ND   BUILDERS'   GUIDE.





Vol. XI.





NEW YOKK, SATUEDAY, FEBEUAEY 1, 1873.





No. 255.





Publis/i,ed Weeklu by

TÏÏE REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION.

TERMS.

One year, in advance......................$6 00

AU communications should be addressed to

C.   ^W.   SWEEIT'.

7 ANB 9 Waruen Street.





No receipt for money due the Real Est.VTE Recoru
wUl be acknowledged unless signed by one o£ onr regular
collectors. Henry D. S.mitu or Thomas F. Cumsiings.
Ail bills for collection will be sent from the office on a regu-
larly printed form.





The désire on the part of the community for
a rapid, transit road to be built by the city in¬
creases the more it is discussed. The Hei'ald
has long advocated this plan, and now the
Warld, a fierce no-govemment paper, favors the
municipality doing the work rather than wait-
ing any longer for capitalists, who will not un-
dertake the task unless at such a cost to the
community as would be a grievous perpétuai
tax. Our Croton Aqueduct works and public
parks show that good honest work can be
done for the community by its chosen ser¬
vants, while nearly ail the waste and fraud in
public work is when it is done by corporations
who use the public money -without responsi-
bihty to any one but their own stockholders.
The Crédit Mobilier scandai is a case in point.
Had government built the Union and Central
Pacific roads with its own money, under the
direction of army ofl&cers, it would hâve taken
several years longer than it did, but the roads
would hâve been honestly constructed, and for
half the cost incurred by thèse great railroad
corporations, and that too without vothig away
millions of acres of land, which could hâve been
kept for actual settlers. Ail government work
is slow, sure, and tolerably honest, and the
public are well treated in the way of charges.
Not so work done for the goverment by stock
corporations. Thèse last are irresponsible,
wasteful, androb both the government they
work for and the community they serve.

By ail means let us hâve a viaduct road built
by the city. It will be run, if so built, in the
interest of the community at large instead of a
few capitalists.





' New York must be managed like a tree or
shrub. It is useless to look after the branches
and leaves unless the rooiss are also attended to.
Now the roots of this city, its vvholesale busi¬
ness thoroughfares, "which had " ample room aud
verge enough " in. former yearsj hâve been of





late so pressed by increasing business that
their natural circulation is impeded, and death
mnst ensue unless the " earth is loosened"
around them, and they are allowed to broaden
out to natural dimensions. A good sign in this
direction is seen in the renewal of the proposi¬
tion to widen Ann street, especially since only
one building of much value, the Market bank
corner of Pearl and Beekman, would hâve to
be removed. The propei-ty holders along the
line hâve taken the matter up, and wUl apply
to the Législature for authority.
;-' It is designed to make Ann street 125 feet
wide at Broadway, taking the additional space
from the north side of the street, which is then
to run eastward for about 25 feet, with the
north side at a right angle to Broadway, and an
obtuse angle to the présent boundary of Ann
street, which will cause it to gradually decrease
in width until it is 100 feet wide on the aver¬
age. Ail new ground is to be taken on the
north side of the street as far as Gold street,
where Ann and Beekman streets are to blend
in an open space, for the accommodation of
horse-cars, narrowing from 160 feet ta width at
this point to 100 feet at ClifE street, whence
Beekman is to continue of the same width to
the East River. Between Cliff and Water
streets, the new space is to be taken from both
sides of the way, and from Water street down
on the north side only.

The movers of this project désire also to pur¬
chase Fulton Market, demolish the présent
structure and erect in its place a great street
car dépôt for the Third, Fourth and Lexington
avenue, East Broadway and Avenue C car com¬
panies, and also for the Sixth and Eighth
Avenue lines, should the latter two gain per¬
mission to cross Broadway. Two new ferry
lines from the foot of Beekman street—one to
Bridge street, Brooklyn, and the other to Wil-
liamsburg—are additional features of the de¬
sign.

The Brooklyn Ferry company wiU neither op¬
pose nor support the project. But the citizens
of Brooklyn are very earnestly in favor of it,
as is shown by their letters to the dailies. They
complain that private parties hâve been allow¬
ed so to obstruct Fulton street that vehicles
and pedestrians passing to and fro between the
two cities hâve been continually blockaded.





THE TAX ON MORTGAGES.

That the tax on bonds and mortgages is in
effect a second tax on real estate is now gene¬
rally conceded by financiers, and the movement
in favor of its removal is becoming continually
stronger.    The injustice of the présent system !
is sometimes denied by people who are other- j
wise clear-headed, because of their failure to j
distingïdsh    between   property    and    crédit.





" Property," or " capital," is a term that can
only be justly applied to the immédiate product
of human labor or the accumulated fruit of past
labor. It is only this and the services of men
who hâve no capital or pref er to give services, as
in the old system of road-mending, that Govern¬
ment has a right to take by taxation. As to
the tax on mortgages, it is plain that from the
land must be raised the money to pay the tax of
the mortgagee as well as that of the mortgagor.
If the original owner had not been compelled
to borrow, the tax would hâve been only on the
value of the railroad, ship, or lot ; but as soon
as the second person gives his loan the tax is
increased in proportion. Again, if the lender
had become joint owner, the tax would not
hâve been increased. The obligations given
and taken between our citizens are taxed, as if
a man, by giving or takiag a mortgage, increas¬
ed the property of the State. If two men gave
each other mortgages on their houses for the
same amount, and then each in.sisted that he
had a house and a mortgage, and that thus,
while the two houses were worth $10,000, the
houses and mortgages were worth $15,G00, who
would believe them ?

Ail the taxation ostensibly levied on crédits
really falls on the borrowers This pressure
upon crédits is particularly severe on mortgîigors,
because the assessors can always find their do-
ings on record, while most other crédits are not
recorded. In conséquence of this, though
money has been cheap within the last year, it
has been harder to get it on mortgage than ever
before. So long'as taxes were light, that on
mortgages was merely nominal. But now, if
the mortgagee pays the tax, he gets much less
than the markeC rate of interest ; and if the
mortgagor agrées to pay it (as he must, if it is
paid at ail) the mor-tgagee has to run the risk of a
def ence of usury.

It must be admitted that the justest form
of taxation would be in the shape of an income
tax, if incomes could be really got at. But the
disposition to fraud in statements of annual
profits is so universal that this way is impracti-
cable. Even the strongest corporations become
suddenly possessed of immense amounts of.
Government bonds about the time the assessor
comes round, and as suddenly dispossessed
when he has gone. It is probable that the final
verdict of ail just men wUl be in favor of mak¬
ing a tax on real estate the principal if not only
source of revenue. One good effect of this will
be the curtailment of land monopoly.





WAKE3 AT rUNERALS

The evils resulting from wakes at funerals,
both physical and moral, hâve often been allud-
ed to ; and while it may be possible in some
cases for devout people to carry out their reli-.