Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 36, no. 919: October 24, 1885

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OHober 24. 1885 The Record and Guide. 1155 THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Sat^irday. 191 Broad^wav, IST. ^^- Our Telephone Call is.....JOHN 370. TERMS: OiVE FEAR, in adTance, SIX DOLLARS. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LKSDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XXXVI. OCTOBER 24, 1885. No. 919 The business outlook continues favorable. The majority of the factories in the East are working over time; tlie railroads of the "West have all they can do, not indeed in carrying grain and cotton to market, but in supplying the business wants of different sections of the country. The foundries in the Middle States are all at work, and it is stated that no steel rails can be procured before next February or March, as the factories are at work upon old orders which will not be filled before that tirae. The coal roads are also doing an exceedingly protitable business. The real estate market all over the country is sympathizing with the general improvement in trade. The so-called boora which began in 1879, while it advanced stocks, manufactured goods of all kinds and agricultural products, never really reached real estate. A. revival of business now will not culminate until realty has become much more active than it has been and sells at very much higher figures thaa those now obtained. There is some mystery back of this Ward-AVarner matter. The arrest of the latter was for a purpose, and it looks as though the case against these two men was managed with a view to help some greater or more conspicuous rascal to escape punishment. Warner, it is now claimed, pocketed the $150,000 General Grant borrowed of Wm. H. Vanderbilt. It was given to him in the guise of " profits " on AVard's bogus contracts. But who i.'» the person or who are the persons yet in the background who shared in the plun¬ der of the late firm of Grant & Ward ? The proposed erection of another great bank building at Nos. 34 and 36 Wall street shows, in the opinion of those whose judgment is to be deferred to, that the construction of great buildings in the lower part of the city has not been overdone. Wall street is being enriched bj^ noble edifices worthy of its repute as the great money centre of the metropolis. Every improvement is of the right kind to give permanent vahteto the property and the street. After the Astor oflSce building is finished the owners of the fronts on the south side, between Broadway and Broad street, ought to utilize those exceedingly valuable properties by constructing bank and office buildings as massive as *'Fort Sherman," and as fine in appearance as the Mortimer building on the corner of New street. The Stock Exchange, for shame's sake, should raze to the ground that ridiculous little front passageway they have on Wall street. The practice of two or more banks and corporations uniting to build edifices together is another instance of the advantages of co¬ operation. " Fort Sherman" was built jointly by the Bank of the Republic and the First National. The Manhattan and the Mer¬ chants' National next followed in erecting the great granite struct¬ ure at Nos. 40 and 42 Wall street, and now the Gallatin National has united with another financial institution to erect possibly a still finer structure at Nos. 34 and 8(5 Wall street. The money that is now being made on the stock and other exchanges will create a demand for first class offices, and this will doubtless call into exist¬ ence other fine buildings in or near Wall street. The Consolidated Stock and Petroleum Exchange has a large building fund and over two thousand raembers. It requires and ought to have a suitable building in which to transact its growing business. There is no longer any danger of unduly multiplying great office structures, provided they aro near the principal exchanges. The press has had much that was ungracious to say of the Gibbs* Investigating Couimittee, but its inquiries have certainly resulted in calling public attention to very grave abuses. It unearthed the armory jobs and the discreditable conduct of the majority of the Excise Commissioners. In England, Parliamentary comraittees have proved of very great service to the State. But the organiza¬ tiun of the various boards there differs frora the Araerican practice. Here only legislators are permitted to act on the conrimissions, but in England experts and gentlemen of raeans and leisure, not mem¬ bers of Parliament, are designated to hear the testimony and raake the necessary investigations. The result is far raore satisfactory than with us, for there is no party big-s on the part of the Qommis- sioners and their summing up of the facts is of the utmost value to the public service. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------•------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------■ One matter was brought to light by the investigations of the Gibbs' Coraraittee which ought to lead to sorae action by the real estate owners of New York. When Comptroller Grant was in office application was raade to him for city revenue bonds, that is, the money borrowed in anticipation of the taxes. The applicants were referred to (Jrant (S: Ward, between whora and the Comp¬ troller there seemed to be some understanding, presumably to the profit of both. This brings out the absurdity of our method of doing business. We have raillions of dollars in bank unemployed and profitable only to the City Charaberlain, whom, it is suspected, often divides with the official who appoints him ; yet, the city is if! the market to borrow money on its revenue bonds with a large unused surplus in its hands. In this case the city lost an immense sura of raoney, and would have lost much more had Comptroller Grant had all to say about it. Any system which necessitates the constant borrowing of money in order to carry on the city govern¬ ment is faulty, and city reformers should turn their attention to this indefensible use of the city funds. The present practice only helps to raake our city treasury the spoil of a ring of money-lenders. Another raatter to be corrected is this absurd fiction of the safety fund, in which over |30,000,000 worth of securities are held, which have been paid for and which should be cancelled. There is no sense in having a nominal debt of over $130,000,000 when our real debt is only $92,000,000. The evidences of debts paid should be destroyed, for there is constant danger of their reissue by dishonest subordinates. ------------------------------------------------------•---------------------------------------------------■ Seats on the Stock Exchange are now selling at $32,500. Lead¬ ing operators in the street think the time is coming when the seats will be worth $50,000. The organization of the Consolidated Stock and Petroleum Board does not seem to have adversely affected the older Exchange. The business of the latter is almost as large as during the "boom" of 1881, and doubtless in time the buying and selling of 1.000,000 shares a day will be regarded as not unusual. There is, however, room for the Consolidated Board, as it has a monopoly of petroleum dealings, of unlisted securities and of min¬ ing shares. Its stock department does not do as large a business as was expected. The dealings are confined to a few of the active stocks, and it is surprising that the smaller speculators do not take advantage of the chance offered to deal in ten share lots at one-half the regular coramissions, and with a clearing house system whicii gets rid of interest charges. The late advance of values has ruined most of the bucket-shops throughout the country, and the small stock gamblers who patronize these institutions are finding out that it is a garae of " heads I win and tails you lose." The scenes in our various exchanges bear evidence to the fact that gambling in securities and options is on the increase, and that the number of speculators in the United States is larger than in any other civ¬ ilized country. ------------♦------------ A Chicago real estate broker was in New York recently, and while here visited the Liberty street Exchange. We give a report of what his impressions were of that institution, as well as what some of the Chicago dealers think of the ** single representation " agitation. It is significant as showing the revival of business in the West that real estate avqs never so active as it is just now in Chicago. Indeed, there is a greater number of conveyances in that city than in New York, aa will be seen by the following sumraary of the records during the week ending October 17th: Location. Sales. Amount. C'irv sales........................................ ITfi 8l,'3l).3,0()3 Nof-ch of city limits........................ 32 83,840 South of city limits............................. 54 161.847 West of city limits ............................. 14 15.125 Total........................................276 $ ,.'i-.>3,815 Total previous week.....................241 1,047,308 ,\..................SaS 715, 83 ..............223 mi,A27 Same weeks last year The Huraber of conveyances of New York City property for the sarae week was 192. But then the consideration for the property purchased in this city was $2,574,461, while it was only $1,523,815 in Chicago. Brooklyn now exceeds New York in the number of weekly transactions, and will continue to do so for sorae time to corae. Tiie period, however, is coming when the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards alone will probably furnish as many transactions as either Chicago or Brooklyn. It will be noticed that Chicago credits herself with all the land transfers in the immediate neighborhood. Were New York to do the sarae it would triple the record of Chicago numbers as well as the amount of money involved, for the conveyances in Kings, Queens and Westchester counties, and Hudson County, N. J., would necessarily be counted in to show the actual real estate business of this metropolis. Still there is no disguising the fact that Chicago is forging ahead with great rapidity, and is one of the most enterprising and prosperous cities of the country.