January 11, 1890





Record  and  Guide.





31





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Vol. XLV.





JANUARY 11, 1890.





No. 1,139.





The Annual Numher of The Record and Guide, containing the
Building Material Market Review for 1889 will he published next
Saturday. In addition to the usual matter which has made this
number indispensable to the building and mateHal trade, and all
interested in real estate, it will contain a review of architecture in
New York City during the year past, and Benner's prediction con¬
cerning the business world in 1890, which features insure this num¬
ber a large extra circulation among architects and investors gener¬
ally in WaU street and elsewhere. Advertisers who wish to reach
users of building material and those engaged in buying, selling,
leasing and lending on real estate shoidd avail themselves of the
large circulation of this number. " Cop)," for advertisements can¬
not be received later than Tliv/rsday next, the \Mh inst.





About the only Excliaage which has seen any marked activity or

advance of prices during that small portion of 1890 which has
elapsed is the Cotton Exchange. The prospect, apparently, of a
large demand abroad, together with a continual and steady demand
at home and the lai'ge crop have largely increased the activity and
advanced the price of that material. The stock niarket has been
depressed by the disturbance in the Coalers, which seem destined
to hang over Wall street, just as the Grangers did last year, as
lone as the present mild weather continues. Money has been
easier, but that fact does not seem to have had much if any efifect
on prices, probably because there ia not much feeling that the
present state of affair's is permanent. Certainly after a rise in
exchange of a point and-a half after the action of the directors of
the Bank of England in increasing their rate of discount, and after
their absolute refusal to sell gold bars for export to this country
it is useless to look abroad for any help. But it is probable that
before long we shall not need any. It may pretty safely be pre¬
dicted that after this last decline the sugar trust certificates have
just about reached their bottom figure. The trust has undoubt¬
edly been doing a large business ; it has undoubtedly made money,
and the actual value of the certificates cannot be much less than
the present value. Even, however, if it is less, the certificates
have a speculative value that ought to hold them at about their
present figure.

As a rule it is not until the second or third week in January that
the new year of business in the real estate world fairly commences
and it becomes possible to speak with some degree of certainty as
to the " prospects." Very rarely has a new year opened more sat¬
isfactorily than the present one. During ibe past week the condi¬
tion of the market has greatly improved. Buyers for improved
realty, especially for down-town property, have become numerous.
The demand, is strong, and as will be seen by our reports in
another column and by the recorded transfers, transactions are
numerous aud at good prices. Residentisl propertj is in demand
and some costly houses have been sold.   As to renting, business

has opened up well.

----------»_—_—

The merit of the controversy between the Evening Post and Mr.
Gilrny depends entii-ely upon the cost of laying a square yard of
asphalt pavement. The Post estimates the cost at $1.75, and, so
far as we know, the Commissioner of Public Works has not
disputed the accuracy of the estimate, except, perhaps, by implica¬
tion in the statement he has made that the price paid by the Lon¬
don authorities is SS.25 a yard, against an average of $4.45 in New
York. The comparison, however, is not a fair one, even if the
-figures given are correct, for in London, as in most European
cities, rock asphalt is the only kind used, and is considerably more
expensive than the Trinidad asphalt which is to be laid down in
New York. If the Po.st's figures are correct, or approximately so,
unquestionably the contractors could (if they should choose to)
forfeit the bond given to the city as security for keeping theii- work
in good order for fifteen years, and yet make a sufficient,
if   not   &   handsome,   profit   on   their   contracts,   leaving  the





future of the streets they have made to the care of the city. In
other words, the bonds given to the city are valueless to secure per¬
formance of contract. In this matter it is not alleged that anyone
is acting in bad faith. It happens that certain bonds are not suffi¬
cient for tbe purpose for which they were exacted. The Evening
Post, if its figures are correct, has done the city a service, about
which Mr. Gilroy shows a trifle too much sensitiveness.
It is a good thing that the jjress should be watchful and critical
before contracts have been cai'ried out and the city has parted with
its money ; instead of, as is usual, after mischief has been done. If
a mistake or miscalculation has been made in the Department of
Public Works, it can, perhaps, be rectified ; if not, Mr. Gilroy is
forewarned in the case of the contracts already given out, aud in
those yet to be let he can see that the interests of the city are really

and not apparently secured,

------------a------------

The deadlock as to the presidency of the Real Estate Exchange
has been well ended by tbe election of Mr. George H. Scott. It is
very fit that the position should be filled by one who is so well
known in the real estate world, and who has given to the Exchange
since its organization such valuable service as director, secretary
and member of various committees. Mr. Scott knows well what
the Exchange requires, and will bean excellent executive officer,
and a matter that is of much importance, is capable of fitly rep¬
resenting on occasions of a public or semi-public character the
institution over which he presides.

———•----------

It is inevitable that the annual message of the Mayor must be
more or less of the nature of a twice told (ale. Rarely, if ever,
is it the vehicle for the disclosure of any fads not already known
in a general way by the public, for though nominally ifc is an
address to the Common Council it is delivered solely for the public
ear. In respect to any new information on municipal affairs,
Mayor Grant's recent message differs in no wise from the messages
of his predecessors. Everything that is said in it regarding the
condition of the city's finances, the water supply, the street pave¬
ments, the street cleaning department, rapid transit, subways, and
so forth was ah-eady well known even to those who give only
casual attention to the management of the city in which they live.
Despite this fact the Mayor's message is a straightforward, sensible
and interesting document. It does credit to the Mayor, and we
believe it is cn the whole a truthful statement of what his admin¬
istration has so far purposed and accomplished. True, the good
points of his administration are at present more matters of prom¬
ise than of achievement, but this is not a fault at the beginning of

a temi of office,

----------«------.—

Tlie step toward a more general use of asphalt for street pave¬
ments is to be commended. The action of the Mayor in the street
cleaning difficulty is also satisfactory, though much might be said
in defense of Mr. Coleman. The problem, however, has now been
reduced to the simplest terms. The Mayor says the streets shall be
kept clean in spite of poor pavements, subway-making, and the
dirty habits of citizens, and he has undertaken in the most public
manner to find an official who will accomplish this feat. The task
is a more difficult one than perhaps the Mayor realizes. Before we
can have really clean streets we must have really good pavements,
and citizens must be taught that the public thoroughfares are not
to be used as " dumping grounds" for refuse. It is to be hoped
that the Mayor will be more successful with his Raiiid Transit bill
in Albany this year than last. It is haidly to beexpected, however
The opposition to it from several quarters is strong, and to over¬
come it will need "considerations" of the most powerful nature.
It is to be regretted that the Mayor has not adopted a broader
policy in dealing with the Manhattan Company and its proposition
to build a loop at the Battery and to construct a third track along
its lines. This is the immediate and the only immediate solution
or rather palliation of the rapid transit difficulty. The determina¬
tion of which the Mayor speaks to contest a part of the levy made
upon the city by the State Board of Equalization (so called) is one
that Justice demands aud all taxpayers will support. There is
little doubt that the city is annually robbed under a system of legal¬
ized brigandage. The Mayor's statements about the future water
supply of the city through the new aqueduct do not in all particu¬
lars square with the facts. It has been pretty conclusively shown
that it is more ingenious than ingenuous to refer to the capacity of
tbe aqueduct as the measure of what the water supply will be for
many years to come. It is not "capacity" that isneeded in the third
and fourth stories of up-town residences and in office buildings
down town, but water. At present this has to be obtained at some
expense by the aid of a pump, and probably will still have to be
even after the new aqueduct is opened. If Mayor Grant should
succeed during his term in giving us clean streets freefrom telegraph
poles and a rapid transit act that will secure rapid transit, the city
will be more indebted to him than to any other Mayor, He has a
splendid opportunity to distinguish himself,
----------■----------

The certain detection of crime is a matter of quite as much im-