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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 27, no. 687: May 14, 1881

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXVII NEW TORK, SATURDAY, MAT 14, 1881 No. 687 Published Weekly by The REAL Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, nt Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Secretary Windom lias scored a great suc¬ cess. He has practically retired $190,000,000 of sixes, replacing them by a 3i| per cent bond. All this he has done without the help of any syndicate of bankers. Under ox-Secretary Sherman these gentlemen had \ery fat pickings. The relations of Sher¬ man to the First National Bank, were al- \\ ays a subject for censorious remarks. If Secretary Windom should also be able to i-etire the fives upon the conditions as stated in his circular, he will take his place in tlie future history of the country, as one of our very best financial Secretaries. A sug- i;estion of Secretary Windom at the Cham- lier of Commerce dinner, for a new Govern¬ ment department to look after the interests of commerce, is a good one and should be carried out. The stock market is unmistakably biiUish. Everything seems to favor a rise. Money is easy and likely to remain so; theimmigra- t.on is phenomenally large, the promise of the crops is fair, the refunding of the gov¬ ernment debt is proceeding successfully ; every raih'oad report shows increased earn¬ ings, ill short," the outlook isbriUiant; there is no cloud over the sky of the future. But what most sustains the market, are the enormous foreign purchasers. The orders come both from London and the continen¬ tal bourses. English consols whch bear only 3 per cent interest, are at premium of over 2 per cent, which shows that money is going begging abroad. It is almost need¬ less to say which are the best stocks to deal in. The swelling tide of values affects them all, good, bad and indifferent. Said a well known literary gentleman, who has dabbled successfully in the street: "The man who cau!t make money in Wall street during the next six months, is a fool." The people of Memphis were congratulat¬ ing themselves, that they have the most perfect system of drainage in this country. The two visitations of cholera were so disas¬ trous to the trade of that great cotton entre¬ pot, that everything was done that science could suggest to make the city wholesome. But to the dismay of the people of Memphis the deathrate, for some time past, has been exceptionally heavy. During the first three months of this year, it averaged 41. to the 1,000. At one time the deathrate was 59 to the 1,000. In New York, for fche same period it was 30.6 per 1,000. It was not the drainage system, however, which was at fault, but the exceptionally severe winter. Our increased deathrate was due to the same cause. This shows how thoughtless, if not how malicious are the exaggerated statements of the New^Yori deathrate which have appeared in the columns of the Herald and other papers. The immigration is simply phenomenal. Some days nearly seven thousand arrive at this port. Sixty thousand arrived during April, and it is probable that seventy thou¬ sand wUl arrive during May. At this rate the arrivals at this port would be over 600,000 for the year. No wonder^ stocks are boom¬ ing and land is rising in value. THE EAST AND THE WEST SIDE. Through the operation of some law af¬ fecting real estate, the increase of popula¬ tion is far greater on the East than on the West Side of the city. Clearheaded and far seeing men have been sadly mistaken as to the relative values of different parts of this island. It was supposed, at one time, by certain astute capitalists, that Second ave¬ nue was to become the fashionable thorough¬ fare of New York, and there are some fine houses on the lower part of that avenue which were built when this was the impres¬ sion. This belief was not unreasonable, for Rutherford park and the laying out of Tompkins square, seemed to insure good neighborhoods, which ought to be continu¬ ous to the upper end of the island. But Murray Hill quite unexpectedly became the fashion for the finest private residences, and Central and North Second avenues have ever since been given over to tenements. Then there came a time when it was supposed Washington Heights would be the choice aristocratic quarter of New York. The re¬ gion is a beautiful one ; but the investors of twenty-five J ears ago have seen those pic¬ turesque and healthful heights neglected for property just east of the Central Park. Then came the West Side furore; all those interested in realty can recall the excite¬ ment which prevailed when Riverside and Morningside parks were planned, and when the Boulevard was under construction. But those who invested at high figures in 1866, 1867, 1868 and 1869, had their dreams of immediate profit dissipated, and those who were not ruined saw the price of property shrink to one-third the value which was bid for it before the panic. There has been a large advance recently in this proper¬ ty, but the figures of 1881, with the improve¬ ments all completed, are not as high as they were in 1871 when they were being pro¬ jected. It was the judgment of many very long¬ headed operators that business would con¬ tinue up Broadway, and that Boulevard property would in time approach to lower Broadway prices. Again it was.the unfore¬ seen which occurred, for the Sixth avenue took the large retail store business, which, it was supposed, would continue up Broad¬ way above Fortieth street; and, stranger than all, Fourteenth street, from Broadway to Sixth avenue, became a mart for the sale of goods suitable for women and household adornment. But during aU this period, while capital¬ ists and speculators were looking for great advances in prices on the West Side, popu¬ lation and building steadily increased to the east and northeast of the Central Park. The finest houses were built on Fifth and Madi¬ son avenues, while our great working popu¬ lation occupied nearly all the vacant spaces along the line of and eaat .of Third avenue. For every one person who settled west and northwest of the Central Park, at least fifty showed their preference for the East Side, and hence the extraordinaiy building activ¬ ity, all the way from Fifty-seventh street to the Harlem River and east of the Central Park. Nor will this movement of population be stopped by the Harlem River, Rapid trans¬ it for the annexed district will mean an immense addition to the business of the Second and Third avenue elevated lines, rather than Sixth or Ninth avenue. An army under a skilful general, marches on interior lines; it never makes a roundabout movement, unless as a sui prise. The swarm of advancing population therefore, will pour over the Second and Third avenue bridges, as that is the shortest route to the annexed district. Then, in the, perhaps, not distant future, after General Newton has completed his labors, foreign steamships of heavy draught wiU reach New York by the way of Long Island Sound, and cast anchor off Port Morris. On the southeastermost point of Westchester county will-be located the ele¬ vators and the docks, where foreign vessels will receive and deposit their cargoes. The ship canal, which is to connect the Hudson River with Long Island Sound, will add more to the value of land near the latter than the former. In fact, everything points to a dense population just north of the Har¬ lem River and east of the Harlem Railroad, There is a great deal of poor land in this re¬ gion, but it is the destined site for ware¬ houses, factories, docks, and a great work- irg population. The higher lands of Pel¬ hamville and New Rochelle, will then probably be in demand, for the richer class of citizens who will own the shops, factorieg and warehouses on the lands below them. So far as now can be foreseen, the relative increase of the East Side over the West, may continue for the next few years at about the same ratio as for the last ten years. Some real estate dealers, whose judgment is to be respected, believe that population will over¬ flow from the East Side to the north of Cen¬ tral P9,rk, so as to cover the improved and fiat country north of the Park and east of Eighth avenue. Already there is active building in the neighborhood of One Hun¬ dred and Twenty-fifth street, between Eighth and Fifth avenues; but the great building continues after all along the line of the Third avenue. The West Side undoubt¬ edly has a great future. Sometime or other its unequalled picturesqueness will be taken, advantage of to build up a new fashionable quarter for New York. But it does not follow that there may not