Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 30, no. 761: Articles]: October 14-21, 1882

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October 14r-2J, 1882 The Record and Guide. io THE RECORD AND GUIDE. Om<5e, 191 Broadv/ay. OCTOBER 14—21, 1882. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. The columns of The Record and Guide of to-day are as full of interest as an egg is of meat. ''Our Prophetic Department'''' ivill be eagerly scanned for Sir Oracle's report of the outlook in business circles and tlie stock market. The Washington corres¬ pondence contains matter that will interest the Belmont family and their friends. A very in portant portion of the famous Vander¬ bilt interview, not given in the New York daily papers, is also pub¬ lished. Real Estate people ivill fi,nd their specialty fully treated in its pr&per department, and all who are thinking of furnishing their houses or selling goods to those who are, will read with sur¬ prise how largely brass flgures in house decoration. 7 he excerpts from the press of the country on the affairs of the business world should be read by eveinf active adult citizen. An especially attractive feature is a colored picture of Morningside Park as it is to he. This splendid public improvement now under way is also elaborately described in an article prepared by an expert. All ivho icish extra copies of this picture, may procure them at 5 cents apiece or 50 cents per dozen. PRICE OF RECORD AND GUIDE. Per Annum, . . . . With Supplement, ... Record and Guide, Single Copy, With Supplement, ... $5.00 6.00 10 cents. 15 " bribe legislators or judges, or to maintain a lobby at every capital, or to issue dead-head pa-ses by the million. Fifth.—In. order to affect these and kindred reforms, The Record and Guide will keep on agitating the necessity of hold¬ ing a National Convention to revise the Coaatitutlon of the United States. The new age brings with it new conditions to which our fundamental law should conform. The politics of the dav are a chaos—uo pariy lias a pro- giamme worthy tbe name ; hence our so-call>-d political debates are frivolous and barren of go )d results. The discus¬ sion of amendments to the fundamental law would dijiuif y our party contests by a^tracang the attention of the people to questions of vital mo nent having a bearing upon our future history. —.....♦.......--- - "THE PUBLIC BE--------." TO BE KEPT IN MIND. Among the objects for which this journal ^proposes to strive are the following: First.—The limitation of the power of all legislative bodies in this country, from Alderman to Congressman. Our population has grown so large and legislative bodies are so numerous, that the latter cannot be held to a strict accountability, and. as a consequence, corruption is rife in every chief Oity and capitol of the nation. There is the same objection to clothing legisla¬ tures and congresses with irresponsible power that applies to all corporate bodies. It can be said without fear of contradic¬ tion, that every Board of Aldermen of the city of New York, and every Legislature of the State of New York which has been called into life within the last forty years has been a bribable body, and the same is true of the local legislatures of other cities and other states. Second,—Mayors, govornors and other executive oflElcers, must be given greater authority, so that they can be held to a sterner accountability. While our aldermen and legislators are, in the great majority of cases, utterly unfit for their posi¬ tions, our mayors and governors are generally men of ability and character. It is idle to hope for any vital reform in the conduct of our public business until every department has a responsible head, so that when wrong is done the people will know whom to blame. Third.—0\iT civil service must be reformed from A to Z; there must be no minor appointments for political reasons, and no dismissal except for inefficiency or meddling with ihe elections. The office-holding fraternity must be sent to the rear, and made the servants, and not, as they now are, too often, the masters ®f the people. Fourth.—There must be only one monopoly in this country— that of the general government, responsible to the whole people. All corporations must be subordinated to the grt ater corporation which sits in its place of power at Washington. This change should be effected, not only in the interest of • he people, but to save the transportation companies themselves from'the parasites who now prey upon them. Once under the. control of the nation there will be no necessity for them to These words, spoken by Mr. William H. Vanderbilt to a Cai cagoreporter, are already familiar to the public thus e.xecra- ted. They will become more famous, and be remembered longer, than any words Mr. Vanderbilt has ever spoken befuro and than any he is likely ever to speak again. True, ho denies having uttered the objectijnable words, but they are so characteristic that the public will believe the reporter and not Mr. Vanderbilt. "An honest confession id good for the soul." There was au immense deal of palaver at i he Chicago couveution of 188u. All of it is forgotten now, and only the brief and honest; speech of one man is remembered. The man was Flanagan of Tesa^; the speech—" What are we here for except the offices." Mr. Vanderbilt's speech has the same merit. It; is a candid and forcible expression of the speaker's sentiments, aud they are sentiments which the public—the ----- public—is inter¬ ested in knowing. Did Mr. Vanderbilt ever consider to what he owes the mil¬ lions which he avers are his to do what he likes with ? He did not always take that view of them. When his father's will, under which he took them, was contested, he intimated, alao to a reporter, that if the millions were his to do as he liked with, he would satisfy all the reasonable desires of his brother and sisters. But he explained "I do not regard this money aa a fortune; I regard it as a trust." This was an acknowledg¬ ment of a stewardship, and as such it was gratifying. What he meant plainly was that his father's will bound him to keep the property together, as It was left, so as to secure the control of the New York Central road, and that he must not divert any of it even to aa'isfy the natural claims of his kindred. He vvaa to crucify his affections in order that he might; do his duty. This was very impressive. It ceased to be impressive when Mr. Vanderbilt sold fifty millions of his "trust" out of New York Central and put it into Government bonds, the income of which he has spent to gratify his personal desires. Now, we repeat, where did this trust; money come from ? It came, every dollar of the New York Central stock came from a charier granted by the State of New York under which the State deputed to the railroad its right of eminent domain, tfok land for the road from the owners whether they were willing or unwilling to part with it, and protected the road iu taking toll of its passengers and its freight. Why did th-^ State delegate these sovereign powers to thiscomi)any ? There is only one answer possible. I». was because the road was ex¬ pected to be of public service. Every one of the roads wich which Mr. Vanderbilt is connected was chartered in the same way. The consideration upon which its charter was granteit was the expectation that the road would promote the publi.- convenience, Aud now, when Mr. Vanderbilt is asked whether, in order tu accommodate the public he will run a fast train which doe- not pay over the roads the public have permitted him to acquire and with them to acquire scores of millions, he answers, frank¬ ly and forcibly, *' The public be-----," Mr, Vanderbilt can scarcely imagine that the public has voted him these scores of millions as a mark of its esteem. Apart from his interesting and admirable money he is not commonly regarded as an interesting or an admirable person. He has neither the personal force that belongs to the acquirers of great fortunes, nor the culture and grace that belong to the inheritors of great fortunes. The only sense he has ever shown of any public responsibility, was shown in his purchase of a collection of good pictures, by which he is probably bored. It seems, however, that he really likes lo collect trotting horses, and win bets upon their speed, while he extremely dis¬ likes to lose these bets. He is also, in spite of his great wealth, a stock-gambler in Wall street, where he bears the reputation, we will notsay of a sharper, but of a person who is not iu any way scrupulous competent about the means by which he gets money