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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 29, no. 736: April 22, 1882

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AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. YoL. XXIX. NEW TOKK, SATUEDAY, APKIL 22, 1882. No. 736 Published Weekly by The Real Estate PvEgord Association TERMS: QWa year, la advance - - - - - $6.00 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 137 Broadway J.T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. THE STEWART ESTATE. The late A. T. Stewart has been regarded as among the most successful men of his age; yet there is no person, who, while he lived, made so many and such conspicuous mistakes. He bought real estate quite ex¬ tensively, but in nearly every case the pur¬ chase showed entire lack of judgment. He purcriased once valuable property on Bleeck¬ er street, because it was cheap, unaware of the fact that it was steadily deteriorating; he got possession of old churches in unde- s'lrable locations, while his acquisition of the flats at Hempstead was a coni3j)icuous instance of business folly. Hempstead was cheap, because it v/as undesirable and una- A'ailable, and the money in real estate is made in proi^erty Avhich has a future, and Avjiich is dear and will be dearer. Then Mr. Stewart, during the whole of his active life, effectively opposed underground aud ele¬ vated steam roads on Broadway, while the street car was his particular aversion. But the construction of the elevated road on Sixth avenue has greatly increased the price of reoity on that thoroughfare, and* has ruined the retail business of Broadway below Four- toentli street. Tiien, as hss been repeatedly pointed out, it is that part of Broadway on which street cars run, w^hicii retains its Rreat retail business; that is to say, between Fourteenth and Thirty-fourth street is not only a favorite location for stores but for tlieatres. To perpetuate his memory after lie died, Mr. Stewart built a hotel for women; he took every precaution to have liis business firm continued under his own name, while his final resting place v>-as to be ia a splendid mausoleum ia Gaixleu City. But tho Woman's Homo is now an ordinary hotel, the great business whicii lie built up, with so much care will not outlast, the pres¬ ent year, and his very body has disappeared, and there are probably not more than three persons who know the secret of its where¬ abouts. There are no poor women to thank him for a luzurious home, there will be no great establishment to perpetuate his fame in the business world, and no innusoleuni anywhere to mark the spot where he lie^; in¬ terred. After all, what a failure wuo liis life, despite the money lie made as a mere mercliant. The great building on Broadway and Tenth street is literally a white elephanl,:. It is of no value as a store, it is too far down aad too costly for an opera house or a thea¬ tre, and it would require tc o much money to alter it into a hotel.. It was built on leased ground, and bears an arinual rental of $36,000 to the Sailors' Snug Harbor estate. As for the residence at the corner of Tliirty-fourth street and Fifth avenue, it is equally useless and will never bring half its cost when put upon the market. One of Stewart's mistakes was in not training competent successors to conduct the business upon his demise. He knew how to organize the many departments of his great establishment and give them compe¬ tent heads, but he chose a law3-er to conduct a mercantile business, and from all accounts it has been strangled by red tape. Stewart's successor denied his assistants freedom of action; they were cribbed, cramped and confined in every possible way. Those Avho were not forced to resign were asked to leave, and department after department had to be given up. A. T. Stewart did one service to the trade of the country. He established the one price system and insisted upon cash pay¬ ments. This led to ^small profits and large sales, which, while it concentrated the busi¬ ness into a few houses, was a benefit to the community by the assurance it gave of honest goods at reasonable rates. THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK. The stock market has been so heavily oversold that the bears are now the best sustainers of prices. Any little flurry in stocks sets thom covering and so prices are pretty well maintained at the low level they reached after the failure of tlie famous peg speculation of Vanderbilt and Gould. There does not, howevei', seem to be any present prospect of a bull market. The same general causes which have been depressing prices since the crop failure of 1881, aro still at work, and until there is a reasonable assur¬ ance of a good harvest, it is idle to expect any marked advance in stock values. The high prices for Governuients and the cheap¬ ness of money show tliat investors are not buying but selling stocks and do not know what to do with their money, hence it is un¬ employed or is in Governments, where it in at least safe and can be reconverted into money when things look better on the Stock Exchange. The very large business that is being done in real estate is due to the natural desire on the parfc of investors to put their money into somethiug v^diich lins a better future than stocks and bonds. Usu¬ ally eas}'- money means a rising stock market, but continuous clieap money means that people who have large means distrust all investments in stocks and are keepiug theii' funds in Isand. The bulls iiave a goad de.il to s;iy of the ilual effect on stocks of the great immigration, but un- fortunate'ly the railway receipts from that source are but a trifle and the new labor will hardly be available for helping the busi¬ ness of the country before next year. The one interest that it will certainly stimulate is that of unemproved real estate throughout the country. All the western and north¬ western, roads must in time profit largely * by the million people who come over this year, as well as by the natural increase in our native population. The bears present some strong arguments to sustain their view of the market. There will be no silver conference in Paris and hence no cheapening of the.money of the world, which would of course show itself in the enhanced value of everything purcliased throughout the civilized world. The Ad¬ ministration is determined to do all it can to discredit silver in this country. There is a constant shrinking in the volume of our national bank currency and some day the gold artificially kept in the country will find its way across the w^ater. Grain ship¬ ments have stopped, but little cotton is going forward and we are actually repur¬ chasing provisions sent to foreign ports. Our importations have increased and some time or other there will be heavy differences to settle in gold. Then again the crops may turn out bad, in which case there will be a heavy drop in the present figures. It is con¬ ceded that there is dulness in business circles compared witli the activity of last year. There is absolutely nothing to give us higher prices but the immigration and the IDromise of the crops. Without the latter there ought to be a further shrinkage in values, though of course there will be oc¬ casional vigorous rallies. ANENT NEW PARKS. The Sun objects to- the laying out of parks in the annexed district, but favors them in that part of the city which lies east, of the Bowery and below Tompkins square. Here live nearly 300.000 people who have no park pleasure ground, while the iDopulation is dense and the streets narrow. But the reason for parks in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards is that the land cau now be procured very cheap. These new pleasure grounds would be accessible by the elevated roads as well as by way of the Forty- second street depot; but the construction of new parks on the East Side would cost mil¬ lions of dollars, and would -do but little good. But the city should do something for this part of the metropolis. Portions of the river front might be improved. Without any¬ thing so costly as the Thames embankment, we might have pleasure gardens and refresh¬ ment places along the East River front, utilizing open ground and the ends of the piers. Then certain, streets might be lined Avith trees. Much of this population find relief in the hot summer nights by cheap trips to Coney Island. Glen Island is also a favorite and cheap resort for our East Side people, and its success has been so gi-eat that quite a number of places just beyond Hell Gate on the Sound are being fitted up for East Side summer excursionists. The cost of the parks in the annexed district need not be large enough to frighten even our most economical taxpayers. It is a noticeable circumstance that there are relatively very few foreclosure suits, while thei-e has been a decided falling off iu