Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS^ GUIDE.





Vol. XXIX.





NEW tore:, SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 1882.





No, 74:3





Publiahed Weekly by The

Real Estate Record Association

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

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager.





Our Albany letter this week will be found
of special interest to New York property-
holders. It gives an account of everything
that was done, as well as everything at¬
tempted to be done at Albany during the
past winter and spring. In no other journal
will be found so complete a resume of the
legislation which affects the vital interests
of New York property-holders. The daily
papers cannot be depended upon to furnish
this kind of information. The doings of
some tenth-rate politician are considered of
more importance by the daily press than the
enactment or defeat of laws vital to the in¬
terest of owners of realty.





WHY  A   NEW  EEAL    ESTATE   EX¬
CHANGE.

Our reporters have been interviewing sev¬
eral prominent real estate auctioneers and
others as to the wisdom of establishing a
Real Estate Exchange. There seems to be
some misapprehension on the part of certain
other dealers as to what we had in view. Our
proposition was not simply to have another
room for the auctioneers better situated than
the one at present in use, but to have a real
Excliange not only for the auctioneers but for
all real estate dealers. It would be an institu¬
tion iu which every person who wanted to
buy or sell realty for clients, or who was in¬
terested in rentals could meet daily for
the transaction of business. Of course, the
auctioneers under our present laws would
still sell estates under the orders of courts,
and when executors wished to dispose of
property. But in the proposed institution all
the business now done by brokers would be
transacted within certain hours, like the
Stock and Mining Exchanges. Property
would be offered to buyers, but, of course,
in some different way from the methods of
business of other Exchanges.

Dealers in realty will at once see what a
convenience it would be to have such an in¬
stitution. It would not only multiply transac¬
tions but would bring business from all parts
of the country. ■ It would be very desirable
to have some great headquarters for the sale
of lands of every description. This is a kind
of business that can never be transacted by
a private firm. The sales must be effected
under the auspices of a great Exchange.
Buyers and sellers of realty would know
just where to go to have their wants sup¬
plied.

The auctioneers generally   see  the point

very clearly.     They say that if the reforms

in  the  transfers   of   property   suggested

by Mr. Dwight H. Olmstead were effected,

t wpuld afiji ijnmepsely to tbe value pf sucji





an Exchange. Indeed the organization of
such a body would in time necessitate the
reform of our land laws so as to put them
on the same basis as personal property. In
connection with this Exchange there might
be a bureau for delinquent tenants. A book
could be kept giving the names of the dead
beats who occupy apartments ^v ithout pay¬
ing for them. In time it would be impossi¬
ble for a majority of such people to obtain
apartments in this city. The landlord inter¬
est would pay handsomely for such informa¬
tion. There are many ways in which an
Exchange, such as is proposed, would benefit
the real estate interest, auctioneers, brokers
and dealers, as well as the public at large.





COSTLY REALTY.
The tendency of the age is towards the
organization of great financial institutions
and corporations. When these are success¬
ful, they aspire to having buildings which in
a measure represent their wealth and im¬
portance. Although some private individ¬
uals own great business structures, yet it
will be noticed that our banks, trust com¬
panies, life and fire insurance companies and
other corporations own the finest and largest
buildings in the business part of New York
city. It is true that great capitahsts like D.
O. Mills can afford to erect great structures,
like that opposite the Stock Exchange, but
it is generally corporations which represent
associated wealth that own the costliest
buildings in the lower part of the city, as wit¬
ness the Equitable, Western Union, Park
Bank, "Fort'' Sherman, the Stock Exchange,
the Liverpool, London and Globe edifice, and
a^score of others whicii can easily be recalled.
I'he Farmer's Loan and Trust Comp'jny is
about to erect another fine building on South
William street and the Williamsburg City
Fire Insurance Company an edifice worthy
of the location, corner of Liberty street
and Broadway. The Washington Building
Co.'s purchase fronting the Battery will
some day be the site of a noble building as
will the proposed Cotton Exchange in Han¬
over square.

In view of this disposition of great corpor¬
ations to erect large buildings below the City
Hall Park, it will be seen that the area is so
limited that it must be an important factor
in the future of down town property. All
good business corners from th» Post Office
down to the new Produce Exchange will
hereafter command high figures. The
enormous price paid for the small plot of
land on the southwest corner of Wall and
Broad streets is a case in point. When the
building is a large one and over eight stories
in height, the price of the ground on which
it stands is a minor consideration. Hence it
is almost certain that comparatively large
areas of property on the southern end of the
island will in time command higher figures
than even the heart of old London, which at
this time is the costliest real estate on the
planet. Nor will the advance in price be
confined to the most eligible sites, for all the
^ property in the impiedi9.te neighborhood wiU





feel the effect. Far sighted mvestors must
see that nowhere in the world is there such a
chance for an immense return fer a real
estate investment as in the businojss portions
of this island below the City Hall Park.





THE METROPOLITAN ROAD.

The action of Jay Gould in postponing the
annual election for directors of the Metro¬
politan road, from June to next November,
is so flagrant an outrage upon the rights of
the stockholders that it ought to create a
feeling of indignation that would make
New York too liot to hold this conscience¬
less manipulatoir. Some time since we were
among those who advised the shareholders
to make the best of a bad bargain, and con¬
sider the terms offered by the Gould party.
But this last outrage is a little too much,
and we now urge all who were in favor of
a compromise to follow the lead of Mr.
Stout or Mr. Kneeland,^ or whoever it is that
is fighting Jay Gould in this matter. It is
now very clear that the Metropolitan road
is earning very much more than the six per
cent, which the Manhattan Company is
willing to give its shareholders if they will
come to terms. Tlie increase in the busi¬
ness of the elevated roads has been enor¬
mous. We have no doubt that to-day the
New York Elevated is earning fully sixteen
per cent, upon its capital stock. The fact
that the Manhattan Company, in face of tho
heavy expenses to which tho roads have
been put in the way of repairs and new-
equipment, as well as the legal and legis¬
lative disbursements, is forced to declare
six per cent, on both classes of stock,
showg that tho business of the elevated
system is very lucrative, and we have no
doubt that if Gould could succeed he would
soon be able to declare a dividend upon
Manhattan, and we are furthermore convin¬
ced that the stock of the latter would soon
be worth par and would be the most valua¬
ble of the three stocks. But there is no
reason why the Metropolitan stockholders
should consent to an arrangement which
would deprive them of their just dividends
to enhance the value of a stock, which, less
than a year ago. Jay Gould and Russell Sage
took solemn oath was worth nothing at all.
A great deal is said about communism, but
Justus Schwab would never propose any¬
thing so audacious as to seize upon the cash
boxes of his rivals in order to add to the prof¬
its of his own lager beer saloon. This is
substantially what Jay Gould has done in
the case of the elevated roads. He doeg not
own the Metropolitan stock, but, in effect, he
has the shareholders and company by the
throat and tells them they must sun-ender
the profits on their line to make his other¬
wise valueless Manhattan stock pay divi¬
dends. The postponement of the election
shows that he does not own a majority of
the stock, but he wants a few more months'
time to manipulate certain of the sharehold¬
ers so as to get it into his hands.

The elevated roads are potentially very
valuaWe propert^p§,   §1jqiU4 t^e aecisipft of