Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 47, no. 1209: May 16, 1891

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May 16, 1891 Record and Guide. 777 2>-'' ^ ESTABLlSHED%;WARPH2l'-i'^1858. De/oteO to f^EJ^L EsrwE - Buildii/c T^cediECTui^E .Household Degoi^tioiJ. BusirJEss do Themes^ of GEHEfVi 1;Jtei\est PRICE, PER VEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. published every Saturday. Telephone, _ - - - Cortlandt 1370. Commnnications should be addi-essed to C. W. SWEET, 14,& i6 Vesey St, J. 7\ LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLVII MAY 16, 1891. No. 1,209 NOTICE OF REMOVAL. The publication o^ces of The Recced and Guide have been removed to Nos. 14 and 16 Vesey street, over The Mechanics' and Traders' Exchange, a few feet -west of Broadway. THE Stock Market this week has been suffering from the eame coDdifcions, temporary do doubt but acute, which have inhib¬ ited the moderate advance that was justified b? our own industrial condition. On the whole, and up til! Friday, it bore the strain very well; but the accumulation of rumors, the distrust which the continued shipments of gold bave created, tbeioabilityof anyone to foretell tbe time of their cessation will be sufficient to check any advance for the present. Consequently, the Stock Market must be described as a waiting one. It is believed, however, that when the shipments cease, a reverse movement will set in very rapidly. But until it turns, any^discussion of the conditions wiiich ordinarily contribute to the makiug of a market is quite futile. ALTHOUGH during the past week Paris has apparently been the seat of all the foreign troubles, owing to its more inti¬ mate connection with Lisbon, yet, unless affairs atthe latter centre assume a still more threatening aspect, it is probable that the seat of any future disturbance is more likely to be Berlin. One correspondent writing from that city says: " No business, no enterprise, no prospects for improvenient. This in a nut shell is tbe position of the market." The bear party are having it very much their own way. The public do not venture into any new operations, and it is considered most fortunate that they do not all rush to sell. There is not seetuingly any lack of money. Large amounts of capital are seeking safe and remunerative invest¬ ments, without apparently very much chauce of success. Most of it in the ordinary course of things would be invested in real estate and house property; but tbis field has already been over¬ worked. In nearly all lhe Germa.u cities and towns, and particu¬ larly in Berlin, the rapid and constant growth of population bas led to very extensive building; but this class of investment has forthe time being become unrenumerative, Argentines are still on tbe decline, tbe public continuing to sell. The committee for the protection of the creditors will dispatch an agent to Buenos Ayres to negotiate with the government; audit is said that the German Governnient will give earnest support to the remonstrances of the creditors. One of the main sources of weakness in Paris, according to a well-informed writer is the engagements of the joint-stock banks. The new hian, so successfully floated, has been very weak, for which the French Government will be held responsible, as in its eagerness to obtain acollossal subscription, that would compare with some of the great loans under the Empire, the price was fixed so low that investors heid aloof, being certain that tliey would only obtain a small fraction of their demaJds. The conse¬ quence was that a great part of the loau was allotted to weak specu¬ lators, who were forced to realize after the first call for allotment became due. The disquietude in both London and Paris is caused less by apprehensions ot difficulties afc home than by apprehensions of what may occur to Neighbors. The Austrian Government are going immediately to begin some of the improvements which we mentioned two weeks ago. The three in-incipal undertakings, which it is hoped will form the basis of development on a large, scale for Vienna are the building of the city railway, the adaptation of the Danube Canal for heavy navigation, and the covering up of the Vienna River, which receives all the refuse of tbe Western and Southern districts, and is a great hind ranee to the healthy development of the Danube City. The Gov¬ ernment promises £333,000 towards these works.. As much agam will be paid by the Crownland, and the rest must be found by Vienna. If the river and its unhealthy exhalations are covered up tJj? city railroad may be expected to run ou the ground thus gained and a splendid direct avenue may be formed, 'reaching from the Raditsky Bridge, in tbe neighborhood of the Opera House, to the Emperor's handsome summer seat. Castle Schobrum, Then the quay on the Danube Canal will be laid out in docks and ware¬ houses to bring the rich harvests of Hungarv to the city railway for transmission to the railway systems branching from Vienna in all directions. THE Record and Guide has persistently favored any means taken to grant to the Manhattan Company an increase of terminal facilities at Battery Park, on the ground thafc it was tbe only feasi¬ ble plan proposed which would provide the immediate alleviation required, pending the construction of a more substantial and more complete system. The new proposition of the company, however, opens up-a far larger field for discussion; and the reasons which ren¬ dered an increase'of facilities in Battery Park desirable and neces¬ sary have but a slight bearing upon the larger question just opened out. One thing, however, is certain. The proposal must be con¬ sidered on ite merits—as the plan of a company, which has thebest opportunities for understanding the various requirements of the city in respect to rapid transit, and all the resources necessary for the construction of the needed lines. Vituperation about monopohes and speculators are sometimes uot uninteresting, but here they are not at all to the point. The Manhattan Company, after all has been said, has been as satisfactory a public servant as most railways ; it is ready to extend its service, and though we may not think its proposals entirely adequate, alill they cannot be summarily ruled out of court. FOR tbe purposes of clearness, it will be well immediately to draw a distinction between the proposed new lines thafc are designed to meet requu-ements which are already existing, and which undei-any circumstances will continue to exisi, and those designed primarily aud principally to meet tbe larger re¬ quirements of an indefinite future. It will be admitted, we think, that the reasons which justify the fulfillment of the former are of a very dfferent order from which justify or are supposed to justify the fulfillmeut of the latter. In respect to the first class, there can be no question but tbat tbe Manhattan Company should be granted what it asks. It should be permitted to so connect its own lines one with another, and with certain of the ferries, thafc thepeople who, under any cir¬ cumstances, will use the elevated tracks can use them with the least waste of time and trouble. It sbould be allowed, that is, to build the route, beginning at the City Hall Station and going through Centre street. Canal street, through Canal sfcreet to Watfcs street, and through Watts street to West street. Furthermore, unless the route interferes with any scheme of the Commission, it should perhaps be jjermitted to build from the Battery Park Station up West street to Bloomfield , street, into 10th avenue and up that aveaue to 14fch street, and thence to its present stations on. 9th and 6th avenues at thafc street. In the same way and for the same reasons the Ninth avenue line should be connecLed witb lhe Sixth avenue line by means of a road running from Greenwich sti-eet to Houston streefc, tbrough Clai-k- son street to Carmine street, and through Carmine stieet to 6th avenue, uniting with the present line just where it turns up West 3d street. The utility of all these extensions is obvious. Tbey will aid the transmission of passengers from one route tn another— something which can take place at present only at Battfry Park. Tbey will bring to our shops and theatres an increasing number of Brooklyn and Jersey people; and they will enable New Yorkers to reach the ferries and the .Bridge conveniently. Furthermore, as all this will be done for a uniform five cent fare, the public will reap an enormous advantage without having to pay directly tor it. The commentaries on the scheme tendered by Mr. Gould also show that the increased number of tracks and larger termini thus created will do much to rplieve the present over-crowding par¬ ticularly on the yd avenue line. Or to put the whole matter in a sentence, the nevv routes will provide for the more efficient collec¬ tion and the better distribution of the traflic—the main thing needful. THE considerations, bowever, which would lead any fair-minded man to approve of sucb extensions as will promote the com¬ pleter articulation ot the present system do not apply fco the exten¬ sion ui> the Boulevard and llth avenue and u(> 8Lh avenue. In so far as this partof the plan is concerned, we are inclined to sympa¬ thize with the position taken by the daily newspapers. If it be practicable to avoid filling those streets with elevated strucfures, tbey sbould be excluded. If tbe only alternative to elevated struct¬ ures in the streets were an uudergronnd road, no doubt the elevated tracks would be preferable, unless the advocates of an underground system can prove more satisfactorily thau they bave yet done, that tunnel travt-ling can be made pleas¬ ant. But if consistent wifch agi-eeable transit, the streets should be sa.ved from disfigurement. Furthermore, since it is supremely p.e.ce5S3.ry that the new system should be able t^o