Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





VoK XXYII.





NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNK Is, 1881





No »92





Published Weekly by The

Real EstateRecord Association

TERMS:
ONE TEAR, in advance   -----   $6.00

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, m Broadway,

•J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.

It is rumored that there will soon be seri¬
ous trouble with the employees of the rail¬
road and telegraph companies. The really
extraordinary demand for skilled telegraph
operators has led to the formation of a
secret union, and a. demand, it is said, will
be shortly made for a large and permanent
Advance in the wages, as well as a reduction
of what are deemed excessive hours of labor.
In the cable dispatches, it will be noticed,
that the employees of the government tele¬
graph in England have united in demand¬
ing better treatment and shorter hours of
la'^or. Rumors in regard to the intention of
our American engineers are indefinite, but
it is believed that all the railroad employees
expect to get better wages this summer.
This desire for higher wages and better
treatment on the part of the working classes,
is not an unfavorable symptom in itself. It
•shows that the times are prosperous, and
(fchat the working classes think they ought
to share in the lairge profits of business.
But a concerted movement of the railway
employees and telegraph operators, might
tend to depress the price of stocks.





The outcry against the "syndicate of
liars," by the World newspaper, was one of
the most magnificent specimens of audacity
known to Journalism. There was, it is true,
a syndicate of liars, but the leading membero
vpere Wiliiam Henry Hurlbut, Hugh J. Jew-
•ett, of the Erie road, Commissioner Fink,
Mould's broker, Connor, wlio supplies the
points for the gossip of the World, as well as
some less well-known followers of Jay Gould
and the bull party. It now turns out that
the crops are deficient, that the railroads are
and hav© been cutting rates, and that there
has l^en the most persistent and vigorous
lying on the bull side of the market. The
agent of the Associated Press did what he
could to help the bulls by issuing the circu¬
lar upon which tlie charge of lying against
the bears was based. Although William H.
"Vanderbilt's name was used, we do not be¬
lieve that he ever denied that the rates were
being cut. Indeed, there is evidence to show
that he commenced cutting rates himself,
his probable object being to depress stocks
before the next rise was inaugurated.





The continuous rains have so far done no
harm in the East. Indfed, for several years
our rural population have suffered from a de¬
ficiency of rainy weather during the summer
season. This last winter and spring, however,
have supplied so much moisture that tbe
ground is thoroughly saturated, the wells
and the cisterns are full, amd the streaios





unusually high. There is no danger of plen¬
teous June rains, so far as the East is con¬
cerned, but if the stormy weather prevails
during July, the effect on the crops will be
serious. There will, however, be plenty of
feed for cattle, and we ought to have an
abundant hay crop.





WHAT IF JAY GOULD SHOULD DIE?
The agent of the Associated Press de¬
clined to publish a dispatch, which stated
that Jay Gould had been shot at S . Louis.
It is alleged this report was gotten up by a
"syndicate of liars" who wished to depress
prices on the stock list. But would the
news of i he death of Jay Gould affect stock
prices unfavorably? The same thing was
said of Yanderbilt when he was alive, yet
his decease had no perceptible influence
upon the market. This may have been be¬
cause a long sickness preceded his decease
and the effect of his death, if anv, had been
discounted. In all human probability when
Mr. Gould dies, it will not be by the hand
of an assassin. He is a frail, sickly man and
when his time comes, he probably will take
to his bed and be kept alive for weeks, if
not months, affording abundant time for
any unfavorable effect of his death to be
discounted.

The reason why it is feared that Mr.
Gould's death might affect the market, is
because of the vast consolidating schemes he
has on hand. There is the southwestern
syst m yet to be perfected, and it is more
than probable that other combinations still
more comprehensive are under way. Mr.
Gould is understood to be engaged in an
enterprise having in view the consolidation
of all submarine cables of the world. It is
also believed that if he lives, the country
will be startled by a connection from St.
Louis to the east, which will put him in
practical control of more than half the rail¬
way system of the country.

But it should  be borne in mind that the
work  of  consolidating raUway companies
began  before  Mr.   Gould commenced his
railroad career, and will continue for many
years  after he is dead.   Everything  con¬
spires to unify the railway system of the
country.    It is certain that at some time or
other, the Central Paciflc will make a com¬
bination with the Union Pacific,  so as to
form a line under one management from
New York to San Francisco.   The St. Paul
and   Northwestern systems will   certainly
unite some day and a connection between
them, the Northern Pacific and the Oregon
Navigation Company, seems to be written
in the book of fate.    Then, Mr. Jay Gould is
exceptionally fortunate  in having for his
lieutenants some of the ablest financiers and
railroad men of the country.    Solon Hum¬
phreys, Russell Sage, Sidney DUlon, General
Eckert and a score of others less known,
wiU  continue the   work Mr. Gould begun,
should any fatal accident befaU him.   We





there will be no great change in the price of
securities because of his decease.

But what a curious change of feeling these
speculations about Mr. Gould's life show, on
the part of the press and the public. When
Gould and Fisk were associated together in
the Erie management, the death of either or
both of them would have been regarded
with sublime indifference, if not with secret
satisfaction by the great mass of the busi¬
ness community. But now the whole spec¬
ulative world regards with breathless appre¬
hension the possibility of Jay Gould's death.
There must have been some mistake about
this man's character and intentions.
Either he was misunderstood at the opening
of his career, or he is overappreciated now,
when he is apparently at the height of his
wealth and power. But what a career it
has been. What a contrast there is between
Jay Gould coming to New York to seU a
patent mouse trap, and the same man who
stands to-day in the railway and financial
world like "great Jove among the gods, to
to whom there is no second."





HOW THINGS LOOK OUT WEST.
One of the attaches of The Real Estate
Record has just returned from a fly ing visit
to the West. In view of the interest which
attaches to the crop question, a statement of
what he saw and heard may be of some value
to those who have interests in the stock and
grain markets. Winter wheat is undoubt¬
edly very seriously damaged in Ohio, Indi¬
ana, Illinois, Michigan and probably further
West. At the best it cannot be more than a
two-thirds crop. Tiiere is time enough for
it to turn out somewhat better than the pres¬
ent promise, but heavy western grain men
fear the worst and are buUs on the price of
winter wheat.

The spring wheat crop, so far. looks fairly
well. It promises an average yield, and the
weather lately has been highly favorable.
The return per acre will be about equal
to last year. Still, it is too early to speak
with any certainty about spring wheat. In
view of the exceptional weather we are hav¬
ing all this yf^ar, the woi'st is to be feared.

The corn crop has been delayed in its plant¬
ing several weeks and in many cases had to
be replanted. The acreage wiU be large, but
if we have a cool, wet summer, the crop wUl
fall far behind that of last year.

All through the West it was noticeable that
business activity was very great. There is
a buUding mania under way, and in every
city and town the number of new buildings
is something extraordinary. All the rail¬
ways seem to haye as much traffic as they
can handle. There was, however, cutting
of rates on east bound passenger fares and
freight. At any of the hotels, tickets from
Chicago to New York could be bought for
$15. There is a great deal of stock opera¬
ting in the New York market on the part of





operators in the Westem cities. Just at
judge then that. ivhUe his sudden taking off 1 present the Westem operators are buUs on
might depress stocks, the probabUities ai-e grain and bears on raUway stocks. A great
tha* if he dies in hia bed like other men, | part of the immense short mterest in Wall