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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 30, no. 757: September 16, 1882

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXX. NEW YOEK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBEE 16, 1882. Nr. 757 Published Weekly by The Real Estate Record Association TERMS: ONE TEAR, in advance - ... . $6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. THE CROPS OF 1883. From a careful comparison, of all the esti¬ mates of the crops of this year, we give the following table of wheat and corn, together with the official figures of former years. It should be distinctly borne in mind that the figures of this year are estimated, while those of former years are official: Corn, bush. 1,550.000,000 1,194,916,000 1,717,4.31,543 1,547,901,790 1,^.38.^18,750 1,34-^,558,000 Wheat, bush. 1882................... 560,000,0 0 1881................... 380.250,000 1880................... 498.5^9,868 3879................... 448,756,630 lb78.................. 420,122,400 1877.................. 364,194,146 The Commercial Bulletin of this city esti¬ mates the wheat crop of this year at 575,000,- 000 bushels, while the Cincinnati Price Cur¬ rent puts down the corn crop at 1,800,000,000 bushels, but these figures are probably too high. There is plenty of time yet for corn to be badly damaged. Frosts late this month might cut down corn to a yield not very much greater than that of last year. Still it must be admitted there will be large and abundant crops of corn in the South and Southwest, while in the states of Missouri, Kansas and Texas it will be phenomenally large. The figures above given would seem to leave a very large surplus, but, as an off^ set, it should be remembered that ota- popu¬ lation has increased within three years some 3,500,000, while we enter the new year with our graineries bare of grain. In view of the abundance of the grain harvest all over the world, the prices for flour will be lower this year than last; hence it is not likely that thQ farmers and transportation lines will get more for the crop of 1883 than they did for 1879 or 1880. Every year more and more of our grain is consumed near where it is grown ; that is to say, the arrivals at the lake ports constantly show a large rela¬ tive increase compared with the deliveries of grain at the seaboard depots. Perhaps it would be profitable to give the estimates foi: oats, rye and barley for this year, compared with the actual returns of former years: Oats. bush. 1882....... 580,000,000 1881.......416,481,000 1880........ 417,t85,380 1879......863,761,320 1878....... 413,578,560 1877.......406,394,000 It will be noticed that the oats column shows an enormous increase over any pre¬ vious year, but all accounts agree that, in view of the high price of corn in the spring of 1883, the farmers planted an immense quantity of oats to ensure feed before the corn crop matured. The rye crop is also in excess of previous j'QaxBf duQ tb the large addition of Qerioans to our farming population. Tne demand for rye bread is steadily increasing, because of the additions to our numbers which corner from Central Europe. With our large oats, hay and root crops, and with the additions to our corn over last year, there can be no doubt but that food of all kinds, including pork, beef and mutton, will be very much cheaper during the next six months than it has been for the last eight months. This assurance of cheaper living has al¬ ready had its effect in removing the discon¬ tent of the working classes and putting a stop to strikes. The only one of our national pro¬ ducts which ought to advance in market value is cotton. While the crop is better than last year, we doubt very much whether the number of bales will reach the magnificent totals of 1880. Cheap food the world over means a larger consumption of cotton goods. The crop question is of vital intere.°t to every business man, but to none more than the owners of realty. A shortage like that of last year would have had a baleful effect upon our New York real estate market. It would check temporarily tl e growth of the city, stop building and redue tbe price of all kinds of realty, but the large crop of this year settles the question that business will be prosperous in all departments of trade, that stock values will advance, the work of improvement will go on and that there will be heavier investments in real estate between now and next June, and at higher figures, than in any similar length of time in the history of tlie metropolis. press and the public were all deceived, and Governor Cornell yielded to the clamor and vetoed this bill which was urgently demand¬ ed by the best interests of New York. A surface road is needed on Forty-second street, and will in time be required on One Hundred and Tenth street; then important sections of the West Side cannot be improv¬ ed until surface roads are built. It is to be hoped the politicians will hit upon candi¬ dates for Governor who will not be hostile to the best interests of this city. We want a new charter, a reduction of salaries, and a cutting off of sinecures. Responsible heads should control the several departments in¬ stead of commissions, and the Mayor should have the power of appointment and removal without the interference of the Aldermen. The career of Mayor Low in Brooklyn is a splendid vindication of the one man power in municipal government. Rye. Barley bush. bush. 31,000,000 50,OOj,000 20,704,950 46,16l,::30 2),540,&9 45,165,316 !i3,t-39,4c0 40,283,100 25,84i,790 42,245,3iO 21,169,500 34,441,400 THE GOVERNORSHIP. It is to be hoped that the two political parties will put up candidates for Governor who will not be opposed to the interests of New York City. Governors Robinson and Cornell used. their official positions, con¬ scientiously no doubt, to injure tlie owners of realtor in the metropolis. Because of his quarrel with the then Comptroller John Kelly, Governor I^binson vetoed several legislative acts which w.mld have reduced our taxation, while Governor Cornell has stood in the way of the construction of a new aqueduct, wliich is absolutely needed to insure New York an abundant water sup¬ ply for the future. His veto of the railway bill was a serious injury to the best interests of this'island. Tie State constitution makes it obligatory upon the Legislature to pass a general law under which surface roads can be built when and where needed. This duty was neglected for several years, but finally an excellant law was passed at Albany last spring. To guard against giving away of a Broadway railroad franchise by the local authorities, one of the provisions was to the effect that the right to run a road on Broadway should not be sold for less than $750,000. This provision was made use of by the stage companies, and other interested parties to prejudice the law with the public. I'liey declared- that it proposed to give away a franchise which was worth $2,000,000 for if7q0f000. The Mayor, CojiiptroUer, t\xe THE GREAT NEWSPAPER BOSS. When Jay Gould succeeded in getting absolute control of the telegraph system of the country, the Recced announced that thenceforward he was ,*the master of the press of the nation, because he owned the agency without which the newspaper of the day could not live. The statement may have seemed extravagant at the time, but that it was literally true is shown by the following from the editorial columns of the Herald of last Wednesday: "Suppose Gould should take it in his head some day that, the Times sha'il have no more news, and in that quint -svay retaliate its assaults. He may do it. We are not sure that it -would be an impossible proceed- insr. He has an almost absolute control of the As^o ciated Press, and his game is not half played. Let the Times beware, therefore." What gives point to this extraordinary threat is the fact that the Berald, which was very unfriendly to Gould, is now his eulogist and is his organ in the canvass against Cornell. The great speculator really has the press of the country by the throat and can throttle any paper in the way the Herald points out. Hence, the newspapers are all, save the Times, very • respectful to their master. Compare their treatment of him now with^the way they spioke of him and his partner, Jim Fisk, in the old Erie days. It is very significant that the Times has made ii.o response to this attack, nor does-it deny that Jay Gould has the power to ruin it. But it may be said that Jay Gould would never dare to injure a paper by this means. But suppose Gould's littl^game was to sell out the telegraph to the Government, at high figures, what more effectual means could be taken than to make the press of the country demand the change. That he has such a scheme on foot, is shown by the ef¬ forts he has recently bfen making in that direction. An article is now being published as an advertisement in the daily papers, which was dearly inspired by Gould and paid for by his money. It contains the fol¬ lowing significant paragraphs: Under the act of 1866 the United States Gov- s^masuaam