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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 27, no. 691: June 11, 1881

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXYII. NEW YOEK, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1881 No. 691 Published Weekly by Tlie Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance.....$6.00 Communications should he addressed to C. W. SWEET. 13T Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. It seems the famous Arcade scheme is to be revived. Melville D. Smith, its origina¬ tor. som.etime since secured the charter of the Beach Pneumatic Tube through Broad¬ way, and has had that document so altered by the Legislature that it enables him to in¬ troduce all .the old Arcade features. The Governor has approved the charter as amended by the Legislature. If Mr. Smith can carry out his programme, we wiU have an underground Broadway, 80 feet wide, lighted by day with patent lights and at night with the electric light capable of ac¬ comodating through and way trains, as well as all kinds of vehicles, and which would connect the Forty-second street depot with the Battery. If carried out it will make Broadway the most valuable thoroughfare in the world, for the hotels aud great stores will cluster on the street which has a monop¬ oly of ^delivering goods and passengers from steam cars at their basement steps. This enterprise must not be confounded with the Central Underground road, of which General McClellan is the nominal head. The last has been on foot for a great many years, and every few months the daily press tells the wonderful things it is going to do. But so far all its performances have been in the newspapers. It is rumored that the Vanderbilt interest is back of this new Arcade scheme, but it is so immense an undertaking that we would prefer to see the list of incorporators and the amount sub¬ scribed, before taking it for granted that such a road wiU be built. Certain amendments to the mechanics' lien laws have been under consideration in the Assembly, wl ich, if passed, and approved by the Governor, would doubtless put a stop to any new building enterprises in this city until the next Legislature would again amend the law. Had these amendments passed, every claim of the laborer or me¬ chanic would have taken precedence of a mortgage or any other means of raising money for prosecuting the work uf building. Of course money could not be borrowed, as the lender would not run the risk which the law would impose. Happily the most dan¬ gerous amendments have been eliminated, and the act, if it passes, leaves matters about as they were. It puts, however, tbe burden of proof upon the mortgagee. There will be a sense of great relief when this Legis¬ lature adjourns, for whUe it is in session there is danger of the passing of enactments which would affect most injuriously the bus¬ iness interests of the community. The situation in the labor market is caus¬ ing serious disquiet among builders and those who have large contracts ahead. The unpleasant fact stares contractors in the face that there is a scarcity, not only of skilled, but of all kinds of labor. In some cases hodcarriers get as much as $2.50 a day and bricklayers are making their boast that they may yet demand $5 a day,' The build¬ ing activity is extraordinary and the outlook is entirely favorable, except on this one vital matter of the price of labor. Persons mak¬ ing contracts ahead, should consider this matter. It would, we judge, be wise to take large contracts ahead for building materials at their present rates. There is every pros¬ pect of an enhancement in values during the coming fall, for while consumption is enormous, supplies axe light and as the price of labor is rising in every department of trade, there is a fear of an enhancement of values. It is an undoubted fact that there is a scarcity of not only skilled, but of com¬ mon laboi in the building trade. WHO GETS THE WEALTH? Henry George has written a very remark¬ able work, entitled " Progress and Poverty." It has already passed through several edi¬ tions, and has been translated into French and German. Political economy as taught in England and France has never been pop¬ ular in this country, and the American writers who have upheld the doctrines ex¬ pounded by Bentham, Cobden, Mill and Bastiat have not had lai'ge followings. Mr. George's work criticises unsparingly the underlying principles of the political econ¬ omy taught in the schools of the Old World. This part of his work seems to us striking und valuable. His remedy for the ills of so¬ ciety is not so happy, nor will it meet with ac¬ ceptance, but the point he particularly in¬ sists upon is vital to real estate owners or those who expect to become such. Accord¬ ing to Mr. George it is written in the book of fate that the owners of the land must in time monopolize the wealth of the State. He alleges that, as society progresses, rent swal¬ lows up the profits of production, reduces the wages of labor to a minimum, and, in time, takes to itself the natural increase of capital. In other words, that as all wealth is derived from the land by labor, as the pop¬ ulation becomes denser the competition for land results in the gradual absorbtion of all the wealth of the community by the land¬ owner. Where land is abundant and popu¬ lation sparse, wages are high and the rate of interest generous. But the more eflScient labor becomes the better, it is organized, the poorer the pay, and where wealth is concen¬ trated in the largest.masses the rate of inter¬ est rules low. The carpenter in the mining region to-day earns six dollars a day ; one per cent, a month for the use of money is not considered excessive, but three per cent, per annum is all that money is worth on call in this city, while the carpenter is satisfied with three dollars a day. Mr. George's cure for the iUs of society is that all the taxes should be levied on real es¬ tate, so as in time to confiscate it for the benefit of the community. He would have the Government the only landowner. This idea is not new, for it has been advocated by Turgot, Quisnay, and Herbert Spencer. But to get rid of private property in land is so purely theoretical and fanciful that practi¬ cal men need not discuss it. But is Mr. George's leading idea true, that the landowner is destined to absorb the wealth of the world ? Undoubtedly private property in land in a growing community is the surest and safest of all investments. Stocks may go up or down, but as population becomes denser, the average price of land steadily rises. This is proved by the past history of the country. True, railroads, by rendering large sections of wild lands avail¬ able, have equalized values, and have ren¬ dered some Eastern farms temporarily of less value than they were. But the average of price has been a rising one, even in the worst of times. From this it follows that where land is bought at its market value and held, it is the most certain of all investments. This has proved true in all settled countries like Great Britain. It is the great landlords who are the richest and most powerful. The most solid fortunes in city, State, or nation are those which are based on realty. The corporate enterprises of modern times, in¬ cluding the handling of great national debts, have gathered a large share of the wealth of the community into the hands of bankers and large owners of corporate securities. In the middle ages and down to recent times, it was the merchants who made the most money. But the telegraph is rapidly taking away the pi'ofits from trade by equalizing prices the world over. Where are now our merchant princes? Our very rich are the bankers and railway manipulators. A. T. Ste vart was only a great shopkeeper. It was as a retail dealer that he was best known to the world. But may we not be passing through a transition era, when the excep¬ tional wealth of the railway manipulator will find its way in the pockets of the owner of realty ? This is clearly the view of Mr. Henry George, and he looks ^for the time when the landowner will be recognized as the master of labor and the controller of the available capital of the community. THE SITUATION IN THE STREET. The stockmarket has some very peculiar features. After the great spring rise, it Avas but natural that there should be some hesi¬ tancy in the market. Many of the operators were off to Europe, others sold out and there was a general willingness that prices should go off. There is every reason to believe it would have fallen off much more, were it not that the bears overdid the business. All the active members of the board were selling short and they succeeded in depressing New York Central, Lake Shore and Erie. But the rest of the market was stubborn. The outside stocks were marked up and Jay Gould and Woerishoffer kept their specialties well in hand. The current belief in the street