AND    BUILDERS'    GUIDE





Vol. XIL





NEW YOEK, SATURDAY, AUGUST 0,





Ko. 2.S2





Published Weekly by

m   REAL  ESTATE  RECORD ASSOCIATION.

TERMS.

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

All communications should he addressed to

Whiting BtnnnixG, 345 anb 347 Beoadwat.





THE TELEGRAPH POLE NUISANCE.





jSTothmg so defaces the aspect of our squares,
avenues, and streets as the liori-ible telegrapli
poles -wliicli obstruct the view of many a fine
corner and of numerous palatial buildings.
It is bad enough that New York should have
the meanest lamp-posts to be found anj-^where
in the civilized world, and that the barbers'
colors should annoy our vision in our best
thoroughfares, but why should a monopoly
like the Western Union be permitted to erect
poles where we don't want them—on, every
square, in every street, in every avenue?
Probably because it is a monopoly, and as
such has the right to do what it pleases.
Again, why should the Fire Department fol¬
low the bad example set by this monopoly, and
do even worse by erecting still higher and still
meaner poles than the telegraph company ? It
is a shame that in a city like New York we
are in this matter still so far behind many
European cities, where the wires are all laid
under ground, and where no telegraph poles
obstruct the view. Our Common Council
shottld take this matter in hand, and see if the
Western Union and the Fire Department can¬
not be compelled to lay their wires under
ground, or if they cannot find some other
means for stretchmg theu- wires than the mis¬
erable poles now defacing our streets.





MR. GREEN AND MR. VAN NORT.

Ever since the new charter has gone into
operation there has been a constant wrangling
between Comptroller Green and Commissioner
Van Nort, to the di.sgust of our numerous tax
payers. It was hoped that with the inaugura¬
tion of the new order of things the municipal
machinery would work smoothly, and now the
citizens of New York, when they are not
regaled to criminations and recriminations in
the Board of Aldermen, are treated to long
epistles either on the part of Mr. Green, de¬
nunciatory of the doings of the Commissioner
of Public Works, or on the part of Mr. Van
Nort,. abusive of the chief of the Finance
Department. One day the citizens of New
York, while imaigining that all is well under
the reform regime, are told by Mr. Green that
the operations of the Department of Public
Works continue to be dictated by a policy as
extravagant as it is nefarious; the next day
they find Mr. Va^i Nort rushing into print,





losing his temper, by holding Mr. Green's
watchfulness up to ridicule, and by pointing
at him as the municipal Paul Pry. Then
again, if stationery is required, and the Comp¬
troller justly refuses more than is necessary,
Mr. Van Nort writes a letter and takes pains
to see that it is ptiblished in order the more to
annoy Mr. Green, in Avhich he tells him that
if he don't furnish what is wanted " he'll make
him!" etc., etc. And so from one day to
another there is bickering and wrangling be¬
tween the two leading city Departments, with
a prospect of its becoming worse when the
thermometer settles down to below the nineties.
It is time that all this shotild stop, and on
behalf of the tax-payers of New York who
look to Mayor Havemeyer for the energetic,
faithful, aud business-like discharge of all
duties required from his subordinates, we
appeal to him to make an end to this wrang¬
ling, and to see to it that the Department of
Finance and the Department of Public Works
co-operate harmoniously in the great work
that lies under his immediate supervision, viz.
—municipal reform. The proper government
of the city of New York is not dependent of
any one single man, and rather than permit
this quaiTcling and inharmonious working to¬
ward a great end to continue, Mr. Green might
be told that he is uot the only honest and effi¬
cient man in the metropolis; and Mr. Van
Nort might readily be convinced that the tax-
pa^'^ers have something to say in regard to his
tenure of office, even if things have been pretty
well " fixed'.' for him at Albany. Individuals
are of no consequence in the great work of
reform on which the citizens of New York
have entered with unflagging determination,
and if Mr. Green and Mi-. Van Nort cannot
co-operate together harmoniously, it is Mayor
Havemeyer's duty to consider what can be
done to compel unity of action on the part of
the two Department chiefs.





WESTERN LANDS AND RUSSIAN  EMIGRA¬
TION.      ■      ■

The various Pacific and other Railroad
Companies that have la,nds to sell should come
to some agreement as to the inetbod and man¬
ner in wdiich these lands should be disposed
of. The time has come when their land sharks
and agents who, as runners after emigrants,
pester the newrcomer, the; colonist, and the
foreign investor w-ith their vari-colored state¬
ments about the great paradise each Western
State possesses, and the relative prospective
value of lands in their respective localities,
should be discarded, and the land depart¬
ments of the various roads represented by au¬
thorized and intelligent agents, should alone
control the business of selling their lands.





Those desirous of purchasing would uot then
act so suspiciouslj"" nor be' so over-cautions.
They would consult the authorized sellers
while studying the topography of the various
States, instead of tiying to strike a sharp bar¬
gain with Western land speculators. The en¬
tire business shoukl be reduced to a system,
as sure and unvaiying as is now the sj'.stem of
selling the bouds of these various companies.
Besides, the work should be intrusted to per¬
sons w^lio are well informed as to the move¬
ments of various populati ms in foreign coun¬
tries, and as to the causes that lead to sudden
movements of large masses of human beings,
their wants, and requirements. We say this
especially'' now in view of a very interesting
article which appeared in the Times of Mon¬
day last, where informatiou was given in re¬
gard to Russian emigration, which has set iu
toward this country. We have reason to
know from other sources tliat this information
is quite correct, and that the Russians about
to arrive here will bring from $10,000,000 to
112,000,000 in gold, most of which Avill go
toward the purchase of Western lands. We
insist that these Russians shall not be met by
land sharks, but by the officers of the various
roads or their authoriized agents in New York.
If only one of them gets victimized the effect of
it will be injurious to the country, as others will
then be deterred from investing in Western
lands. No fictitious prices must be put upon
the lands offered for sale, for it will take years
upon years to bring them at all up to the
valtte which some enthusiasts are anxious to
place upon them. Fair and direct dealing
will go far toward settling part, at least, of our
Western territory; and if this new Russian
emigration does not assist in fertilizing a large
tract of the waste lands out West, it will not
be their fault, but that of the land sharks who
are always ready to take advantage of new¬
comers.





MECHANICS' LIENS.





NEVr YORK.

August

1  A.\. A,  X. w.  COR.  117th ST.,  22x

118. (Cont'n to Aug. 21, 1874.)
James Hamel agt. Mary E. Way-
dell..........................■.... S3,13i 00

2  Broadway (Nos. 1420, 1420)^, and

1421).    Patrick  Fox   agt.   Cyrus

Clark............................       370 00

2 Av. D, sr. w. cor. 13th st.   Patrick

Carney agt. the Mutual Gas Co...        .30 00

1  Eighth av. (No. 236), x. e. cor. 22d

St.   WUliam Sleight agt. Leonard

Cook.....'i......................       697 92

Eightt-fifth ST. (No. 225), n. s., ~|

2       325 e. 3d av., ext'g 25 feet.....[

Eighty-sixth st. (No. 228), s. s., j

325 e 3d av., extd'g 25 feet.....j

Michael and Arthur J. Hennessy
agt. Edward S. Innes and Thos.
F. Sharkey.......................       400 00