Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXYI.





NEW YOKE, SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1880.





No. 650





Published Weekly by

%\n%ml €stateSetorb ^ssotmtion.

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

C.   W.  SWEET,

No. 157 Broadway





NEW YORK AS A MANUFACTURING
CENTRE.
The special agent charged by the general
government with obtaining manufacturing
statistics in this city for the census of 1880,
lias issued an open letter to manufacturers
and citizens generally, urging them to place
all the information he asks for at his com¬
mand without delay, and to facilitate his
labors. In a letter accompanying the blank
forms of schedules, he confirms the state-
iDonts frequentlymade in these columns that
New York city not only contains the largest
number of inhabitants, and the greatest
amount of Avealth, but will prove to be, when
the statistics are all gatliered, to be the
largest manufacturing city in the Union.
]\Ien of enterprise and capital who have
closely watched the growth of our metropolis
Iiave been awai*e of this fact before this, and
they have already invested their money in
those localities where ''it will do the most
good" from a -manufacturing standpoint
OIllJ^ They have seen and closely watched
the crammed lofts in the Fourteenth, Eighth
and Ninth Wards of our city, observed the
numerous small industries, all specialties in
themselves, requiring the constant employ¬
ment of hundreds of males, females and
youths, all forming part of a laboring army
that would astound Lowell, Lawrence and
even Pittsburgh. The thousand and one
articles forming part of a gentleman's or
lady's attire, many of which were imported
only a few years ago android at a profit in
this market, are aU being manufactured in
this city now, down to the lining that forms
so important a part of a lady's bonnet. Each
of these articles forms a specialty and each
requires the employment of numerous hands.
And all of this is not growing by the year but
by the month and the week. Where to find
even room for all of those engaged in these
manufactures has been a i)uzzle for many an
investor, and The Record has time and again
called attention to this new factor in metro¬
politan prosperity. We hail, therefore, with
satisfaction the special efforts made by the
government in obtaining accurate statistics
in regard to the actual sta;te of manufactur¬
ing in our niidst. Only, as in everything else,
the government does not come up to the
enterprise of the people..   We say this de¬





liberately after carefully studying the blank
tables that have been issued containing
twenty-nine columns to be filled \\\i by our
city manufacturers. The enquiries are well
enough as far as they go, but they do not go
far enough. The chief statistician having
charge of tV>e census should have borne in
rnind that there are manufacturing firms all
through our State, and in the interior of other
States, anxious to move their establishments
near the shipping point. We regret, there¬
fore, to see that in the number of enquiries
there are none demanding an actual exhibit
of the expenditures incident to manufactur¬
ing, such as rent and real estate taxes. These
nrust be added to the manufactured product
and form part of the cost of the article. True,
the question of wages has not bt^en over¬
looked, but does Mr. HiU, who speaks so
glowingly of New^ York's manufacturing
prowess, remember thatthree-fovirths of that
increased manufacturing in our midst is due
to the large amount of female labor V Why
not obtain the wages paid to women, and
place them side by side of the column of male
labor? Hoopskirts, umbrellas, neckties,
underwear, shirts and other artitiles, too
numerous to mention are made by female
labor. What is the average of wages i)aid
them in this city compared to the same labor
performed in the interior? The result then
obtained and added to the rent or tax ex¬
penses, would enable manufacturers in the
interior to judge whether it would pay to go
near the shipping point or remain where they
are. Again, would it not be well in this
connection to obtain the average amount of
labor performed by a female operative in the
city and in the country, also the average per
centum of female work rejected by experts
in the city and country ? These are questions
often asked in this great and growing manu¬
facturing centre. And while the govern¬
ment is engaged in the work it might as well
be done inteUigently, and in a manner to give
those seeking advice the necessary infor¬
mation.

Another and very important enquiry just
now, while everything is being done to
enhance the value of our manufactured pro¬
ducts and to lower the cost of their pro¬
duction, is to ascertain the status and nativity
of our workingmen and women. New
factories are being started in this section
almost every month with skilled labor im¬
ported from abroad. There is an impression
prevailing that this importation of skilled
foreign labor is unnecessary, the supply of
that quality on hand being sufficient for all
requisite purposes. And yet this impression
may be erroneous. Had the Interior Depart¬
ment,    in   organizing  this   manufactui'ing





section of the Census Bureau, consulted a man
like Mr. Carroll D. Wright, of Boston, there
would have indeed emanated from a govern¬
ment bureau information of great value to a
numerous class of manufacturers determined
to enlarge their business, and other investors
anxious to enter upon new enterprises.
Nowhere in this country have statistics been
brought to such perfection as in the Mas¬
sachusetts Bureau, and the lessons gathered
from the comparative tables there prepared
have been a source of profit to the whole of
New England. There is no reason why the
general government should not work as
assiduously in gathering statistics for an
entire nation as does a single* State for the
benefit of its jparticular section.





THE EXAMINATION OF TITLES.

While, for the present, transactions in real
estate are not extensive, there is little doubt
that the depression whicli endured since
1873 liao terminated, and that things are ad¬
justing themselves so that in the coming fall
or spring there wiU be an active market.

An idea in connection with the transfer of
real estaU; has been broached and has been
cordially received, that certificates of title to
real estate should pass as readily as certifi¬
cates of stock or as other personal property.
Lawyers of the old school, respecting the coiir
servative character of real estate securities,
would perhaps deplore the introduction of
any more of the Wall street methods into the
real estate business, and, it is claimed, that
without a radical revolution in the laws af¬
fecting real estate, it is not practicable to ac¬
complish this easy road to changes of owner¬
ship in land.

It is admitted that the expense of search¬
ing titles should be reduced. There are too
many liens upon real estate ; there should be
only one--a lien secured by fiHng a notice of
pendency of action in additional cases to
those no'ii;- provided. And, at all events, the
period d'-txing which a judgment is a lien,
should be limited to three years. Were this
the laAv, the expense of searching in the
county (lerk's office would be greatly re¬
duced. Tlie tax searcher should be a stated
clerk in tlie Department of Finance, and
should give a certificate without charge.
All this is practicable, and legislation to this
end shoTj.ld be furthered.

. This he.mg accomplished, the other point
of expense is the conveyancer's charge.
This has been justly criticized in tliese col¬
umns. Ia well regulated offices, however—
and there are still conservative lawyers like
those vf ho advised in regard to real estate
thirty years ago—the charge has not mate¬
rially advanced since 1860, while the labor of