Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 42, no. 1067: August 25, 1888

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August 25, 1888 Record and Guide. 1Q39 .x^- e^ Mmmm •r ^ ESTABLISHED' De/oteS) to I^E^L Estate . BuiLoif/c Appt^iTEcruRE .Household DzQOf^AriotJ. BiisitJESs AfJo Themes of GeHeraI I|Jtei\est PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published evei-y Saturday. TELEPHONE, - . - JOHN 370. fionimumcatioiis should be addi-essed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLII. AUGUST 25, 1888. No. 1,067 Now Ready—The Index to the Conveyances and Projected Buildings published in The Record and G-uidb during the first six months of the current year. The Index ia printed on extra heavy paper, and, as usual, includes New York and Kings Counties, and is the most exhaustive ever published. The labor and expense connected with the ivork has become so formidable that a charge of Hfty cents is made for this issue, as announced in these cohanns on January 2lst last. Subscribers requiring copies should send in their ordei's at ojice. --------•--------- The markets are all higher ; -wheat is booming on what ie now a t:ertainty tliat the crop of Western Europe will be a partial failure. Securities iu the stock market continue strong, European capitalists being the principal and lieaviest purchasers. It looks as tliough ■we may have a genuine " bull" movement in the fall, but a reac¬ tion of some sort seems now to be in order. We ahall havo a prosperous tali business for coal, and iron is in demaud, and Jiere is a promise of the greatest corn crop ever grown in tliis country. We expect to see a good real estate market later on, but the season will not open early. ---------•--------- The Republicans of tbe Senate and House have each scored a black mark of dishonor durin,g the past week. In the House the Repubhcana have filibustered to force the Democrats to vote upon the infamous pension bill that would rob the Treasury of $400,000,000 in addition to the $900,000,000 already appropriated for pensions. This is a case of pure scouadrelism, but the idea was to put the Democrats in a hole, as they would not like to offend the Grand Army of the Republic pending a Presidential election. The Senate Republicans have rejected the Fishery Treaty, which every conservative and peaceful interest in the country wished to see in¬ dorsed. The great trade exchanges of the couutry were greatly to blame in not calling upon Congress to settle this dispute with Great Britain and the Dominion of Canada. We are not in a condition, as a nation, to keep these international disputes open. We have, as yet, no ijavy, and our sea coasts are undefended ; nor will we be in a position to threaten war for many yeara to come. Auy nation with a fleet, in a dispute, can humiliate us aa grievously as we were when forced to surrender Mason and Slidell during the civil war. Hence we should take all honorable means to preserve the peace and avoid causes of quarrel until we become something of a naval power. The rejection of the Fishery Ti-eaty was an act of pure demagogery. ---------•--------- President Cleveland's message, anent the rejection of tlie Fisher¬ ies Treaty, shows pohtical tact and cleverness, but the whole matter is playing with fire. The interest of this nation is uot to have trouble with the Dominion : we want to encourage amicable rela¬ tions with the country to the north of us. Some day or other the Hag of the Union will wave over all North America, The Presi¬ dent's talk about retaliation will tend only to create bad feeUng, aud may lead to serious complications which would imperil the peace of the two countries. We cannot afford to play a game of bluff. We have no naval strength, and six billions of valuable prop¬ erty along the sea-coast is absolutely at the mercy of any naval power; hence we would be forced to " eat the leek " under a tlu'eat of war. Were there not a Presidential election pending the Senate would not have rejected the Fisheries I'reaty, nor would President Cleveland have talked so glibly about retaliation. Neither party to this quarrel has had any higher motive than a desu-e to -ivin votes. Boulanger's triumph in France seems to be a puzzle to some of our editors. They cannot understand why a General, who has never fought a battle, and a Cabinet officer who has displayed no gi'eat admitiistrative ability, should be so popular with the Fi'ench people, particularly after that absurd duel with Floqnet, wliich ought to have made him a laughing stock. But the fact is, tfae Fi'euch people are tii'ed to death of parliamentary government. It is no more suited to them than it is to the Germans, A governmeut by parliamentarv debaters is consonant to the genius of tbe English people; but it is ou trial in every country not settled by descendants of the English race. The government of France, since the estab¬ lishment of the Republic, has been weak. The nation wants a leader. It never took its true place in the councils of Europe, except wheu it had a ruler hke Charlemagne, Louis XI., Richeheu, Louis SrV., or the first and third Napoleons. France, indeed, never had a gi'eat parliamentary body, except the National Assembly of 1789. The French people to-day are using Boulanger as a club wherewith 10 beat down the parliamentarians. What next will happen is hard to say; but a strong government must come in time. The Congressional inquiry into foreign immigration discloses a most unbapTjy state of affairs. It will probably result in some legis¬ lation preventing the importation of paupers and criminals, and make it somewhat more diffioult to contract for laborers abroad. But we do not look for a radical enactment, excluding any immi¬ grants but the Chinese. Nor is it likely that naturalization will be made anymore difficult. Our country is not one-third peopled, and we need the laborers and servants which a large immigration gives us. The elements do not exist for another native-American party. That movement was helped very largely by a strong religioas feel¬ ing. The Corrigan-McGlynn controversy showed that the old anti- Papal feeling ia about dead, so far a.s our active and influential middle-class is concerned. There is no likelihood of a Know-Noth- ing resuscitation in our day or generation. It looks as if an era of liigher prices for almost everything was at hand. Grain, jirovisions and manufactured products seem destined to go up in market value. Petroleum, which has been ridiculously cbcaj) for so many years, is getting into better position, statistically .and e-^'cry other way. It seems the Russian petroleum flelds do not now TU'oduce so lavishly; and then the Baku pipe line has proved to be a failure. Meanwhile our oil is being better distributed both at home and abroad, while the surplus of ci-ude petroleum has decreased nearly ten milhon barrels in one year. Cotton is the only one of our national products which gives no sign of an especial advance, but then the margin between production aud consiunjjtion is very narrow, A slight increase in consumption and it will be found that there is a cotton famine. In¬ deed, our modern machinery for doing business has been ao per¬ fected tbat -we uo longer carry the great surplus stocks whicli were thought necessary before the era of steam and electricity. This re¬ mark is true of other products besides cotton. The results of human labor are utilized in a way that would seem incredible fifteen years ago. ______^______ "VVliat a din the Democratic papers are making over what Mr. Blaiue said about " Ti-usts," As a matter of fact bis remarks were well considered, and were entirely justified. No one would have objected to tbe position he assumed were there not a Presidential canvass under way. He stated that many of them were legitimate organizations, sanctioned by the law, and that they could not be af¬ fected by any action of the State or general governments. He also said there wore more of them iu free trade England than there were in this protected country. It ia curious what antagonisms Mr. Blaine excites even when he e-vidently ti'ies to be temperate and ac¬ curate. The Jtugwump papers lose all sense of justice and decorum in criticizing Ms utterances. ---------•--------- The St. Louis Globe-Democrat says : No grander idea has ever been suggested tban that proposed by onr national survey—to dam tbe canons of the Rocky Mountains, in order to foi'ui vast reservoirs of water, that may be used as needed, to keep the arid lands of tbe great dry basins irrigated and fertile. Tbe plan will, if can-ied out, be equally valuable in preventing floods in tbe Missouri and Lower Mississippi valleys. It is believed tbat I.tO,000 square miles of laud may tbus be reclaimed for cultivation, Pbe extent of this may be seen by tbe fact that tbo total extent of land now under cultivation in tbe tJnited States is less tban 300.(1(10 square miles. Dams cau be constructed strong enough absolutely to regulate tbe spnng flooding, retain tbe supply, and feed it out sloivly, as may be needed, all summer. We shah, by such works, not greatly surpass tbe engineering feats of the ancients. In copying the above the Hastings (Nebraska) Gazette coromente as follows 1 Public opinion is being rapidly educated up to the point of demanding congressional action tbat will result iu the construction of vast reservoirs for tbe reclamation of the arid plains. How much better it would be to apply the sm'plus in this way tban in the consti'uction of coast fortifica^ tions and great gnus. It would, indeed, be a great day for the couutry if the United States undertook the gigantic work of reclaimin.g the arid regions of the West by the construction of gTeat reservoirs. It would requue an entire change, uot only in tlie policy of our government, but in tbe theories as to the limits of State action as lield by the great majority of our citizens. We have been trained to believe that that government is best which governs least, and that private citizens should enjoy the privilege of taxing the community for