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The Record and guide: v. 38, no. 959: July 31, 1886

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July 31, 1886 The Record and Guide. 969 THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. 191 Broad^wav, IST. HT. Oar Telephone Call Is . . . . . JOHN 370. TERMS: ONE YEAR, ia advance, SIX DOLLARS. Ctommunications should be addi'essed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LIKDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XXXVIII. JULY 31, 1886. No. 959. Index to Adverlisemenls. VIU YJii PAGE Architects........................vi., viii Architectural Terra Cotta...... iv., vi Architectural Wood Work...... viii Artificial Stone................. i Asphalt Pavements............. viii Bankers and Brokers........... vi Bell Hangers.................... is Blinds....................^ii., viii., ix Block Book..................... iii Bluestone........................ v Books on Building.............. vii Builders___................... viii Build ers' Hardware............. v., vii Cabinet Work...............iv., viii, i;c Cements...................i-, v., vii., ix Chimney Tops, &c............. vii Copper Works................... i Counsellor at Law............. Door Openers.................. Doors, Sashes and Blinds..... .Dumb Waiters................ Electrical Work........,...... Elevators ................ Enamelled Bricks........... Fire Escapes.................. Fire lasurance.................. v Fire-proof Material............iv., v., vi Flexible Fences................. v Folding-chairs................. vii Gas Fixtures.................... i Grates, Fire-places, &c.......... i Hod Elevators................. vii Hollow and Porous Brick........ vi Hoase Movers................... ix Iron Railini;s.................... i.x Iron Works...................iv., v., vi Lumber Dealers................. iii., ix Marble Works....................vii., ix Manhattan Construction Co. ... vi Masons'" Building Materials.... ix PAGE vii Mineral Wool............... Mortgage Bi oker........... Pain- ing......................... iii Photographer................... viii Pianos........................ vi Planing;, Sawing and Moulding Mill........................ iii, vii Plasterers.....................viii., ix Plate Glass Insurance........... iii Plumbers and Gas Fitters...... iv Plunbers' Supplies.............. i Ranges....................... i v Real Estate.............i., ii., iii., vi., ix Reflectors...................... iii Refrigerators................... iii Roofing ......................... iv Sand........................... V Sand Screen..................... iii., iv Sandstone....................... v Sash Holder..................... iii Sculptor......................... V Second Hand Building Material. ix Sewer Pipe.................... iii Sheet Iron...................... ix Shell Lime..................... ix Skylights ......................iii., viii Solid Relief..................... vi Stair Builders................... iii., iv Steam and Water Heating Appa¬ ratus....................... is Steel Shutters................... ix Stone Cutters ................... v Stoneworks.................... i., v THes............................. i Wall Papers .................... vii Waterproofing Process ......... i White Lead...................... vii Window Shades................. ix Wire Lathing.................... v Wood Mantels................... v meet in Augusfc to hurry through the necessary estimates, and will then adjourn till February next. This postpones the difficult problem of Irish Home Rule, and gives the Tories a chance to bring foreign topics to the fore, which may carry the Salisbury Cabinet through to the fall of next year. Bismarck is partial to the Tory leaders and detests Gladstone and the Liberals. Hence he will permit the Marquis of Salisbury to gain what eclat he can In dealing vrith the Russians, Irishmen and their American sympa¬ thizers must be content to see the question of Home Rule adjourned for six months at least. Should a contest with Russia seem immi¬ nent the Tory Cabinet could afford to dissolve Parliament, as they would be sure an appeal to the country would give them a work¬ ing majority. --------•-------- It is only a few months back that a negro was lynched in New Jersey, within fifty miles of New York, for an outrage upon a girl. Last week the murderer of Maggie RandeU was hung by a vigilance committee in Connecticut, the land of steady habits. Lynch law has always prevailed on our frontiers, but the miscar¬ riage of justice by our courts promises to naturalize it in every State in the Union. We are ruled exclusively by lawyers, with the result that this is the greatest country in the world for litigation, and in no other civilized community is there so much delay in the punishment of criminals. Courts keep on multiplying technicali¬ ties in the interest of criminals in the face of the growing impa¬ tience of the public that shows itself in this lynching of murderers almost in sight of the metropolis of the country. The time is not distant when there will be a general uprising against the exclusive lawyer rule under which we are now living. Tbk bulls in Wall street are happy, for everything seems to point to higher prices for railway securities. TIte traffic returns grow better and better and the fall business on all the roads promises to be larger than for several years past. The iron reports show that we are making more pig iron and steel than ever before in the history of the country ; and this indicates that all the tool-requiring trades are fully employed. The feeling in general trade circles is very hopeful; the only chance for disaster is a shortage or failure of the corn crop, and that is a ijossible peril up to the third week in September. But we have never had but one great failure of our corn crop, and that occurred in the summer and fall of 1881, and a similar disaster is not at all likely, for corn is one of our surest crops. We have had two fine corn crops in siiccession, and the country is full of the animal products which have resulted from these years of plenty. The real estate movement goes right on and is likely to continue for a year or two longer. As yet there is no speculation, but a very great deal of building. Altogether there is not much to complain of except the extraordinary short-sighted¬ ness of Congress in not making proper provision for sea-coast defenses to guard the exposed wealth on the shore lines of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The great buildings planned by Jose Navarro on Fifty-ninth street were ahead of their time. The projector has had trouble with them ever since they were commenced. They are splendid structures and a credit to the metropolis, but so far they do not seem to have paid. Yet it does not follow but what they may be productive properties in the future. The fact has been often noted that only one of the great flats or office buildings was constructed by any of the old real estate families of New York. The Astor office building, on Broadway, WaU and Pine streets, is that one exception. The great structures that have become such a feature in New York were built by men who made money in other pursuits than real estate. Mr. Navarro was a general speculator; Mr. Monro, an ex-clergyman and book publisher; the elder Flagg, who was responsible for several apartment-houses, was also a clergyman, who took advantage of the apartment-house craze to form successful companies. Mistakes were, of course, made, but when New York capitalists resume the construction of apartment-houses, as they will some day, they will benefit by the experience of projectors like Mr. Navarro. New York is developing a class of people who wiU become the patrons of these costly so-caUed flat houses. Foreign advices indicate trouble in the not distant future among the nations of Europe. Ever since the German war France has been getting ready for another struggle with her old adversary., There are indications that the Gaul will soon be on the war-path. Indeed, the French Minister of War, who rejoices in the somewhat queer patronymic of Boulanger. is looked upon as being the heaven¬ sent leader of the embattled hosts of France. Russia clearly is ready for a great conflict and will be the ally of France when it com¬ mences. The death of Kaieer Wilhelm or the retirement of Bis¬ marck will be the signal for the outbreak of hostilities. The next European war will be a mighty one, for it is the burning Eastern question that demands solution, and in that all the nations of Europe are interested and will be ranged on one side or the other. Such a mass of soldiery will be brought into the field that the world will have seen nothing comparable to it since the gathering of the armies that marched under the banners of Xerxes to conquer Greece. It is strange that the press of the country should have overlooked the extent and importance of the building movement now under¬ way in all the leading cities of the Union. Nothing like it has been known in the history of the country. When we were build¬ ing 11,000 miles of railroad in one year the leading journals all commented upon the matter and some were wise enough to foresee the falling off in the markefc value of railroad securities that would follow the over-building of new lines. But here we are putting more money into house construction than we ever did into railway building, but nothing is said of it; probably because, in the one case, the statistics are kept and frequently published, while outside of a few large cities there are no figures recorded of the number and cost of the new buildings. Great Britain will be deeply interested in the next international war, for India will of course be attacked by the Russian armies advancing through Afghanistan. The Marquis of Salisbury will be in power, certainly, tiU late next spring.,. The Parliamentjs to The cause of this excessive building is, of course, the high price and small return from investments in bonds and stocks. Improved real estate, well located, has so far made a far better return upon capital invested than have railway securities. Hence the flow of investment funds into realty that is fairly productive. The natural growth of the centres of population, which is a marked phenomenon of the age we live in, has helped on this building movement, but the time must come when the owners of improved realty will experience disappointment and loss. The policy of paying our national debt before it was' due has .resulted in putting an unnatural price on government bonds which shows itself in the small returns which they give in the way of interest. This has set up a standard of income that has given extravagant valuations to all interest-paying securities, and this has also been the remote cause of the building fever which now affects all parts of the country. We have never believed in the debt-paying policy of the govern¬ ment. It has robbed the widow and orphan, whose trust invest¬ ments were often by law confined to government bonds. It has fed the fires of speculation, and made money abnormally cheap in a country whose vast undeveloped resources should invite invest¬ ment by a chance for good profitgin the way of high interest. Two