Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 45, no. 1146: March 1, 1890

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March 1. 1890 Record and Guide. 291 De/oteD p Kej^L Estate . BuiLoif/o Architecture .Household DEGOfv^noti. BUsifJESS h\bThemes of Ge^JeraI- I;^t£r,est PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADTANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - ■ JOHN 370, Communicationa should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLV. MARCH 1, 1890. No. 1,146. Again this week we give considerable space to the pubUcation of notices of assessments completed and assessments eonjii-med. TJie former enables jyroperty-ovyners to inquire and examine into the fairness of the charge for such improvements as have been made, and to file objections thereto if necessary. The list of assessments confirmed serve io warn owners whose property is affected to pay up and avoid the large interest charges which are levied when pay¬ ments are not made within the specified tiine. Tiiese lists are closely watched and often referred to by our readers, who are thus put in the way of knowing all about assessments, prospective or actual. There are two or three things that New York should do in con¬ nection with thia^Esposition matter. In the first place the city should turn to with energy to assist Chicago to make the Fair a success. The assistauce should not be given in any niggardly spirit, but freely, largely, without reservation, and cheerfully. An exc:>llent opportunity presents itself on this occasion for the East to gain the lasting good-will of the West. It is sincerely to be hoped that no local pettiness, or "politics," or illiherality will cause it to be lost. After this New York should learn the lesson, or rather the lessons, which her defeat teaches, No matter what some of the causes that led to her defeat may have been, the fact that New York could be defeated, and defeated easily too, could be deliberately i>assed by, shows that her importance in national affairs is relatively not by any means so great as it was. Sbe now has rivals who, no matter how extravagant their claims may be, can_dispute, and in this case did dispute sttccessfuUy, her posi¬ tion as the chief city of the country. In many ways, undoubtedly. New York has very sorry qualifications for the position to which she lays claim. She considers lierself to be the real capital of the country—what Paris is to France, Berlin to Germany, London to England. It is true her commerce is larger than that of any othter city in the country, she is the money-centre, and in a few other particulars is ahead of Chicago, Philadelphia and other towns. But does she stand to these cities as London does to Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow or Sheffield, or Paris to Rouen or Marseilles? Is she pre-eminently the centre of the intelligence and the culture of the nation ? Ai-e her streets the most magnificent, her public works the most complete, her museums aud libraries and schools the finest? Let anyone who thinks BO turn to our poverty-strlckea municipal buildings, monu¬ ments of steals and'jobs; our dark, filthy, badly-paved streets; our imperfect rapid transit, the general inadequacy of nearly every¬ thing municipal, and then point out what we have that is truly worthy of a city that aspires to be the metropolis of the country. But then we have the money, and, let it be added, a stupendous indifference to defects and evils which shoidd no: be tolerated for an instant by a civilized community, a fatuous self-satisfaction, a marvelous lack of real public-spii-itednessi, and a government which, considered as a whole, produces less for a given amount thau any other under the sun, unless the unspeakable Turk be an exception. Of course, it is out of precisely such elements as these that great and admirable cities are made 1 New York. :n many ways, and especially in " municipal" ways, is far behind the times, and behind wbat she complacently thinks she is. In some respects she is a quarter of a century behind Eiuope, behind those very for¬ eigners whom we are so anxious may not go to see our Fair if it be held in Chicago. If this be doubted, let anyone compare Berhn with New York—the two cities are of about the same size—and remem¬ ber in making the comparison that Berlin, in municipal matters' is improving rapidly, while New York is almost standing still—has not yet learnt how to make pavements, or keep streets decently clean. It would be well if the §15,000,000 obtained for the World's Fair should be spent in making the city a worthy site for a great International Exposition, in carrying out much needed improve¬ ments, in erecting some decent public buildings, in establishing museums, improving those we have, and, in general, giving the city some of the higher characteristics of a capital of a great country. The idea which Western enthusiasts have that Chicago can create a World's Fair by 1893 that will surpass or at least be as fine as tbe one held in Paris last year is quite erroneous. So, indeed, is.ihe idea that Chicago can have an Exposition that wil! be in any large sense "international." Neither the one nor the other i^ probable. On the other hand the idea very widely accepted iu the East that a National Fair held in Chicago must necessarily be of little or no interest to foreigners is equally erroneous. The reverse is probably the caae. ■ The European is not at all likely to cross the Atlantic to inspect his own manufactui'es. No matter how ridiculous the fables he believes about this country may be, he has no reason for thinking that his wares will wear any different aspect in America than at home, and we may safely suppose that he is aware that aiiy display made here will necessarily be very inferior, both in amount and in quality, to that recently made in Paris. We may be sure that the foreigner that comes to om- Fair will come to see us, and not to see a weak reflection of himself; and consequently the more peculiarly American the Exposition is the more attraction it will have for him. A great American Fair can be held in Chicago with every bit aa much success as in New York, and in some respects with even more, and the fact that Chicago is twenty-four hours further West than New York will not deter any foreigner who intends visiting us from making the trip across the Atlantic ; though the probabilities are his knowledge of the geo¬ graphical relation of the two cities will be much too vague to create in his mind any anxiety or thought on the matter. We have recently given illustrations showing that some of the newspapers were coming to then- senses in regard to the elevated railroads and the necessity of using the facilities already constructed as the basis for any immediate relief from the present overcrowd¬ ing. The meeting held during the past week of Harlem property- owners is an indication that they, too, are awakening to the neces¬ sity of taking immediate measures and to the best method of attaining this end. The following resolution, wliich w^as passed at the meeting, should be forced on tbe attention of the Legislature : Jtesolved, Tbat we urgently request the Legislature to pass a bill allowing the Elevated Railroad additional terminal and other facilities, and also repealing all restrictions on the west aide of the Boulevard, so that the road may be extended up that highway to Kingsbridge. The speakers on tbis occasion did not take an altogether encour¬ aging view as to the prospects of the Rapid Transit bills at present before the Legislature. W, E, D. Stokes stated that the Mayor's bill would be killed by the Republican legislators and that the Fassett bill would suffer a similar fate at the hands of Governor HiU. And in truth this appears but too probable, for certainly the Mayor's bUl has no chance in the Senate wliile our Democratic Governor's watchful care that none of our municipal bills shall violate the principle of local self-government may well shut his eyes to the important fact that, local self-government or not, the commission constituted by the Fassett bill is a good one and all that we require. If this is the truth, New York wiU have but oae more illustration of the curse with which om- ever present pol t cs kUls nearly every important reformatory measure or movement in New York or Albany, for it is as desirable from one point of view that the question should be placed on a basis which will make a permanent solution only a matter of time, as it is from another that some immediate relief be obtained. The Times report of the meet¬ ing stated that Lawson N. FuUer "painted Sage and Gould in glowing terms compared with those who held real estate and grew rich by letting other people improve it." Let us have no cant about this matter. Messrs. Sage and Gould a,re simply two very sharp speculators who are endeavoring to feather their own nests without a very scrupulous regard as to tbe methods they use. They ai^e certainly not any better than other speculator; aud neither of them would come out very well in tbe comparison which a London paper facetiously instituted between Jay Gould and King Arthur. But in this case, if in no other, the interests of the property-owners of this city coincides with the interests of Mr. J. Gould ; and any¬ one who opposes a plan that willresult in the benefit of both simply because the latter is a party to he ttransaction, is simply setting up a scarecrow to frighten away a horse. It is by no means so certain, however, that the recommendation cjntained in the resolution that the west side of the Boulevard be used as the location for the new set of tracks is sound. It is true that in the past we have advised the use of this thoroughfare for the purpose, and above 110th street the advice would probably still remain good; but there are some indications that helow llOtli street the character of the thoroughfare may improve. Certainly, if there is any chance that the avenue will become the broad and beautiful boulevard its designers—in so far as thej had any public motive in the matter—intended it to be, there would be nothing more outrageous than disQguiing it by an elevated railroad struct"