Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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August 1,1891 Record and Guide. 145 In 1870 Parliament passed a bill requirine the tramway companies to sell their franchises to the local authorities, if the latter so de¬ sired, after the expu-ation of twenty-one years of operation. Under the terms of this act the County Council will be able to purchase, after August llth next, all tbe tramway systems which were laid down^in 1870. Every disposition exists, apparently, to take advantage of the provisions of tbis measure, and in this the local authorities are supported by the public press. The authorities have no inten¬ tion of working the tramways themselves; they are expressly de¬ barred from so doing by the terms of the act in question; but the duty of tbe councillors to tbeir constituents and to the traveling public demands (so it is held) tbe exercise of their power of pur¬ chase. The franchise can then be leased to a company under stipu¬ lations that will cheapen tbe service. The task will be complicated and difficult, for two reasons. The local authorities have the power to purchase only such tramways as have been constructed twenty- one years. Many of tbe companies which were in existence pre¬ vious to 1870 have since made many additions to their systems. In the second place, there is some doubt as to the legal method of estimating tbe value of tbe tramways to be purchased, the wording of tbe statute being far from explicit. The interesting aspect of tbe whole matter is, however, the unanimity of opinion as to tbe desirability of tbe County Council makthg the purchase, and so securing to the public what increase ensued in tbe value of the franchise. We do a great deal of talking about rapid transit in New York, but if any proposition is advanced for the municipality to own a system of transit, it is stigmatized by officials and editors as " undemocratic," a practice which unnecessarily and foolishly makes Demociacy inseparable from tbe exploitation of tbe public by private companies. We are shortly about to sell in this city a franchise tbat ultimately will be one of tbe most valuable in the world. Tbe terms under wbich tbe Commissioners will offer have not as yet been divulged, even if tbey have been decided upon; but for all it is said about the matter this valuable function may be sold in perp°tuity without any voice being raised in very loud and strenuous objection. Fashions ia Finauce—and Beal Estate, WE spoke last week in these columns about " Fashions in Finance," pointing out the tendency which speculation has to perambulate among the many different securities and com¬ modities that are witbin easy touch for the investing public. At one time it may be railroad bonds and shares that are tbe fashion, "industrials" at another, or it may be petroleum certificates or mining shares. Western mortgages were the "rage" for a time, and real estate for some years past has held a prominent place in public favor. This fact of the flow and ebb of speculation from point to point raises an important question for our readers, who are particularly interested in disderning how far it may reasonably be expected that just as investment drifted from tbe Slock Exchange, forsook the giddy allurement of pipe-line certificates and the plump percentages of Western mortgages so will the recent fat years in real estate be followed by lean ones. Indeed tbere are not a few who believe that already we are on the verge of meagte and unsatisfactory times. This question cannot be answered fully in a word. Confining our remarks to New York City we find that there bas been this year a marked but not a remarkable decline in activity in real estate, compared with either 1890 or 1889, a decline attended by characteristics which enforce the admission that in the present outlook there is nothing that confidently promises immediately brisker times. Now, no doubt some part of the enormous transactions in real estate of Jlie past few years has been the result of oneof those "fashions in finance "of which we have spoken. Speculation has been allured by ample promises, kept abundantly at first. But the fulfillment of each brought dis¬ appointment for others nearer, so that to-day in certain sections of the city speculation has been much overdone. Confidence and capital have been sown broadcast in an imprudent and not seldom a reckless manner, and as fortunes cannot be^ grown like crops it would not be at all wonderful if some of tbe speculative ventures now at sea turn out to be unprofitable, or suffer disaster on a " reef of visionary gold," and if, consequently, the financial fashion which hitherto has favored real estate should depart for a time for the Stock Exchange again, or for thp oil market, the far West, or for any other promising field. In what condition will this departure leave us ? In tbe stagnant state of the Stock Exchange; or the hopeless condition of tbe oil market? With many, fear hovets about this point; but it ought to be obvious that nothing of the kind is to be anticipated, for real estate is differently circumstanced from Stock Exchange and other similar securities. In the tii'st place, speculation pure and simple— and tbat it is tbat follows most closely the " flnancial fashions "—has nothing like the same predominance in real estate that it bas in dealings on tbe Stock Exchange. There is as constant a demand, apart from all speculation, for realty as for butcher's meat; because every year there is a certain increase in population which holds pretty steady despite^the temporary ups and downs of business; and this additional population has not only to be housed, but provided for in factories, stores, municipal buildings and school houses. The' builder comes as surely as the doctor in the increment of population. And more than , ipeculation, more tban financial fashion, it is this increment which is the foundation of activity in real estate. About the constancy of this increment in the metropolis no one is likely to have doubts. There is still another fact to be considered : New York is now a pretty big place, too big to move like a wheel—all together. Of late years ~*e have seen that activity in one section does not mean activity in all other sections, nor, conversely, that dullness affects all parts at the same time. For a few years it istihe East Side that is " booming ;" propertj there is in demand, prices advance, building becomes active. By the time the " move¬ ment " has spent itself another bas commenced, it may be ou the West Side, in Harlem, " down town " among the old office build¬ ings, or it may be a new section is developed, as in the case of the Mercantile District. Tbere is always some section of the city that offers opportunities to tbe wide-awake speculator, whose footsteps are soon followed by the "crowd." New York is really a congeries of cities, and nothing short of a serious national depression can so affect real estate that there will be dead dull times in every part. Relatively dull times we may have, but there will always be a steady demand for real estate such as does not obtain with any other commodity that flnancial fashion has so far taken bold of. Our Newspapers, A CORRESPONDENT asks us whether we are not greatly mis¬ taken in saying that the first page of one of the leading New York daUies was recently given up almost entirely to news about criminal and quasi-criminal events. He affirms tbat he reads the papers a great deal, but has not observed any such dire condition of affairs. Well, our correspondent cannot be very observant, or his memory is at fault. Let him turn for example of the truth of what we said to tbe Sun of Monday last. The Sun surely is one of our "lead¬ ing dailies." It is edited by agentleman who holds ano insignificant place in American scholarship, and the paper lays some stress in a modest way upon tl.e purity of the English printed in its columns and upon its circulation. Certainly, it is read daily by tens of thousands of our " best people." Let us see what news this editor thinks his readers are interested in ; and for the purpose of dis¬ covery we will glance at the head lines on the flrst page of Mon¬ day's issue. The first column and a-half is given to ''Cable news from Ger¬ many—Debts of the Emperor William and his son—Frederick was generous, but William II. was extravagant—Both in the hands of usurers—Herr Paasoh to be sent to an asylum—Rupture in the Social Democratic Party—In Heligoland—Abs tbe champion wrest¬ ler—Krantz wants to be the official executioner again." Abs and Krautz ! What would an intelligent nation do if it did not have the cable to keep it informed about these worthies? Tbe head lines on tbe remainder of the second column read: " Fifty excursionists killed—The talk of Palis—Anarchists begin a fight;" "Special favors to the Harrison family." The third column is devoted to : " Death faced him each way—Lawyer Newcombe chose to risk it by tbe surgeon's knife," wherein an operation for cancer in the stomach is minutely described. In a measure, tbe reader is prepared for tbe fourth column, tbe head lines on wbich are ; '• Renter forgot to— He won't say what—bis dog bit into a cop's check trousers"—"Dead in an empty coal-bin—Suicide because be put the savings of a life time in a poor business"—"Who killed Frankeloso—Suspicions tbat Cotta did it, and intended to elope with his victim's wife"— "Shot himself in the breast"—''Identified by Mrs. Brigham"— "Upset of a stolen boat"—"Almost killed by a mastiff." Ghastlier yet is the fifth column, which begins witb big letters: '' He hacked tbem to death." After this come: " She said she shot him ; a wife's attempt to shield her husband, who killed a man over five cents "—" An Ocean Grove arrest"—" Lost his life in a land slide "—" A siucide's body identified'"—and '' Died on a load of ha/." Following this mass of bloody, or perhaps we should say putrid news, what is given on tbe sixth column is an unsatisfactory descent toward decency: " A sailing party missing"—"Col. Conger at Bar Harbor''—"Blaine holds the reins ; tbe Secretary takes a drive of an bour over the country roads"—"Miss Warden's assassin" — " Earthquake in Indiana"—" Hesuapped the unloaded gun"—" Strikers threaten''— "Mr. Gould at church in the Rockies"—" President Harrison's callers." Tbe news on the seventh aud last columns is more of a family character—reflections as it were from the fireside : " Mrs. Mackey has left him ; but the Rev. Joseph Mackey says he has done no wrong"—"Eloped on a sloop; it was the plan of the young woman, who thought it would be inexpensive "—"A steeple struck during church service'"—" Inspector (toben in hard luck." Now, we would like the Sun or our correspondent to inform us what there is in this mass of gulter news and trivial personalities worth one second's attention of intelligent, not to speak of educated,