Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXYI.





NEW YOKE, SATUEDAT, NGYEMBEE 20, 1880.





No. 662





Published Weekly by

TERMS.
OIVE YEAR,, in advance___SIO.OO.

Oommunications should be addressed to

C.   W.   SAVlSET.
JJo. 137 Broadway

There are so many of our friends and sub¬
scribers who own shares in the various ele¬
vated roads, in fact, there are in our midst
such a large number of enterprising citizens,
who have, by their cash investments attested
their conJELdence in our present rapid transit
system, that we deem it but a simple duty,
on our part, to give them all the information
we possibly can in regard not only to the
financial status, but also the legal relations
existing between the various elevated rail¬
way corporations. We publish, therefore,
in its entirety to-day the lease as recorded,
between the New York, Metropolitan and
Manhattan roads during tlie jpast year. By
the terms therein expressed and printed can
be gauged the importance, more or less, of
the recent decision rendered by our Court of
Appeals. Every stockholder, whether in¬
terested in New York, Metropolitan or Man¬
hattan, can, by studying the various arti¬
cles—which, by-the-bye, see the light in
public print for the first time to-day, in our
columns—see for himself in how far the
corporation to which he has entrusted his
surplus fund, can at all be affected by the
legal decision, surely to be enforced, and re¬
cently rendered by the Court of last resort
in this State.





A  GREAT   MARITIME   FEATURE   FOR
THE EXHIBITION.

It cannot be too frequently impressed upon
the minds of those having charge of matters
connected with the World's Fair, that the
great and imperial City of NewYork must,
ill the very conception of this vast enterprise,
rise superior not only tc Philadelphia, but also
to Paris, London and Vienna. It must not
be forgotten, -".vhile arranging the details,
tlvat the commanding position we occupy to¬
day, as the financial centre of the American
continent, with fair prospects of becoming
the financial centre of the entire civilized
world, is due mainly to the concentration
of a vast commerce in our midst, fostered
not only by the energy of our merchants but
favored by om- unparalleled geographical
position.

Our grand harbor has been the mainspring
of New York's good fortune, and our mari¬
time trade has made Manhattan Island the





great depot of the products of South
America, the West Indies and trans-atlantic
countries. Our river and harbor traffic
stand to-day siecond to none, and thousands
upon thousands of merchants are indebted
to the natui'al facilities vouchsafed to this
port for the successes which have followed
their respective enterprises. In inviting
therefore, the nations of the world to compete
with us for the crown of superiority during
the great Fair, we should make the maritime
branch of the exhibition the great distinctive
and novel feature. It is a vast undertaking,
but if any one shrinks at this early day from
the vast proportions which the great Fair
must of necessity assume, he had better step
"down and out" of the committee, and
leave the arrangement of the various details
to those men of broad views who will not
tolerate an exhibition of secondary merit.
We want no ordinary country fairs or circus
pranks to act as precedents. The entire
enterprise must be on a grand scale and such
for which inland cities like Paris and
Vienna offered no opportunity.

The maritime feature thoroughly elabora¬
ted upon will briag to our harbor the models
of crafts of all nations, anything in the shape
of a steamer, a tugboat, a ferry or river boat,
a yacht, a shell, a canoe, wiU come here from
every section of the world. A Great Eastern
as well as a twenty ton craft will seek re¬
cognition at om- hands. Marine engineering
as well as nautical instruments, oars as well
as fishing tackle, iron rams as well as paper
shells will compete for superiority along the
banks of the Hudson, and the entire world
will watch, with the closest scrutiny the
progress made not only in marine and naval
architecture, but in the thousand and one
articles that are required to make up either
the war vessel of the future, the ocean
steamer of the period, and the floating
palaces of our coast and rivers.

Hambm-g, not by any means such a pre¬
tentious city as NewYork, had, about a year
ago, a maritime exhibition wliich had a
wonderful success; vessels built even in Aus¬
tralia having been brought over especially to
take part in the contest. We, here, with¬
out this feature, can only repeat what Phila¬
delphia has done. With the maritime fea¬
ture here suggested, we wiU surpass in
grandeur and excellence anything ever at¬
tempted at an international exhibition, either
here or in Europe. It is upon our broad,
magnificent Hudson, where must be congre¬
gated all the vessels entered for exhibition,
and this can be done without at all interfer¬
ing with the ordinary traffic of the river.
The buildings containing the other features
of the exhibition can easily be constructed
' along the banks of the Hudson, so as to be con¬
tiguous to the great maritime display.   Any





number of sites can be found all along the
Hudson, say from One Hundred and Twenty-
fifth street up as far as One Hundred and
Seventy-fifth street, and the unitiKl display,
both on land and water, wiU, indeed, be one
that will challenge the admiration of the en-
til'e world.

Whatever may be the idea of those whose
recommendations will have to be passed up¬
on by the permanent executive committee,
when appointed, we trust that this maritime
feature will at once be taken into serious
consideration, and by its adoption by those
in authority, secure for the great World's
Fair of 1883 the adherence and applause of
all who have the greatness of our country
and the pre-eminence of our • own city at
heart.





NEW TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

Unknown to the public, new and important
telegraph lines are in process of construc¬
tion. A company has been formed to erect
very substantial poles, and to lay wires be¬
tween New York, Boston, Philadelphia and
Washington, as well as intermediate points.
The right of way has been secured in Boston
and New York, but not, we understand, as
yet in Philadelphia. The poles are already
erected, but all the wires are not yet up.

There is this novelty about this new com¬
pany : The wires are not designed for the
general public, but are to be hired to firms,
corporations and private persons. Those
who use the telegraph know how vexatious
are the delays under the present system. At
the utmost, one cannot send more than a few
messages during the day to any point out¬
side of the city. Between the desi)atch of a
boy, the taking of the message, the writing
it out and the delivery, there is a waste of
time not noticed, perhaps, for ordinary do¬
mestic business, but when it is a matter of
immediate raoment, involving large com¬
mercial transactions, it has been found to be
a very great drawback. But this new com¬
pany proposes that Jobn Smith, in New
York, shall communicate directly with Tom
Robinson, in Boston. There is to be no de¬
lay, but the transaction can be completed
within the moment, and a thousand mes¬
sages a day, if necessary, can be passed to
and fro. The importance of this means of
communication will be at once apparent to
those especially who deal in stocks. If any
broker in New York, receives an order in
his office from a person at the other end of
the wire, in Boston or Philadelphia, he can
fiU it immediately. There is no time lost.
All the really large brokers, such as Prince &
Whitely, Vermilyea, O'Connor, Trask &
Francis, and others, have already opened
branch offices in Albany, Schenectady, Sara-