Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 34, no. 863: September 27, 1884

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September S7, 1884 The Record and Guide. 969 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. Publiahed every Saturday. 191 Broadway, N. Y. TERMS: ONE YFAK, in advance, SIX DOLL&RS. Commumeations should be addressed to €. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Busmees Manager. SEPTEMBER 37, 1884. The appointment of Judgn Gresham as Secretary of the Treasury ia hailed with a chorus of approbstion by the press of the country. Why, it 18 hard to say. He is entirely lacking in the trainiog that would fit him for so esactiug a position. He was a good officer in the civil war, and when judge of a local court waa without reproach, but what waa there in these positions to fit him for tbe most important offlce in the government next after the presidency ? Hugh McCullogh, whom the President thought of appointing, would have been far better fitted for the place. Rev. Howard Crosby makes a good suggestion. He calls upon citizens to unite upon a good candid it e for Mayor irrespective of party. As this is a Democratic city, he wants the citizens' candi¬ date to be of that party. National politics should have nothing to do with the choice of city officers. There are plenty of good can¬ didates for the Mayoralty, among them are ex-Mayor Cooper, ex-Mayor Grace and the present Mayor, Mr. Edson. These gentle¬ men have brains, character and experience. If a new man is wanted, there is Mr. E. H. Ludlow, who knows more about New York than any Mayor ever chosen. But it is vitally important that the nest Mayor should be a good one. Within the past ten days steel rails have advanced from $26,50 per ton to $29.50. This would be the most hopeful sign of the times were not the change brought about by artificial means. Fcr some time past the great steel manufacturers have been restricting production so that the demand has caught up with the supply on hand. Steel making is once more profitable, and there are suffi¬ cient orders in to insure the employment of two-thirds of the men during the winter months. It has been conceded that the tide would have changed for the better if the. iron industry sponta¬ neously revived ; but while steel haa advanced there is no quotable change for the better in iron. Indeed, blast furnaces are fewer in number to-day than any time since 1879. In view of the contemplated erection of several new school buildings it seems a pity that the city should not provide for better designs than have been exhibited in the past. Private owners are rapidly learning the true economy of employing a trained archi¬ tect in the arrangement and designing of their buildings, as well in the immediate disposition of their resources to the best advan¬ tage as in the enhancement in value of their property from meri¬ torious structures. The municipality, however, has not yet moved from the orthodox brick boxes with sheet metal cornices which the builder of the past generation affected. Witness the new school building at Eighty-fifth street and First avenue, which might be barracks or brewery as far as its outward appearance tells, and which in internal appointments is behind the mark of modern requirements. Such productions are painful in themselves to look at, and a detriment to surrounding property. At no greater cost a beautiful and imposing building might have been erected which would have been an ornament to th^ city, instead of the bare and repelling mass of masonry that we can regard only with annoyance. Other cities have adopted a more sensible policy; let New York do likewise. The telephone suit now before our courts is naturally attracting a good deal of attention. Should Bell and his company be defeated the whole business will be thrown open to public competition, as the patents will have no value. The existing companies wili, how¬ ever, still have a great advantage over rival organizations, as they are in the field and their machinery is ready to meet public require¬ ments. When the sewing machine patents expired in 1879. it was supposed that the old companies would be driven from the field by new competitors ; but they have held their own with the public and all their rivals {and there were many of them), save two, have failed to meet with general favor. Telephonic science, however, has more of a future than tbe sewing machine industry. As there are many improvements yet to be made, these have been kept back because of the claim of the Bell company to the exclusive right of certain eeaentiala in the construction and operating of telephones. The vastneas of this business maybe judged from the fact that altogether it will pay 6 per cent, annually on a capital of $100,000,- 000, and yet this enormous business has grown up without check¬ ing the steady increase in the number of telegraph messages. The almost sudden creation of thia new telephone property has a bearing upon the mouey supply question. There is a constant need of more gold, ailver and paper in which to tranaaot the growing busi¬ ness of the country. Still Going Ahead- When The Kecohd and Guide was first published in March, 1868, it aimed to become the recognized organ of the real estate interests of New York and vicinity. In pursuance of this design it gave tbe conveyances, mortgages, plans for new buildings, the real eatate and building market tables, judgments and the like, with fullness and painstaking accuracy, but it contained little in the way of comment, and its editorials were confined strictly to local real estate matters. It had its reward in the unwavering support of a clientele whioh no opposition has been able to take from it. In the seventeen years since it started, more thau a dozen competitors, backed by large capital, have tried to become its rival, but all have failed, and to-day it ia the undisputed aud exclusive local organ of the real estate aud allied interests. Encouraged by the patronage it had received, the conductors of The Record and Guide in the fall of 1833 resolved on a new departure. The paper was enlarged and improved and the editorial force increased so as to discuss intelligently all public and especi¬ ally business questions which immediately or remotely affected real property. It is obvious to any one tbat the mere statement of the local real estate market was not sufficient to guide investors and dealers in forming judgments about the present or future value of realty. There were larger and more vital forces always at work in determining valuea. The crops, theconditionof the money market, the btlance of trade, political questions with a business side to them, responsible government—all theae were potent factors in the real estate market. From our experience during the last two years we are satisfied that a mere news journal does not fill the bill. There has been a steady increase of our circulation, not only within but outside this city, ever since we have been di.