OHober 24. 1885





The   Record  and  Guide.





1155





THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Sat^irday.

191 Broad^wav, IST. ^^-

Our Telephone Call is.....JOHN 370.





TERMS:

OiVE FEAR, in adTance, SIX DOLLARS.

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LKSDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XXXVI.             OCTOBER 24, 1885.





No. 919





The business outlook continues favorable. The majority of the
factories in the East are working over time; tlie railroads of the
"West have all they can do, not indeed in carrying grain and
cotton to market, but in supplying the business wants of different
sections of the country. The foundries in the Middle States are all
at work, and it is stated that no steel rails can be procured before
next February or March, as the factories are at work upon old
orders which will not be filled before that tirae. The coal roads are
also doing an exceedingly protitable business. The real estate
market all over the country is sympathizing with the general
improvement in trade. The so-called boora which began in 1879,
while it advanced stocks, manufactured goods of all kinds and
agricultural products, never really reached real estate. A. revival
of business now will not culminate until realty has become much
more active than it has been and sells at very much higher figures
thaa those now obtained.





There is some mystery back of this Ward-AVarner matter. The
arrest of the latter was for a purpose, and it looks as though the case
against these two men was managed with a view to help some
greater or more conspicuous rascal to escape punishment. Warner,
it is now claimed, pocketed the $150,000 General Grant borrowed
of Wm. H. Vanderbilt. It was given to him in the guise of
" profits " on AVard's bogus contracts. But who i.'» the person or
who are the persons yet in the background who shared in the plun¬
der of the late firm of Grant & Ward ?





The proposed erection of another great bank building at Nos. 34
and 36 Wall street shows, in the opinion of those whose judgment
is to be deferred to, that the construction of great buildings
in the lower part of the city has not been overdone. Wall street is
being enriched bj^ noble edifices worthy of its repute as the great
money centre of the metropolis. Every improvement is of the right
kind to give permanent vahteto the property and the street. After
the Astor oflSce building is finished the owners of the fronts on the
south side, between Broadway and Broad street, ought to utilize
those exceedingly valuable properties by constructing bank and
office buildings as massive as *'Fort Sherman," and as fine in
appearance as the Mortimer building on the corner of New street.
The Stock Exchange, for shame's sake, should raze to the ground
that ridiculous little front passageway they have on Wall street.





The practice of two or more banks and corporations uniting to
build edifices together is another instance of the advantages of co¬
operation. " Fort Sherman" was built jointly by the Bank of the
Republic and the First National. The Manhattan and the Mer¬
chants' National next followed in erecting the great granite struct¬
ure at Nos. 40 and 42 Wall street, and now the Gallatin National
has united with another financial institution to erect possibly a still
finer structure at Nos. 34 and 8(5 Wall street. The money that is
now being made on the stock and other exchanges will create a
demand for first class offices, and this will doubtless call into exist¬
ence other fine buildings in or near Wall street. The Consolidated
Stock and Petroleum Exchange has a large building fund and over
two thousand raembers. It requires and ought to have a suitable
building in which to transact its growing business. There is no
longer any danger of unduly multiplying great office structures,
provided they aro near the principal exchanges.





The press has had much that was ungracious to say of the Gibbs*
Investigating Couimittee, but its inquiries have certainly resulted
in calling public attention to very grave abuses. It unearthed the
armory jobs and the discreditable conduct of the majority of the
Excise Commissioners. In England, Parliamentary comraittees
have proved of very great service to the State. But the organiza¬
tiun of the various boards there differs frora the Araerican practice.
Here only legislators are permitted to act on the conrimissions, but
in England experts and gentlemen of raeans and leisure, not mem¬
bers of Parliament, are designated to hear the testimony and raake
the necessary investigations. The result is far raore satisfactory
than with us, for there is no party big-s on the part of the Qommis-





sioners and their summing up of the facts is of the utmost value to

the public service.

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One matter was brought to light by the investigations of the
Gibbs' Coraraittee which ought to lead to sorae action by the real
estate owners of New York. When Comptroller Grant was in
office application was raade to him for city revenue bonds, that is,
the money borrowed in anticipation of the taxes. The applicants
were referred to (Jrant (S: Ward, between whora and the Comp¬
troller there seemed to be some understanding, presumably to the
profit of both. This brings out the absurdity of our method of
doing business. We have raillions of dollars in bank unemployed
and profitable only to the City Charaberlain, whom, it is suspected,
often divides with the official who appoints him ; yet, the city is
if! the market to borrow money on its revenue bonds with a large
unused surplus in its hands. In this case the city lost an immense
sura of raoney, and would have lost much more had Comptroller
Grant had all to say about it. Any system which necessitates the
constant borrowing of money in order to carry on the city govern¬
ment is faulty, and city reformers should turn their attention to
this indefensible use of the city funds. The present practice only
helps to raake our city treasury the spoil of a ring of money-lenders.





Another raatter to be corrected is this absurd fiction of the safety
fund, in which over |30,000,000 worth of securities are held, which
have been paid for and which should be cancelled. There is no
sense in having a nominal debt of over $130,000,000 when our real
debt is only $92,000,000. The evidences of debts paid should be
destroyed, for there is constant danger of their reissue by dishonest

subordinates.

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Seats on the Stock Exchange are now selling at $32,500. Lead¬
ing operators in the street think the time is coming when the seats
will be worth $50,000. The organization of the Consolidated Stock
and Petroleum Board does not seem to have adversely affected the
older Exchange. The business of the latter is almost as large as
during the "boom" of 1881, and doubtless in time the buying and
selling of 1.000,000 shares a day will be regarded as not unusual.
There is, however, room for the Consolidated Board, as it has a
monopoly of petroleum dealings, of unlisted securities and of min¬
ing shares. Its stock department does not do as large a business as
was expected. The dealings are confined to a few of the active
stocks, and it is surprising that the smaller speculators do not take
advantage of the chance offered to deal in ten share lots at one-half
the regular coramissions, and with a clearing house system whicii
gets rid of interest charges. The late advance of values has
ruined most of the bucket-shops throughout the country, and the
small stock gamblers who patronize these institutions are finding
out that it is a garae of " heads I win and tails you lose." The scenes
in our various exchanges bear evidence to the fact that gambling
in securities and options is on the increase, and that the number
of speculators in the United States is larger than in any other civ¬
ilized country.

------------♦------------

A Chicago real  estate broker was in New York recently, and

while here visited the Liberty street Exchange.    We give a report

of what his impressions were of that institution, as well as what

some of the Chicago dealers think of the ** single representation "

agitation.    It is significant as showing the revival  of business in

the West that real estate avqs never so active as it is just now in

Chicago.    Indeed, there is a greater number of conveyances in that

city than in New York, aa will be seen by the following sumraary

of the records during the week ending October 17th:

Location.                                                              Sales.               Amount.

C'irv sales........................................ ITfi                 8l,'3l).3,0()3

Nof-ch of city limits........................   32                       83,840

South of city limits.............................   54                      161.847

West of city limits .............................   14                       15.125

Total........................................276                 $ ,.'i-.>3,815

Total previous week.....................241                   1,047,308

,\..................SaS                     715, 83

..............223                     mi,A27





Same weeks last year

The Huraber of conveyances of New York City property for the
sarae week was 192. But then the consideration for the property
purchased in this city was $2,574,461, while it was only $1,523,815
in Chicago. Brooklyn now exceeds New York in the number of
weekly transactions, and will continue to do so for sorae time to
corae. Tiie period, however, is coming when the Twenty-third
and Twenty-fourth Wards alone will probably furnish as many
transactions as either Chicago or Brooklyn. It will be noticed that
Chicago credits herself with all the land transfers in the immediate
neighborhood. Were New York to do the sarae it would triple the
record of Chicago numbers as well as the amount of money involved,
for the conveyances in Kings, Queens and Westchester counties,
and Hudson County, N. J., would necessarily be counted in to show
the actual real estate business of this metropolis. Still there is no
disguising the fact that Chicago is forging ahead with great rapidity,
and is one of the most enterprising and prosperous cities of the
country.