Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 39, no. 987: February 12, 1887

Text version:

February 13, 1887 The Record and Guide. 189 THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. 191 Broad-T^rav, IST. IT. Oar Teleplione CaU is . ~ . - . JOHN 370. TERMS: ONE YEAR, in advance, SIX DOLLARS. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XXXIX. FEBRUARY 13. 1887. No. 987 The general aspect of business is very favorable. The only- trouble is the senseless quarrel between the coal and freight hand¬ lers and the corporations. This the latter do not seem to care about settling, for fear probably of giving such prestige to the labor organizations as to invite further exactions. Apart from this diffi¬ culty there is a buoyant feeling in all departments of industry. The stock market is strong and a mild boom may result. Real estate dealers and brokers are very hopeful as to the future. This coming spring business will be a very large one. All the minor indications show that people are prospering. Re¬ tail store owners report an unusually large volume of business. The average purchaser spends more money than usual at tbis season of the year. The hotels are doing an excellent business for February, and it has been noticed that down-town restaurants are ihronged with people who are willing to pay more for their meals than in former years. The savings banks all report large additions to their deposfts, which shows that the bulk of the working class is fully employed at good wages. The office renting season has opened very well. Altogether New York has no cause for com¬ plaint, nor has any of the large cities in the country so far as heard from. --------•-------- In a few years New York will have the greatest fresh water reservoir in the world. The Aqueduct Commissioners have decided to build the great dam at Quaker Bridge, and the total storage ot water will amount to nearly 40,000,000,000 of gallons. There will be enough water in time to allow a hundred gallons per diem to every man, woman and child in New York. We will be better supplied, in this respect, than any city known to history. There', will then be no fear of any shortage of water until New York has more than 3,000,000 inhabitants. When that time arrives we will begin to talk of drawing water from the Hudson River above Poughkeepsie, or perhaps the scheme for running an aqueduct from the Adiron¬ dack region down the right bank.of the Hudson may then be con¬ summated. This Quaker Bridge dam will cost nearly $8,000,000, but this sum will include the cost of lands purchased. This is a good deal of money, but then the payment of the principal and much of the interest will be by those who follow us and who will profit by this splendid supply of water. although they mined far more coal than ever before. Notwith¬ standing their agreements they never kept faith with each other, and always mined more anthracite than the amount allotted in their conferences. Then the bankrupt Reading was a constant source of difsturbance, as its necesaities forced it to mine all it could and sell at any price. When it was proposed to raise the price of coal towards the end of last year, because of the more urgent demand for it due to the revival of industry, Governor Patterson, of Pennsylvania, threatened legal proceedings, and the World and other papers set up a demagogical howl at the greed of the " Coal Barons." The laborers from the first tried. to arbitrate the matter, and they were willing to leave it with Mr. Austin Corbin, but the companies would not consent and demanded unconditional surrender. Hence all the disturbance in trade circles. --------•--------, Our readers will remember that pending the strike last year on the Missouri Pacific road we thought it would have been wise for Jay Gould to have settled the matter promptly, for the reason there was danger that the labor question might get into politics. We showed how eager the politicians were to propitiate the soldier vote. As the laborers were far more numerous we feared that in the mad hunt for votes the politicians would work upon every real or imaginary grievance of the working classes to secure legislative and executive positions. Well, Mr. Gould would listen to no offers of compromise or arbitration, and lo! a mighty labor party has since been organized, as we feared might be the case, and their candidate for Mayor of this city polled 68,000 votes last September. Have not the managers of the coal roads made the same terrible blunder that Jay Gould did? They got into a dispute with their coal shovellers about some contemptible question of two cents an hour for shovelling anthracite. The men begged them to arbitrate, but they would listen to no compromise, and would do nothing to put an end to the strike. It is to Mr. Austin Corbin's credit that he was willing to act as arbitrator, and he showed a conciliatory front all throughout the disturbance. The press has helped the com¬ panies by misrepresenting the workmen all through the trouble. The result was that the conflict was carried into other trades, and at one time it was said that 50,000 men were directly interested They have behind them millions of sympathizing workmen, who it should be remembered are voters. Is it wise for corporations in these days to antagonize the working people? As in the South¬ western strike the matter might have been adjusted in a couple of days, but Jay Gould in one case and the coal companies in the other insisted upon unconditional surrender. Well, they may win the fight; but at what a cost! Like Pyrrhus of old, who was ruined in conquering the Roman armies, these corporations may bring enemies into the field which will cost them dear. The Excise Commissioners have done well in raising the fees for licenses to the limits allowed by law. The Legislature should empower the commissioners to charge from $1,000 to.$3,000 for licenses to sell spirits, according to location. A beer or wine license ought to be worth $500 per annum. We are looking at this matter from a merely real estate point of view. Owners of realty are now taxed \mduly. The liquor interest should pay its share of the public burdens. We have altogether too many dram shops. It seems there is one for every 125 persons, which includes men, womenand children. The number of liquor shops should be reduced at least to one for every 1,000 persons. There seems to have been an erroneous impression as to the cause of the recent labor disturbance. From the evidence given, before the Legislative Committee the strike was to prevent a reduction of wages. The Reading Road wished to have its work done for 20 instead of 22^^ cents an hour, the same as was paid by the Dela¬ ware & Lackawanna, the Delaware & Hudson and other coal com¬ panies. The laborers say they very generally understood that at EUzabethport the wages would be cut down to 17)^ cents per hour. The Old Dominion Company also made a large reduction in the "wages of their freight handlers. The strike of the stevedores and the general, freight handlers was due to an apprehension that their; turn would come next. This central fact in the situation seems to have been overlooked or misstated in the current reports in the newspapers, that the men went out without any cause whatever. The whole trouble-seems to-have come from the upsatisfactor^ conditi(m of the coal trade, last year*. Their reports, show .that th.i^; coal roads ma