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STATE Record
AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.
Vol. XXIX.
NEW YOKK, SATUEDAY, MAT 27, 1882
No. 741
Published Weekly by The
Real Estate Record Association
$6.00
TERMS:
ONE YEAR, in advance - - -
Communications should be addressed to
C. IT. SWEET, 191 Broadway.
J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.
Although this is supposed to be the dull
season, there is really a great deal doing in
real estate. The fact is, New York is a
very large city, the tliird largest in the
world, and whether times are good or bad,
the transactions in real eastate will continue
to increase in numbers as well as in the
amounts involved. This is why Ne\p^ York
ought to have a Real Estafe Exchangf>. It
needs a place where anybody who wants to
buy or sell can be sure of finding a customer
at certain hours in the day. It is to be h oped
that the more conservative dealers will take
this matter in hand, for if they do not, some
of the more adventurous brokers will effect
the organization. A New York Real Estate
Exchange would find abundant business,
and the members would soon realize that
sales and purchases of realty in all parts of
the country would in time become a feature
of the dealing?. An Exchange has been
aptly likened to a huge eye, whicii could be
turned in any direction, that is to say, in
the Mining Exchange for instance, certain
brokers know all about Robinson, others
about Chrysolite, and so through the whole
range of stocks dealt in. In a Real Estate
Exchange the brokei'age business would be¬
come speciahzed. One dealer would be an
"expert in "West Side property, another would
suppose to know more about business locali¬
ties, and in this differentiation of experience
would come the value of an Exchange in
the transaction of business in real estate.
markable shrewdness, and it is expected that
when the time comes the Government may
be induced to buy the Mutual Union instead
of the Western Union. If the press of the
country made the demand, a thing that is
not unlikely. Congress and the administra¬
tion might be forced to purchase the junior
telegraph company. The practical monop¬
oly of the agency by which the business of
the country is carried on, by Jay Gould, is a
monstrous fact in itself. It should be re¬
membered that under the present system
every market report is at the mercy of this
unscrupulous operator. The daily press has
been gagged heretofore, but unless they are
again bought up by the telegraph monopo¬
lists, they w ill now tell the tnith.
The break of the Associated Press with tlie
Western Union Telegraph Company may
turn out to be a very important matter.
The news monopoly and the telegraph
monopoly have now had an alliance for over
forty years, and the newspapers interested
have been very willing during all that time
to profit by an unholy alliance with the vari¬
ous telegraph monopolies. Since Jay Gould
assumed control of the telegraph, however,
the newspapers have become very much
alarmed, as it gave him the whip-Hand of
the situation. Their alarm became all the
greater when Gould got hold of the cable
system. There is reason to believe they have
been in secret alliance with the Mutual
Union, and we hear from an excellent source
that, although Gould has a large block of
Mutual Union stock, he does not by any
means control that corporation. The real
owners of the Mutual Union are tlWbankers
in " Fort Sherman," who ijrofiled so largely
during the administration of John Sherman
over the Treasury Department. John A.
Moore, the president of the Mutual Union
and the principal contractcr, is a man of re-
A GENERAL RAILROAD LAW NEEDED.
Much has beeu said and written of late
respecting the general railroad law which
last week passed the Assembly. It seems to
be a matter but little understood even by
those who are generally conversant upon
such subjects, for the reason that the consti¬
tution in section 18, article 3, expressly re¬
quires that the Legislature "shall pass" (not
may) general laws relating to several differ¬
ent subjects, and among wliich is that of
horse railroads. In other words, it is an im¬
perative duty on the part of ^the Legislature
to take some action in the matter.
At present it is impossible to build a horse
railroad within the limits of the State, for
the reason that there is no law, whereby a
corporation can be organized, the Legislature
having so far failed to obey the mandate of
the constitution.
The only question then is what kind of a
law shall be enacted. In the first place,
it must be general in its nature, applicable
to all sections alike. Under its provisions,
all who wish to incorporate and build horse
railroads, whether in Cattaraugus County
or New York, must organize under and be
governed by the same act. No one section
can be exempted from its in-ovisions, neither
can a requirement or restriction be put upon
one locality that is not put upon another—
for the reason that it would then lose its
general character and therefore not bo a gen¬
eral law, applicable to all sections of the State
alike. The law'must be uniform or it be¬
comes at once unconstitutional.
Many fear^that if such a law is passed it
may lead to the indiscriminate ^building of
horse railroads in locations where they are
not wanted or needed. Of this there need
be no occasion for alai'm, for the same section
of the constitution, before alluded to, has
given ample protection to property owners;
for it says that "no horse railroad shall be
built without flrst having the consent of a ma¬
jority of owners in value on the line, and al¬
so the consent of the local authorities." It
would seem, therefore, that the framers of
the constitution intended and did invest the
power into the hands of property owners to
say whether they would have a railroad in
front of their property or not.
The question is not, therefore, before the
Legislature whether a railroad shall be
built in Forty-second street or the Boule¬
vard, but where property owners may want
one and a majority petition for it. What
the Legislature ought to do is to see that the
common rights of alocality^are notinfringed
upon.
Why would not this be a proper time to
settle the vexed question of taxation, as to
corporations formed under this general act,
by inserting a clause that an annual tax of
say 8 per cent, upon the gross receipts shall
be paid into the treasury of the city, town
or village where such a railroad may te
built or operated.
We do not [favor a tax upon the net re¬
ceipts, as the books of such corporations
might be too easily doctored, so that the
treasury would receive but little or nothing,
as has been the case with the New York
Elevated R. R. Had a similar tax been
levied upon the gross receijits of our various
stage, ferry, railroad, gas and other corpo¬
rations, years ago. New York would have
been to-day practically free from debt.
Horse railroads are a great convenience
and have done much to build up our city,
and are just as useful as elevated or any
other means of transit. They are an accom¬
modation to millions of our people yearly,
but in passing a new law relating to them,
they ought not to have the same license and
power as some have that are already built.
We can see, therefore, no reason why a
proper bill should not be"passed, but great
care and discrimination should be shown by
our law-makers at Albany, to see that only
such a bill should become a law.
The condition of the country just at
present isjnot reassuring. Food and the
other necessaries of life are abnormally
high. Tiade has come to a standstill from
the check given to consumption, laborers
are striking, the price of iron is falling, and
altogether the immediate outlook is some-
what^blue. The real estate interest is the
only one that seems to be in a natural con¬
dition. What the country urgently needs is
a good crop. This would check the export
of gold, cheapen'food and allay the discon¬
tent of the working classes. It is ominous
that the price of grain and provisions keeps
so high in Chicago, yet it seems as if we
ought to have a good wheat crop as well as
a very large oat and grass crop. The corn
crop is in the most peril from the wet
weather and the late planting. A failure of
the crops this year would be a very serious
matter, and would force the country to con¬
sider whether after all it was wise to depend
so exclusively upon the growth and the
sale abroad of our agricultural products.
The drop in stocks towards the last of the
week can be variously interpreted. It may
mean that the leading operators believe in a
lower range of prices and that the crop may
turn out a partial failure, or, what is quite
as likely, it is the intention to put the mar¬
ket up in June, and it is thought desirable