Real  Estate   Record





AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.





YoL. XXX.





NEW TOEK, SATUEDAT, AUGUST 12, 1882.





^-. 752





Published Weekly by The

Real Estate Record Association

TEEMS:

OSE YEAR, in advance  -----  $6.00

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY. Biismess Manager.

STILL NO LUMBER EXCHANGE.
The lumber dealers of this city are still
without any distinctive organization, and, so
far as we can learn, are making no move to^
wards such an end, in this respect standing
almost alone among the leading commercial
interests of New YorK. Business is allowed
to move along in the old happy-go-lucky, go-
as-you-please sort of style, every firm or in^
dividual dealer running matters from a more
or less different stand-point, and at times
creating a market of a decidedly mixed
character. No one sees this more promi¬
nently that a commercial writer for the press
in his peregrinations among the trade,
where, at almost every turn he is met, not
only by variable reports, but by flat contra¬
dictions of the most positive character, re¬
garding strength and form of demand, prices

, current, grading and quality of stock, sup¬
plies available, etc., etc., until the " informa¬
tion " at times becomes so chaotic as to prove
almost u eless. Operators never—or at
least hardly ever—report anything but
their honest convictions it is to be pre¬
sumed, and the absence of unanimity
must therefore be attributed to the absence
of proper facilities for the interchange of
views and an opportunit}'^ for an adjust¬
ment of matters beneficial to all. Every
commercial body, either of old or new birth
now existing in this city, is growing daily
in strength, simply because the members
discover that association is working for
their good in a thousand and one ways they
never dreamed of until they thus came to¬
gether, and in the various forms of business
represented and working harmoniously
as an Exchange, those who are not members
are very apt to be looked upon witb suspi¬
cion. We find many lumbermen who con¬
sider the plan of ah Exchange as likely to
prove useful, if it does nothing more than
fix some uniform basis for quotations and
establish a standard of inspection, aud it
seems as though a little energy ought to
start the movement properly. Opposition
is to be expected of course, and especially
where there is a tendency to monopolize
certain branches of the business, but all ef-

. forts for the general good have the same
enemy to encounter and overcome, and fre¬
quently secure vie! ory after a very short
contest. Our lumbermen have a consider¬
able advantage to start with, unless they
desire a thoroughly distinctive organization,
in the existence of the prosperous Building
. Material Exchange. . As its name indicates,
all component parts of a buildiug are dealt
n upan the floor, of the above mentioned





institution, and should the ranks of the lum¬
ber dealers, who are already members, re¬
ceive the liberal accession they deserve,
"rules and regulations" suited to this par¬
ticular branch of business could oasily he
embodied among those of the Exchange. In
some form, however, it is to be hoped our
vast lumber trade will come together as a
commercial body.





WORK DONE WITHOUT AUTHORITY.

In the cape of Mulligan vs. Kenney, heard and
determined by the Supreme Court of. Louisiana,
iu January, tho plaintiff was employed by the
defendant to put a bell in a cburch tower. The
plaintiff found, while performing his work, that
some of the beams of the tower were rotten and
urged the defendant to allow him to make the
necessary repairs. He informed Mulligan that
he had no authority to make any conti'actex:
ceeding fifty dollars in amount, without the
sanction of higher church officials, and only con¬
sented to allow the work to be done upon Mulli¬
gan's guaranty that it should not cost more than
forty-eight dollars. Mulligan was further
advised of defendant's unwillingness, owing to
financial difficulties, to incur heavier expenses
for repairs, however necessary, defendant sa\-ing
to him that he would see the tower tumlMe down
before he would do so. While Mulligan was em¬
ployed in the work contracted for, defendant left
the city for Europe, and . was absent about
two months. Thereafter, Mulligan, discover¬
ing that the cross-timbers' supjjorting the
roof of the church were rotten, exposing
the roof to danger of falling, without consult¬
ing any person, and without communicating at
all with the absent owner, braced and strength¬
ened the timbers with iron ties, plates and bolts,
and, other reparations, and upon the return of
the defendant from Europe presented him with
a hill for more than $1,600, on which the present
.suit is brought.. The evidence is that the repairs
were iusufflcient to render the supports of the
roof safe, and left them still in need of new and
expensive work to acconplish that purpose, in
the execution of which the work and materials
of the plaintiff would not be of the slightest use.
The defendant appealed.

Judge Fenner, in gi\in^judgment for. the de¬
fendant, on the claim beyond fifty dollars, said :
We are clearly of opinion that this is a case
where the workman has intruded his services,
not only without the consent or approval of the
owner, but ag.^lnst hiswill, as plainly inferab'e
from the prior intei-views between them. Iii
such case, the equitable maxim, that no one
should enrich himself at another's expense,
which is the foundation of the right of the
negotiorum gestor, is without application. Aside
from this, we are doubtful, under the evidence,
whether the expenses, reimbursement of which
is claimed, were "useful and necessary." The
work may have afforded some temp<»rary relief;
but it is clearly proved that the work necessary
to .secure the roof permanently was still required,
and would cost as much as if plaintiff's J work had
never been done. We see no naerit in plaintiff's
case, except 'o the amount of the work contract¬
ed for, and allowed by the judge a quo. The de¬
fence vva=! established, and the claim should have
been absolutely rejected.—Architect.
----------m----------'

THE   BUILDING!   OUTLOOK.

In our account of the prospects in the building

business published some months since, we called

attention to the fact that the amount of buildnig

contemplated in this country this season was,

probably, in excess of anything that had ever

been accomplished before.   We pointed out that

there were several grave dangers that misht be

I encountered, among which was the po.=ssible de-

I mands upon the cart of mechanics and laborers

i for more wages than circumstances wbiild perinit





builders and real estate operators to pay. In
subsequent issues we noted the stoi)iiage of
several large opei'atums, and letters fiom cor¬
respondents directing attention to local euibar-
rassuients < f the building industry ai'ising from
some of the cam-es just mentioned. The s<-ason
has so far advanced that it is jjos'iible in a
measure to judge of the actual condition of the
buildinjr btisiiiess for the year. While the labor
difficulties have been a grett embaiTassment in
many sections, of the coimtry, the amount of
building th-it has gone on has been mm.-h larger
than might at first have been supp.j»ed. There
are very,few mechanics who are out of employ¬
ment, and, for the most part, wages are satis¬
factory both to the employee and tiie employer.
Building operations throughout tlio We^t seem
destined to be very large during the lemainder
of the season. Many things have conspired to
delay and hinder work throughout this S'^etioii
of the country during that portion of the season
HlTi&dy past. Au exchange, in commenting upon
this subject, mentions among the reus ns why
work has not progressed more mpidiy, the scar¬
city of labor aud material occasioned by strikes,
and the fickleness of the weather, which, inniany
regions, has been anything but favorable to the
erection of buildings. Many who have been de¬
terred by the high prices of labor aud inat-iia's,
have finally concluded thit their interi-sts would
still be best served by pushing ahead with the
building enterprises first contemplated. All the
enterpi-isiug cities and towns of the West are
c.hai-acteiized at the ])reseut time by intense
buildiug activity. In Bt. Taul, Minneapolis, and
many other places in the West, there ai-e in pro¬
cess of erection lai-ge business blocks, numerous
churches, extensive factories, public buihlings
and residences almost without nuiui)er. The
building permits issued in Chicago, St. Louis,
Milwaukee and San Francisco, show that the
period of iDrosjjerity has not, as many have sup¬
posed, temporarily ceased. The smaller interior
towns. who5,e population range from l,l)i)U to
10,<iOO are not behind the cities in the m:itter of
building, speaking, of course, in comparative
terras. Every issue of the local papers chronicles
new enterprises, and the frequency witli which
building booms are annouui-ed causes one to
wonder when the end to all this activity and out¬
ward evidence of wealth aud prosperity will
come.

In the early part of the season the results of
the summer's crops were frequently referred to
as being the kej"" lo the sitnatiun. Almost every
cnmmerCial and financial article pitblished in the
metropolitan press made more or less reference
to this fact. The cold, damp weat-ier, and the
almost unprecpdented siorius of the early {)ai-t of
summer, caused much discouragement. In the
last few weeks, however, it would seem that the
success of the growing crops has been a>sured.
The daily papers publish aci^ounts from all over
the West and South showing th.t the corn crop,
the wheat crop and the cotton crop are likely to
he fuby iip to the average, if .not con-iderahly in
excess, of the largest; crops tiiat have ever been
harvested. The effect of sich a season upon the
farmers cannot fail to produce active ba>iness for
the builders. It will nob oidy be felt in what 7"e-
mains of the present season, but will also have its
effect iu the business of next year. A long look
ahead from the present standpoint seems to prom¬
ise continued pro.'Sperity in the building busi¬
ness.—Carpeiitry and Building.





■ SA.LE OF A VILL.\GE.
Feltville, the deserted village, located near Fan-
■wood, Uuion County', N. J., was Wednesday arternoon
sold at master's sale by Rtfceiver Fish, of the Globe
Mutual Insurance Company, of this ci?,y, to Warren
Ackerman, of Plainfleld, for $11,430. Tae village con¬
tains twenty houses, two mills, a church, a school
house, a store, a mill dam, an^l in ths sale were in¬
cluded about (500 acres of lan^l, 2J0 acres of which are
tillable. The village '.vas first ownea and built by Mr.
Felt, a paper manufaeurer, and was then verv flour¬
ishing. He sold it to Mr. Townsend, ihs sarsip.arilla
man, and the latter borrowe 1 S3 ),0 )0 from the Globe
Mutual on mortgage. T.ie sale wa^ under a foreclos¬
ure of this mortgage. The Pre-iiient of the Globe
once offered $J50,0J0 for this property.





Proposals for furnishing the materials and labor
"and doing the work required for constructing a house
for Hook and Lad ler Co. No. 9, at No. 19i Elizabeth
street, will be received by Commis-!ion(>rs of the Fire
Department imtil 10 o'clock on Wednesday, August 16.