Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 43, no. 1093: February 23, 1889

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Febmai-y 28, 1889 Record and Guide. 937 ^ "^y" ^ ESTABLISHED'^ MARCH^l^^ 1858, De/oJID to I^EA,L ESTME . gUlLDIf/c A|lCl(lTECTai\E .(JOUSEUOLD DEGOf^ATloH. BiJsiiJess AtJoTneMEs op GeHei\^11kt€[\es-[ PRICE, PER lE.tR IN ADVANCE, SIS DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - - JOHN 370. -Communications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLIII. FEBRUARY S3, 1889. No. 1,093 The January boom showed itself in the bond market this year and was followed in February by an upward movement in stocks. Not, indeed, along the whole line, but in groups of securities and specialties located in the States eaat of the Mississiijpi. Grangers and the Southwestern stocks declined, aud bave kept back the general market. The past week has been a ti'ying one to the speculators, due to the uncertainty of the presidents of the roads west of the Mississippi coming to a common understanding. Nor is it likely that a complete agreement will soon be reached. There are, however, several factors which ought to help the mai'ket. Since the first of January railroad returns show a handsome increase over last year. The lines east of the MississiiDpi River are in perfect accord aud maintain rates without any trouble. Then money is easy, though it is probable that the next five weeks wUl see a better demand for call and time loans. The general business of tbe country is uot in very good shape— for coal, u'on and steel are depressed. The outlook in the stock market is somewhat dubious. Bonds and good stocks are selling pretty high in view of the dividends they pay. Then money will be in gi-eater demand within tbe next few weeks, and we shall cer¬ tainly ship some gold. Fortunately there is no immediate danger of foreign war, and hence Europe will probably continue to pur¬ chase our securities. In view of the uncertainties of the situation, we think the prudent capitalist who converts his stocks and bonds into money will find himself better off by June 1st than if he loads up with even good securities at present prices. In other words, we believe the time is not very distant when a lower rauge of values will be established. Still there may be spurts of activity and higher prices iu the interim, ----------m---------- The sale on Tuesday of the balance of the realty belonging to the estate of the late Joshua Jones proved a great success. Exception¬ ally high prices were realized for the various parcels and the com¬ petition was sharp throughout the sale, A total of $2,103,800 was realized, against $1,907,800 realized at the November sale of part of the same estate. There was a great difference, however, in the two sales. On Tuesday there was no great excitement, because it was generally believed that good prices would be realized aud the market maintained, whereas in November, when so much vacant property was oft'ered, there was doubt and uncertainty as to how the market wouldbe affected. Both sales have been great successes, and it is a matter for congi-atulation that such a fine showing was made. The Lynch estate sale on Thursday did not prove the success anticipated by the owners. A total of over $325,670 was realized for the lots sold, which is about 25 per cent, less than the value placed thereon by exports, and, what is still more astonishing, about the same percentage less than was offered for the lots at private contract. For instance, $69,800 was realized for two Sth avenue fronts, for which 1^90,000 cash was hid immediately before the sale. These lots seem to have brought as much less as the Jones estate parcels brought more than was expected. case. The fact is, these two bills are simply the renewal of the old opposition that contested the establishment of the parks. These, measures are not in the least for the public wel¬ fare, and they cannot be too peremptorily put down. The Legislative Committee of the Real Estate Exchange, at the meeting tliis week, gave its approval to bill No. 231, a measure emanating from the same source as bills 182 and 383 ; but it is to be hoped that no such mistake wili be made when the latter are brought up for consideration uext Tuesday. The recklessness of statements permitted in the daily press these days is disgraceful. Of anything approaching to careful editing there is httle trace. A statement, which has heen widely copied, appeared lately, thi-owing doubt on the wisdom of tbe government in spending large sums of money for making and experimenting in the manufactm-e of large guns for naval purposes. The writer stated that the life of a big gun is about 300 rounds, and that after that number has been fired the.weapon is practically worthless, the rifling bein^ destroyed and accm-acy of aim impossible. Common sense alone should have questioned an assertion of this kind. The writer, who¬ ever he was, got hold of the wrong end of a fact. The life of a big gun, far from being ended, has scarcely commenced at the two- hundredth rouud. There are guns in the Fi'ench and Enghsh naval services ten, fifteen and twenty years old, the efficiency of whicli is not in the least impaired, though nearer to 2,000 than to 300 shots have been fired from them. So far as the rifling of a gun is con¬ cerned it is subject to very little wear, for the shot itself doesnot move through it as in the case of a small rifle. The weak spot in a big gun is the hardened copper vent which passes vertically tbi-ough the interior jackets to the chamber and by means of which the powder is ignited. The iuterior opening of tlie vent is subject to corrosion; and if this is permitted to go very far it extends between the jackets, and in time destroys the gun. To prevent this a rule exists in most of the navies that the vent shall be tested after a certain number of rounds have been fired. In the English navy the number is one Imndred. If the vent is fouud to be souud, the gun is passed for another hundred rounds; if not, a new vent is put in. This, however, is a small matter of a precautionary natm-e, and only crass ignorance could construe it as meaning the ruin of the weapon. After twenty years of inactivity, during which millions upon mill¬ ions have been shamefully squandered without any visible return, a serious effort is now being made to give us a navy competent to at least protect our enormous and rapidly growing interests at home and abroad. It is only fair to demand that, as this effort is of such importauce, any criticism the authorities are subjected to should be well grounded and reasonable. The new armored and unarmored war vessels now building or recently completed are to be armed with six, eight, ten and twelve-inch guns, the last named being about forty-eight tons, ana adverse criticism might have such an effect in Congress that the action of the government would be ham¬ pered and so delayed that for some time to come we should have a naw as useless as ever in case of an emergency. Senate bill No. 182, of which Assembly bill No. 885 is a copy, is about as offensive a piece of legislation as bas beeu proposed at Albany for some time. It authorizes the Department of Pubhc Parks, with^the concurrence of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, to exclude from the areas of the parks iu the.33d and 24th Wards and the adjacent districts in Westchester County as much land as they may consider proper ; while the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund are to sell or lease this excluded property upon whatever term,s please them. What is the object of this move? After yeai'S of agitation and opposition the city has just acquired these new parks, and to anyone not acquainted with the promoters of the two bills the true reason of their existence must seem obscure. The idea of a city, perhaps the most poorly provided with parks in the world, selling its newly-acquired property, to say the least, is astounding, and requires some more cogent reason than is forthcoming in this Hitherto the only public baths New York haa had have been those which lay at various points oa the East and Hudson Rivers. If, however, the bill introduced by Senator Cantor passes the Legia- latm-e, the poor of New York may hope in the future to have better opportunities to keep clean. It is quite obvious that in their own homes, bath-tubs are nouj too numerous, and that they should have better chances in both siunmer and winter to use soap if they want to. It is proposed that the new bath-house shall be situated in Essex Market. The premises are also to contain facilities for poor washerwomen to laundry their clothes at small expense. This experiment has long been tried in England and on the Continent, and the results have been satisfactory. The foreign trade of this country last year, excluding gold aud silver coin aud bullion, was more than seven million dollars less than in 1837, the decrease in exports being $33,523,597, and the increase iu imports $16,384,011. Those who hold to the pecuhar idea that the more a nation exports and the less it imports the richer it is becoming will uot consider the year's trade satisfactory; for this increase in imports aud decrease in exports was accom¬ panied by au excess of imports over exports amounting to $33,425,042. This is contrary to the usual course of our foreign trade. For years past we have sent abroad between $100,000,000 and $200,000,000 worth of merchandise a.nd specie more than we have received. Between 1874 and 1886 alone the excess of exports amounted to a total of about $1,670,000,000, and granting that a portion of this may be accounted for by the undervaluation of imports it still leaves a vast sum which on auy " balance of trade " theory must be regarded as a dead loss, for no one imagines that the foreigner owes us that amount and is waiting his convenience for a settlement. Apart from the figures which may or may not ti-uly represent tbe exact state of our commerce, we may safely conclude that this country is not giving away or extending credit to foreigners to anything like the amount of a billion and arhalf.