Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





Vol. XXVIII.





NEW TORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1881.





No. 711





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate REcoii^i) Association

TERMS:
OIVE YEAR, in advance  -----   $6.00

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager.

The diagram in The Real Estate Record
of last week, showing the outlines of the
proposed " Ten Mile Park," naturally excites
a good deal of interest in real estate circles,
especially in the regions north of the Harlem
River. The Herald of last Sunday promptly
followed up the hint it found in The Record,
and devoted a whole page with a map to an
article setting forth the advantages of not
only one but several parks in the annexed
district. The statements of a number of
leading real estate authorities were given,
all favorable to improvements of this kind
in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth
Wards. There is naturally some division of
opinion as to where the parks should be situ¬
ated and what is to be their size; some fav¬
oring two large parks, and others a series of
small ones. This is a matter which should
be left to some competent authority. The
land ought to be secured while real estate is
yet cheap.





There is a curious story floating about
Wall street to the following effect. A rela¬
tive of Cyrus W. Field gave a lunch one day
last summer, at which were present Jay
Gould, Russell Sage and Cyrus W. Field. On
that occasion the elevated road matters were
discussed, and at the close there was a pri¬
vate conference between Sage and Field.
Suspicion was excited and a watch was kept
on the doings of the triumvirate so far as
they effected elevated road matters. It is
stated that in the litigation about to take
place, every broker who dealt in elevated
stocks will be compelled to testify and
to give up his principal. It is believed
it will be shown conclusively that there was
a deliberate conspiracy to plunder the pub¬
lic and the stockholders, and that it can be
traced to the lunch party of last summer.
The evidence is said to be conclusive.





Investors who know what they are about
are quietly picking up warehouse property
or laud which will be needed for warehous¬
ing purposes. During the hard times this
kind of realty was seriously depreciated.
The destruction of the shipping trade of New
York and the opposition of Jersey City and
the Atlantic docks cut off the revenues of
the New York warehouses. But the increased
commerce of New York, the railroad war,
and other causes have made store and ware¬
houses again very valuable. Capitalists who
are wise enough to pick up this useful but
uninviting-looking kind of property have
found themselves well rewarded.

New York is destined to do five times the
business it is traiisacting to-day; it will be a





wholesale business and will involve the use
of large warehouses. The completion of the
tunnel under the North River will make an
immediate demand for vast warehouses in
the very centre of this island. When the coal
of New York reaches here by way >f the
projected bridge between Newburg and Fish¬
kill, a still further demand will be made for
storage room on this island. According to
the figures recently published nearly 70 per
cent, of the entire foreign commerce of the
United States is transacted at the port of
New York. This being the case, it is plain
to see that he cannot make a mistake who
purchases warehousing property.





NEW YORK BENEFITED.

The railway war has been a good thing for
this city, temporarily at least. It has
brought a great influx of travelers to this
city, and has also induced thousands of West¬
ern and Southern merchants to make their
purchases in lhe metropolis, who if high
rates had prevailed, would have gone else¬
where. The statistics show, since the war
commenced, that New York has profited,
especially in the grain trade, at the expense
of Philadelphia and Baltimore. Instead of
sending their grain to Philadelphia, the Penn¬
sylvania Central now brings it to New York,
and the further effect of the war will be to
force the Baltimore & Ohio to have an out¬
let into the metropolis. Since the elevators
of the Erie and Pennsylvania Central have
been established on the opposite shores of the
Hudson, the increase of our grain and other
Western business has been very lai-ge. The
two roads named have profited far more
than the New York Central in the amount
of tonnage brought to this city. According
to the Railroad Gazette, since the low rates
were established the New York Central has
delivered nearly 16 per cent, more than last
year, but the Erie gained 41 per cent., and
the Pennsylvania Central 110 per cent. This
was brought about by the cheaper handling
at the Jersey City elevators and by bringing
the grain to New York instead of Philadel¬
phia.

The large increase in business and the
enhancement in the price of seats in the
Produce Exchange, tells the story of the
present great importance of New York as
a grain a:nd provision market. The Balti¬
more & Ohio system will be forced to secure
an outlet here, and this will also tend to
give the metropolis the advantage over
every other city on the seaboard. Atone
time all the roads of the world led to Rome,
and the same fact is becoming true of all
the railway and transportation lines in this
country. They naust find their natural
entrepot in this great and growing city. If
Congress will only rearrange our tariff and
navigation laws so as to re-create our mer¬
chant marine, the growth of New York
within the next ten years will be phenome¬
nal, and this is very likely to take place.

The spurt in the stock market is due to a
k belief that the railway war is coming.to an





end. The bulls argue that the close of navi¬
gation will find such vast stores of grain to
be forwarded that there will not be sufficient
cars to do the business. This will not hurt
New York if Mr. Vanderbilt declines to give
Baltimore and Philadelphia the benefit of
preferential rates. Should there be a
moderate bull movement on the Stock
Exchange it would react favorably upon our
real estate market.





METROPOLITAN [STOCK.

The Metropolitan stockholders might, if
they combined, still get very good terms out of
Gould, Sage and Field. Their desire to possess
our elevated road system is really part of a
scheme for the enhancement of the value
of a trunk line western connection with
New York. The Metropolitan road is of
more value than any of the others, because
of its running arrangements with the New
York & Northern, which gives it access to
all parts of the country, north, east and
west. The surveys and plans for a bridge
over the Hudson river, from Fishkill to the
opposite shore, are now under way. The
president of the company is Vincent C.
King, late fire commissioner. When
built, it will connect the Erie road
with the New York and New England.
When this is accomplished, which will
be within two years time, the Metropoli¬
tan road will be a prize worth figliting
for. A great deal of the coal which
is now landed at Rondout, Jersey City,
Elizabethport and Perth Amboy, will come
direct to New York over the bridge, and by
way of Brewsters Station. There will be no
need of boats, for by the elevated system
the coal can be dumped directly in the yards
from which it will be sold at retail. Natur¬
ally, all the out-of-town connections, which
in time will be very lucrative, will be by way
of the Metropolitan. TJien, the time is com¬
ing when the whole west side, from Yonkers
down to Seventy-second street, will be
densely populated, and the local busi¬
ness per mile will be as great as on the east
side, with many more miles on which
freight and passage money will be paid.

It should be remembered that the Metro¬
politan stockholders never received any of
the Manliatian stock. Field and the New
York Elevated stockholders got their shares
as a dividend; but the proportion allotted to
the Metropolitan was manipulated by the
Loan & Trust Company, which sold the stock
without paying any dividend to the Metro¬
politan stockholders. The suit of the Man¬
hattan company for the recovery of their
$13,000,000 does not at all affect them.
There is no decision higher than the
Supreme Court, which permits directors to
change the terms of leases. They can
modify or amend a bargain; but we believe
that the Court of Appeals would promptly
decide that the terms of the lease between
the Manhattan and Metropolitan roads coidd
not be altered unless with the consent of the
stockholders.

Holders of   Metropolitan   stock   should