is due to the great com¬
petition which will take place in the grain
trade when the Welland canal can be used
by large sized boats. Barges caiTying 700
tons of coal will hereafter be able to get
through the Welland canal; they could not
carry more thau 500 tons heretofore. Then
the time is fast approaching when the Dela¬
ware &, Lackawanna, the Ontario & West¬
ern, and the New York, West Shore & Buf¬
falo will be active competitors for the busi¬
ness now monopolized by the New York
Central and the Erie. The immediate out¬
look for the stock market is very puzzling,
but the growls of the bears are on the whole
drowning the roars of the buUs.





up the time [of courts, and yet we have be¬
fore us the example of Pennsylvania, in
which money lent on land or houses is. col¬
lected promptly or the property confiscated,
without the machinery of mortgage suits.
If default is made in thojpayment at the
time specified, execution issues without de¬
lay, and a sale by the Sheriff follows. In
this State our. laws are codified in such a
way as to retain the old forms, while in
Pennsylvania the common law practice has
been retained and th^ forms gotten rid of.





Why not assimilate some of the laws in
this State relating to real estate, to those in
force in Pennsylvania? In the latter State
mortgages are almost unknown, and a sim¬
ple judgment costing $1.25, which has all
the effect of a mortgage, takes its place.
The machinery in New York, by whicii en¬
cumbered real estate passes into the hands
of a creditor is cumbrous and costly. It in¬
volves the employment of lawyers and takes





MINING INFORMATION.

The declaration of the seventy-eighth 50 cent,
monthly dividend by the Ontario, calls attention
to a class of mining stocks in which there is very
little speculation, but which are reallj- the
standby's of the market. Ontario was put on
this market at $20 a share, the original subsrib-
ers have received back $39, and are in possession
of their original certificates. The mine is good
for many years yet, though one peril constantly
menaces it. It is situated in a canon, surrounded
by hills, and, as the workings increase in depth,
the springs of the lakes and streams in the
neighborhood are being tapped. Immense
pumps have so far kept the mine so that it can
be worked, but it may become a cistern with
plenty cf good ore in the lower levels. Among
the other steady dividend-payers are the Home-
stake, Father de Smet, Deadwood, Terra and
Standard of Bodie. These properties have all
fulfilled expectations, but the stocks are not
active, as they are looked on as steady dividend-
payers, and the element of doubt is limited,
which is so essential iu speculative transactions.
Still it is the experience of California operators
that dividend hunters e^sentually get "stuck."

When] the mining fever first began to rage it
was pointed out in these columns that owing to
the imperfection in our laws there would finally
come a harvest for the lawyers in litigations
which would ensue as soon as people found they
lost money, and that promoters could be called
to account. New York needs a well-guarded
law under which mining corporations can be
organized, and which will admit of assessments.
The companies are now organized under the
general manufacturing law, and under its pro¬
visions promoters and others are held to a strict
accountability. A glance at the] legal columns
of the daily papers shows how many suits are
under way against persons who have been active
in organizing mining corporations. When the
Bullion Club was in active operation au attempt
was made to draft a law that would meet the
case, but it was never presented to the Legis¬
lature, as it was known that the lobby stood
ready to blackmail the mining interest.

The National Mining and Industrial Exposition
which Avill open at Denver on the first of next
August, win doubtless mark an epoch in the his¬
tory of mining in this countiy. Of course the
railroads will encourage a visit to Denver on that
occasion by giving lower rates of fare, and all
who can afford it should visit the wonderful
region in the neighborhood of the capital of Col¬
orado. The country thereabouts is wonderfully
pictm-esque. The tourist would do well to spend
a couple of weeks in visiting Pike's Peak, the
Clear Creek country, Georgetown, the Garden of
the Gods, Manitou, the Queen's Canon, and the
Cheyenne Canon. We are entering upon an era
of immense mineral development, for oui' railway
system is now being connected with the mineral
regions of the West.

George D. Roberts has come to town, and he
and his associates have organized a grand raid
upon the pockets of the community. He will
have the shares of four mines in Lake Valley,
New Mexico, to dispose of; indeed the machin¬
ery of the deal has been copied from the State
Line programme. There are two centre mines
which are supposed to be of exceptional value,
and two outside mines that are promising pros¬
pects. It is understood that these properties are
soon to be listed upon the New York Mining





Board, and it is known that there is already an
active private demand for the shares of the com¬
pany. Five dollars a share is eagerly bid for
one of the mines of this group, and $1.75 for the
cheaper outside properties. It is to be seen
whether the mining public will deal in these
properties after their unfortunate experience in
Mr. Roberts' previous ventiu-es.

Wm. M. Lent writes to his friends from San
Francisco that at present pi ices Standard and
Bodie are a purchase.

The Union Consolidated of Bodie which figures
so extensively in the newspapers is the worst
kind of a cat, it does not deserve to be men¬
tioned. It is situated on a part of the Bodie
bluff, in which no mine will ever be found. All
the ground north of tho Standard, so far ex¬
plored, has not brought to light any ore that will
more than pay the expenses of mining. So far
the high pay-ore of the Bodie district has beeu
found in the southern two-hirds of the Standard
mine and in the northern half of the Bodie.' In
the southern half of the Bodie the formation
breaks up, and as the northern line of the Stand¬
ard is neared the ore grows lean.





BEYOND THE HARLEM.

In 1S79 a charter was obtained for the running
of a rapid transit railroad over or adjacent to
the line of the Harlem River & Portchester Rail¬
road. Under this charter this company were to
run half hourly trains, with the usual commis¬
sion hours, within thirty days after the comple¬
tion of a bridge across the Harlem River, which
they were empowered to build. Upon the open¬
ing of the subscription books 95 per cent, of the
stock was taken by the ofiicials of the New York,
New Haven & Hartford Raih-oad Company, who
are also the owners of the Hai-lem River & Port¬
chester Railroad, over which this new line was to
mn. Property owners along the route of this
line complain that nothing has been done towards,
accomplishing the object that they had in -view
when they secured the charter referred to—
namely, the running!|of fx-equent trains for the
accommodation of residents in the district
through which it passed. This charter, nothing
having been done, will expire on May 2d next,
but it appears that application has been made to
the. Legislature for an extension of two years.
A meeting of the property owners in this locali¬
ty was held at 130 Water street, some days since,
at which the following gentlemen, representing
over five million of doUars, were present: James
C. Cooley, President, Edward Haight, Secretary,
Chas. D. Burrill, H. D. Tiffany, Frank Watson
and William Caswell. The president stated that
the officials of the railroad company had been in¬
vited to attend the meeting but have declined,
and that they also refused to make any tacit
agreement in regard to the running of more fre¬
quent trains, and therefore he moved that a tele¬
gram be sent to Representative Catlin at Albany,
to leave nothing undone to defeat the extension
of the charter to which we have heretofore re¬
ferred. This motion was unanimously adopted
and the telegram sent.

It is alleged that the reason the Harlem River
& Portchester Railroad Company do not move in
the matter, is that they have such a'Jarge freight
business that they do not care for the passenger
traffic, and consequently run as few trains as is
consistent with the terms of their charter.





Estimates for paving the following streets will be
received until May.Sth, at 12 ii.: Morris, between
Greenwich and West; Fourth, between Broadway
and Thirteenth; Tenth avenue, between Forty-eighth
and Forty-ninth; North William, between Frankfort
and Chatham; Rose, between Frankfort and New
Chambers; Vandewater, between Frankfort and
Pearl; Twenty-flfth, between Fifth and Sixth ave¬
nues; Twenty-sixth, between Avenue A and the East
River; Fifty-fourch, between Seventh and Eighth
avenues; Avenue A, from Fifty-fourth to Fifty-sev¬
enth ; Tenth avenue, from Seventy second to Seventy-
fourth; One Hundred and Thirty-third, from Fourth
to Sixth; Sixty-second, from the Boulevard to
Tenth avenue and. Ninety-ninth, from Third avenue
to ext<-rior street.