Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 38, no. 966: September 18, 1886

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September 18,1886 The Record and Guide. 1143 THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. 191 Broadwav, 3Sr. '!£'. Onr Telepltone Call Is . . • . JOSIV 370. TERMS: ONE ¥£iR, in adyance, SIS DOLLARS. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XXXYIII. SEPTEMBER 18, 1886. No. 96G. A volume lohich should be in the hands of every builder, con¬ tractor, architect, and oioner and dealer in real estate, is now ready and can be procured at the offlce of The Record and Guide. It is a new edition of the law relating to buildings in the City of Neio YorJc, with added viatter, marginal notes and colored engravings to illustrate the subject. It contains the law limiting the height of divelling-houses, also the existing Mechanics' Lien Law. This tvork is edited by William J. Fryer, Jr., xvhose original and ivell-thought-out comments give it a special value. The volume will also contain a complete directory of architects in New Yorh, BrooMyn, Jersey City, NeioarJc and Yonlcers. Tlie book is handsomely bound in cloth, and is sold at the low price of seventy-jive cents, by mail eighty-jive cents. of the revenue. Speaker Carlisle is right on one point, the people of this country will be very reluctant to take the internal imposts off spirits and tobacco while keeping up the taxation on the neces¬ saries of life. --------•------- But why not take the bull by the horns and get rid of our surplus by spending itj? Why not build a n.avy, encourage a merchant ma¬ rine, fortify our defenceless cities, and make generous expenditures for our harbors and waterways ? We could spend $500,000,000 to the immense advantage of the country. With that amount of money our sea coast could be made unassailable by means of forti¬ fications, floating batteries and torpedo boats. Our navy could be reconstructed. We do not need ships of war for aggressive pur¬ poses, but we ought to encourage the building of splendid American steamships and keep them plying between our own and foreign ports. Then we could make a ship canal of the Erie, construct the Hennepin Canal and so join the Mississippi to the Lakes and New York; $500,000,000 thus spent would be worth $5,000,000,000 in giving us a sense of security against foreign aggression, as well as in developing our internal and external commerce. Tbe party who will favor these views, which will realize the imperial destiny of this nation is the one which will rule it for the next half century. But the contemptible cheese-paring and candle-end saving of the Holmans, Randalls and Carlislea will disgust the country and discredit the party which they profess to lead. The business outlook continues excellent. The industries of the country are more active than they have been since 1881. There is an eager demand for goods, and profits are satisfactory. Although our grain and cotton sells at low flgures it looks as though there was a probability of reviving prices across the ocean. The handsome advance in the price of wool and woolens started in Europe. The more recent speculative activity and advance in coffee came also from abroad, and to-morrow or next day the increase in value may be in cotton, grain or provisions. Our own stock market is strong and seems to point to higher prices. The real estate market opens well for the fall. The brokers report a better inquiry and more numerous sales thau last year. This is a red-letter year for all who have dealt in real estate, nor is there any signs that the movement will slacken until there is some vital change in the temper of the investing public. ■----------------------------------------------------------------------------------•------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Speaker Carlisle is not doing himself credit in the speeches he is making out West. His ideal of the statesmanship required to govern this great country seems to be a pitiful one. The one object of administration in his view is to cut down expenses. This is a growing country with a mighty future. Our population increases some 3,000,000 annually, and the potential wealth of the nation is hardly calculable in flgures. But Speaker Carlisle talks as though we were on the verge of bankruptcy and the sole object of our national Legislature was to cut down expenses. The Demo¬ cratic party, he says, has largely reduced the estimates in the judiciary departments as well as in the consular and diplomatic service of the country. We have saved, it seems, some hundreds of thousands of dollars by embarrassing the administration of justice and by cutting down the already contemptible compensa¬ tion of our ministers and consuls to other nations. If that is all the Democratic party can do for us it ought to be kicked out of power in the shortest possible order. Uncle Sam is not, or rather should not be, a kind of a national Russell Sage, immensely rich but miserly and mean in his minor expenditures. We want to spend more on our judiciary. Our Supreme Court is now three years behind its business. We ought to treble our expenditure on our consular service, which is a disgrace to the nation, so meagre is the pay of those who serve our country abroad. The complaint against the Republican party is not that it spent too much money, but spent it unwisely and wastefuUy. The wisest economy in our case would be to improve the business facilities of the land we live in, to encourage our merchant marine, and to get in readiness to take the lead of all the nations of the earth—for that is the goal we will some day reach. --------•-------- The embarrassment which Speaker Carlisle sees in the future is how to get rid, of our Treasury surplus. The three per cents, will soon be paid off and we cannot touch the four-and-one-half per cents, for some years to come. In the meantime we are accumu¬ lating about 1160,000,000 per annum above our current expenses. We must get rid of the surplus, but how ? Abolish the tobacco and whiskey tax? That would never do, says Mr. Carlisle, when by means of the tariff the poor man is taxed for all he wears and uses; hence, he argues, the tariff must go or the imposts must be largely educed. But a, reduction of the tarifif often rneaus an wprfisis The Vermont election was an overwhelming demonstration showing the strength of Senator Edmunds. The result of the Maine election has, on the whole, been damaging to James G. Blaine. The party did not hold its own. The prohibition vote is one that will seriously embarrass the Republicans in the North and West, while it promises to be equally unsatisfactory to the Demo¬ cratic politicians in the Southern States. Things look very mixed in the politics of the immediate future. If it is true that Henry George is pretty sure of securing the 30,000 votes, which he demands should be pledged him before his nomination as Mayor, there will be an element of uncertainty introduced into our local canvass that was unlooked for. The Republicans will have their own candidate of course, as will the County Democracy. Tammany may see fit to indorse the nomina¬ tion of George, in which case there will be a very interesting con¬ test. The labor candidate would be a formidable one if he has behind him a machine like that of Tammany Hall. This fall will tell the story of the strength of the so-called labor vote in several States of the Union. The Democrats have nominated a Knight of Labor for Secretary of State in Ohio. Should be he elected labor candidates will be very popular with the politicians. Among the reforms it is expected might be brought about by a State Constitutional Convention are the separation of State and city elections; the relief of the Court of Appeals, by giving it power from time to time to appoint a commission to aid in clearing its calendar; the consolidation of the Superior, Supreme and Common Pleas Courts in the city; the election of city officers on a general ticket; the equalization of taxation; the supervision of corporations, and the regulation of special legislation. The State might also levy an income tax, so that some of the burdens of our local government might be put upon the owners of personal property who now escape taxation. Perhaps the convention might also reform our land laws in accordance with the recommenda¬ tions of the Land Reform Commission, whose voluminous reports, which we have published, almost cover the whole ground. Every¬ one should vote for the holding of a convention to revise the consti¬ tution in the State. ------------a------------ Lord Randolph Churchill's appointment of a commission to suggest econoiTiies in the workings of the several departments in the British Government is used as an argument against civil service reform in this country. It is said that this commission is to reform the corrupt practices which have grown up under the competitive examination system. This is not true at all. In every department of the British government where civil service re¬ form has obtained—such as the Postoffice for instance—the working of the force cannot be improved. Churchill aims at correcting abuses which have grown up in the course of cen¬ turies. Sinecurism is one of the gross evils of a kingly and aristocratic form of government, and countless millions have been paid away in Great Britain to pensioned hangers-on of the Court in addition to the excessive payments given for very light services. This waste has been a constant source of complaint on the part of the Radicals, and Lord Randolph Churchill is really catering for the votes of workingmen in making this fight against the aristocratic and official paupers who have been wasting the substance of the State. Matters seem to be working all right in the Public Works p.partmeiit under tb^ m?ipagement of Geper?il Newton, The coii»