Real  Estate

AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.







]ORD





YoL. XXIY.





NEW YUliK, 8ATUKJJAY,  DECEMBEE Id, 1879.





No. iiV.)





PublLthed Weekly by

Cbe Hm{ Estate Wtnoxh ^ssof mi ian.

TERMS.
OiVK YKAU. in advance... .SIO.OO.
Oominiinif.alioris slinnlfl bKadriressed to

C.   \V.   .SWKKT.

No.s.   135 AND   i;j7  BnOADW.VY





WANTED—A GREAT DAILY I^APICII.

Wendell Phillipps delivered in this city, re¬
cently, !i lecture on jouinalisni in which the daily
press of the country was verj' sharply criticised.
There was much tiuit %vas just in the great Boston
orator's strictures, but he rather missed several
points which will be readily made by intelligent
renders of the public journals. The diffiiuilty wiih
the newsp.ipers, especially those of this city, is
that they Inivo now become great jiroperties
owned by rich men, or wealthy corporations.
Tho Tribune. Tinies and Herald, became famous
through the exertions of their original editors, all
three of them men of ability and wl.o commenced
v.itb very slender means. It was a process of
natural selection that seiitpreeley, Raymond and
Bennett to the front in the list of the journalists
of the country, but iiaviug made great jiroperties
the proce.=;s which may be called business selection
instead of natural selection has been at work since
their death. In many technical res^pects the lead¬
ing morning papers of today is superior to that
of fifteen years since, but as organs of public
opinion, as powers in politics and the current
thought of the time, thej' cannot compare witk
what they were when Greeley, Raymond and the
elder Bennett were alive. A part of this is due
no doubt to the growth of the interior press, but
there are several factors at work which are mak¬
ing our journals less efllcient and less useful than
they were of yore. The one fact that they repre¬
sent either a wealthy man like Jaines Gordon
Bennett, .Junior, or a wealthy company like that
which runs the Kew York Times, unfits them to
properiv e.xpie.ss the opinions of the great mass
of the community who are of the %\age or salarj'
receiving classes. Then the extension of the
telegraph, while it collects the news efliciently and
iiiiiversallj-, destroys individual enterprise nnd
gives all papers a certain uniformity which make
them uninteresting to the casual reader. The de¬
mand for great editors no longer exists. What is
now needed are good hack writers, men who are
careful not to ofl'end the partj' to which the
jodrnals belong, or the stockholders %vho own
them. Business interests have got to bo con¬
sidered and that acts as a clog upon spirited and
effective utterances.

It will surprise many of our readers to know
that there are better journals published in Chicago
and St. Louis than in New York. That is to .saj-,
more money is spent, more enterprise shown, and
in some respects, iu the matter of news they are
altogether superior to their New York rivali^.
The Chicago Times, for instance, spends twice to
three times as much as tho New York llenwl, for
special telegraphing. Take the railway news of
the country. Although this city has connections
with all parts of the nation, not a solitary New
York daily paper has a money article that is
worth reading. Beyond telling the temper of the
"street" and noticing a few of the fluctuations.





there is no attempt to give any coherent aecmint
of the railwaj- movenn-nts which arc now su jni-
portant. The great sale of tho Central stock, of
course has to be published as a matter of l,jcal
news, but the marvellous coiulnnatiuiis oi' ,Iav
Gould, we.^t of tbe Missouri, aie ijirely inentioned
in the New V'ork pre.ss. The i/- .-("''/sent a special
correspondent to accoinj<aii\- General (-^rant in bis
voj'.-ige around the worhi. but it would be of vast¬
ly nnire imjiortance to New York city, were a
special correspondent to accompany J.-iy Gould in
his western tri]). ami keep the business public liere
informed of the gradual .systemitazation of rail¬
way management which is now being brought
about bj' that most extraordinary of al! the finan¬
ciers who have appeared in this or any other
countrv. Our press is provincial. It pays undue
attention to local matters, to the exclusion of those
larger questions whichafTect the whole nation.

We hear there is a movement among the Jews
to purcha.se, or institute a great orjian in New
York city. In other parts id the world the
Hebrew race have made themselves felt through
the press. Tlie best news agencies abroad are in
the hands of Jev,s, and the paper with the
largest circulation in London, the Telegraph, is
owned and managed bj- them. Some of the
brightest of the Parisian journals represent Jewish
interests, and that class iu view of the persecutions
to which thej- have recently been subjected in tliis
countrj-, will undoubtedlj- want a greatoigan of
their own in the luetropoiis, not .so much to repre¬
sent exciusivelj- Jewish interests as to ha-< e their
voice through the press on all questions alTecting
that remarkable race. VVe speak of tbis matter
here, because reallj- the press of this citj- does not
give intelligent facts with regard to real e.state.
This impoitant matter is left to some ordinarj*
reporter who runs around to the real estate oflices
and gets up a curious hash of facts and opinions
of verj- little value to owners and dealers in
realtj'.

It will he noticed tbat in the corporations which
control newspapers, the tendeni-j' is for the
publisher to tinallj'beconie the proprietor, fu a
joint stock new.spaper, it is the pnl.ilisher who
best knows the price which should be i)aid for
shares, and hence, Mr. George Jones is now the
owner of the Tihies, Mr. Henderson was the owner
of the Krei.ii.g Post, Mr. Samuel Sinclair, before
his failure, was almost the owner of the :.''; /'-"/«•.
So long as onr journals are published merely as
business enterpri.sos, and in tbe interest of tiiiancial
institutions, tbej' cannot represent public opinion.
Henco we reiterate the title of this article,
"Wanted—a gre.'it dailj'paiier for the metrop¬
olis.'"

NEW RAlLHOAI.>S.
The opening of the ruad from Higli Bridge to
Brewster's Station has not attracted the attention
which its importance merits. This road is rhe old
New York, Boston &. I\bnitreat scheme ixvived.
Itis intended to conuccl with Boston, and eveiitu-
allv to push its north stem, now in the pmcess ot
construction, towanls ^Montreal. Trains will soon
bo running regularlj' between High Bridge aud
Bicw.stcr'8 Station, along Baw-Mill Creek, and the
valley of ihe Nipperhain. This will be remembered
lis the scene ot Wiushington Trving's most charui-
iiig romance.





This new road will oniiect with the New Vork
.V New England road, whieh is beingconstructcd
west from Hartford, and is now within a few miles
nSlbewr-icr's Station. 'J'liis will be anotlier route
fnun New Vork to Boston, 27 niilcH nearer than the
Ni-w Haven road; a route, by rhe way, that con-
iH'ds witb th'- West Side Metropolitan roa>l. This
Ne« Vork ,V N<-w Knglaiid Uailroad is to be r.x-
ttiided tbortly to Fishkill. It will thus be seen
that il crosses the Ilarlem, the new road from
High P.ridi<r to Brcwstern Statiim, and the Hudson
River trae-ks. This will furnish a new route ui the
northwest fur Eastern people, who need no lunger
coaie tu New York in their journey westward. It
will also t'uniish Eastern peofile a iiew entrance
into NfW VorU, oiu; in which they need not use the
tirand Cennal Depot. As an ouiiet fur New York,
north and east, it will be very iniportant. There is
a good deal uf reai estate along this route, which in
destined some day to eutninand very high hgures,
lur Ihe whole valUy through which this road runs
is well adapted for towns and villages all tin; way
up to Brewster's Station. The river tront will al-
way.s have the advantage in point of localion, be¬
cause of the water view und the picturesque
scenery ofthe Hudscni. It will be a poorer popu¬
lation that will settle in these valleys, bnt it is likely
to be the scene of nianj- industries which will find
a 'market in Now York. 3Ir. James Gordon Bennett
owns a great deal of land thia side of Yonkers, on
the liue of this road, aud he is credited witb some
scheine which looks to the erection uf houses for
the poorer part of our population. It would be a
worthy enterprise for the editor of the Herald io
be eugaged iu. ^Ve have loug held that the exten¬
sion of our extra-niiiral railway .'system was the
tune corrective id' the abuses of the tenement
bouse nuisance. When all the various railroads
are built which will connect New York with the
suburbs in every directnjn, there will no longer be
anj' need of crowding p-euple in unwholesome
rookeries. There is aui])!e scope aud verge eitongh
for even the jioorest workingman to have a little
cuttase, with ontlyint^ ;^'ioiinds, ot his own. This
will be une advantage derived fruin the opening of
the new line which rnii.s from High Bridge, mid¬
way between the liudsuii ami Harlem roads, to
Brewsters Station, and whieh will connect east
and north with imiiortant railr-aj' centres.





REGISTER  OF  DEi:i)S.

After the lirst of January next Mr. William
Barre, now the RegistoJ- of Deeds fVir Kings County,
will be the dep'uty in the same oflice under the
Regi.ster elect, :Mr. Thunia.-^ CtirroU. When the
appointment became known it created some noisi>
in political circles. But the RegiRiei".s uflice is one
of the places where politicians have no business
to csjiect consi<1eration. There are two reasons
why thia is ."o.

With politiciaiKs the chief one is, that there are
no positions worth having to give away. Such as
there are recpiire men of more or less skill to till
them ; no others can hope; to earn enough to pay
evflti the most humble board bill. Of course, the
deputy, the searchers and the index clerks are
more desirable iiositions, but to attempt to till .M>y
of them with men not thoioughly conversant with
their duties would be to challenge a chaotic con¬
fusion. And here is where the other reason comes
in.   The pnblic wonld not tolerate that     There is