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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 25, no. 631: April 17, 1880

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Real Estate Record AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. Vol. XXV. NEW YOEK, SATUBDAT, APRIL 17, 1880. No. 631 Published Weekly by TERMS. ONE YEAR, in advance....$10.00. Communications should be addressed to C. W^. SWEET, No. 137 Broadwav. AN EXHIBITION MOEE IMPORTANT THAN THE WORLD'S FAIR. There is now awaiting action before the Execu¬ tive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce a communication from Secretary of State Evarts of fa)- greater importance to the enterprising capi¬ talists of not only this city but of the entire coun¬ try than any scheme that may or may not be sue- cessM for the holding of a great World's Fair in this city in 1883. It is a demand for the construc¬ tion of a mammoth building in New York to ex¬ hibit samples of wares and merchandise required by the various nations of the world, notably those in .\sia, Africa aud South America. At first glance, some of our hot-headed and yet energetic fellow citizens may possibly belittle such an enterprise. Looking at it calmly however and studiously, it will be found that such an establish¬ ment fostered by the General Government is only one, still a very important, link in the great chain tlip.t must bo forged ere long to readjust our com¬ mercial system and to attain for this country, and aboye all for our own city, that supremacy to which both arc entitled. The Real Estate Eec¬ obd, ever on the alert for those waves that occa¬ sionally disturb material prosperity, has heretofore pointed out how in order to prevent periodical panics, our eutire commercial Hystem needed re¬ adjustment. Not only State legislation but fed¬ eral aid was invoked for this systematizing of all ol our industries. We have shown how this coun¬ try required better navigation laws ; why this State should do its utmost to remove the burden now resting on manufacturing capital and throw its portals wide open to those men irom New Eng¬ land and other "States anxious to make their wares and notions in the immediate vicinity of this great shipping point. We have also spoken of the cli¬ matic mfiuences that bear on certain industries, as exemplified by the success that has followed the establishment of cotton factories in the South Dext to the cotton fields. By-and-bye not only legislators in Washington but those in the various State capitals will learn what is best for their res¬ pective sections, and how in a vast territory such as is covered by this Eepublic, tLe proper read¬ justment of our commercial system, bo as to cre¬ ate the greatest possible prosperity for the country in general and the .various States in particular, will be che greatest problera to solve during the next quarter century. It would be plain fallacy to presume that all this can be done at the twink¬ ling of an eye. Study and constant application of new methods are required before the final goal can ue reached. When once we as a commercial, niamifacturing and agricultural country have learned wherein we have failed heretofore, then there is a prospect of permanent amelioration and hope for a constancy in prosperity, which then no nation can wrest from us. New York City, as the fountain-head of this Union, has a deeper interest in the success of the bet¬ ter readjustment of our commercial and industri¬ al system than any other city in the country. Our owners of property dream of El Dorados in the great and distant future, while they sit by listlessly when the plain path to that future is cautiously pointed out to them by those who seek nothing but greatness for this city, and yet are willing to profit by the experience of the past. We might go into an elaborate discourse to prove that agriculture, for our own State, for instance, has ceased to be profitable, and might repeat at length the thread¬ bare arguments to show how other cities on the At¬ lantic seaboard are trying to come up to us—if they can. All this, however, is superfluous. We have come to a period where we, here in New York City and State, must make up our minds to live in and among beehives, where everybody is at work, and makes with his own hands, or with machinery cre¬ ated by his hands, manufactured products that in our State, at least, will outrival the products of the soil. We have made wonderful progress in this respect during the past few years—the hard times since 1873 having indeed proved ''a blessing in disguise "—but our manufacturers have yet agreat deal to learn. It is that which Mr. Evarts pi'oposes to teach them. Never having been educated to make manufactures one of the reliable mainstays of our prosperity, we have heretofore been content in making whatever we liked to make, and how we liked to make it, as we always could sell all we made in our own country. The accumulation of stocks on hand, however, aye, the increase of cap¬ ital, and also of mechanical skill, made American manufacturers seek foreign or rather neutral mar¬ kets. This has been going on now to a considera¬ ble extent lor three years, and yet we are not mak¬ ing in that particular line tho headway to which American ingenuity is entitled. The truth is, our manufacturers have been too aelf-opiniated ou the one side and too ignorant on the other. The Fed¬ eral Government, seeing the importance of foster¬ ing the export trade of our manufacttired products, has decided to come to our rescue by gathering, through the aid of our Consuls in foreign lands, samples of wares and merchandise such as are ac¬ tually wanted there. It will not do to tell other nations that the styles, shapes, sizes, etc., of our products are far preferable over the styles, shapes and sizes they call for. We cannot sell them only, what we make, we must sell them what they re¬ quire. It is that which our State Department is now anxious to show to American manufacturers, and what better centre can be selected for such an ex¬ hibition than our own city of New York. A build¬ ing fully as large as the Madison Square Garden may be required for the purpose, but tbe indirect value that will ultimately accrue to the realty of our city from such a permanent exhibition, will compensate for any sacrifice that may have to be made at the outset, to give the Federal Govern¬ ment ample space in our midst for sitch a wise in¬ novation—that will indeed prove a new era in the permanency of commercial prosperity. NEXT TUESDAY'S GREAT SALE. The important real estate sale ordered by the Mutual Life Insurance Company, to be con¬ ducted by Messrs. A. H. Muller & Son, will take place on Tuesday next, 20th instant, at the Ex¬ change Salesroom. During the past week the demand for maps on the part of those desirous of investing has been unprecedented in the annals of the real estate market, and this, too, at a time when the lull of the past few weeks had not yet entirely disappeared. At the company's offices, also, there were any number of applicants for certain eligible parcels, but in not a single instance did the officers of the institution show a disposition to disturb the programme previously agreed upon. We know positively that since the sale has been advertised, the company was offered its own price for three distinct parcels—that is to say, the price at which these parcels were held before the auction was ordered—but not disposed to break the sale or in any manner to interfere •with it, these offers were all declined. It will be understood then by this time that this sale, which, more than any other will test the real estate market, will give capitalists and investors an op¬ portunity to demonstrate the amount of confi¬ dence they actually pjssess in the future of the American Metropolis. It must not be said that only the remnants of the real estate held by this institution are to be thrown on the market. A glance at the excellent map, gotten up by the auctioneers, will soon dispel that idea, and the improved, as well as the unimproved property is located in some of the very best sections of the city. As to the former, intending purchasers can readily ascertain, without our guidance, the nature of the property offered. We will content ourselves, therefore, with giving some explana¬ tions of interest to those desirous of investing in the vacant lots that are to be sold by the Messrs. Muller, for the Mutual, on Tuesday next. Sixty-sixth street, west of the Boulevard, where six lots are offered, is finished, except aa to paving. Some of these lots contain rock, others are on a good grade, and the Tenth avenue, which is 135 feet west of these lots, is paved. The Tenth avenue lot is on the east side, 25 feet south of Sixty-seventh street. On the rear of this lot is rock, about six feet above the grade. Blasting is now going on on the adjoining lots. The five lots on Boulevard and Sixty-ninth street contain a good deal of rock, about six feet high. Four lots on the easterly side of Tenth avenue, south of Seventy-fourth street, are five feet above the grade. There is one brick front dwelling and a small brick building on these lots. The avenue here is finished except as to paving. The locality is in excellent condition for immediate improve¬ ment. The entire front on the east side of Tenth avenue, between Seventy-sixth and Seventy- seventh streets (eight lots), is about ten feet above grade. Seventy-sixth street, it should be remem¬ bered, has a Belgian pavement and Seventy- seventh street, in this locality, is curbed, guttered and flagged. One or two of these lots on the latter street contain rock, the rest are on good grade.