Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 51, no. 1312: May 6, 1893

Text version:

B^;M!*$5 Wife lHe«E£ Of Ge^EI^ !|iTCTf S? PRICE, PER FEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. THLEPHONB . - . . COBTI^ITDT 1870. Conuntuilt^ationa should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & 16 Vesey St, J. 'I. LINDSEY, Busine-fS Manager, "iffntered ot the Post-office at New York, N. 7., aa second-class matter." sliould be couaing this way in any quantity, we shall see the flow prevented iu some way, either by realizations in our niarket or by the exercise oE those means always held in reserve to protecb a gold supply in Europe, and which we are so uowieely without. Vol. U. MAY 6. 1898. No. 1,812 NOTICE TO HEADERS, Readers of The Recced and Guide will observe titat this issue of the paper, consisting of sixty-four pages, is made up in part of thirty-seven 2)age3 of reports of recorded transactions, representing nearly 5 000 separate records. The transcribing, arranging in- alphabetical order atid according totheir proper classifications, and. printing such a number of separate items is a more difficult under- faking than any of our subscribers are, we presume, aware of. Ordinarily very large at tltis period of the year, the real estate filings have increased in vu-mber everj/ year, and are for this year greater than ever Tlie fact is significant of a continuous and sub¬ stantial growth nf the real estate business. It accounts, too, fnr , the press^tre uoon our news columns, which has required the exclu¬ sion from this ■luimber of much interesting matter. ~------•---------- THAT one or two securities that have been marked up into high prices despite the adverse condition of the money market. a.ccompanied by statements of business done and profits made (luite criminal in their disregard of truth, should come down wiih a crash need surprise no one. It was known that they would as aoon as outside tjonditions made it imperative on insiders to Jay down their loads. Cordage has especially been marked for a fall. aud it and other worthless things in its class have brought down better ones with them, simply because they were all known as " Tndu.'strials," The business of AVall street is in such a large pro- • portion a speculative one that it necessarily follows that both buying and selling are indiscriminate, based in the greater majority of cases on matters only remotely connected with the stock bought or sold. This being tbe case, it is not remarkable that the good suffer with the bad, when aa, for a time yesterday, the only desire was to get rid of certain stocks at any terms, no matter what eacri- fice was involved. But when that wild desire was satisfied, the quotations made upon the reaction soon told where the merit and demerit laj'. It is ioaporiant to note tbis distinction, because whatever may be said to the contrary we have not seen the end of speculation in the Industrials. They may pass out of favor for a while, but only until depressed sufficiently to make tbem attractive if not cbeap, and if the set of people—though not all burnt children dread the flre—whose burns are still smarting may not incur new dangers a new set will. Tho more important question for the moment is to what extent do the events of the past week change the previous situation. Now the inflation in the Industrials was not the cause of the depression from which we have suffered for so long a time. It was that depression which brought about the collapse in the Industrials, consequently that collapse cannotbe said to have done more than put one danger out of the way and noli to have removed any others tbat have been threatening. Besides the market will soon have to take again all the stock bought for a rally, and though the demand on it may not be sudden, it will assuredly affect prices again. It is really the after effects of a calamity in the stock market tbat are mosfc to be feared, for. while the first event appears to be most serious because of the injury done in a short time in on"; spot, the later ones which follow the rally are really so because they injuriously influence everything. Then, too, our financial outlook ie darkened by currency difficulties, from which there is no hope of speedy releasBj'the administration preferring the mendicant policy of send¬ ing the hat round for voluntary contributions of gold here and there instead of having Congress in session at tbis very moment aud facing the responsibility which belongs to it. This currency trouble must continue to work mischief everywhere as long as it exists. No encouragement comes from abroad, Austria bas diffi¬ culty in defending the gold supply she has laid up at so much cost. The effect of the troubles in her Australasian colonies are yet to come to the surface iu Great Britain. France has to face an accumulated deficit. It will assuredly happen that whenever gold FOR some months past there has been an upward movement of Hungarian and Austrian securities, because of the prosperity of the Empire, an abundance of money and the success of tbe prepara¬ tions to resume specie payments. Tbe consequence was thai; mauy foreign investors sold their Austrian and Hangarian securities in Vienna, becaus*) the other continentaIbour.es did not follow the revival in Austria; and as all payments had to be made in gold a rise of the premium took plnce, all the more because of the extensive ))urchases ot gold by the Rothschild syndicate for the purposes of currency reform tend to have a similar effect. This rise iu foreign exchange and the gold premium has not only brought to a stop tbe upward movement in securities, but has also had the reeult of starting a sharp selling movement. The tendency of prices in Berlin is also downward, due chiefly to tbe reaction in Austrian securities and the belief that Austria-Hungary will find it much more difficult to realize their iilan of a guid standard than the government anticipated in the beginning. Another cause for distrust is the political situation. The Imperial Goveinuient bas as yet been unable to pass its Army Bili; and it is very much feared that the measure will cause a general election and a bitter contest, all of which bas helped to unsettle the price of German national securities. In spite of the failures in Australia, and the ticklish condition of the banks in the chief Australian colonies, the English stock marketis more active: and the tendency of prices in many'important cla-sses of securities is upward, Tbe offer ot settlement which the Argentine Republic has made to its bond¬ holders seems to have created a distinctly favorable impression, although some of the more conservative critics are dubious about the proposal, because so far it bas not been accompanied by an official statement showing the actual financial condition of the Republic. Without some such statement, they assert, no com¬ mittee vvould feel justified in recommending the bondnolders to ratify the proposed agreement. Tbe proposal is to set aside a yearly sum of ,£1,500,000 for the service of the entire national debt, which it is estimated amounts to £44,500,000, leaving it for the bondholders themselves to determine the apportionment of thia sum between the different classes of [secuiities. It this offer be accepted tbe Finance Minister will recommend his government to resume full interest payments from July 1st, 1898, and to resume from January Ist, 1901, the sinking funds which will meanwhile be suspended. ORDINARILY the failure of a business man is interesting only tn his creditors and relatives; but the assignment of Mr. WiiUMu has a peculiar interest for the publicas well. This is not merely be¬ cause his advocacy of a commercial union with Candida gave him a certain political position: it Is rath?r because his business interests were identified with the development of an important suburban section near New York, His failure, consequently, means that he has beeu unable to increase thepopulaLiou of Staten Island as he expected to. According to the pupers his as-.ets consist chiefly of some 4,000 acres of unimproved veal estate sitaatedupon that island —apiece of property which he ban been carrying for a number of years and which has been a drain upon his resources without increasing very much in valu*-. His inabilily to get rid of tliis property was not due to any lack of activity ou his part. Being a mau of great energy and considerable ingenuity and fertility of resource, he exhausted all the devices known to the modern real estate "boomer" in the effort to lure the overflow of New York City across tho Staten Island Ferry, He organized a company to build really useful railroads around the island; lie greatly improved the ferry service from the Battery to St. George; he eveu tempted an importanfc trunk line railway to lease the Staten Island Railroad, to bridge the Kill von Kull and to build docks and terminals on tbo most available locations. When this feat was accouiplished he raised a great hullaballoo. The establish¬ ment of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad on Siaten Island was going to revolutionise the export busmess of this port, manufacturers ■\vere going to leave New York City and Brooklyn, and were going to obtain cheaper factory sites and pleasanter quarters for their employes in the neighborhood of Erastina, As the years past ou none of these tremendous changes began to materialize. Tiie Baltimore & Ohio Railroad handled very little busiaess on his Staten Island doclis; New York manufacturers stupidly refused to purchase cheap factory sites in the neighborhood of Erastiua; the business relations of the island with the rest of the country remained very much as it was before Mr.^Wimaa started atl these improvements. ----------■---------- MEANWHILE the workingmen and business men of New Yotk were not to be tempted across the Biy to Richmond County, Many of the former did, indeed, pay casual visits to the romantic attractions of the Wild Vi'est Show at Erastina, and after the depar-