942
The Real Estate Record
October 8,1881
MINING INFORMATION.
Thepre.«ent management of Chrysolite have
done something which, is unprecedented in the
history of mining speculation. Under the stim¬
ulus of repeated dividends, the stock advanced
from 5 to 9, whereupon Professor Raymond
makes a public announcement through the En¬
gineering and Mining Journal, that thatprice is
not warranted by the condition of the mine. It
may be worth, he says, a great deal more, but all
mining, especially Leadville mining is very un¬
certain. The ore bodies may pinch out, aud the
value of the minerald extracted may become
very low. After this outgiving, the price
naturally fell off. The usual way in ordinary
stock transactions is, when the price advances,
for the insiders to do all they can to mark up
the values and then unload on the public. When
they get out the facts are made known, and when
prices break the stock is bought back again.
The present managers of Chrysolite found the
mine wrecked by the California swindlers, ^who
first put it upon the New York market, Ray¬
mond, Gurnee & Co, paid off a debt of nearly
half a miUion, accumulated a' surplus of nearly
some $300,000 more, and are now paying divi¬
dends; hence the rise in the market value of the
stock. The officers are quite right in advising
the public not to buy. The Chrysolite mine has a
valuation'of $1,800,000, But what a pity it is
that more mines are not run "asXhonestly as the
Chrysolite,
And so the BuU Domingo is to be bonded after
all. It is over $100,000 in debt. This property
has been a heavy tax on many well-known peo¬
ple, David Dudley Field, RichardlM, Field, ex-
Governor Dorsheimer^ Silas Dutcher, Senator
Bamum, and a great many leading people in the
New York Central road were large holders of
this stock when it was soiling at $10 and $12 a
share. This mine was very rich on the top and
showed an immense fissure, but it seems to have
been a disappointment down below. It does not
necessarUy f oUow that the stock wUl decline be¬
cause the mine is bonded,' Big Pittsburg jumped
from 50 cents to $4,50 after the bond was taken
up, and the same thing occurred when other
properties have become mortgaged.
Mining shares are still very duU, The promised
boom on the Comstock has not taken place, and
so the New York market is without animation.
The great apartment house of Mr, Edward
Clark, on Eighth avenue between Seventy-
second and Seventy-third streets, is now up to
the second story. As, however, this magnificent
structure is to be eight stories in height, it is
hardly to be expected that it wiU be under roof
before the vdnter sets in. There is to be good,
honest work on this building, which cannot be
hurried. It is imderstood that Mr, Clark in¬
tends to erect a fine block of buildings on Seven¬
ty-third street. They are to be first class dwell¬
ings. Rumor has it that the whole block bounded
by Eighth and Ninth avenues, Seventy-third and
Seventy-fourth streets is to be built upon by Mr,
Clark, Half a dozen capitaUsts, like Mr. Clark,
would soon work a marveUous change on the
West Side.
PINAL RESULT OP THE RAILWAY WAR,
The Railroad Gazette of September 30, con¬
tains an exhaustive article on the losses by the
railway war. It admits they are heavy and
thinks the contest wiU last some time yet; but
the conclusion of the Gazette is summed up in
the following:
"The local freight and travel are probably
larger than ever before. There vsdU not be so
much grain to carry East as in the two years
previous, doubtless, but the other through traffic
wUl probably be larger. The farmers have been
enriched by fonr successive abundant crops, and
are not going to be made poor and to greatly
liniit their purchases by one bad one. Those who
have a merely tolerable crop will receive so much
from it on account of the high prices that they
vriU of ten be quite as weU off as last year. The
enormous activity in railroad and other" con-
structioif requires of itself a vast-amount of
traffic, aod this construction cannot be checked
by bad crops; nothing but serious financial dis¬
aster wiU do this. The remarkably large profits
shown by the vast Pennsylvania system in July
and August, in spite of the railroad war (and this
company probably carries one-quarter or more
of the whole freight affected), and shovm also by
the Erie in July, indicate that whatever the
losses by the raili-oad war, thei'e is not likely to
be any positive financial embarrassment resulting
from it. The Pennsylvania, the Baltimore &
Ohio and the New York Central will continue to
pay dividends at the old rate; the Erie stock¬
holders and those of some Western roads will
have their hopes of dividends stiU further de¬
ferred, probably, and some Western roads wiU
probably pay (as they wiU certainly earn) less
than last year. But there is not the slightest
sign as yet that anyone is going to be bank¬
rupted.
In the New York Times of Thursday was a let¬
ter from Paris, under date of September Mth, in
which the foUowing paragraph occurs :
The grave had sc-areely closed over the remains
of Emile de Girardin, when a sentence was pro¬
nounced by the Tribunal Civil of the Seine which
stigmatized him as one of the chief instigators of
one of the most disgi'aceful frauds ever perpe¬
trated in a civilized community. A syndicate
known as the "syndicata of the three G's," com¬
posed of MM. Girardin. Genty, and Gibiac, took
up the Vendee Railway stock, used the influence
of their names and political situation to run up
the shares 80 per cent, above par, and then sold
out, after which, the enterprise being entirelv
false, the company became bankrupt, and a too
confiding public was the loser for the sum of
8,000,000f,, which the three G's and their acolytes
pocketed. The shareholders turned crusty and
attacked the Board of Directors, otherwise the
aforesaid syndicate; suit was brought against
them, and they have been sentenced to refund,
each in certain strictly defined proportions.
With some difference, this looks very much
like the floating of the Manhattan stock by cer¬
tain well-known speculators, MoraUy, that New
York transaction was as iniquitous as that of the
French three G's, The law ought to have a rem¬
edy for the innocent investors in Manhattan, but
then, unfortunately, our court decisions, under
our lawyer-made laws, generaUy favor wreckers
and plunderers.
POINTS ABOUT REAL ESTATE.
" What is the prospect for real estate this faU?'>
asked the writer of an operator well known on
the Exchange.
"Property is very strongly held," was the
reply, "and there are not, to my mind, many
bargains at present figures. If money continues
tight and there is a bear market in WaU street, I
do not see how you can get up much of a furor
in real estate."
"But," urged the writer, "does not the specu¬
lation seem to be going out of the stock market
and into other things? Look at the great advance
in com and wheat, the higher prices of the
metals,"
"As to higher prices, I think we are having
them now. What I was thinking about was the
activity in real estate, I am a dealer and I
would like to see people buying and selling. But
understand me, I am alluding to vacant lots,
unimproved property. There is quite a buying
demand for houses, and builders have been en¬
couraged to enter into new contracts,"
"You do not think, then, that New York is
overbuUt, and that new houses are likely to be a
dmg upon the market?"
" Certainly not. The present demand is for
very costly houses, showing that rich people are
coming to New York from every quarter. The
advance is by no means so marked in houses cost¬
ing from $18,000 to $40,000, Within a couple of
years I expect to see a great enhancement in the
values of what are called cheap houses. Rents
are rising and house property is becoming more
valuable,"
" So there are no bargains in unimproved real
estate?"
" O, I think that some lots can be bought west
and north of the park, which vsdU advance in
price. The only real speculation I know of is in
those two quarters. It is noticeable that build¬
ing is going on north of One hundred and Twenty-
fifth street and to the northwest of that street."
" W'hy is.^not the flat country north of the park
being buUt upon more?"
" On account of the delay in the improvement
of Morningside Park. The streets are not yet
opened, nor is the work done on New avenue and
the other streets near that locality. This wUl
keep back building to the ultimate advantage of
the neighborhood, which wiU be a very choice
one as soon as Morningside is put in proper
shape."
SUBURBAN RAPID TRANSIT.
Editor Real Estate Record:
It was not the Third Avenne Elevated Road
which advertised for laborers, but a Fordham
horse-car company. The proposed elevated road
on Third avenue, north of the Harlem river, has
a great deal to do before it can commence work.
The company is to be organized, subscription
books opened, the consent of the city government
obtained, right of way secured, surveys made,
and, more than all, the money for the work must
be subscribed, and the writer for one cannot see
how they can raise a dollar. As for the
suburban rapid transit, the old company is going
ahead all right and will be heard of in due time.
It has done everything it could do up to date,
and is now securing the right of way. Those
who know say that the Third avenue scheme is
whoUy impracticable, and that it will nevex' be
buUt, The route is a preposterous one, as it ex¬
pects to run parallel for quite a distance with the
Harlem road. People can come now from Mount
Vernon to the Grand Central depot in twenty-
one minutes. The proposed elevated road would
consume thirty minutes before it reached the
Harlem river. As yet the population north of
the Harlem river is not sufficient to support local
rapid transit routes, and it would not be wise to
construct any suburban lines unless it had in view
the peopling of the Twenty-thii-d and Twenty-
fourth Wards, Insidee,
ABOUT ASSESSMENTS,
Editor Real Estate Recoed :
There seems to be misapprehension about the
city assessments for Morningside Park, In some
quarters it is supposed that the money paid in
by the property holders in the neighborhood of
the park was for improvements. But such is
not the case. The money raised was spent in
purchasing the ground which forms the park.
The State has authorized the expenditure of ll.'iO,-
000 to improve the park, and a portion of that
sum has already been made a part of the tax
levy. Ninth Avenue,
ABOUT PARTY WALLS.
A question of party-wall rights, which has some
general interest, is submitted to La Semaine des
Constructeurs for decision. Two men, A and B,
owned in common the division waU between their
houses, A added to the height of his house, ex¬
tending the party wall upward, as he had an un¬
questioned right to do; but after the completion
of the work, it was found that the new gable,
being exposed to the rainy winds, was i-apidly
deteriorating, and that some means must be taken
to protect it, so he arranged to cover it with
metallic slates, B, however, forbade the appli¬
cation of any protective covering to the wall, on
the ground that being a virtual addition to its
thickness, it would project over into the estate of
which he was the sole owner; the party-wall
right covering only the bare thickness of the
masonry. To this claim La Semaine makes
response that, although B is not obliged to pay
any part of the expense of building or protect¬
ing that portion of the wall which he does not
himself use, he cannot prevent his neighbor from
taking any reasonable means for preserving the
upper portion of the masonry, provided he suf¬
fers no actual injury thereby. Moreover, since
A pays the whole expense of the masonry above
B's roof, it belongs to him, until B chooses to use
and pay for half of it; and he is the sole judge of
what steps may be necessary for protecting his
property. This doctrine seems rational enough,
but cases often occur where neighboring owners
make unreasonable claims in regard to party
waUs, and the example of an actual case may be
of use.—American Architect and Building News.
In London, as well as in New York, Chicago,
and Boston, the past year has been one of great
activity in building operations. According to
the report of the Metropolitan Police quoted in
the Builder, the number of houses erected in the
city in 1880 was 24,945. Seventy miles of new
streets were placed under the care of the police
during the year. The increase of population is
almost exclusively on the outskirts of the town;
the interior parishes lose, both in the number of
houses and of inhabitants, year after year. Thus
the smaU district known as London City lost one-
third of its population, and nearly one-third of
its buUdings in the last ten years, and St, Giles,
the Strand, Holborn, Shoreditch, Westminister
and Marylebone also show diminution, while
Lainboth, Chelsea, Pulham, Hampstead, Isling -
ton, CamberweU and Poplar, which^were not
lonals^o quiet suburban villages, have 'gained