September S7, 1884





The Record and Guide.





969





THE   RECORD  AND   GUIDE.

Publiahed every Saturday.
191   Broadway,   N.   Y.





TERMS:

ONE YFAK, in advance, SIX DOLL&RS.

Commumeations should be addressed to

€. W.   SWEET,   191   Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Busmees Manager.





SEPTEMBER 37, 1884.





The appointment of Judgn Gresham as Secretary of the Treasury
ia hailed with a chorus of approbstion by the press of the country.
Why, it 18 hard to say. He is entirely lacking in the trainiog that
would fit him for so esactiug a position. He was a good officer in
the civil war, and when judge of a local court waa without
reproach, but what waa there in these positions to fit him for tbe
most important offlce in the government next after the presidency ?
Hugh McCullogh, whom the President thought of appointing,
would have been far better fitted for the place.





Rev. Howard Crosby makes a good suggestion. He calls upon
citizens to unite upon a good candid it e for Mayor irrespective of
party. As this is a Democratic city, he wants the citizens' candi¬
date to be of that party. National politics should have nothing to
do with the choice of city officers. There are plenty of good can¬
didates for the Mayoralty, among them are ex-Mayor Cooper,
ex-Mayor Grace and the present Mayor, Mr. Edson. These gentle¬
men have brains, character and experience. If a new man is
wanted, there is Mr. E. H. Ludlow, who knows more about New
York than any Mayor ever chosen. But it is vitally important
that the nest Mayor should be a good one.





Within the past ten days steel rails have advanced from $26,50
per ton to $29.50. This would be the most hopeful sign of the
times were not the change brought about by artificial means. Fcr
some time past the great steel manufacturers have been restricting
production so that the demand has caught up with the supply on
hand. Steel making is once more profitable, and there are suffi¬
cient orders in to insure the employment of two-thirds of the men
during the winter months. It has been conceded that the tide
would have changed for the better if the. iron industry sponta¬
neously revived ; but while steel haa advanced there is no quotable
change for the better in iron. Indeed, blast furnaces are fewer in
number to-day than any time since 1879.





In view of the contemplated erection of several new school
buildings it seems a pity that the city should not provide for better
designs than have been exhibited in the past. Private owners are
rapidly learning the true economy of employing a trained archi¬
tect in the arrangement and designing of their buildings, as well
in the immediate disposition of their resources to the best advan¬
tage as in the enhancement in value of their property from meri¬
torious structures. The municipality, however, has not yet moved
from the orthodox brick boxes with sheet metal cornices which
the builder of the past generation affected. Witness the new
school building at Eighty-fifth street and First avenue, which
might be barracks or brewery as far as its outward appearance
tells, and which in internal appointments is behind the mark of
modern requirements. Such productions are painful in themselves
to look at, and a detriment to surrounding property. At no greater
cost a beautiful and imposing building might have been erected
which would have been an ornament to th^ city, instead of the
bare and repelling mass of masonry that we can regard only with
annoyance. Other cities have adopted a more sensible policy; let
New York do likewise.





The telephone suit now before our courts is naturally attracting
a good deal of attention. Should Bell and his company be defeated
the whole business will be thrown open to public competition, as
the patents will have no value. The existing companies wili, how¬
ever, still have a great advantage over rival organizations, as they
are in the field and their machinery is ready to meet public require¬
ments. When the sewing machine patents expired in 1879. it was
supposed that the old companies would be driven from the field by
new competitors ; but they have held their own with the public and
all their rivals {and there were many of them), save two, have failed
to meet with general favor. Telephonic science, however, has
more of a future than tbe sewing machine industry. As there are
many improvements yet to be made, these have been kept back
because of the claim of the Bell company to the exclusive right of
certain eeaentiala in the construction and operating of telephones.





The vastneas of this business maybe judged from the fact that
altogether it will pay 6 per cent, annually on a capital of $100,000,-
000, and yet this enormous business has grown up without check¬
ing the steady increase in the number of telegraph messages. The
almost sudden creation of thia new telephone property has a bearing
upon the mouey supply question. There is a constant need of
more gold, ailver and paper in which to tranaaot the growing busi¬
ness of the country.





Still Going Ahead-

When The Kecohd and Guide was first published in March, 1868,
it aimed to become the recognized organ of the real estate interests
of New York and vicinity. In pursuance of this design it gave
tbe conveyances, mortgages, plans for new buildings, the real
eatate and building market tables, judgments and the like, with
fullness and painstaking accuracy, but it contained little in the
way of comment, and its editorials were confined strictly to local
real estate matters. It had its reward in the unwavering support
of a clientele whioh no opposition has been able to take from it. In
the seventeen years since it started, more thau a dozen competitors,
backed by large capital, have tried to become its rival, but all have
failed, and to-day it ia the undisputed aud exclusive local organ of
the real estate aud allied interests.

Encouraged by the patronage it had received, the conductors of
The Record and Guide in the fall of 1833 resolved on a new
departure. The paper was enlarged and improved and the editorial
force increased so as to discuss intelligently all public and especi¬
ally business questions which immediately or remotely affected
real property. It is obvious to any one tbat the mere statement of
the local real estate market was not sufficient to guide investors
and dealers in forming judgments about the present or future
value of realty. There were larger and more vital forces always at
work in determining valuea. The crops, theconditionof the money
market, the btlance of trade, political questions with a business
side to them, responsible government—all theae were potent factors
in the real estate market. From our experience during the last two
years we are satisfied that a mere news journal does not fill the
bill. There has been a steady increase of our circulation, not only
within but outside this city, ever since we have been di.<icuasing
politics and business in their larger aspects. So marked has been
the success of The Reccrd and Guide since its new departure that
its conductors have determined upon still further improvements,
and will add new features so as to make it thn most trustworthy
business weekly in tbe metropolis. But while adding new depart¬
ments this paper will continue to give the same painstaking atten¬
tion to real estate, for which it has always been distinguished from
the beginning. Land, after all, is the basis of all wealth; its very
name, realty, tells the story of its substantiality as compared with
possessions based oa peraonal property.

The Record and Guide will hereafter not scruple to diacuss any
of the vital questions of the day, especially those affecting the
business of the country. Now York is without a first-class business
weekly. We have aomo excellent railway and technical hebdoma-
dals; but no oue publication yet fills the bill for the business man,
who does not wish to be wearied by figures, but desires to arrive at
correct judgments upon the various economical problems of the
time. One feature we propose to introduce which will be of great
value. Weahal! publish extracts weekly from all the leading jour¬
nals and the best of the dailies which will throw any light on tbe
business situation. Instead of buying a multitude of journals, the
merchant, banker, tradesman and investor will find in The Record
and Guide a carefully edited compendium from the contemporary
press of the wisest editorials ou financial and trade topics. This
paper will be improved also typographically. Some of the tablea
not directly relating to real estate will be transferred to another
publication in order to make room for the new departments.





All good citizens who have the fair famoof their country at heart
will experience a sense of relief when this unspeakably disgraceful
presidential canvass is over. There are no vital issues at stake
between the two parties, and the contest has rpsolved itself into
a personal one, in which the vilest charge.s are made on each side,
and, it must be confessed, pretty well substantiated. Happily in
six weeks' time the woret will be known,