STATE   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXYIII





NEW TOEK, SATUEDAT, OCTOBEE 1, 1881.





No. 707





Published Weekly by The





Real Estate Record Association

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

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 13T Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager.





The fall season has now commenced in
earnest. Business people are back in town
and our official lists show tliat dealers in re¬
alty are at work again, As yet there has
been no large sale to test the temper of the
market, but wpi will have them in all proba¬
bility before the month of October is over.
An active and higher real estate market is
certain to come, but whether this fall or next
winter and spring is not yet determined.
Those who hold property speculatively ex¬
pect to get higher figures, and all the obvi¬
ous facts of the situation justify them in so
doing. Our population is increasing rapidly.
The very rich from all quarters are coming
to the metropolis to reside, temporarily or
permanently. The profits in all business,
wliich was never so active, are unusually
large, and the high prices of stocks and gen¬
eral merchandise are certain to be followed
by a large advance in real estate values.
The outlook is very hopeful. Through acci¬
dental causes tliere are just now more houses
than purchasers ; but then the other fact
that there are more people who want houses
to rent than the market can supply settles
the question that the surplus of unsold dwell¬
ings will soon be worked off.

------------^-•>--------------•

The extraordinary demand for labor is
shown by the high price offered by the em¬
ployers of boys and girls under age. There
is found to be an absolute scarcity of female
operators for mills. In the mill towns and
villages, there is a dearth of hands, and the
girls are more independent to their employ¬
ers than for many years. They take more
holidays, avoid work when posssible, and are
not so amenable to discijpline as when work
was not so plentiful. Indeed, in Paterson
it is said, that the girls are paid so much
better than the young men, that the former
do the treating when restaurants are visited.
In this city office boys are still in demand ;
district messenger boys command $4 and $5
a week, even when green. There is possibly
a smaller supply, now that laborers are gen¬
erally employed, as the children are sent to
school instead of helping to eke out the
family's subsistence. Notwithstanding the
great number of foreigners who have ar¬
rived, there is no falling off in the price of
domestic labor.





It really Io-;ks as if the rapid, transit
people on the other side of the Harlem
meant business. Advertisements are out for
laboring men to commence work, on the
Morrisania and Fordham railroad. What
has become of the suburban rapid transit
road ?





The " street" is disposed to find fault with
Secretary "Windom for not making such a
call for bonds as would relieve the monetary
stringency. The moment the terms of the
call were known there was an enhancement
in the value of money, and frequently during
the week a premium has been paid over the
legal rate. It is charged that the govern¬
ment is practically forcing a surrender of
the bonds, by making money tight. If
holders of the bonds are forced to pay 6 per
cent, or over for the use of money, they are
not likely to keep bonds in their possession
which yield them only 'd}4 per cent. When
the government wished to float its bonds it
made money easy; when it wants to pur¬
chase the bonds at low figures it makes
money tight. On the whole. Wall street just
now is uncertain how the cat is going to
jump. There is a large short interest and
yet there are thousands of customers loaded
up with stocks at much higher figures than
those which 'now obtain. There does not
seem to be much of a chance for a heavy
slump on the one hand, nor for any general
advance on the other. Special stocks are
showing exceptional streng-th; but the era
of very wide fluctuations seems to have
passed by for the present. Still, the unex¬
pected is a frequent visitor to Wall street,
and the usual fall bear raid may come with

the equinoctials.

-----------------*--•-♦'----------------.

EEBUILDING NEW YORK.
A shrewd real estate operator calls atten¬
tion to the fact that it is the destiny of New
York to be rebuilt more perhaps than any
other city in the world. In many instances
down town the same spot of ground has seen
four or even five structures erected upon it,
each larger and more spacious than the pre¬
ceding. Tins is remarkable for so young a
city; but then New York is peculiar in this
respect, that it can grow in only one direc¬
tion, towards the north, whereas in most of
the large cities pf the world it is possible to
spread towards every point of the compass.
This literally establishes what may be called
a corner upon real estate on this island. As
the business of the city grows, larger and
finer structures are needed in the various lo¬
calities where particular businesses are trans¬
acted. The growth of a city like New York
complies with the law of development as laid
down by Herbert Spencer, that is, from the
homogenious to the hetrogenious; from the
simple to the complex. Of course the first
settlers in a new city built their stores and
business edifices to accommodate a sparse
population. The gi'oceryman was alongside
the hardware merchant, and the dry goods
store was not far distant; but when the small
city becomes a great one the first change is
in the separation of the business from the
residence portion of the town. Then, the
rich choose their quarters and the poor are
forced to herd together. Further along the
wholesaler occupies a different quarter from
the retailer; then, as the city grows a still
further specialization takes place. The brok¬
ers congregate in one locality, the dry goods





dealers in another, and so the differentiation
goes on through every bi-anch of business.
It is these changes which lead to the repeated
rebuilding of certain districts in New York.
Sometimes this is brought about by destruc¬
tive fires, but every rebuilding is for the bet¬
ter.

Property-holders are often reluctant to buy
in promising localities up-town, on which
there are old or poor dwellings, because it
has been found by experience that there is a
temptation to delay improvement if tho
property will pay interest and taxes. This
is a marked contrast to what takes place in
other sections of the city, where very valu¬
able buildings are removed to give place to
others far more costly. It is one of the com¬
pensations of owning down-town business
property which returns but a small income
on the investment, that the period must
come when it will be iu demand at higher
figures for further improvement.

But the time has arrived when buildings
are being constructed not for a day, but for
all time. We have now at least a hundred
edifices which will be in existence in the
year 2000, unless destroyed by an earthquake
or a bombardment of the city. Structures
such as the Equitable Building, the Western
Union, the Tribune, the Domestic, the Liver¬
pool, London & Globe, the Produce and Stock
Exchanges, the Stevens, Florence and other
vast apartment houses, will outlive, acci¬
dents excepted, every babe bom during the
present year. New York is destined to be a
city of enormous buildings. The use of the
elevator has resulted in economizing land,
to an extent unknown in former times or in
any other city. This will vastly increase the
population on this island. There will be
more people to the square mile in New York
than in any other city on the globe. This
will be advantageous, for it will lead to the
more rapid transaction of business. Where
people are packed close together ther.e is less
waste of time than Avhere they are scattered
over wide surfaces.

But the moral of all this is that if we are
building for the future as well as the present
generation we ought to pay some attention
to architecture. Let our descendants see
that we can build noble and beautiful as
well as large and elaborate structures. In
former ages the architect showed his genius in
the construction of churches and the castles
of the nobles; but in modern times the struc¬
ture designer can only gain fame by erecting
edifices suitable for business and living pur¬
poses, in splendid office buildings and stores,
or in well-thought-out apartment houses of
vast proportions.





Only $50,000 has been authorized to be
spent upon the Morningside Park this year:
this is simply ridiculous. The property
owners have paid in the money on assess¬
ments long since and [the work ;ought to be
pushed forward vigorously. $250,000 ought
to have been ^the sum set apart for this
, necessary work.