A^ND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE,





Vol.1.]

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TiujouGii a mistake, some very poor paper was used
on a portion of our'edition last week; and, as a con¬
sequence, there has been some complaint. As we take
a very natural pride in the appeatance of the Recobd,
this accident was very mortifying to us. We havo had
a number of extra copies printed, and wc will willingly
give them, without extra charge, to subscribers upon
application at tho office or to our carilers. As we have
sold nearly a thousand bound files, there must be more
than that number of tho Record preserved for refer¬
ence; and as it Id desirable that all tho copies should
be good ones, those who keap such files should see to
to it, and get a good copy of last week's paper, AVe have
bought extra fine paper for our future editions,

HOW STEAM SOADS AFFECT CITIES.
The high price paid for real estate in the
suburbs of New York, within a radius of say
.fifty miles, shows that capitalists are begin¬
ning to realize the effect Avhich steam rail¬
ways will in time have upon the distribution
of population. It Avas long before the intro¬
duction of steam that Thomas Jefferson said,
" great cities are sores upon the body politic."
He alluded, of course, to the over-croAvding,
and consequent disease and misery, of large
populations confined to a limited area, and in
whom there were great contrasts of wealth
and condition. It Avas the impossibility of
locomotion for any great distance Avhich has
filled all the old cities of Europe Avith houses
eight and ten stories high. When a large
population is confined to a limited space of
land, the only thing to be done is to add
story to story to accommodote a larger and
still larger number of people. By the
force of habit great, high houses are still being
erected in the cities of the old world—notably
in Paris, under the direct command of the Em¬
peror ; yet it is as plain as day that the need
which caUed" these huge caravansaries into
being exists no longer. The steam horse
has rendered vast spaces of land available for
the residence of citizens, and in ten years
time over-crowding of people in any civilized
centre of population will be quite out of the
question. There is yet a good deal to be
done in the way of multiplying steam roads
and cheapening fares, but Avhen this is ac¬
complished there is an end of tenement
''houses, and great cities will distribute their





SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1868.





[No. 11.





populations over hundreds of-square miles,
where there will be ample room and verge
enough for every family to have its own
home, and sit under its oAvn vine and fig
tree.

Hence almost unconsciously capitalists
have directed their attention to property in the
neighborhood of large cities, Avhichnow bears
a price apparently though not really out of
all proportion to its real value. In a few
years new roads Avill be opened exclusively
for local traffic, and districts now apparently
far removed from hope of improvement, will
be made available for healthful residences.
Railroads, then, lead to two apparently very
different results. (1) They concentrate busi¬
ness in great centres of trade, and (2) They
scatter the population of large cities. The
first effect was the first manifested when
railroads were originally constructed. They
aimed merely to unite distant centres of
trade: the result has been the enormous
growth of population in the great cities. One
of the most marked phenomena of modern
times is the increase of the urban at the ex¬
pense of the suburban population; and this
tendency is-still at work. We have entered
upon an era of mighty cities.

But now a new effect is growing out of
the use of steam. It is being employed to
disperse population as well as to concentrate
trade. Villages, towns, nay, cities, such as
would have been impossible tAventy years
ago, are now growing up in the neighbor¬
hood of all large centres of population. Look
at NeAvark, Elizabeth, Ralnvay, Paterson,
Mount Vernon, New RocheUe, Yonkers, and
the scores of other places which now are
filled with people whose business is here in
New York.

Our advice to the poor as well as the
moderately well off, would be to secure a lot
of ground almost anywhere within thirty
miles of the City HalL The use of steam for
local traffic is as yet in its infancy. Within
fifteen years' time this city will be honey¬
combed Avith tunnel and Arcade roads, in
which steam will be used, and connecting
with branch roads, that will make immense
areas of land available for building purposes.

No one can miss it Avho buys in a good
location in Westchester County, or the out¬
skirts of Brooklyn, or anywhere on the Jer¬
sey shore. There is more money to be made
in buying real property to-day, than at any
period in the history of the country.





Chicago expects to build  7000 dwellinga
next year.





We commence this week a record which
will be of very great use to property own¬
ers in this city. It is a list of all the reso¬
lutions, ordinances, and bills before the Com¬
mon Council which in any way affect real
property. All the propositions for new
mains, sewers, for paving and grading streets,
for pavement, curbing, guttering, and the
like, will be found here recorded. Up to this
time there Avas no publication which could
inform property holders of the proposed ac¬
tion of the Common Council upon matters
affecting their private and personal interests-
Hereafter the readers of the Record, at least,
can keep posted. If schemes are afoot
which are not really needed, our readers can
take measures in time to prevent their pas¬
sage. In any event, these bills affecting their
property cannot pass without their knowl¬
edge. As these improvements are decided
upon, we will also announce the fact.

An interesting suit is about to be brought
by a Mr. David Groesbeck against the cor¬
poration of Trinity Church, involving the
title to a large tract of land in this city,
formerly known as the " lung's Farm Gar¬
den," noAV held by the above named corpo¬
ration.

The point made by Mr, Groesbeck, in a
communication addressed to the city author¬
ities, requesting them to take the necessary
steps to guard the right of the city in the
property, is, "that the charter of Trinity
Church is in abeyance, and the present hold¬
ers of the property are successors of Trustees
appointed as the result of a war measure in
1784, and as a measure of preserving* the
peace of the city, and of the nature of an act
of reconstruction, unconstitutional and only
temporary in its nature, arising from the ne¬
cessities of the case in order that the rights of
all parties might be preserved."

It is therefore a case of great importance
to those who are holding long leases from
the Trinity Church Corporation, and have in
consequence expended large sums of money
in improving the property.

It is possible, however, that like many
cases of this gigantic proportion, it will drag
its slow length along in our Courts through
successive generations, and no one now liv¬
ing will see the end of it.

Ninety-nine year lessees may therefore rest
their souls in peace, for no harm will come to
them.

---------------------    I    m    I

Over thirty-one thousand acrea of land have
been taken up by actual settlers in the St.
Peter's district, Minnesota, the past month., j