Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 41, no. 1045: March 24, 1888

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March 34, 1888 Record and Guide. Dr/ojzi) ]oJ\Eti- Estate . 0uildi;/c Aj^cKitecture .Household DEGOF^iiiotJ., BUsit^Ess Alio Themes of GeHera*- 1;^tei\esi KTABUSHED WM.ARPH 21'-^ IB58.' PRICE, PER YEAR IIV ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday, TELEPHONE, - . . JOHN 370. Communications should bo addi'essed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J, T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLI. MARCH 34, 1888. No. 1,045 As The Record and Guide of to-day will be sent to a large num¬ ber of persons loho never saw it before, it may be icell to explain that this is the first week in its twenty-first year. An article elsewhers explains hoio this paper has kept pace with the growth of the metroj)- oHs. From its beginning it has been the only recognized organ of the real estate and building interests; but it has also beeti found indispensable to banking houses, loaning institutions, architects, decorators, suppliers of building material and house ftirnisliers, as well as real estate oicners tuid dealers in realty. A glance at our advertising columns to-day will shoio how important and varied are the interests represented by The Record and Guide, as well as the estimation in which it is held by our business public. This publica¬ tion discusses all matters of public interest without party bias, and its views are not those generally taken by the daily press. Persons who receive sample copies may like toknow that the pvblication o'lfice is at No. 191 Broadicay, and that the price is %Q per annum. Our stock mai'ket has been panicky tliis week, and witli the April 6ettlements ahead it looks as if iirices may be still further depressed. Everything is lower, inckiding grain, cotton, and nearly all our staple goods. It was expected we would be shipping gold soou, as the balance of trade has been largely against us, but our imports have fallen off, due to the tariff agitation, and then the reduction of the rate of interest abroad keeps gold on this side of the ocean, where tlie steady contraction of our currency gives a hope of higher rctm'ns on time loans. Our spring real estate business looks promis¬ ing, and the new money made in business is more likely to be invested in land than in securities. The wonder-worker of the last twenty years has been the elevator. It is tliis x>erpendicular railroad which has chauged the arcliitecture on this island by making the great office building and apartment house possibilities. There would have been no Equitable or Mutual Life building, no tall tower. Mills building or similar gigantic strnct- xu-es, were it not for this invention. It utilizes the upper air for domestic and business purposes. Then there were other factors at work, such as the "L" roads, which concentrated business in the lower parts of the island; thus feeding as it were the great office buildings with i>aying tenants. The vast difference between the metropolis of to-day compared with the New York of twenty years ago has been brought about by the elevator, the great buildings and the " L" roads. Swifter rapid transit, bridges and tunnels and the Hai'Iem Canal will be the features wliich will change the character of New York Island in the nest twenty years. The telephone decision of the Supreme Court was probably according to law and the facts. Perhaps, after ail, it is just as well tliat competing capitalists were not allowed to come into the field and waste money fighting the'Bell people. It would bo the telegi-aph wars over again, in winch millions were wasted for the benefit of promoters and budders of unnecessary telegraph posts. It will be recalled that after the patents of the various sewing maciiine companies ran out that nearly all the new companies which were started tost money. The old-established organizations had possession of tho field and kept it. It lias been a costly lesson to learn, but comx>8tition is impossible in a natural monopoly such as railroads, telegraphs, telephones, gas companies and the like. "We say this notwithstanding the fact that the Bell Telephone is a monstTous monopoly. The charges for its use are outrageous aud the profits unjustifiable. After all, the telephone is only a speaking tube. The general government ought to take the matter in hand and force the telephone people to serve the public at a reasonable rate. There should be some legislation also to make the corporation use the recent inventions, which would be a great advantage to the pubhc. The monopoly now forbids then- employment because those who own the patents cannot make use of them without infringing upon the rights of the Bell people. The fact is, in time both the tele- gTaph and telephone must become a part of our national Post-office system. ---------•--------- Despite the clamors iu press and on the platform against centi-ali- zation tho tendency in that direction becomes more marked every day: Last year an effort was started to unify tlie debt laws of the several States, as merchants and traders found it impossible to