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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 33, no. 829: February 2, 1884

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Febmary 3. 18P4 The Record and Guide. 105 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. Published every Saturday. 191 Broadway, N. Y. TERMS: OXE f EAR, iu adrance, SIX DOLL&ES. Commniiicationa should be addressed to C. W, SWEET, 191 Broadway. J, T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. FEBRUARY 2, 1884. There is a decidedly better fetling in the stock market; the tide Beema to have turntd for the present at least. The"6oft" spotsin the market seem lo have hardened, and the liquidation bas been completed in the weaker securities. If this better feeling con¬ tinues, and men wise in the mysteries of the "street" think it will, it Is an indication full of promise for tlie trade of the coun¬ try. The boom of 1879 commenced in Wall street, as did the busi¬ ness depression in the summer of 1881. A change for the better in the same quarter now would mean an improved feeling in all de¬ partments of trade further along. The country is full of money, our industrial machinery is in admirable order for a large busmcss, and should confidence be even partially restored matters will mend for the remainder of the year. Real estate would undoubtedly get the benefit of this improved feeling should it continue. -----------e----------- There is trouble with labor in France due to over-building. The French are ahead of any other nation in using coi-porations for improving realty in large cities. It was the French who invented Credit Mobiliers for constructing railways and canals, and tbey have also been first in the field in using corporate wealth to rebuild sections of cities and improve neighborhoods which had decayed or were surrounded by unfa^ orable conditions. But the corpora¬ tions were lured on by their success into excessive building, which has turned out to be unprofitable ; lience the stories which reach us by cable of the discontent among the laborers connected with the building trade. Tho crisis has proved eo serious that it bas been the subject of anxious conferences iu tbe cabinet meetings and frequent debates in the Chamber of Deputies. So far corpo¬ rations have not been used to build houses in American cities, but it is very evident, before many years aro over, tliat companies ^^ill take the place of individuals in building not only blocks but whole sections of the various cities. A company would not be so much embarrassed by questions of title as individuals now are, AVe are now also provided with an Exchange in which tbe shares of such companies could be dealt in. The tenement house cigar statute has been declared unconstitu¬ tional by the Court of Appeals, because its enactment conflicted with that provision of the State constitution which provided that " no private or local bills which may be passed by the Legislature shall embrace more ihan one subject, and that shall be expressed in the title." How strange it is that Lajjislatures composed almost exclusively of lawyers should persist in passing statutes so care¬ lessly framed as to bo in direct violation of the fundamental law. It is possible tbat iu this particular case the lawyers who drew up the bill and had it passed intended to cheat the working people who demanded the enactment of this law, but still the fact remains that the tendency of all class legislation is to tax the com¬ munity for tbe benefit of the ruling profession. Tlie landlords who compose tho bulk of the British legislators never forget the landed interest, and the lawyers who swarm in our State aid national capitals do all they can to promote litigation. A case in point is our criminal law. Under recent rulings every murderer can have two trials, one before a court and then another on appeal before all the judges ot that particular court. Now it is proposed to give a murderer three trials, and a bill is actually before tbfl LegisUiture authorizing the Court of Appeals to re-try every criminal convicted in a lower court of law. Is it any won¬ der that the people of Long Island propose to take the law into their own hands when our courts fail to mete out punishment to tho vej-y worst offenders, and all for the purpose of swelling the bills of the lawyers? As for the tenement house cigar statute it is just as well tbat it was declared unconatitutional; had it been enforced it would have driven from NewYork an industry that supports some forty thousand persons. It would be a serious mat¬ ter to East Side property were there to be no cigars made in tene¬ ment houses. the columns of tbe Times had been suppressed ; but his ears stuck out again on Thursday last when he was permitted to make tbat paper a laugliing stock by declaring that the only persons inter¬ ested in the price of silver were the American mine owners. This fool in finance actually did not seem to be aware of the fact that the mass of mankind use silver money in all their dealings. It is tbe sole money metal of Asia and a great part of Africa, as well as of Central and South America. Even in gold unit countries it is the money of all retail trade. Anything affecting tbe price of silver is of the highest personal interest to tbe myriads of working people who crowd this planet. The apparent depreciation in the price of silver made by positive law in England, Germany, the United States and a few other nations has caused widespread suf¬ fering over all the nations of the earth. Yet tho Times a.nd Herald actually permit writers access to their columns who know abso¬ lutely nothing of this vitally important matter. Mr. George Jones ought to "fire" that fool out of his editorial rooms. The Record and Guide recently quoted Mr. Sharpe, tbe well- known English railway attorney, as saying tbat the two addilioDEl tracks should never have been constructed on the New York Cen¬ tral roadbed. He alleged that at tbe time Commodore Vanderbilt was laying the two additional tracks, the New York Central was used only six hours out of the twenty-four in transacting its great business. This statement of Mr. Sharpe's was supposed to he unwarranted, but General Winslow, of the West Shore Road, iu an mterview with a reporter of the Commercial Advertiser, says : "The New York Central road earns, so far as can be asceitaiued, between New York and Buffalo, about $3^000,000. The whole of this traffic could easily be carried over the New York. West Shore & Buffalo Railway on account of tbe superiority of its alignment, grades, and equipment. In other words, the tiao tracks of the West Shore Railway, ivhen the sidings and terminal facilities 2>rovidcd are fully completed, will have tlie capacity of transporting all ihe present traffic of the New York Central Mead. Mr. Vanderbilt has foui- tracks between Albany and Buffalo for handling this traffic." This statement will not be disputed by any conipeteni railway man, and lience the criminal folly of building another road between Albany and Buffalo. It can he demonstrated tbat the Central with the same tracks could do all the through and local business of Iho Erie and Lackawanna as well as the West Shore ; nay, more, if the Erie Canal should dry up, its enormous business in heavy freights could be easily handled in addition to all tbe trnfllc above mentioned by the Central road. Hence the hundreds of millions represented by the Erie, the Lackawanna extension and the West Shore has been more than wasted, as they will remain a debt upon which interest will perpetually be paid by tbe business and travel¬ ing public. : Missing hia bray recently we supposed the donkey who jOBoe time einoe ventilated hiB unwisdom on the ailver question in Proposed Removal of (he Stock Exchange. The talk about removing the Stock Exchange to Union Square is of course merely talk, but it brings to light whatraay be a defect in the organization of that important institution. It is composed almost exclusively of brokers—of mere traders on commission— who have no interest in the properties they deal in and no stake in the community. Tbe Real Estate Exchange, for instance, has a membership representing the realty interests of this city. Such a body would never seriously propose to remove away from the neighborhood it bad rendered valuable when the change would in¬ volve an enormous loss to innocent property holders. A removal of tbe Stock Exchangeup town'would causeadisturbance in values as great as the burning down of a first class city. It would render useless bank and office buildings which represent literally hun¬ dreds of millions of dollars. Of course this will not ba done, but a body of mere brokers have it in their power to always threaten such a catastrophe. Has not the time come ivhen the great banking institutions and the owners of securities should have an Exchange of their own? Why allow a set of irresponsible brokers to have all to say in mat¬ ters so vital as tbe handling of the securities of a continent? If the owners of railways bad a pecuniary stake in the Exchange, there would be a check upon the speculative tendencies of that institu¬ tion. Let the property holders who would be ruined were the Ex¬ change to be removed, organize at once and start a new institution oc the same kind, but with a more solid and substantia 1 membership. The mere agitation of such a scheme would soon bring the unruly brokers to their senses. At tbe same time, it is undoubtedly (rue that the present Ex¬ change building is too small for the work it will have to do. That the space is so limited is, however, duo to the brokers' lack of fore¬ sight. They should have had the sense to see how their business was growing, and taken time by the forelock by securing the whole block bounded by Wall, New and Broad streets and Ex¬ change place. Before the system of elevated roads was established, there was Bome aeuM in talking about removing business up town; now, bow i