Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 34, no. 856: August 9, 1884

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August 9, 1884 The Record and Guide 829 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. Published every Saturday. 191 Broad-way, N. Y. TERMS: ONE ¥EAR, in advance, SIX DOLLARS. Communications should ba addressed to €. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LrKDSET, Business Manager. AUGUST 9. 1884. The stock market is suffering from a very natural reaction. Tiie fldvanciDg pace was too rapid. Prices may fall off five or six points, but operators should bear iu miod tbat the market in tbe ilong run is a bull one and will continue such unless there ia an accident to the corn crop. This promises now to be very large. The late advance was based upon the splendid wheat crop. The next upward movement will discount the effect of a corn crop of two itbousand million bushels. When gold begins to come from Europe look out for another ten per cent, rise in stocks. But of course these calculations may be upset by a partial failure of the corn liarvest. Novelists such as Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Gaboriau, have much to answer for in malting a romantic hero—a modern knight arrant out of the police defective. It ia the experience of all large cities that the officers eeb apart to deal directly with the criminal classes alway end by becoming partners of the latter. There is a world of meaning in the proverb about " setting a thief to catch a thief," The revelations made about our detective force and their relations with the famous fence Mrs. Mandelbaum, is what might have been expected. It is quite safe to say that every detective department that has flourished in New York bas ended by its alli¬ ances with the offenders against the law. The class of faculties called into play in hunting thieves are precisely those that make thieves successful in their calling. Of course, detectives are neces¬ sary ; but the force should be constantly changed, and should always be regarded with suspicion. Our policemeii, as a body, are no discredit to the city, but these recent revelations and the evi¬ dence given before the Roosevelt Committee settled the question that the personnel of the police headquarters should be radically changed. The Police Commissioners, Inspector Byrnes, and fully one-half tbe captains should be retired from public service. "With one responsible head to the whole department our police might become a model to that of other capitals. The outside exchanges are coming to grief. Years ago we warned investors against purchasing seats in the Electrical and Miscellaneous Eschage, the Real Estate and Traders' Exchange and similar organizations. The public are acquainted with what has happened to the Miscellaneous Exchange, certificates of which can be bought for $10 each. The Eeal Estate and Traders' Ex¬ change, which we exposed and antagonized from the start, has changed its name to " The Open Board of Trade." Seats in thia organization, which once commanded $250, can also be purchased for $10. The Manhattan Hay and Produce Exchange and the Dis¬ tillers' Wine and Spirit Exchange have, it seems, done some business but not enough to warrant their organization. The speculative era is over and two or more of the other minor exchanges will be forced to pass out of existence. The great; bulk of tbe eschangef, both old and new, have their uses and fill a public want, but speculation has had a set back and is not likely to recover for several years to come. Hence teats in such organizations, even those that are legitimate, will not be as desirable from a money point of view as formerly. and they find a multitude of precedents in the practice of all the courts. Some day there will be a rising against the depredations of our courts, and then men like Judge Drummond will be held in grateful remembrance. The Herald haa the following : To three Milwaukee lawyers who put in bills amounting to $25,000 for servicea in settling an e8t