Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 46, no. 1173: September 6, 1890

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September 6, 1890 Record and Guide. 297 DobiED TO I^ Estate . BuiLoijfc A^rrEcrai^ ,H«Jsnft)iJ) Deooh^twH. Bifsii/ESS Afb Themes or CEfM/^l I/4t£i\es:i PRICE, PER TEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. PMished every Saturday. Telephone, ... CoBTLAin>T 1870. Communications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Burmeos Manager. Vol. XLVI. SEPTEMBER 6, 1890. No. 1,173 rriHE stock Market during the past week has retained the -*- characteristics which for months past have made bulls impatient, bears not over-joyous, and brokers decidedly lugubri¬ ous. Dullness has ruled, and the only point of interest in the market was the continued attacks by the bears on some of the granger roads. The com crop, it seems, has been damaged seri¬ ously, which in itself would be sufiicient to throw a wet blanket on the market this time of year. As, however, corn is not shipped in its original form, it is not likely that this will be felt upon earnings until next year. Unfortuijately, however, it appears probable that the price of bread stuffs will rule high, and dearnes.s in such a staple as this means con¬ traction in other directions. The observers who predicted early this year that the price of iron would rule high did not make a miscalculation as to one side of the equation, of which the price is the result. There has been enormous demand for pig iron sufficient, in case there had not been a corresponding increase in production, to advance its value materially. As, how¬ ever, there has been a corresponding increase in production there has not been much of an alteration in its prices. The fact, how¬ ever, that pig iron, which more than any other commodity feels the effect of activity in business, has been in great demand is none the less significant; and it is particularly so because railway con¬ struction, which is probably the largest single source of demand, has been dull. With such facts as these staring us in the face it is scarcely possible to believe that the coming year will show much of a decrease in railway earnings, even if the crops are short. XyE publish elsewhere in full an interesting letter on the silver ' * question written to the London Economist by M. Haupt, who ia regarded in Europe as an excellent authority. The stafistics the writer gives of the production and consumption of silver are no doubt as reliable as statistics on these matters can be with the present means of obtaining information; and, if well founded, his conclusions are of the utmost interest to us, and sup¬ port very strongly the recent silver legislation at Washington. His statement, however, that the American government is negotiatirg an arrangement with the silver producers of the United States to limit production to the average of the last two years is clearly a mistake. Eiiowledge of any such arrangement, if it does exist, is tbe exclusive possession of M. Haupt, and it is well known by every one here that under the new law the action of the govern¬ ment is confined to the purchase of a certain amount of silver at the current market price. There is very little doubt that the increase in price that has occurred lately will affect the production of silver in precisely the same way that the production of petroleum or wheat or any other commodity would be affected, viz., consid¬ erably increased. Mines that have hitherto been but little worked, if at all, can now be worked and will be worked, at a profit; so that the figures he gives of the production of the United States and other countries will be considerably larger next year. The ques¬ tion is, can prices be maintained with the greater production? Apparently they can, if, as M. Haupt shows, the consumption of silver is so much greater than the present production. liTORE than once we have called attention, in these columns, to -^^-^ the increasmg proportion of mortgages recorded in this city bearing interest of 5 per cent and under. Here are some figures for comparison : In the week ending September 15th, 1881, the number of mortgages recorded was 137 aud the amount involved *1,256,691. Of these only 24 for |825,800, or about one- sixth m number and one-quarter in amount, were at 5 per cent. There were none at a lower rate. Last week, excluding the mort¬ gage for |2,000,U00 given by the Mount Morris Electric Light Co 164 mortgages for $1,898,953 were recorded, and of these 66 (two^ fifths) involving 1869,014 (nearly one-half), were at 5 per cent or less. In connection with this, the statistios prepared for the American Statistical Association showing the average rate of interest realised by 20 of the leading life insurance oompimies in this country during the past 21 years are noteworthy. In 1869 it appears the highest interest obtained was 8.2 per cent, the lowest 8.9 (exceptionally low, this), and the average 6.0. The average for 5 years, 1869-73, was 6.1. The decline after this year was sharp, falling in 1880 below 6.0. Since then in only two years, 1882 and 1888, has the rate been at 5 per cent or over. In 1886 the average was 4.9, in 1887 4.7, and in 1888 and 1889 4.6. It may be asked to what is this decline due. It may have been caused (among other things) by a decrease in the average productiveness of labor in this country, for it is clear the price that the borrower can afford to pay for the use of capital is determined in part by its productiveness to him; or it may have been caused by a relative increase in the amount of capital in the market, compared with the demands of borrowers; or it may be due to greater security given to or demanded by Capital. Of these there is very little doubt the second has been the most weighty and has had more to do with the result than any of the others. Capital has increased very rapidly in this country during the last twenty- one years and the amount seeking investment bears a much larger proportion to the demand than ever. Not only has the fund avail¬ able to borrowers increased from within the country and the num¬ ber of those who shirk the use and superintendence of their capital themselves become very large, but the fund has also been increased greatly from abroad. That rates will continue to decline and from the same causes as in the past, there is every reason to expect, but that the decline will be as rapid or as extensive is very improb¬ able, if not impossible. -----------a----------- C"CURIOUS it is that in the quarrel, which occurs as regularly ■^ every year as do war rumors without wars from Europe, between the State Board of Equalization and our City Commission¬ ers of Taxes and Assessments, there is*no one who has the penetra¬ tion to discover that the inequality we bewail is as essential a part of our present methods of State taxation as capital is of a capitalist. The State Board of Ekjualization is occupied with a little sum in arithmetic, which the genius of a Newton working on an absolutely perfect knowledge of the value of every square foot of land in this State could not solve. No mathematician can make two-thirds of four equal to two-thirds of two, and New Yorkers need not com¬ plain if a State Board fails to solve the same problem satisfactorily. The disputes which are continually arising and which always have arisen under similar circumstances are an empirical demonstration of the truth that a State tax of real estate is necessarily unjust and unfair; that it is next to impossible for any Board of Equalization to correct the errors of the various county assessors; and that even if it were possible to make fair assessments over so extended an area as a State, the inequality would still remain. The State Board of Equalization exists, of course, to counteract the inevitable ten¬ dency of the local Boards of Assessors to underestimate the value of the real property, coming under their authority, and thus to escape their fair share of the State burdens. But in truth it is impossible for a State Board to perform this task properly without revising all the work of the local boards. As Prof. R. T. Ely has said: " The best that such boards can ever do 'Is shrewd guesswork, as their task transcends human powers." The Board of Equaliza¬ tion has determined on 60 per cent as tbe average in this county. Our local Board of Taxes and Assessments protests that the average rate of assessment in this city is much high^ than the rate fixed. If we veifture an opinion on the merits of thisparticular controversy it would be on the side of our local assesses. They are for obvious reasons in a better position to know the facts; they have no intereelli in making under-valuation, neither would they receive sympathy and support in so doing. But if such disputes were not to arise the difSculty at bottom would still be there; and it is exemplified m thecaseof New York with unusual point. The difficulty is this, that whereas New York bears State burdens pro¬ portioned to the assessed valuation of her real and personal property, she receives the benefits thereof only in proportion to her popula¬ tion, and as the former is nearly one-half of the total wealth of the State (as assessed), and as the latter is rather less than a quarter, injustice is bound to be the result. What we need is a reform in our State fiscal system. Real estate is essentially local property— that is, property the value of which is derived from local conditions, differing in many cases from the local conditions which affect property in other covmties. Special circumstances have given to real estate in this city an enormous value. This value may very well be taxed for local purposes, but it is not just to make it bear burdens for which it receives no adequate return. ---------------m--------------- BY far the moet interesting and valuable fact brought to light by the strike on the New York Central Railroad is contained in the letter of Powderly to Lee read before the State Board of Arbitration on Tuesday last. It is unique and worth quoting. Certainly, nothing has ever been said about the tyranny of Labor unions more damnihg that tbis free confession of the Grand Master of the Knights of Labor. Here it is: AUow no tm8h.ooaiuels td sWay you in anything and do not place head- Mrong or iatamperat* m«» 9^ Ui/ oommiitoe< The mwn on the' RflediBc