Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





YoL. XXI.





NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, MAY 18, 1878.





No. 531.





Published Weekly by

Cfje Beal EstateSecorbi^ssocmtton.

TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance....SIO.OO.

I'ommunications should be addressed to

C.   \V.   SWEET,

Nos. 3-15 AXD 347 Bkoadwav.

SPRING  REVIEW.

The marked couditiou of real estate atlaii-s to¬
day, is still that of transition. Having passed
through storm and tribulation, these interests
have yet to moor themselves iu a safe and com¬
fortable harbor. Although problems that once
hung menacingly and embarrassingly over the
market have resolved themselves into perma¬
nent and active conditions, and, although the
reaction from the jieriod of highest inflation is
now- comple'.e, and all the relations of these inter¬
ests are steadily settling down iuto legitimate and
conservative lines, yet a general survey of the
situation fails to inspire us %vith conviction that
the market has reached a consistent and w-ell ad¬
justed condition of stability.

Rapid transit has beeu practically attained,
specie payments are virtually resumed, and the
general business of the country, though partak¬
ing of no speculative impulses, is still slowlj- and
steadily reasserting its recuperative vitality.

We will bestow on each of these topics a few
pa.ssing remarks as upon issues w-hose outcomes
have ceased to be speculative, and must be recog¬
nized as active and controlling forces in real estate
alfairs.

Rapid Transit.—This is no longer a Utopian
dream, nor the subject of prophesy and contro-
vei-sy, but an actual accomplished fact sus¬
ceptible of ocular demonstration. Accustomed
ILS we are to abrupt and sudden changes, it must
seem even to the most progressive New Yorker
like a vision that the space between the Battery
aud the Central Park may be travei-sed through
the heart of the city in less than fifteen minutes.
The ultimate realization of some such scheme of
couvej-ance was never a matter of serious doubt,
but its absence was such a palpable detriment to
the city that the «iuestion of chief anxiety was,
how long were we to be deprived of its benelicial
offices i The system, as established, is likely to
become a prominent physical feature of the city.
Crude and imperfect as the adopted method may
seem, it undoubtedlj' possesses the capacity to
fullj' supply the great need of rapid locomotion.
That this sj-stem will give way iu time to a more
solid structm-e, and that steam locomotion will
pervade and ramify over the whole surface of
the island, no intelUgent person can hesitate to
believe.

The successful inauguration of a rapid transit
system is tbe central and significant fact of tho
day. Its extension, impi-ovement and utmost
limit of capabilities will be quickly developed
and demonstrated by our energetic and enter¬
prising population. This great fact casts a long
reflection over the whole subject of our i-eal
estate, since it is destined to embrace within its





reach and inlluence over\- inch of territory now-
comprised w-ithin the corporate limits of New-
York Citj'. Experience alone can properlj' de¬
fine the nature, value and elYcct of this new-
element so suddenh' projected into the arena of
real estate speculation. It is certainlj' within
the possibihties of this new- sj-stem of ti-avel to
completelj- overturn and transform the methods
and bases of calculation that have heretofore pre¬
vailed in real estate transactions.

2. Specie Resumptio.v.—The attainment of
rapid transit might have furnished sufficient
subject of jubilation for an entire decade as did
the introduction of Crolon water. But that this
great and luminous event should be associated
with the prospect of the immediate resumption
of specie puj-raeiits after so long a term of sus¬
pension, furnishes a twin theme for exultation
w-hose chorus niaj' resound through a century.
In view of tho clamor of demagogues and poli.
ticians, and the suspicious outcry that was
arising from various quarters of the country iu
favor of continued inllation, it has been a curious
nnd interesting studj- to note how steadilj- tho
solid interests of the countrj- have moved in the
direction of specie resumption. The powerful
opposition whicii has heretofore been made to
this most desirable consummation undoubtedlj-
sprang from great corporations struggling with
mammoth indebtedness, and from leading sp'di¬
lators who were alreadj- hopelesslj- submerged in
bankruptcj'. These shrewd and skilful manipu¬
lators have sought to make it appear that this
opposition arose from the laboring classes and the
masses of the people or w-as conducted iu their
interest nnd for their benefit. The slightest
investigation serves to dispel this illusion. The
wages-earning people—bj' far the largest pro¬
portion in anj- communitj-—reallj- represent the
creditor class and not the debtor class, being
unable to secure credit bej-ond the amount of
their weeklj- stipends and their ability to respond
on the following paj' daj', and as saviugs bank
depositoi-3 thej- represent in large luiiiilicrs the
capitalist class. Iu the.se their representative
capacities thej' are interested in receiving their
paj-, whether wages cr deposits, in the best
monej', that is, in money which posscss^cs the
largest purchasing power. This remark will
applj'to all pei-sons who work for their living,
and are entitled to receive more than thej- are
obliged to paj' out. The debt-ladened, the in¬
solvent, the impecunious, unproductive, and inert
classes are the only ones whose interests can de¬
mand cheap monej-.

We can offer no better explanation of the
phenomenon of national legislators throwing tlieii-
influence in the direction of continued expansion
of paper money while the busine.ss interests of the
countrj-were naturallj'gravitating in the diicc-
tioi\ of gold paj'ments, except that the live,
active, potential business men, whether emploj--
ers or emploj'ed, whether capitalists of millions
or only of hundreds, were silentlj- but unalter¬
ably set in the direction of resumption, while the
advocates of inflation, aud the opponents of re¬
sumption, belonged entii-ely to a helpless and
ineffective class of demoralized and prostrate
speculators whose last spasm of vitality found an
echo in Congi-ess. The neai-ness of actual re¬
sumption promises to afford us relief from all





further discussion of this gi-eatlj- mooted (piestion,
and to withdraw the public mind from abstruse
speculations in this branch of political economj-.
Probablj' before the summer pa.sses the premium
on gold will be completelj* obliteratjil.

The effect of this condition of things upon real
estate is one of the unsolved problems. No
speculations upon the subject can avail at this
late moment, nor can thej-successfullj' conflict or
compete with the realization of the facts of the
case which must be now so near at hand.

•i. Gexeral BfsiXESS.—While all speculative
interests Imve suU'ered unspeakable niisfortuue
during the last five j-eivrs, it is, nevertheless, a
fact that during this period there has been a slow
but gradual recoverj' of the best business interests
of the coiiuti-j', the results of which are now be¬
ginning to reveal themselves. Tho public mind
was .so taken up with prominent s[icculations dur¬
ing the hillatiou era, that those operations began
to assume a somewhat legitimate character, and
were being taken as indices to the prosperitj- of
the countrj-. The course of these great specula¬
tions in stocks, railroads, real estate and merchan¬
dise was watched with intense cageriie.?s and
anxietj-, as if the fate of the countrj- depended
upon their issue. All investments of capital con¬
nected with these speculative enterprises have
suffered enormous shrinkage: but so far from
prostrating or ruining the business interests of the
countrj-, it has been demonstrated, during the
past five J-ears, that not all the active capital
of the countrj- was embarked in these schemes: a
goodlj- proportion of it must have been withheld
and kept in such an accessible condition as to be
readilj- used in new undertakings.

A fair analogj- of general business recupera¬
tion is presented in our own citj- in the case of re¬
tail jobbers ordistributoi-sof goods, who hold con¬
spicuous positions on our leadingbiisines-savenues.
The.'e tradesmen having proniptlj- unloaded their
.stock of high-priced goods, and realized their
lojses, were careful to lay in a now stock at prices
which would defj- competition, and j-ield them a
sure profit. This operation has been going ou at
the expense of the heavy manufacturers, of their
commission houses, and of such dealers as made
time contrncts with the mills at fixed prices some
J-ears ago. .The immense shrinkage in the val¬
ues of goods which has been a source of prolit to
the retail dealer, and of untold benefit to the pub¬
lic at large, has been an intolerable hardship to
the men who.se monej- was capitali'/.ed in the mills
that iiroduccd these fabrics. In like luannei-, the
owner of lots capitalized at high jirices has been
obliged to siilfer an enorinous loss iu order to turn
them into monej- in these rcactionarj- times; while
the builder who now purchases them for improve¬
ment is thus able to use them in his iiiaiiulnctured
product, at a small profit, and the public are en¬
abled to secure houses at moderate prices.

fhe great ground swell of our bu.siiie.ss popula¬
tion is slowlj- but surelj' recovering its position of
strength, solvencj- and thrift, and is thus laj-iiig
a broad and deep foundation for a universal re¬
coverj' of business prosiierity throughout the
land. With the reform and adjustment of our
federal tariff, there will be a market found for
our surplus pi-oductions in the other countries of
the world, and the tide of wealth w-hit-h is sure to
flow back upon us, as the proceeds of enlarged