July 31,  1897.





Record and Guîde





161







nnri'îHPn'WÍMiDnH 514^1 flfiR.





ESTABUSHED ^ íJytBpH Sm^ 186 8.
DEVfl-tED p FÍE\LESTAJE,BuiLDIf/G Ap.cKlTEeTURE,KciUSEĨÍOlDDEGOí(AnOIí,
BUStl^ESS AĨÍD THEIflES OF Gĩ|ÍER^l !í/TCR.ESl.

PAICE,    PER   r£AR     IN      ADVANCE,   SIX   DOLLARS.

Publisheã every Saturduy.

TBLaPHONB,......COKTr,ANt>T   1370.

Communlcatlona should be addressed to

C. W. SWEEÎT, 14-16 Veaey Street.
J. T, LINDSEY, Busineaa Manager.
"Entered at the Fosl-Offlee at Ncw Tork, N. Y., us secondrclass nialler."





VOL. LX.





JULY   31, 1897.





No. 1,533





ARE  YOU   mERESTED  iN   REAL   ESTATE.

ĩf so, you oug^ht to have a eopy of the real estate man's Web-
ster—Van Siclen's "Guide to Buyers and Sellers oC Real Es-
tate." It answers every question you can ask. Send for ĩt. ĩn
ûloth, $1.00; in paper, 75 cents. Record and G-uide Offlce, 14-10
Vesey streeí.





SECRKTARY GAGE is tlie mau iii the Ciibhnít to wliom the
business world iooks for protection ancl help. Con'icvuĸnit-
!y, when he speaks on the commercial situtition witli the í-onfl-
dence that the words used by him at Boston imply, everyoue is
encouraged. Though himself unquestionably sound on thc cur-
rency question and a membei' of aa administration wliolly so,
Mr. Gage could not disguise from his hearers aud the publir.
while making the best of recent eft'orts to secure considenitioLi
for this all-important question, aud pvobably iutendins to warn
them of the fact, that all is not plain sailiiig with Congress. It is
eertaÍQ that a measure reforming the curreucy could not have
passed the session of Congress that has j'ust adjourued, even
if it had not had aiiother important measure to eonsidei', and
there no reason for supposing that when it meets iii Deeember
the chanees of success will be any grenter. It is ouĩy in periods
of great eommercial depression, accompanied as they always
are by plentiful doubt and suspicion, tbat our curreu'Cy can fail
to worlĩ sraoothly, and there îs, therefore, no cause for anxiety,
seeing that we are steadily progressing toward better tiraes.
But it is important that we should not forget that bad times
will inevitably come again, aud that we ought not to neglect to
remedy eonditions that we know for a certainty will greatly
aggravate the badness of such times when they do come. The
agitation for a reform of the currency must be kept up until
its object is aehieved. The buying moveinent on the Stock
Market keeps up and broadens. the advanc-es beiug in tlie lowei'
priced securities that have not previously sufficiently beneâted
by the chauge in the times, and in some eases, tlie chauges for
the bettei' in the properties upoii which they are íssued. It is a
market affording opportunities for renlixing proflts not seen for
many a long day.





EUROPE is eujoyiug a qniet if not dull interval, whieli will
only be broken by the close of the vacations, or by some
event or occui'rence not now in sight. Business is fairlygood,and
money coutiuues to be cheap. iu fact for the moment it is diffi-
cult to maiutain eveu the moderate r.ntes prevaĩling. Some of the
light-headed newspapers are doing their best to create sensa-
tiojis, but are failiug miserably. The cool, heavy persîstenee of"
the Powers in their determinatiou to crush out the warlike am-
bjtions of the small fry of Southenstern Europe, flrst by their
action against Greece in Crete and later by the insistence upon
the abandonment of Thessaly by Turkey, diseourages the idea
of war, and one cannot be consisteutly nuiintaiued even iu tht;
pages of a newspaper in the face of siich eoutrary evidence.
This is hard on the newspapers, bnt eannot be helped, aud they
have to cheer them only the remotest kind of a prospect of the
correspondeuce between Japan aud the Uuited States becomíug
heated, and the political or religious troubles in India. The
uews of the last is received with ill-eoncealed satisfaction by
the foreigu press, inimical to Brltain; but these need not imagine
that the occurreuces of 1S5S-9 are possibĩe again. The develop-
ment of the Indian raih'oad system alone makes that impossible,
while such discontent as now exists seej^s to be contined to the
Mohammedan population aud not to be gL"eral as it was in the
mutiny. Moreover, due warning has been gi>en, and doubtless
all neeessary preparations to quickly erush an .?utbreak have
been made. The surrender of the Sultan in the mav'^er of Thes-
saly, coming as suddenly as it did. raises the thought that com-
pensatiou was offered in atîother direction, or that the TurK con-





eeives that he can take eompeusation elsewhere.   Is it possible
that Crete is to be turned over to him ?   If so, we may look for
trouble  there,  aud a protest of gigantic proportîons from  the
publi<'. es[icriiilly rroiu thc lii-ilisb aud Aiuerican people.
_----------^------------

IK we conlinue we may, after aĩl, make New York a deeentand
comfortable cíty to llve in. The recently evinced publie
sensitivpuesĸ regnrding uuneeessaiy uoise is a manîfestation
of niceness. M'hich, a few years ago, would have been seouted,
and a itolice captaiu, like Cross, who should have insisted, to
the point oí m;iking an arrest, that truckmen are uot licensed to
iucotumode ptnlestriaus at pleasure would have been looked
upon as au uncommercial disturber of the traffic. It is of this
sort of triíles that the comfort of a great city ĩs in great meas-
ure made. They count for as much as parks and boulevards
iu reudering eity cxistence nttractive. In the past, perhaps tho
uiost notablc circurastauce of New York life has been its tol-
eration, or, ratlier, iudift-erencfi to, uuisauces. No thought at all
lias been giveu to the mitigatiou of petty anuoyances, so that
Ihere has ariseu a multitude of qnite unnecessary torments
which nre maiuly the result of niere brutal iudiffereiice ou the
pnrt of sonic in'rsons to thc righls iind comforts of others. The
iiervoiis disea.ses iucidentul lo city life are due almost entirely
lo these ifritntious. Now tlint a reíormatiou has been started
it .sliould not ouly be contiuued, but the application of it in-
creased in vigor. Only a begiuuing has been made.
—-------^-------------

IK another columu will be foimd furtber'eorrespondeuce re-
gnrdiug taxation ou real Estate. The statistics which the
secrelary uf the New York Tax líeform Assoeiation gives us
are iuterestiug, and, uuquestionably, they aftord additioual evi-
deuce in favor of the abolitiou of persoual taxes. Ou the other
liand, they make it jjlaiu how í'ew of our citizens are acquainted
!it all witli the tax-gatherer. The luass of people, iudeed, have
no direct reíaliou with the governmeut as taxpayers, and it is
quite uatural. tlierefore, that they should have ouly an îndis-
tinct eouseiousness. that publie affairs are admiuistered at their
personal cost. We believe that our system of indirect taxation
is in síuiie nieiisure responsible for the marked niid the increas-
ing iiroueuess of our people to look upon governmeut as a sort
of uatioiiiil niiigician enpablc of making whatever is wanted
by other meaus thaii by ĩhe labor and intelligence of the mill-
ions. They have no idea that governmeut is an ageney for dis-
Iributing aud uot for creating wealth, and tbat, cousequeutly, all
demiinds upou goverument are demauds upou the poekets of ín-
dividuals. The regular periodical visits of the tax-gatherer are
very potent to dispel these illusions and to proniote a public
si'use of economy.

--------—♦------------

THE FORECLOSURE RECORD.
Below wiU be found a table showing the elassiflcation aud dis-
position of the New York City property announced for sale in
foreclosure in the first half of this year, eompared with the
sarne for the corresponding six months of 1896. The flgures fully
explain themselves, or the facts they represent have been stated
so recently in these columns that it is not necessary 'ío draw
attention to them again nO'W. It may be of interest to su'pplemen-t
the fig'ures g^iven by stating that SOtí suits in foreclosure were
be-gun from January 2 to June 30, lSt)7, while only 624 such stĩits
were bcgun in the same time last year:

PROPERTY OFFERED IN FORECLOSURE FROM JAN :; TO .lUNB 2(3,
1S97, and COiWPARED WITH SAME OFFGRE-D FROM JAN 4 TO
JUNE  27,   ISÛIi.

I-------■-----^Bought-----------—I

l~Bypia.intiffs.—I     ,—By others—,     With-

Amountdue.        No.     Amount.        No.     Amount.     drawn.

Flats and teuements:

1S96......    liji)   .í;2,990,516       89   .$1,915,527        ũô   .Sl.lle.StíO        ■>ã

1S97......    297     0.216,42.5       13T     2,281,231      110     2,398,0:59        50

Dwellings.

Ĩ896......    147     1,498,800        5T        769,i50        41        701211        4'l

1897......   203    2,397,921        98     1.264,013        57        797.(ISIî        48

Lots and plots.

180H......     90        821,293        43        469.735        22        16tî .5li2        ''Ô

1897......    152     1,820,21!)      110     1,262.319        27        ;i87 4.'ĩr,        i.^

Bnsiness properties.

1896......     41        933,28:1        12        234,902        15        451919        14

1S97......     57     7,256,691        21        721,066        24     5.616 6i;i        1"'

Totai. all.

1896......    447     6,243,894       201     .5.389,614      H3     2,4:í6 552       li;5

1897......    709   16,691,264       :î66     5,528,609      218     9,199.173       l:;ã

.—.-------_4-----------------

THE  BUILDiNG  ÍNDUSTRY.

The report o£ the Department of Buildings for the quarter enû-
ing June -50, 1897, states that there were at that date 1,927 new
building's and 407 alterations in progTess. By referenee to the
corresponding report of 1896, it will be found that the first half
oĩ that year closed with 2,082 'buildings and (iél alterations un-
der way. With the aid of prevlous reports the two tables given
below liave 'been compiled. The flrst shows the number of build-
ings, with their estimated costs, for which pians have been íĩled
from January to July, as olassified by the Department. and the
second the locations of the buildings comnaenced and completed
in the same interval of time. In each case flgures for the corre-
sponding period of last year are given to enable comparisons to lio
made, and alj [h§ iĩgures used come írora departineat.a.1 reports,