Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXVII





NEW TORK, SATURDAY, MAT 14, 1881





No. 687





Published Weekly by The

REAL Estate Record Association

TERMS:
ONE YEAR, in advance.....$6.00

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, nt Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Secretary Windom lias scored a great suc¬
cess. He has practically retired $190,000,000
of sixes, replacing them by a 3i| per cent
bond. All this he has done without the
help of any syndicate of bankers. Under
ox-Secretary Sherman these gentlemen had
\ery fat pickings. The relations of Sher¬
man to the First National Bank, were al-
\\ ays a subject for censorious remarks. If
Secretary Windom should also be able to
i-etire the fives upon the conditions as stated
in his circular, he will take his place in
tlie future history of the country, as one of
our very best financial Secretaries. A sug-
i;estion of Secretary Windom at the Cham-
lier of Commerce dinner, for a new Govern¬
ment department to look after the interests
of commerce, is a good one and should be
carried out.

The stock market is unmistakably biiUish.
Everything seems to favor a rise. Money
is easy and likely to remain so; theimmigra-
t.on is phenomenally large, the promise of
the crops is fair, the refunding of the gov¬
ernment debt is proceeding successfully ;
every raih'oad report shows increased earn¬
ings, ill short," the outlook isbriUiant; there
is no cloud over the sky of the future. But
what most sustains the market, are the
enormous foreign purchasers. The orders
come both from London and the continen¬
tal bourses. English consols whch bear only
3 per cent interest, are at premium of over
2 per cent, which shows that money is
going begging abroad. It is almost need¬
less to say which are the best stocks to deal
in. The swelling tide of values affects them
all, good, bad and indifferent. Said a well
known literary gentleman, who has dabbled
successfully in the street: "The man who
cau!t make money in Wall street during the
next six months, is a fool."





The people of Memphis were congratulat¬
ing themselves, that they have the most
perfect system of drainage in this country.
The two visitations of cholera were so disas¬
trous to the trade of that great cotton entre¬
pot, that everything was done that science
could suggest to make the city wholesome.
But to the dismay of the people of Memphis
the deathrate, for some time past, has been
exceptionally heavy. During the first three
months of this year, it averaged 41. to the
1,000. At one time the deathrate was 59 to
the 1,000. In New York, for fche same
period it was 30.6 per 1,000. It was not the
drainage system, however, which was at
fault, but the exceptionally severe winter.
Our increased deathrate was due to the
same cause. This shows how thoughtless,
if not how malicious are the exaggerated
statements of the New^Yori deathrate which





have appeared in the columns of the Herald
and other papers.





The immigration is simply phenomenal.
Some days nearly seven thousand arrive at
this port. Sixty thousand arrived during
April, and it is probable that seventy thou¬
sand wUl arrive during May. At this rate
the arrivals at this port would be over 600,000
for the year. No wonder^ stocks are boom¬
ing and land is rising in value.





THE EAST AND THE WEST SIDE.

Through the operation of some law af¬
fecting real estate, the increase of popula¬
tion is far greater on the East than on the
West Side of the city. Clearheaded and far
seeing men have been sadly mistaken as to
the relative values of different parts of this
island. It was supposed, at one time, by
certain astute capitalists, that Second ave¬
nue was to become the fashionable thorough¬
fare of New York, and there are some fine
houses on the lower part of that avenue
which were built when this was the impres¬
sion. This belief was not unreasonable, for
Rutherford park and the laying out of
Tompkins square, seemed to insure good
neighborhoods, which ought to be continu¬
ous to the upper end of the island. But
Murray Hill quite unexpectedly became the
fashion for the finest private residences, and
Central and North Second avenues have ever
since been given over to tenements. Then
there came a time when it was supposed
Washington Heights would be the choice
aristocratic quarter of New York. The re¬
gion is a beautiful one ; but the investors of
twenty-five J ears ago have seen those pic¬
turesque and healthful heights neglected for
property just east of the Central Park.
Then came the West Side furore; all those
interested in realty can recall the excite¬
ment which prevailed when Riverside and
Morningside parks were planned, and when
the Boulevard was under construction.
But those who invested at high figures in
1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869, had their dreams
of immediate profit dissipated, and those
who were not ruined saw the price of
property shrink to one-third the value which
was bid for it before the panic. There has
been a large advance recently in this proper¬
ty, but the figures of 1881, with the improve¬
ments all completed, are not as high as they
were in 1871 when they were being pro¬
jected.

It was the judgment of many very long¬
headed operators that business would con¬
tinue up Broadway, and that Boulevard
property would in time approach to lower
Broadway prices. Again it was.the unfore¬
seen which occurred, for the Sixth avenue
took the large retail store business, which,
it was supposed, would continue up Broad¬
way above Fortieth street; and, stranger
than all, Fourteenth street, from Broadway
to Sixth avenue, became a mart for the sale
of goods suitable for women and household
adornment.





But during aU this period, while capital¬
ists and speculators were looking for great
advances in prices on the West Side, popu¬
lation and building steadily increased to the
east and northeast of the Central Park. The
finest houses were built on Fifth and Madi¬
son avenues, while our great working popu¬
lation occupied nearly all the vacant spaces
along the line of and eaat .of Third avenue.
For every one person who settled west and
northwest of the Central Park, at least fifty
showed their preference for the East Side,
and hence the extraordinaiy building activ¬
ity, all the way from Fifty-seventh street to
the Harlem River and east of the Central
Park.

Nor will this movement of population be
stopped by the Harlem River, Rapid trans¬
it for the annexed district will mean an
immense addition to the business of the
Second and Third avenue elevated lines,
rather than Sixth or Ninth avenue. An
army under a skilful general, marches on
interior lines; it never makes a roundabout
movement, unless as a sui prise. The swarm
of advancing population therefore, will pour
over the Second and Third avenue bridges,
as that is the shortest route to the annexed
district. Then, in the, perhaps, not distant
future, after General Newton has completed
his labors, foreign steamships of heavy
draught wiU reach New York by the way of
Long Island Sound, and cast anchor off Port
Morris. On the southeastermost point of
Westchester county will-be located the ele¬
vators and the docks, where foreign vessels
will receive and deposit their cargoes. The
ship canal, which is to connect the Hudson
River with Long Island Sound, will add
more to the value of land near the latter
than the former. In fact, everything points
to a dense population just north of the Har¬
lem River and east of the Harlem Railroad,
There is a great deal of poor land in this re¬
gion, but it is the destined site for ware¬
houses, factories, docks, and a great work-
irg population. The higher lands of Pel¬
hamville and New Rochelle, will then
probably be in demand, for the richer class
of citizens who will own the shops, factorieg
and warehouses on the lands below them.

So far as now can be foreseen, the relative
increase of the East Side over the West, may
continue for the next few years at about the
same ratio as for the last ten years. Some
real estate dealers, whose judgment is to be
respected, believe that population will over¬
flow from the East Side to the north of Cen¬
tral P9,rk, so as to cover the improved and
fiat country north of the Park and east of
Eighth avenue. Already there is active
building in the neighborhood of One Hun¬
dred and Twenty-fifth street, between
Eighth and Fifth avenues; but the great
building continues after all along the line of
the Third avenue. The West Side undoubt¬
edly has a great future. Sometime or other
its unequalled picturesqueness will be taken,
advantage of to build up a new fashionable
quarter for New York.

But it does not follow that there may not