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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 30, no. 756: September 9, 1882

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. YoL. XXX. NEW YORK, SATUEDAT, SEPTEMBER 9, 1882. Nr. 756 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE YEAR, Itt advance.....$6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Edison's electric light was tested down town during the past week, and from all ac¬ count was very successful. The stockholders of this electric company have waited a good while, but at length, it seems they are to be rewarded for their patience. The light is of a yellowish tint, pleasant to tho eye and it does not flicker. When in general use, it will be a real boon to people with defective sight, who will read with as little distress as they now do in day time. It now looks as though New York will be tho first city to utilize electricity for domestic lighting. This will add value to New York property, for rich and luxurious people will prefer to live in a city where they can have all the advantages of gas light without any of its drawbacks. Gas was a great advance on tal¬ low, wax and whale oil, but it vitiated the air of rooms by destroying the oxygen, in- , creased the temperature in warm weather, 'and no device has even been suggested for softening the glare so as to save weak eyes from distress. Should the steam heating companies succeed in banishing furnaces, stovrs and cooking ranges. New York will become a very paradise for people who wish to live luxuriously and under the most fav¬ orable sanitary conditions. The robbery of a safe deposit company at Boston ought to have its effect upon the patrons of similar institutions in this city. A safe deposit company in effect announces to the world that its vaults are filled with all manner of valuables. They in fact notify the criminal classes where the plunder is to be found. Ever since banks were establish¬ ed, they have been among the chief sufferers from the skillful forger or burglar. A list of all the attempts to rob banks would fill many large volumes, and the time cannot be distant when ingenious rascals will test their wiis in opening the vaults of some one of the safe deposit companies. These conlain precious stones, coupon bonds, and very often ready money. If a mob should ever get possession of the city, as it did during the riots of 1863, tiie leaders would know where to go to se¬ cure the plunder. Depositors should under¬ stand that there is no insurance upon the property they give for safe keeping. The sufferers by the burning of the Morrill ware¬ houses had to pocket all the lossjthemselves, and should any of the safe deposit compan¬ ies be plundered, it will be found that no one is responsible or will make good the losses. In nine cases out of ten the patrons f these institutions do not know the officers, and one dishonest employe in a large insti¬ tution may steal hundreds of thousands of dollars, and there is no one to call to ac¬ count. This matter is alluded to merely to imiress upon the people who patronize these safe deposit companies, that a little vigilance now may save them a good deal of money by and by. --------•----— A YEAR OF ABUNDANCE. The Mark Lane Express, M. Estienne, the well-known statistician, and the London Times all agree that the harvests of the y ear 1882 are abundant everywhere. The latest reports from Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Great Britain, and all parts of the United States settles the question that the food production of this year is probably greater all over the globe than it ever was before. In Spain alone is there any com¬ plaint. The London Times is quite justified in say¬ ing: " Never during the time since these re¬ ports were collected, has the harvest in the northern hemisphere been so good all round. We usually had to report a deficiency either in Europe or America. This year there is ab¬ solutely none. The world has over an aver¬ age harvest, and with such a harvest the year is likely to be one of cheap abund¬ ance." So much being settled, it is for wise men to make their own deductions as to the bus¬ iness of the world for the coming year. It would seem to follow: 1. That breadstuffs, potatoes, and other edible roots will be cheaper than in any year for a decade. 2. That the abundance and cheapness of all other vegetable food will bring down the price of corn, which ought to be a sale at present figures. 3. That pork and meats must sell for very much lower figures before the end of the the man he was on Staten Island, where he was born, but when he died neither his birthplace nor the city in which he accumu¬ lated his vast wealth were remembered in his will, his only important charitable be¬ quest was for a female college in Tennessee; a state which certainly never did anything for him or his. Commodore Vanderbilt's claim to the respect of those who followed him was for the splendid raUroad system he had reorganized, and the admirable busi¬ ness principles upon which it wias conducted, but it would have been a graceful thing for him to have appropriated a fund to drain Staten Island, and make his birthplace as healthful and habitable as it is picturesque. Wealthy New Yorkers must bear in mind in making their wiUs that they must not dis¬ criminate against the city in which they have accumulated their fortunes. With all its faults of government New York is still a city to be proud of, and its children must not neglect it. year. 4. That sti ikes and demands for higher wages must come to an e^d when goods fall off in price. Hence cheaper production. 5. That cott»n ought to be in demand this year in view of the general employment of the working classes, and the actual enhance¬ ment of their means because of the smaller sums of money needed to buy food. 6. That the railroads and transportation lines will have an immense business this year in bringing the crops East and taking goods West. ______ The late Mr. Jesse Hoyt, in the distribu¬ tion of his property by will, made provision for beautifying a town in which he was in¬ terested in Michigan, but not a dollar did he leave to benefit the great city in which he made all of his vast fortune. It is not known that this great merchant ever gave a donation to a religious institution or charity in the metropolis. Had he left everything to his family, as did the late Moses Taylor, there would be but little comment, but his benefactions to East Saginaw naturally cre¬ ates some remark. The late Commodore Vanderbilt got the training that made him WHY NO "BOOM." Last week we ventured to predict that. there was not likely to be any unusual ex¬ citement in the stock market early this fall. The bulls have made a handsome profit during th.? past summer in discounting the harvest, but somehow the flgures in the stock lists do not keep advancing, although the newspaper organs of Wail street are unanimously ranged oa the bull side. But it was not to be expected that the trade of the country should immediately recover after the disappointment which followed the poor crops of 1881. All large dealers were crippled and some impoverished by the shrinkage of values from the time President Garfield was shot down to the third week in June of this year. We have now entered upon the season when money is in active demand, not only in general business, but to move the crops. This in¬ volves a decrease in the volume of money at the banking centres. Last year the mar¬ ket was relieved by the gold importations, but there is no likelihood of a renewal of these imports until much later on in the season, if at all. In studying the situation one of the points to be kept in mind is the very great in¬ crease in our ability to manufacture goods. Production in that field far outruns the increase in our agricultural resources. In¬ deed, the ratio has been estimated as high as five to one. As our manufacturers have only our home market to look to on account of our present high tariff, there is every danger of a "glut," that is, of overproduc¬ tion. Then, while it is very true that a very heavy business is being done in the sale of goods to western consumers, it is also true that there are more goods made than sold. There has been a large advance in raw cotton, but all kinds of cotton goods are sell¬ ing below remunerative rates. The known stock of prints on the market is 300,000 pieces more than last year. The raibroads, ^notwithstanding the great crop, show a