Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 43, no. 1098: March 30, 1889

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;March 80, i?89 Record and Guide. 421 Devoted to_ F^L Estate . SuiLoif/c Aij^ciliTECTiJi^E ,Kousei(old Degor^tioN. Bilsit^Ess Alio Themes of Ge^eraL I;JT£r\Es-i PRICE, PER VEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - - JOHN 370. Communications sbould be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway, I. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLIII. MARCH 30, 1889. No. 1,( Wall street ought to be happy, but it ia not. Rates out West are maintained, and about all the roads make a better exhibit than last years. Net earr ings show a larger gain than gross earnings. Money ia easy, and here we are on the verge of April without any gold shipment to speak of. Europe ia certainly buying our bonds and stocks, and is taking more of our provisions and corn than ever before in our history. Notwithstanding all these favorable factors, stocks have been drooping, and it is the bears which is the aggres¬ sive party. The fact seems to be that the conservative investor is again proving liimself a goose. He would not sell last year when Burlington, Atchison, Bock Island and the Grangers generally were too high. Now that the bad news haa been discounted in the price of securities, he ia eager to sell bis investment stock. It is strange that the most long-headed and prudent men will insist in buying stocks when they are assuredly high, and in selling them when theix' price declinea. Prices ought to be better after the April settlements. The diplomatic appointments of President Harrison are generally excellent, and Secretary Blaine should get his share of praise for the selections, as it is incredible that his advice should be disregarded in every instance. The son of Abraham Lincoln will not make much of a mark as a speaker at the festive gatlierings in London, but he will be an object of interest, and, as he is a man of discretion, will not be likely to compromise the interests of the country he represents. -----------■-----------. A great deal has been said since Mr. Gould's letter to Mayor Grant was published, aboufc the "loop" desired by the Manhattan Com¬ pany to increase their faeihties at the Battery Park terminus. It is doubtful, however, whether one person out of ten has any kind of an idea of what the Manhattan Company really asks for, aud in return for which they declare the present rapid transit accommodation of the city would be considerably increased. So thafc our readers can form a sane judgment on the matter, and speak from the merits of the case aad not from prejudice and in tune with public clamor, we print elsewhere in this issue a map to scale of the Battery Park, showing the existing elevated lines and fche propoaed "loop." Ifc will be seen that the Manhattan Company ask for only twenty-four feet of the park, partly parallel fco and adjoining the existing sti-ucture. The concessions they desire would not materially detract from either the presenfc beauty or serviceableness of the park, Ifc is in no seuse the gross piece of vandalism it would appear to be from the tone "oi the daily press and the idea which the public has of the matter- Even at the expense of reiterating what has been said before in these columns on this subject of rapid transit we must again point out that the city could not pursue a blinder, a more suicidal policy than its present atfcitude toward the elevated roads. These toads, and these alone, can give quick relief to a condition of things which has become, not only au intolerable nuisance, bufc is stunting the erowth of the cifcy, damaging its prosperity and driving popu¬ lation to surrounding towns. In saying this we are not condoning any evil done by the Manhattan Company, or holding up Jay Gould as a public-spirited citizen, or ignoring Mayor Grant's project or any of the many excellent transit schemes which have been made public in the last twenty years. We do recognize, however, that even under more fortunate circumstances that experience permits us to imagine, no road not in existence to-day can help us in our immediate difficulties. At best they are all three, four, five or more years away. As Lawson Fuller told Mayor Granfc, any scheme yet to be born must go through the measles, whooping cough, scarlatina and other troubles, and about its survival and attainment to maturity there must always he doubfc. The best scheme ever proposed —the Arcade Road—that for twenty years was engineered and man¬ aged with indomitable courage and remarkable skill was kUled when its success seemed most certain. It is senseless fco ignore facts which everyone recognizes. The obstacles that beset Bunyan's Clu'istian on his way to Heaven were not more numerous tban those which any and every new scheme will have to confront before it goes into operation. On the other hand, here is the Manhattan Company's system constructed and in operation. It may not be an ideal system, it may be tofcally inadequate for the future, but it is all we have got to-day, and by slight concessions, and with fche work of a few months it can be greatly improved, so that fcransit will be a more comfortable and more rapid matter than it is. Why not accept the half until we cau have the whole? Ifc is to be hoped fchafc common sense will prevail in this question. The public, of whom Mayor Grant is the representative, should give the Manhattan Company the hearing that has practically been denied to it. Mayor Grant should call back fche officers of the company whom he dismissed wifch the assurance that his mind was so firmly made up thafc prolonged consideration of their views was useless. By falling back upon the exceUent policy outlined in bis address, wherein he invited everyone fco give him ideas and suggesfcions for his fullesfc atfceufcion, and by learning what concessions to the public the Manhattan Company are willing fco make in refcurn for conces¬ sions from the cifcy, some arrangement might be reached which would better subserve the interests of everybody thau tbe present pohcy of looking to a remote future for tbe requirements of to-day. Of course one reason of the unpopularity of fche Manhattan Com¬ pany is because Gould and Sage are its principal owners. Yet the two men had nothing to do witb bringing thf system into existence, To Cyrus W. Field more fchan to any one man does that credit belong. We have often condemned Field for his rapacity and for the league he made with Jay Gould and Russell Sage; but his service in laying the first cable as well as in building the'' L" roads of this city will be remembered to his credit long after this generation haa passed away. -----------------9-—■---------- With fchis hostility to the " L " system, the pubhc naturally turn to the Mayor's plan of a commission to locate a route and organize a company, to do the work. But, to begin with, this scheme would require time. The Evening Post thinks that Mayor Grant should not be permitted to appoint the commission imtil he haa been a year in office; then there willhe fighting in the courfcs, quarrelling among the promoters, and blackmailing by the lawyers and politicians. After six or eighfc years had elapsed what'kiud of a road would be built? A viaduct would be too costly. An underground structure would be out of the question, unless indeed it was an Arcade Road. The traveling public would never go through a noisome hole underground when given the choice of traveling with comfort in the open air. As the underground road would not run for lesa fchan five cents, it could get but little business of its own, and its charter would naturally fall into fche hands of its rival. Keeping in view all the circumstances of the case, ifc is our deliberate convic¬ tion that the only rapid transifc we shall have for the next quarter of a century is that furnished by the elevated roads. One of the anomalies of our American municipal governments ia the efflcjeucy of some of the departments and the wastefulness which marks fche control of others. Whafc can be more admirable in ifcs raanagemenfc than our fire department? New York gets a splendid service at a minimum of cost. Our Croton water depart¬ ment is equally well managed. We have a police force we are proud of. Om- educational machinery might be improved upon, but there are no monetary scandals connected therewith. But our' public markets have always been a scandal to New York, Tha petty officials employed are recruited from the lowest type of poli¬ ticians; for half a century the blackmailing of the marketmen haa been the mle and not the exception. The revelations brought oufc In the recent investigation is a pretty good specimen of fche way in which public markets have been managed for at least two generations. ----------•—-—— Matters will doubtless be better for a little wbile now that Senator Daly has been made Supermtendent of Markets. Although a Tammany Democrat he has made an excellent record at Albany; but, of coui-se, the difficulty has been that in reality we have had no markets. The so-called Washington Market was a collection of broken down sheds in which it was impossible to maintain order or a system. Dealers did not wish to give this market up as it did an enormous business, but its hmited area aud lack of proper accom¬ modations tended to build up a swarm of little butchery aud grocery shops all over fcbe city, which fact has helped to make living very costly in New York. No city can fulfill its duty to its citizens with¬ out proper market faeihties. Buildings must be provided where all kinds of meats and vegetables can be pm'chased at the lowest cost and with the least friction. The time has come when New York should have a system of markets laid out to meet its future requiremenfcs. They should be edifices worthy of what will be the most populous and rich city on the globe, for we may take it for granted that some time or another that New York, Richmond, Kiugs, Queens and Westchester Countiea