May 17, 1884





The Record and Guide.





629





THE   RECORD AND   GUIDE.

tiiblished every Saturday,
191   Broadway,   N.   Y.





TERMS:

OifE TCAR, in advance, SII DOLLARS.

Conununications should.be addressed to

C. W.   SWEET,  191   Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Businesa Manager.





MAY 17, 1884.





An immediate recovery of confidence in values must not be looked
for. A panic such as that of last Wednesday is usually followed by
an unwholesome reaction, but later on prices sag off again. Spec¬
ulation is being killed, the swarm of brokers in all the exchanges in
the lower part of the city wili fiud tbat a great part of their occu¬
pation is gone, and many of them will be forced to change their
business and enter some productive employment. Confidence is a
plant of slow growth, and even good securities will be in the mar¬
ket at low figures until there is an assurance of large cottou, corn
and wheat crops. IE the Republicans make a wise nomination for
the presidency there will probably be a rally in prices, The only
property that will command good figurea for the rest of the year is

real eatate.

----------------------------■—•--------------------------------------------------

The national banks have the preaa of the country at their back,
and the business public is al\vaya eager to countenance legislation
that will give the banka all tbey want in transacting their busi¬
ness. But when the day of trouble comes, the banka take care of
no interests but their own, and slaughter tbeir customers without
mercy. Tha panic of last Wednesday was largely due to the
refusal of the banks to continue their loans even upon the choicest
securities. They forced Hguidation and assumed an attitude of
antagoniam to every solvent interest in the "street.", The final
action was a determination to stand by one another at the sacrifice
of every interest but their own. But when a question comes up
in Congress affecting the banks, the press and the business public
are expected to do all they can to forward the intereata of the insti¬
tutions which always fail them in times of trouble.





The operations of Grant & Ward and the events of laat Wednea-
day will alter vitally the relations of brokera to the banks and
will lead to an entire change in the method of doing business.
The certifying of checks with no funds in bank, wbich haa been
the practice for so many years, can no longer be considered safe.
The practice is contrary to law, but the necessities of the deal¬
ings of the street have made the enactment a dead letter. What Con¬
gress could not effect, however, Ferdinand Ward bas brought about
—a stoppage of the certifying of chsjcks before the fundu they rep¬
resented were actually in the vaults of the bank, Thia may lead
in time to the establishment of a clearing houee for stocks. Sev¬
eral futile attempta have been made to establish, such a system,
but it now seems to have become a neceasity.





A national bank would have been a useful institution in such a
crisis as that which we have just passed through. It would have
kept the rate of interest at a reasonable point, and would have
averted the failure of firms which were really solvent. The powers
of a national bank are now exercised partly by the Treasury
Department, but in a greater measure by the associated banks of
New York. These latter come together after the mischief ia done,
but their action is entirely selfish, for tbey unite to protect them¬
selves at the expense of their clients. Tbe 900 per cent, per annum
paid for carrying stocks from Wednesday to Thursday tells the
story of the utter uselessness of our national banks to help the
community in sucb a crisis as we have just passed through. They
use the pri\ ate money entrusted to them to ruin their own deposi¬
tors and customers. The name of a national bank is very unpopu¬
lar in this country, but it is a very mucb needed institution not¬
withstanding,

.-----------------»   ■

The Committee on Legislation of the Real Estate Exchange met
on Thursday. Tho announcement was made by tho secretary that
the law had passed authorizing the Governor to appoint a commis¬
sion to prepare laws reforming our system of land transfer. It was
decided that it might be proper for the Real, Estate Exchange to
send a liat of names to the Governor of lawyers who might make
useful members of that commission, Ifc is understood that a list
will be prepared to be sent to the Governor containing names from
which be may select a commission to prepare the necesaary bills to
be acted upon by the next Legislature.   This Committee on LegiBla-





tion bas proved a very useful body, as it utilizes the most influential
members of the Exchange, so that their infiuence can be brought
to bear in Albany and in the City Hall. It is not probable that it
will have many more sessions tbis year, in view of the adjournment
of tbe Legislature, but next year tbe committee ought to be a
powerful infiuence in forwarding good and opposing injurious legis¬
lation affecting real estate.





'A building movement seems to have commenced in tbe Seventh
and Thirteenth Wards. It has been found that down-town east
side property bas been growing largely in value, due to its conven¬
ience for workingmen and the growth of large industries in the cen¬
tral and eastern parts of the city. The daily car fare may seem a
small matter to persons witb incomes of $1,500 a year and over, but
it becomes a serious matter to heads of families with incomes of
from $10 to $16 per week, and hence the demand for cheap
tenements on the eastern side of the city below Grand street. They
have been found to pay much better than in Harlem, There are
several large estates in this section of the city wbich have been
forced to sell recently, and the prices under the liammer are quite
high as compared witb property in tbe other poorer parts of the
city. There are still other regions downtown, tbat is, below Forty-
second street, which will enhance in value for thesame reason. In¬
deed builders think it is unwise to build large tenement or apart¬
ment houses for fither rich or poor above Fifty-ninth street. One
excellent symptom for real estate in New York is the growth of its
manufacturing industries. Although the cost of land aud living is
high in New York yet the manufacture of goods is found to pay in
the saving of freight and the ability to deal directly with customers.
--------*------~

Will Chicago Overtake New York?

There is no parallel in the history of nations where cities have
grown so rapidly in population, commerce and wealth as in the
United States, New York has advanced with gigantic strides
during the past decade or two. At the last census there were
twenty cities in the Union wifch populations of over 100,000 eacb
whose rise and progress has been equally phenomenal. A glance
at the following table, which includes some of the smaller citiea
recently sprung into prominence, showa that there has been an
increase of 44 to 3,130 per cent, in the different populations from
1860 to 1880 :

Inc.

IBSn,              iFen.          increase,     p. c.

Philadelphia........................     .   848,984          585,5i9          201,455             44

Pittsburg................................    156,331            4\),-il7          107,l-.4           217

Cleveland ...............................    160,143            4;i,417          118,725           291

San Francisco...........................    33.^,958            Bli.fi03          177,15*           311

Jersey City............................   120,728            29,336           91,602           313

Hiuneapolis ..........................     46.887             6,833           41.055           705

Kansas City............................      65,813             4,418            61,395         1,183

Omaha.................................     3it,5l8              1.S83           28,685         ],S30

Oakland, Cal...........................      34,556             1,549            83,01)7        a,130

But of all the large cities, those, for instance, having above
100,000 inhabitants, Chicago has made the moat headway. A local
authority states that in ifcs first decade, from 1833 to 1843, that city
increased thirty-seven times its population, and in its second
decade gained more than 800 per cenfc. In the tliird decade the
population increased over 200 per cent,, aad iq the ten years from
1863 to 1873 more than doubled itself. In the lasl decade the
increase has been about 50 per cent. When Chicago waa a village
just incorporated as a town of SOO inhabitants, New York was a
city of 350,000, and Philadelphia aud Boston each had 100.000
people. Even St. Louis claimed to have 8,000 people on the banks
of fche Mississippi, aod Cincinnati boasted of 30,000 as the metrop¬
olis of the West. But Chicago has outstripped ali these in half a
century's growth. While in that fifty years New York quadrupled
her population, Philadelphia iucreased eight times, Boston nearly
four tiaies, Cincinnati eight times, and St. Louis forty times,
Chicago has increased about three thousand times.

In the last decade, from 1870 to 1880, New York's gain in popu-
laition was 28 per cent., Philadelphia's 25 per cent., Boston's 44 per
cent., Cmcinnati's 18 per cent., and St. Louia' but 9 per cent.
Chicago's gain was 258 per cent,

Much has haen said and written about I he poaaibility of Chicago
some day overtaking New York in population. Should the future
increase be in the same latio as during the paat ten yeara that will
eventually take place. A comparison between the fcwo cities, from
1860 to 1880, sheds some light upon the matter :

Popu-                         Iqc.     Population                      Inc,

lation.    Increase,     p, c.          1880,       Increaee,     p. c.

w..« v«,.v             j 1S60       805,611

New iorK......    -jjg^o       94,)_3Qo       ]3B,639       16.96       1,206,590       264,3C0       28 0*

™,                          f 1860       109.360

unicago........     -jjgjQ       233^977       189,717     173.63          503.301       204,837       53.31

It would, of course, be impossible to base any estimates of tbe
future population of either city on the ratio of increase from 1860
to 1870, which in the" case of Chicago was abnormal, the increase
during that period being about 200 per cent, more than during tba
succeeding decade, A comparison between the populations of the
two citiea shows that tbo average yearly increase during the twenty
years was nearly the same in both instances, while the average
annual increase per cent, was, of course, mucb larger in the case