Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: v. 39, no. 988: February 19, 1887

Text version:

February 19, 1887 The Record and. Guide. S23 ■a ^ if :1 .J THE RECORD AND GUIDE, Published every Saturday. IQl BroadTAray, N". "Y. Our Teleplione Call is « - - - - JOHN 310. 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 19. 1887. No, 988 The stock market has been dull and depressed during the last week, to the great surprise of the leading manipulators who looked for great activity and advancing prices. There appeared to be some justification for these sanguine expectations, as the strikes were over, money easy, trade good, aud the railroad returns unex¬ pectedly large. Nevertheless, for some good reason no doubt, the outside public refused to buy, and those who held stocks did not care to sell at prevailing quotations. Hence the dullness of the market. It looks as if the depression would continue for some days at least. But all is hopeful in real estate circles. Private sales are heavy, and the Auction Room presents a very animated appearance every day. The sales last week were well attended, the bidding spirited, and the prices very satisfactory. General trade continues fairly good, the only questionable symptom being a slight falling off in the demand for pig iron. This is the flrst weakening in that quarter for over a year; nevertheless it is agreed on all sides that we will probably build 12,000 miles of railroads in 1887, which will almost double that of 1886 and quadruple that of 1885. There has been a serious break in the wheat market, but this is not an unmixed evil, for although it is bad for the agriculturist yet it insures cheap bread for the manufacturing operatives employed in the large cities, mills and shops. The outlook generally ia very favorable to the'general trade interest of the country., ------------a------------ Senator John Sherman's letter to the Lincoln commemoration banquet in this city is attracting deserved attention. He takes the ground so long advocated by The Record and Guide, that the government should raise sufficient money to aid in works of general public utility. A surplus is not a bad but a good thing, if wisely administered. We are peopling and converting to human uses a vast continent. To properly fulfil our mission involves the under¬ taking of great public works, such as the cleaning of rivers, the deepening and protection of harbors, the cutting of canals, the draining of swamps, the irrigating of what are now deserts, and the reforesting of denuded regions. It ia only the general govern¬ ment that can effect these mighty changes, and the parties and the statesmen who advocate this view will certainly ultimately prevail in obtaining permanent control of our government. The " do- nothing" government theory has had its day. Senator Sherman is the first of our statesmen to realize the changed conditions which will characterize the politics of the futura. The women suffrage advocates are making headway. The Kansas Legislature has passed a law enabling women to vote at all school and municipal elections. Our own State Senate has favored a similar enactment by a vote of twenty to nice. Female suffrage to this extent has been tested in Great Britain for some years past without any evil results, as the women generally voted on the same side as their husbands and fathers. In Kansas it is expected that the votes of the women will help sustain the prohib¬ itory liquor law. There are to be local elections in that State on April 5th next, and it is to be seen whether this addition to the number of votes will improve ih.Q personnel of municipal and other local officials. After the novelty wears off it is doubtful if the women will vote in any large numbers. They have abstained from going to the polls even in Massachusetts, where they have a right to cast their suffrages for school officers. But the Kansas experi¬ ment will excite a great deal of interest for some time to come. After hearing the arguments on both sides the Judiciary Com¬ mittee of the Assembly decided unanimously to report adversely to the proposed act making certain changes in the constitution of the Real Estate Exchange. Our Albany correspondent states that out of consideration for Mr." Crosby, the mover of the bill. Chairman Baker has consented to make no report at all. This is as it should be. The interests of our Real Estate Exchange are too complex to permit any bare majority acquiring supreme control. Real estate is unlike stocks, grain, cotjon or petroleum, in that it embraces a great variety of intereste—owners, brokers, auctioneers, agents and investors as well as speculators. These ought all to be represented in the Board of Directors, and so far they have been. But if a mere majority were to obtain control, some one or two interests would dominate over all the others, but with minority representa¬ tion such as the charter now permits any group of thirty or more members, out of the 500, can have its representative in the Board of Directors. President Cleveland is receiving the thanks of allfgood citizens for his veto of the outrageous " Pension bill" passed by Congress. His message on the subject is a well-written document, and does him great credit. The great ease with which outrageous jobs are pushed through congresses and legislatures emphasises the wisdom of the Fathers of the Republic in giving the President the veto power. If there is ever a revision of the Constitution of the United States the Executive should be permitted to discriminate for and against the items in every appropriation bill. This is permitted to the Governor of this and several other States, and is a, check upon corrupt log-rolling. It is plain to be seen that the tendency of things is to lodge more power and responsibility in executives and limit that of legislatures. The public want to know who is responsible for bad government. It would be a bold and wise stroke for President Cleveland to appoint a representative Western Democrat Secretary of the Treasury in Mr. Manning's place. It has been charged that our Treasury Department has been run during all administrations in the interest of the National banks and in accordance with the ideas of Eastern financiers. Mr. Manning was president of an Albany National bank before he was appointed to the Treasury, and becomes the president of still another National bank on his retire¬ ment. His last elaborate report was in the interest of the National banks, for he pleaded with Congress to withdraw the greenbacks eo as to permit the bank notes to take their place. The silver wing of the Democracy is in an overwhelming majority in that party, and they ought to have some chance to have their views respected in the conduct of the administration. The "Tenement House" bill now before the Legislature naturally attracts a good deal of attention among builders and property-holders. The motives of the promoters of this proposed enactment cannot be questioned. They mean well; and all good citizens must sympathize with them in wishing that lawd that can be enforced should be put upon the Statute book reforming our tenement house system so that the great body of the poor will be housed under good sanitary conditions. To do this, however, there must be no confiscation of private property, aud care must be taken that the cost of tenement houses will not be made so great as to deter capitalists from investing their money in that kind of property. Even undesirable houses are better than none at all. The Real Estate Exchange, however, should be careful not to com¬ mit itself to the whims of humanitarian cranks on the one hand or represent the selfish interests of tha tenement house-owners on the other. m It is undoubtedly true, as Mr. Richard Deeves pointed out at the meeting of the Legislative Committee of the Real Estate Exchange the other day, that the sanitary condition of the new tenement houses is very much better than that of thousands of private houses occupied by fairly well-to-do people. Our present laws, if faithfully carried oui", insures the erection of reasonably comfortable and healthful houses for poor people. But Governor Hill has seen fit to keep General Shaler in office after the usefulness of the latter had been destroyed because of the revelations on his two trials for alleged corruption. Then the sum voted to the Health Department by the Board of Estimates is absurdly inadequate. There can be no efficiency until the health board has a competent head and a sufficient sum to meet the sanitary requirements of this great city. There are scores of rookeries, indeed whole blocks, in this cityj which should be torn down and new and more wholesome dwellings erected in their place. This would be a good thing for builders, and our citizens generally would approve if these plague spots and fever nests were gotten rid of forever. But the owners of the properties should be reimbursed from the City Treasury. The master builders have done wisely in organizing to protect their interests. Hereafter they will meet the trades unions on equal terms. The "boss" builders have been at a disadvantage when they kept aloof from each other at a time when the various work¬ ingmen's organizations were combining—demanding better pay for shorter hours of labor. Hereafter the employers will have something to say in regard to the rules governing their relations with their employes. Without their unions the men are at the mercy of the employers in slack times. The employers are equally helpless in good times against the workingmen when they are themselves disunited. It is understood that au effort will be made