Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXYIII





NEW TOEK, SATUEDAY, JULY 9, 1881





No. B95





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate Record Association

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

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





OUR INDEX.
The sixteen-page supplement, giving an index
of everything that has appeared in the Real Es¬
tate Re'cobd within the last six months, will be
found of very great value to all who deal in real
estate or are engaged in building operations. To
brokers and operators the Record and the Index
are, in fact, indispensable. It economizes time
and epitomizes all the transactions for the half
year. People who think of purchasing propei-ty
naturally wish to know what sales have recently
been made in that neighborhood, and at what
prices. This information the Index gives them.
If one wants to trace the progress of building in
different parts of the city, to know when certain
edifices were commenced and the estimated price,
when the plans were made; it is also often desir¬
able to know who the architect and builder are,
for the character of a structure often depends
upon the persons who constructed it; a reference
to the Index will give every essential fact about
the operation.

Of course this supplement is of no value except
to those who keep their files of the Real Estate
Record. These files, by the way, are daily get¬
ting more valuable, in view of the large increase
in transactions and the heavy building now going
on in all parts of this island. A record of tran¬
sactions and of prices is the only safe guide for
those who wish to buy or sell, or to the brokers
who bring buyers and sellers together.

Te encourage the keeping of files of the Real
Estate Record, we have on hand specially pre¬
pared covers, which we wiU furnish or send to
any address for one dollar. We make this an¬
nouncement now, in view of the large number of
new subscribers, many of whom may wish to
keep files of the Record.





THE IRISH LAND QUESTION.
It is expected that Premier Gladstone will
have carried his new Irish land bill through
both the Commons and Lords by the middle
of August. The tendency of this legislation
will be to make the ownership of land in
Ireland precarious. In this country the
right of a purchaser to his property is weU
nigh absolute. No one can interfere with
his possesions, except his land is used to
create a public nuisance or is needed for
some improvement. But in Ii'elaud a land
owner will hereafter find his property inse¬
cure, his tenants have certain rights for
improvements, for holdings and any little
dispute is the subject of a lawsuit. There
may be social and political necessity for the





passage of these Gladstone laws, but it is safe
to say that their enactment would be im¬
possible in this country. One reason of the
iarge immigration of foreigners to our West¬
ern states and territories is because of the
chance offorded for securing farms and
homes to which the title will be absolute.
In England and Scotland land is not only
very dear, hut the title is nearly always
doubtful and there'are many legal liabilities
growing out of endowments, hfe interests
and entails. It follows that land ownership
is getting more undesirable every day in the
old country and that those who wish to be¬
come independent and sit under their own
vine and fig tree will naturally seek a home
in this country.

It is a pity, while they were about it, that
the English Government did not seek to
solve the problem for good and all by buy¬
ing out the great estates and reselling them
to the actual tillers of the soil, who could
pay through a long series of years. This
would effect the same revolution as that
brought about by the Stein laws in Prussia,
and the land distribution which took place
in France in the last century. Ireland
would then have a land system similar to
ours, in which the soil could be worked
directly by the owner and all the improve¬
ments become his own. But we fear the
new system inaugurated or rather continued
by Minister Gladstone will give Ireland land¬
lords without authority and tenants without
responsibility   and   that   those  who  will

profit most will be the lawyers.

---------«---------

THE STRENGTH OF THE MARKET.
The failure of the attempt on the Presi¬
dent's life to depress stock values, settles
the question, that in all human probability,
there will be no serious break in the market
for the next two months. It has suited the
purpose of the journals controlled by James
R. Keene, to represent the market as being
in a dangerous condition, liable at any mo¬
ment to break away into a ruinous panic.
It has been said stocks were high, unnatur¬
ally so ; but if this had been the case, the
market last Saturday would have " slumped "
beyond immediate recovery.

But the events of the past week settle the
question that we shall have a strong, if not
a buoyant market. To this condition of
affairs, there is only one drawback. The
harvest abroad promises to be far in excess
of last year, while at home, it is evident,
that the crop will be less than last^ year or
the year before. The heavy buying, how¬
ever, of St. Paul & Northwest, shows that
railroad men believe that the general busi¬
ness of the country and the large immigra¬
tion, will more than make up for any de¬
ficiency in the harvest. At any rate, by this
time next week, the crop question will be
practically settled one way or the other.

Among the points circulating in tho
street, are the following :—

That Western Union is to be put up to
106, that its profits show it is earning 8 per
cent on its capital of $80,000,000.





That Union Pacific and Central Pacific
are about to pay the Government debt, so
as to relieve themselves of Government su¬
pervision. Union Pacific to raise the neces¬
sary means, by issuing new stock to its
present shareholders, while Central Pacific is
negotiating a loan on the London market;
150 is predicted for Union Pacific and 130
for Central Pacific within the next thirty
days.

That Northwest, Union Pacific and Cen¬
tral Pacific will then be uni*-ed under one
management.

That Wabash common wiU sell at 70 before
October.

That Russell Sage, who has got control of
Metropolitan, intends to put in a Sound
board of Trustees, increase the fares and
make the property dividend paying.

That Consolidated Coal, now selling at
433^, may reach 60 early in the fall.

That Cincinnati & Sandusky is good for
ten points.

That the entire market is a purchase, and
the highest prices will obtain during the
last week in July, but on Friday afternoon
the market closed weak, and should there be
bad news from Washington prices wUl go
off.





RESERVOIR SQUARE.

As it is settled that the aqueduct on Fifth
avenue, between Fortieth and Forty-second
streets, is to be removed, the question comes
up, what will be the probable future of that
neighborhood? The large landed interest
which secured the removal of the aqueduct,
expects some pecuniary advantage. There
will be a heavy assessment upon the sur¬
rounding property to make the improvement,
and it is believed the neighborhood wiU be¬
come healthier, and, therefore, more desira¬
ble to live in.

It had been proposed to build a polytechnic
institute or fair on Reservoir square. This
would include a perpetual industrial exhibi¬
tion, as well as school for technical educa¬
tion. All kinds of fancy goods, statues,
pictures and objects of vertu might be sold
in the place of glass and iron where the ex¬
hibition would be held, ^ut we suppose
that the same influences which secured the
removal of the aqueduct, would be opposed
to any money-making speculation in connec¬
tion with the square itself. But one of the
shrewdest and most far-seeing real estate ex¬
perts in this city is of opinion that in time
Reservoir square wiU be surrounded with
great retail houses. He is of opinion that
Tiffany's, Park & Tilford's, and some of the
leading dry goods and fancy stores will find
it to their advantage to settle on Fifth and
Sixth avenues, as well as on Fortieth and
Forty-second streets. It is now the centre of
the population of the island. On every side
of it are the best and wealthiest retail pur¬
chasers in the city. It is but a step to the
Grand Central Depot, and the vast country
retail trade would naturally patronize the
locality if desirable stores were established
on Forty-second street and Fifth avejaue.