Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE.





YoL. XXY.





NEW YOEE:, SATUEDAY, JANUAEY 10, 1880.





No. 617





Published Weekly by

d« 'Mmi Estate Betarb ^ssadEttatt.

TERMS.
ONE YEAR, in advance.. ..SIO.OO.
Communications should be addressed to

C.   -W.   SWEET,
Nos. 135 AND 1"W Broadw.w





OUR INDEX.
Our subscribers receive with this issue the
Index to Volume XXIV. of The Real Estate
Pi,ECORD, covering the period of six mouths from
July to December, 1879—oue of the most import¬
ant in the history of New York i-eal estate. This
Index is the Icey to the vast treasure of informa¬
tion given week after week in these colimius,
and at once enables all those iuterested to ascer¬
tain with promptness the value of a certain
parcel of property at any particular time during
said pei'iod. In addition to the references
of this exhaustive Index regarding al! the
transfers filed in the Register's offices of New
York aud Brooklyn during the past six months,
its pages also furnish the same facilities for ascer¬
taining all information about the new buildings
in the two counties, the Mechanics' Liens, the
various topics discussed editorially aud the new
projects tbat liave engaged the attention of
owners, architects and builders during tlie past
year.

Wlien it is remembered that, for the purpose of
getting at all these facts so valuable to purchasers
and sellers, there are no other sources than the
volumes of The Real Estate Record, now
properly indexed almost up to this A^ery date, our
fi'iends will share with us the pride we take in
pointing to the labor and care \^'hich have been
bestowed upon this Index without which the
mass of statistics gathered during the past six
months would indeed constitute a labyrinth which
might ruffl.9 the .temper of the coolest Pine
street broker.

Completing, as this Index does, the histor}^ of
the marked changes for the better which have
come over values during the year IS79—a year
that in time to come will be studied with as much
avidity as it has been closely watched during the
past twelve-month—we do not see how any one
at all desirous of investigating before investing
can be without The Real Estate Record. Its
more than thousand pages printed in 1879 present
in cold and hard figures the true inwardness of a
market, which, after all, is the true test of a
people's prosperity. It is the value of the soil that
reflects a nation's wealth, and our columns have
teemed from week to week wifch the fiucfcuations
of these values. Of course New York and
Brooklyn, wifch its myriads of sfcreets, avenues,
parks, places, squares, lanes and roads do not in
every instance show a marked variation from
previous values, bufc whafcever the spot, whatever
the alley even, the Index will readily direct the
investor and broker to the page refiecfciug the
transactions in said spot or street.





BROKERS' COMMISSIONS.
To the Editor of The Real Estate Record.

Please answer the following question, as I think
it is time the matter should be finally settled:

A parfcy leaves with me a piece of real estate





for sale afc a certain price; negotiations are com¬
menced by making au offer for same; finally, on
the 24ch December, I again see the ov.'uer, coming
to his terms all bufc !?59, and then on the 2Bfch
December, about three o'clock (Christma^s day
intervening), I notify the owner my party will
take the property on his own (the owner's^ terms,
and that the contract is already drawn, ready
for signature, whereupon he informs me the same
is sold.

Under the circumstances, am   \   entitled fco a
commission ?                                         Gof.ootka.

ANSWER.

A broker employed to sell, in the ordinary
course of things, can do no more than find a
person who is able and willing to purchase u})on
the owner's terms. When he succeeds in doing
this, his brokerage is earned, and the owner who
refuses fco sell on the terms given to the broker,
or disables himself from conveying, becomes
liable for the brokerage. This is the general rule
which, like every other, has its exceptions. If
the owner revoked the broker's authority before
the purchaser was introduced, or if hepre-^erved
the liberty to seiJ, himself or through other
brokers, upon the tmdersfcandiug that he was to
be liable oidy to the person who made the firsfc
acfcual sale, the owner would not be liable. Of
course, every owner may sell his property
whefclier he employs a broker or not, hut if he
does, he ouglifc fco notify lus broker so as to relieve
him from further labor or efi'orts. If he fails to
do this, or, in ofclier words, to revoke the broker's
authority, it would be manifestly unjust to de¬
prive the broker of his commission, who, ignorant
of the sale by the owner, continued fco labor and
incur expense uufcil he had accomplished fche
objecfc of his emploj'menfc. While the owner has
rights the brokei-, after employment, has rights,
too, which his employer must respecfc or pay the
penalty, which in this case is the brokerage.

PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENTS.

On Monday evening, the Municipal Society
met at 67 Madison avenue, Thatcher M. Adams,
Esq., Pre.sident, in fche chair.

The committee on amendments fco the Charter
of New York (Messrs, Myer S. Isaacs, Dorman B.
Eaton and Arfcemas H. Holmes), presenfced a pre¬
liminary reporfc suggesting the principles which
should underlie municipal governmenfcs, the spec¬
ial defecfcs of the present charfcer and the proposed
I'emedies.

The reporfc recommended: (I) a triennial elec¬
tion of the Mayor and Comptroller, fche election
of Aldermen for three years, fco be classified, one-
third to be chosen annually on a general fcickefc;
(2) fche appointment of inspecfcors of election to be
taken from the Police Board, and vested in a super¬
visor appointed by the Mayor; (3) the appoint¬
ments of heads of departments, to be made by
the Mayor, without confirmation by the Alder¬
men, fche Mayor fco have fche power of suspension
and removal; (4) subordinafce officers fco be
appointed by the head of the deparfcment, to hold
office during good behavior, to be promoted for
merit, and liable to suspension or removal for in¬
efficiency or dishonesfcy; (5) appointmenfc in the
fire and police department, fco be made firsfc for a
probafcionary term, p^'omotion to follow after
competitive examination; (6) the discipline in the
police and fire deparfcments to conform as nearly
as pracfcical fco the sysfcem of the army or fche
militia; (7) an increase of the power of the Board
of Apportionment, so as fco provide for the reduc¬
tion of salaries, consolidafcion of bureaus, etc.; (8)
supplies forthe departments fco be purchased affcer
the method adopted for stationery and prinfcing;
(9) the sfcreet cleaning fco be taken from the Police
Board, and vested in a special officer, with sfcricfc
limitations as to contracts for cleaning in sections.





removing ashes, garbage, etc.; (10) fche fixing of
responsibility b.y substituting single heads of de-
parfcmenfcs for commissions, excepfc in the case of
the Board of Education and Board of Health.

The report deals with fche great evil of muni¬
cipal administration of this cifcy, the apparently
uncontrollable power of the polifcical machines:
and insists that the city should be governed on
business principles, the service to be regulated as
a great financial corporation should be conducted,
and absolnfcely divorced from State or national
politics.

injllemai-ks upon the reporfc were made by
Messrs. Sinclair Tousey, Geo. B. Butler, R. C.
Hawkins and ofhei'.s, and fche committee were in¬
structed to I'-ivsent, .-'.t the nexfc meeting formal
amendments to fche Charter, to be printed and
considered ])y the Society.





OUR ANNUi\.L MAEXET REVIEW,
lu the regular market columns of this number
of The Record will be found an exhaustive re¬
view of all descriptions of Buildin.g Material for
the year 1>^TU, with comparisons of price.-, statis¬
tics of receipts, shipments, &e. Upon the major-
it3' of fche articles enumerated, it will be found
that the firsfc half of tlie j^ear brought sfcill further
shrinkage in values, uncerfcainty respectin.g fche
future and coinpefcifcion among sellers generallj'
acfcing as decidedly depressing influences. Dur¬
ing the final six months, however, fcliere was a
change for the better, with fche improvement
rather slow until v,'ithin aboufc six weeks of the
close of the year, v.'hen a sudden Hurry sent prices
up wifch a whirl in many cas?s, and January Isfc
found a verj^ sfcrong, confident feeling over fche
XJrospecfcs for spring trade. In view of a very
full consumpfcion during fche fall, and even up fco
present writing, consequent upon the open
weafclier, dealers are carrying comparafcively
small accumulations, and this wifch fche belief that
building operafcions will open early and freely,
inspires buoyant hopes for the commencement of
the incoming season.

THE WEST SIDE PARKS.

I'liESiDEiST olmstead's addhess befoke the west
bide asscciattox-->'ecess]ts: fob impeovino the

P.VBKS.

The West Side Association held a most interest¬
ing meeting last Saturday evening, when the room
was crowded with members who paid close atten¬
tion to the proceedings. President Olmstead was
in the chair, and upon calling the meeting to order
stated that the tonic for consideration that evening
was the improvement of the West Side Parks. He
then said :

Gentlemen of the Asscciation :

The topics for consideration this evening are
tho improvement of Manhattan Square. Moi-ning-
side and Riverside Parks. These are the onl.v
unimproved public parks within the section of
the city covered by" the operations of our asso¬
ciation. Manhittaii square was taken for a xnil)-
lie park nearly forty years ago, and ever since
then has lain until recently entirely unimprovec.,
except by the construction upon it, at a largo ex¬
pense, ot a single interior wing of the Museum of
Natural History. In September and November ot
lastyear, two large meetings ot influential owners
of properly in the vicinity were held at the JMu-
seum Building, which resulted, througli the active
endeavors of the comnittee appointed to prosecute
the matter,-in an appropriation by the Board of
Estimate and. Asssssmenfof the sum of $20,000 to¬
wards the improvement of the square. It has been
drained, .and ia now ready for surface work, some
of which has been done. I regret to say, however,
that in November last S2,000 of the appropriation