Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXI.





NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, MAY 25, 1878.





No. 532.





Published Weekly by

^\t %m\ Estate %ttaxii S^ssocmlion.

TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance....$10.00.
Communications should be addressed to

C.  W.  SAVEET,
Nos. 345 AND 347 Broadway.





personal HABITS OF BROKERS.
That was an ill-tempered aud umucrited asper¬
sion which Mr. Clioate east upon brokers in his
address to the Columbia law students, when he
told them if they did not mean to be honest in the
profession they had chosen, they had better turn
brokers at once. We may assume that Mr.
Choate had in his mind the class of brokers with
which his profession is brought most in contact,
the real estate brokers; and that he did not intend
to use the term generically. Whether brokers in
general or real estate brokers particularly were
thus reproached we consider the reflection equally
undignified and uncalled for. The hindrances
and hardships of a broker's career are formidable
enough without having his profession stigmatized
and branded thus pubUcly and by an eminent
citizen with the label of dishonesty, while the
efficiency and dignity of his calling are sufficient¬
ly attested by the Uberal and constant employment
of his services by tbe public. From an extensive
acquaintance with both the professions of law and
brokerage, we feel justified in declaring that the
ratio of honesty to dishonesty is quite as large in
the latter as in the former. We have no hesitation
in flinging back this foul aspersion in the face of
Mr. Choate or any other practitioner who seeks
to laud and elevate the purity of his own profes¬
sion by reviling another equally honorable and
respectable. All fair minded men will promptly
condemn the method of odious comparisons which
Mr. Choate employs in his effort to instil into the
minds of fledgeUng barristers a true conception of
their office and a decent regard for common
morality. He had no occasion to wander beyond
the Hmits of the legal fraternity, or, indeed,
beyond the circle of his own acquaintance in the
profession, either for models of legal virtue or for
examples of flagrant departure from ihe code of
professional ethics and of the depth of turpitude
to which lesuned and honored men may fall.
How pimgent and caustic might have been his
denunciation of professional dishonesty if he had
presented with his matchless oratory, for the
execration of his yoimg'hearers, the bad examples
of recent and notorious legal apostacies. He
might have pointed with just indignation and
honest scorn to the examples of Barrett, the for¬
ger, the would-be reformer of the Episcopal
Church, whose membership he disgraced, who
invited the tnist of widows, orphans^and other
dependent persons only to betray it most shame¬
fully; or to the example of Nicol, the defaultei-—
the founder of the Bar Association, the exemplar
of the dignity, probity and learning of the bar—
who was accustomed in his day to address stu¬
dents very much as Mr. Choate addressed them,
reminding them that in discharging the duties of





trustees, as they might be called upon to do, llu-y
should be careful to keep all trust monies in sep¬
arate bank accounts and on no pretext to merge
them with their own personal funds. Yet iil the
very moment, and doubtles.s for years previously,
this man had been merging the funds of clients
and wards in a most inextricable and promiscuous
confusion in his own bank account, where all
evidences of title and o'wnership were hopelessly
obliterated.

The brokerage profession is accustomed, like the
legal profession, to be honored with Important
and confidential trasts, such as the management
of estates, inve.<?tment of funds, and collection of
income. The very nature of the business requires
the broker to become the depository of the mu¬
tual confidence of the parties to a negotiation.
We are not foolish enough to set up any claim of
immaculateness for this profession, but we do
feel called upon to claim for it a relative purity
quite as cjnspicuous and determinable as emy
which may be claimed for the legal profession.
The legal practitioner is practically irresponsible,
his acts being reviewable only by his own frater¬
nity, who are too apt to look indulgently upon and
deal leniently with the faults and lapses of fellow
practitioners. Suffering beneficiaries, clients and
wcu-ds have told their tales of misplaced confi¬
dence and plundering abuse. Brokers are amena¬
ble to the courts where they find short shrift and
small mercy since chicanery on their part becomes
a crime in the eyes of the law and punishable as
such. We have yet to hear of any noteworthy
default or breach of trust by brokers. Their
faults are apt to be venial, arising out of miscon¬
struction or difference of opinion.

We desire to see the elevation and purification
of both professions of law and of brokerage,
which are so closely alUed and whose functions
in the domain of real estate transactions
are and have been so inseparable. At
times we have not hesitated to criticize both
and to point out what we beUeve to be remediable
defects. We have good reason to believe that
our homihes and expostulations have been at¬
tended with good effect. Indeed, portions of
them might have served as the text of some of
Mr. Choate's remarks. Many vices and reproach¬
es usually charged upon brokers have their in¬
ception in the practice of lawyers who are only
too ready to use brokers as decoys and go-be¬
tweens in making extortionate exactions. The
legal profession naturally exerts a potent and
controlling influence upon the brokerage pro¬
fession, and, if the spirit of reform should take
possession of the former, it would be sure to pro¬
duce a wholesome reactionary,effect upon the
latter.

In this connection we desire to present for the
consideration of our broker patrons a few re¬
marks which naturally grow out of the foregoing
observations. The best and only retort that can
properly be made to any such imfair derogation
as that just referred to, is for the brokers them¬
selves to Uve down the aspersion by their acts.
We are now addressing ourselves to those brokers
who hold the honor and reputation of the pro¬
fession dear to them, and who recognise in then*
dealings the established code of business moraUty.
No refutation of ours can so completely silence





the reproach sought to be cast upou brokers, as
will the determination ou the part of .the leading
members of the profes-sioji to allow iu themselves
and to tolerate in others no sign or suspicion of
dishonest}'. Begard for truth must dominate all
their dealings, whether iu verbal statements or
in the substance of their written contracts. A
broker whose reputation for mendacity is once
established maj- lead a precarious existence for a
while, but he is sure to be avoided by dealere as
soon as his character is once developed. The very
breadth of the field which real estate negotiation
presents for false, niisleadicg or exaggerated
btatemonts compels doalei-s to place the highest
value upou the virtues of honest dealing and
plain truth telling. The reputation most to bo
coveted by brokers is that of being square dealing
men.

As in certain creeds cleanliness is esteemed to
be next to godliness, so in framing the ethical
code of brokers we would venture to suggest a
further personal consideration. It is the misfor¬
tune of many, of pex'haps a majority of the
brokerage profession, to be poor and to bo com¬
pelled to'struggle hard for a simple existence.
Yet, a due regard for their customers and respect
for themselves require them to present a proper
personal appearance. In pursuing their business,
they are called upon to conduct negotiations be¬
tween gentlemen occupying the highest social and
commercial positions, to enter and pass much
time in punctilious law offices and sumptuous
countmg and banking rooms. Sometimes their
duties throw them in the society of ladies. Right
or wrong, it is the American habit to estimate a
man by ^the appearance which he presents. A
broker has no right to create a prejudice again.st
himself by an untidy exterior. Without advo¬
cating habits of fopper}-, we assert that the occu¬
pation of a broker makes him dependent in a
measure for success upon the assistance of his
tailor. Whatever standard or degree of artistic
decoration he may adopt, in no case except of
necessitj' should his order of apparel be allowed
to fall below mediocrity or into an unkempt and
slovenly state. Above all other men, the broker
should preseut the appearance and manners of a
gentleman. It will be decidedly to his advan¬
tage if he can lay a just claim to familiarity with
the customs of polite society.

Furthermore, we must deprecate the habit
which prevails among brokers of indulging in
the inordinate use of tobacco during business
hours. It is no assistance to their clients in con¬
sidering the merits of a negotiation to have suc¬
cessive puffs of tobacco smoke blown in their
faces or to have the fragrance of tobacco laden
breath wafted under their olfactory organs. If
brokers are wedded to tho narcotic weed, they
should try to limit their gratification of this taste
to other than bu.siness hours, or to such o})portu-
nities of leisure as the business may present.
While we will fi-eely avow our adhesion to the
Astor code of temiiei-ance, to wit: indulgence in
light wines, and our detestation of commonplace
moralizings on temperance, we still fet'l called
upon and warranted in saying that stiniLu-iits,
particularly spirituous stimuiauls, uie not the
proper basis for successful real estate'uegotiation.

It is rumored that some brokers ai-e iu the habit