Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 38, no. 972: October 30, 1886

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October SO, 1886 The Record and Guide. 1321 THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. 191 Broad^w^av, IST. Y. Our Telephone Call is.....JOHN 370. TERMS: OIE YEAR, in adyance, SIX DOLLARS. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XXXVIII. OCTOBER 30, 1888. No. 973. The advance of silver in tlie London market of %d, per ounce witliin tlie last two days is a happy omen for the trade of the world. The lowest point touched by i he white metal was 42f{d. per ounce. Since then it has gradually advanced to 46d. Of course this does not mean that there is any additional value given to silver. It simply shows that gold will not buy so much of anything, silver included, as it did when the lowest price of the latter metal was reached. Every producer, as well as all who have stock on hand, are benefited by this loss in the purchasing power of gold. It follows that every industry in the world has been benefited and will be stimulated by the advance in price which is thus practically established. The New York press, which has made so vigorous a fight for the money—moving interests in warring against the silver dollar, is careful not to report the added value of silver in the London market, nor does it tell us anything of the progress made by the bimetallists in Europe. Yet every industry in this country, as well as abroad, is vitally interested in this matter of an international currency, which would stimulate business by advancing prices instead of killing it by forcing the industrial and trading world to produce and move goods on a falling market. the shares have quadrupled in value. This has led to active buying along the whole line of the Comstock. The Bodie stocks have also been active recently. If a bull movement in railway securities springs up after the election we may see a new development of speculation in mining shares. Mines are cheap just now, and some of them are attractive investments for well-informed capitalists; but no good has ever come from speculation in mining shares— they have proved a delusion and a snare to innocent outsiders. Yet mining as a business is a paying one. The real estate market does not show any fear of the election next Tuesday. The business now is up to the most sanguine expectations of dealers. There is a great deal of trading going on —far above the average of former years. The Real Estate Auc¬ tion Room is constantly crowded, and the month of November promises to be the most active ever seen in New York at thie season of the year. There are some very large estates to be sold at auction during the coming month. The chief interest will probably be felt in the vacant lots which are coming on the market, and which will tell the story whether there will be a speculative real estate movement in the near future. The filing of plans for new buildings naturally show some falling off, but this was to have been expected on the approach of winter. But the totals for this year will unquestionably surpass any previous year in the annals of the metropolis ; that is to say, there will be more houses built, more property transferred and more money invested in 1886 than ever before. The general trade of the coun¬ try is all that could be desired. The principal embarrassment of the railroad companies is that they have not sufficient cars to transact the business offered them. Everything points to an era of reasonable prosperity ; for if the price of silver in London holds good, our grain, breadstuffs and cotton will all coinnx'ind better prices in the markets of the world. The Bartholdi celebration was a spirited affair, but our foreign visitors, in all probability, criticised our procession and marked its inferiority to similar demonstrations in Paris and elsewhere. With our military, fire and civic associations there is material for excellent scenic effects. But it requires a master mind as well as carefully cultivated artistic taste to produce an ensemble compar¬ able to the splendid displays of the French capital. Our procession was disjointed—what can be more meaningless than a half-mile of ordinary hacks filled with Aldermen and nobodies? The enormous multitude which thronged the streets shows how keen an interest our polyglot population has in these public parades. Our capitalist class could well afford to get up a syndicate to gratify the populace by a procession which would have all the needed scenic splendor. It would be one of the ways by which our rich men could wean the working classes away from labor candidates for Mayor. It is their greed and lack of public spirit which is one cause of the discon¬ tent of the laboring classes with them. The newspapers admit that there has been no improvement in the character of the candidates put forth this fall for Assemblymen and Aldermen. New York will elect delegations to the City Hall and Albany next Tuesday—three-fourths of whom will be of purchasable material. They have been nominated to subserve personal or corporate ends, and those who are chosen expect—at least the great bulk of them do—to make money as representatives of this city. The fact is a shocking one, but there is no gainsaying it. We are very certain to elect an honorable gentleman for Mayor of New York. The judges and the President of the Board of Aldermen will not discredit us, but the Aldermen and the Assemblymen .are, with few exceptions, a bad lot from beginning to end. Our Congressional nominees are generally unfit men. Just think of Frank Spinola and Tim Campbell speaking for the metrop¬ olis of the Union in the halls of Congress. It is monstrous. There has been a revival of interest in mining. It commenced, curiously enough, in England, where there is now a boom under¬ way in the shares of certain mining companies. The English have invested a great deal of capital all over the world in mines, some of which have paid very handsomely indeed, but quite as often the investors have got nothing for their outlay. A new discovery of ore has beea made ia the famous Con, Virginia ou tbe Comstock lode, and The Canvass for Mayor- In our " Prophetic Department" will be found a guess as to the result of the vote for Mayor next Tuesday. But estimates are of very little value, because of the absolute want of data forgetting at Henry George's probable strength. Indeed, the vote if taken to-day might be a very different one from that which will be cast next Tuesday. So far as the figures furnished by previous contests go, it would seem certain that the candidate of the United Democracy muSt be chosen. Abram Hewitt is a man of the highest character and of great natural ability. He will undoubt¬ edly, if elected, prove to be an excellent Mayor. Henry George and Theodore Roosevelt make the point against him, which is well taken, that hovvever good he may be himself he represents the people who have misgoverned us for so many years. The press for the last quarter of a century has been educating the public that the outcome of our local politics, under the control of the city machines, has been the increase of the burdens of the taxpayers, through the deliberate robbery of the city treasury. Henry George had the advantage of first making this point against the United Democracy. His letters and speeches on this subject have been forcible, and his canvass has been countenanced, not only by a great many workingmen but by thousands who do not belong to that class, but who are eager to introduce an entirely new element into our local politics. The canvass for Theodore Roosevelt has been remarkably vigorous, and no one can read the proceedings of the meeting held on his behalf last Wednesday evening without baing struck with the earnestness and high purposes of the principal supporters of the Republican candidate. The wire-pullers of that party detest Theodore Roosevelt, and they probably put him in the field so as not to be troubled with him after this election, for he is the kind of candidate who is the natural foe of all who have designs upon the public treasury. But he is having splendid support, and were he to have been put first into the field against George he would probably have been elected. It does not seem humanly probable that Henry George can be chosen, but we do not think the daily press is justified in predicting disaster to the city or the country if by any chance he should be elected Mayor oC New York. George is not only a writer of remarkable power, but, apart from his whim¬ sical theory about land tenure, has shown in the canvass now going on both tact and judgment. There is nothing to be said against his character or past career. His books have been searched in vain to justify the charges that he is a Socialist or an Anarchist, or other than he professes to be—a radical Jeffersonian Democrat. The newspapers must think their readers children when they bring out tlieir "bug-a-boos" and "raw head and bloody bones " at every election. It is worthy of note, in passing, that the only districts which show a falling off in registration com¬ pared with the Presidential year are those which contain the largest number of rich people. If they were afraid of spoliation the registration of this solid class of citizens would have increased instead of being diminished. In the best interest of this city we protest against the effort that is being made to get up a scare over the probable election of Henry George. If chosen be would be under bonds to act cautious^ly, and to make a good reputation for himself and his clients. The foUow¬ ing is a portion of a speech he made to some east side workingmen, which we find in the Evening Post, which paper has had a short- I hand reporfcer at his heels to try and catch him saying something