244:





The Real Estate Record.





March 19, 1881





park, the owners of which have had the
same experience, and San Francisco another.
It may be that these enterprises were started
prematurely and that the projectors did not
allow for business disasters, or were involved
in debt at the very beginning. Solvent as¬
sociations for buying property in mass and
reseUing to people who want pleasant homes
in desirable locations, have been reasonably
successful. This is true of Larchmont and
Huguenot Park, one to the nortli and the
other to the west of New Rochelle. Tiiere is
a great deal of money to be made from this
time forth, by wise investments in real estate,
by capitalists or comj)anies in which the
property is divided up into building lots and
money advanced to those who wish to make
permanent homes for their families. But
these enterprises want individual heads.
Co-operative associations rarely succeed,
Mount Vernon in Westchester County being
one of the very few exceptions.





UNFORTUNATE NAMES.
Let sensible folks say what they will, peo¬
ple who invest in securities are very apt to
believe in luck. If they note the fact that
disaster generally overtakes the enterprises
in which certain names appear, they are led
to believe it is better not to have anything to
do with new companies in which these same
operators turn up. Take the mining interest,
for instance. Certain gentlemen have come
to the fore in the organization of the stocks
called in our local markets, and people who
have invested on the strength of these
names have lost their money. Of course,
there is a liability to hold these operators
responsible for the losses, and honest men
have often been called swindlers because of
mistakes they have made. At any rate a
great many superstitious people would prtj-
fer not to have anything to do with com¬
panies which have come to grief under their
management. Among the gentlemen who
have figured for the past two years in one or
more unfortunate enterprises are the follow¬
ing :

George Roberts,           William M. Lent,

Ex-Senator Chaffee,   Senator John P. Jones,
William Brandreth,   Ex-Gov. Taber,
Drake de Kay,             A. H. GiU,

Mr. Moffat,                  S. V. White,

Supt, Keyes,                George Daly,

Generar.Dodge,           Mr. Havemeyer.

The public will recall these and other
names in connection with the former man¬
agements of Chrysolite, Little Chief, Hukill,
Freeland, Little Pittsburgh, Bodie and other
properties, investments in which have
proved unfortunate. We judge these and
other gentlemen have been roundly cursod by
certain exacting investors, who have prob¬
ably called them harsh names and wished
they had never heard of them or their mines.
We, however, take a charitable view of
things, knowing the tmcertainty of mining.
Of course, all of these gentlemen must have
lost immense fortunes for their mistakes in
judgment. If their friends suffered for
being in the same boat with them, they can
mingle their tears in common. Still, super¬
stitious people wUl probably avoid any min¬
ing company in which these gentlemen
have anything to do, either as ofllcers or
manipulators. Indeed, the impossibility of
the investing public keeping track of every
new mine listed wiU give special value of
their endorsement by certain names. For
instance, it is the same group oH operators.





with Mr. Haggan at the head, who have
listed on this market the Homestake,
Ontario and Deadwood Terra mines. These
have paid dividends for so long a period and
have to all appearances been so well man¬
aged that they have inspired confidence
among investors, and any new ijroperty that
they would endorse would be promptly
taken up at high figures. People who value
their reputation and whose names are associ¬
ated only with good properties can make
large fortunes on this niarket. For investors
will follow names before they invest in
mines. But mine promoters who have been
mistaken, unfortunate or worse, must not
expect to gain credit in the mining stock
market.





CONDITION OF  THE MARKETS.

The outlook is mixed. It is evident that
a monetary stringency of some kind is fear¬
ed, and so we have a dull market at the
Stock Exchange, in which the variations are
but slight. Judge Bond, who was elected
President of the Reading road, is supposed
to have certain affiliations with the Pennsyl¬
vania Central, which may rietach the Read¬
ing from the coal combination. This fact
has doubtless had much to do with the weak¬
ness of the coal stocks during the past few
days The coal properties are dangerous
ones for investors to touch, in view of the
patent fact, that there is practically no limit
to the coal laroduction. it is within the
power of the companies, which now own
the anthracite region; to, within a year,
double tlie anthracite product, and thus
supj)ly three tons for every two which
could be consumed. There must be an
agreement faithfully observed, or the coal
trade, as far as the railways are concerned,
goes to the dogs. It is the coal companies
which have been the weak spot in the mar¬
ket. There was also a current rumor that
Delaware and Lackawanna would declare
1% per cent quarterly dividend, instead of
3 per cent as expected.

Another element of distrust is the precise
attitude of the Treasury department. The
new Secretary is a factor in the problem of
unknown potency. It is unfortunate that
this is the case. Prices of securities should
be determined by the laws of trade and the
course of business, and not by the possibly
interested, and often capricious, action of a
Government officer. We have a party in
this country which protests against central¬
ization, yet no one has thought it necessary
to lift his voice against the power wielded by
Mr. Windom, to make money easy or tight,
and thus put stocks up or down.

The bears have made much use of the
storms in the West to depress stocks; but
it seems St. Paul earned during the year
1880 fully 10 per cent on its capital stock, and
can well afford to pay the 1% per cent quar¬
terly dividend just declared. Both the St.
Paul and Northwest have lost heavily by the
recent storms, but then the spring business
will more than make up, as the amounts of
freight to be carried are very large. Thirty-
eight roads report a business for the month
of February, 1881, of $10,645,569, an increase
of $463,718 over the same month last year,
that is about 4.% per cent. But there was
an increase of mileage operated on these
roads of 4,137 miles, or 17 per cent. North¬
west earned $957,300 this February, against
$1,131,683 February 1880. St. Paul earned
$683,000, against $738,749 last year. Illinois
Central earned $493,851,   against  $603,806





last year. This is a bad showing, especially
as the mileage on these roads was 3,500 more
than last year.

The strength of the stock market for the
last few days is due to a belief that an ex¬
tra session of Congress may soon be called.
Usually, such an expectation would depress
values, but as the main object of the called
session would be the passage of a Refunding
Bill, and as that would mean a cheap money
market and possible^ja 3 percent Government
bond, it revives the bull feeling in all stocks.
Unless there is war in Euiope, an extra ses¬
sion of Congress will bring about an advance
in prices beyond anything we have yet seen.
From the feeling throughout the country, it
is doubtful whether the banks will fare any
better in the new than in the last CongrL^-ss.

Cotton continues weak. We produced
more last year than the world can possibly
use this year.

Grain has advanced slightly in price, and
if there is any threat of foreign war, which
is not unlikely, or any doubt about the crops
of this country, which is also possible before
the season closes, there may be a sharp ad¬
vance in the price of cereals.

The action of the Governments of France,
Germany and Austria, in discriminating
against our hog products, has weakened the
whole provision market, forthe doubt raised
against the wholesomeness of one kind of
meat discredits all other kinds. It is un¬
fortunate that a few careless and over
greedy packers should have been allowed to
strike such a blow at the commerce of
America. If the old system of inspection
at the Atlantic ports had been continued,
this calamity would not have befallen the
country. But Chicago in its eagerness, to
take all the profits, has insisted upon direct
trade with Europe, and has managed it so
badly as to close for some time half the
markets of the world against their hog pro¬
ducts.





RAPID TRANSIT -IN  THE 34th WARD.

The completion of the New York City &
Northern Railroad Bridge, which is now a
matter of only a few days, wiU open a new
era in the history of rapid transit, as it will,
in connecting the hitherto remote localities
of Westchester County with the elevated
railroad system of the metropolis, enable
the inhabitants of that section to have
ready access to the business centre of
our city. This bridge will directly unite the
Metropolitan Elevated Railroad with the
New York City & Northern Railroad above
Highbridge, affording a continuous line
from the Battery through Westchester and
Putnam counties to Brewsters.

The New York City & Northern wiU con¬
nect with the Metropolitan Elevated Line at
One Hundred and Fif ty-seventh street and
Eighth avenue, bearing to the right on
a double track viaduct, crossing the Harlem
River by the new bridge at right angles to
the bulkhead line to the Westchester shore,
thsnce swinging round over the tracks of
the Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris Railroad
strike the high ground, whence it contin¬
ues as a surface road to Highbridge, where
it unites with the main line of the New
York City & Northern Railroad.

The bridge will be five hundred feet in
length and is composed wholly of iron, rest¬
ing on massive granite piers. The super¬
structure will consist of two deck spans
one hundred feet in length, uaibed by a huge