Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 33, no. 846: May 31, 1884

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May 81.1884 The Record and Guide. 589 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. Pu&IiaA«d every Saturday. 191 Broadway, N. Y. TERMS: ONE TEAR, in adrance, SIX DOLLARS. ConuDunicationB should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager. MAY 31, 1884. The political pot is boiling furiously just now, and will keep on bubbling and Bjiluttering until the popular decision is rendered next November. The agitation will do no harm. The questions at issue oetween the two partiea are not vital and the fury of the fight will be between the partisans of the respective candidates. Notwith¬ standing the popular belief to the contrary, the political excitement of a presidential contest does not hurt business, but ratber helps it, as witness 1880, 1876, 1873, 1868, 1864. all good years, with the ex¬ ception of 1876, which was the best year of the bad times, partly, however, because of the Centennial. While the chances seem to favor the nomination of Cheater A. Arthur by the Republicans, yet he may be set aside by the doubt as to his ability to carry tbe State of New York. Should he not be nominated, the choice may fall on Lincoln, Harrison, Gresham or eome other dark horse. The Dem¬ ocrats Beem co have made up their minds to nominate Tilden, if he will accept, if not Governor Cleveland will probably be the can¬ didate. It will thus be seen tbat the country will be in no peril by anything the conventions may do. We look for a better feeling in the stock market and general business after the nominations are made. Mr. Hewitt's proposed amendments to the national banking law have the merit of good intentions, but, as the Commercial Bulletin points out, the phraseology must be changed if bank depositors are to be really protected from the irregularities and speculative enter¬ prises of bank officers. A discount, under the peculiar decisions of our courts, is not a loan, and Mr, Hewitt's bill, should it become a law, would be no protection against future Enos, Fishs and Seneys. What is needed is a provision prohibiting bank presidents from speculating at all. It should be made a criminal offence during the time which they hold fiduciary trusts. It is absurd to provide that bank and trust companies shall invest in certain undoubted securi¬ ties and then place tbe funds of the bank in the custody of an officer who is a notorious speculator. There are other respects also in which the vorkiDg of our bauk machinery might be amended, but Congress should, without delay, amend Mr. Hewitt's bill and pass it forthwith. ----------•---------- The bill providing for parks in the annexed district will, if indorsed by the Governor, make a great change in the price of realty not only in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards but in the region lying ou Long Island Sound as far as New Rochelle. The interests which would be subserved by the indorsement of thi' bill are very large and important. A postponement of this improve¬ ment for another year would cost the city a great deal of money, for there is every indication that a rise of values ia imminent in all the suburbs of New York. The metropolis of the United States faas really less park room than any of the leading capitals of the world. We have no parade ground for our militia nor space for the open-air sports which have become an institution in thici country. The boys and girla of the pubhc schools have no play- groundi. The young fellowa in our New York college are forced to go to Prospect Pdrk to play lawn tennis, Thousauds of people are accommodated in this way in the great Brooklyn park, while nothing of the kind is permitted in our Central Park. It is clearly unwise to wait until the price of land is high before providing our¬ selves with plenty of park room. It will be a red-letter day for the annexed district as well as a matter for congratulation for our people generally when Governor Cleveland signs the admirable park bill passed by the Legislature. deavoring to embarrass the very persons whom.bis previous actions had injured so severely in a financial way. Not satisfied with the ruin he has wrought he now wishes to injure in every way the bondholders of the company in their very natural desire to make the best of a very bad bargain. These financial sharks bave no bowels of compassion and no conscience. The labor strikes throughout the country have as a general thing been unsuccessful. The only exception we note is the success of a carpenters' strike in Chicago. There ia an unusual amount of building in that city, of which the carpenter seems to have taken advantage. The building businesa seems to be exceptionally profit¬ able just now in all the large cities, and the mechanics connected therewith have plenty of work and good wages. They should make hay while the aun shinea, for labor must be content with smaller rewards before very long. The present rate of wages in the build¬ ing trade cannot be maintained. One of the first roads to reorganize after having gone into bank¬ ruptcy, was the Toledo, Delphos & Burlington. A committee of the first mortgage bondholders, of which James M. Quigley was the chairman, organized and went energetically to work to put the poad into such shape that it could be made eventually profitable. AU the bondholders ot the various divisions of the road agreed to the terms of the re-adjustment, but the Boston banker who originally promoted the scheme and marketed the bonds at absurd- ^ bigh figures has interfered, and by aUiancCB with outiidere iien- Abciut the Banks. The national banks are in great disfavor just at present. Since the time they were organized, during the civil war, they have been the pets of the business world and have generally been popular all over the couutry. They are a great improvement over the old State banks, whose issues were a grievous tax upon all who bought or aold in any of the markets of the couutry. Under the old bank¬ ing regime there were variations in the value of the currency of each separate State. Wild cat banks abounded, and counterfeits were alarmingly frequent. But with the national system came responsibility, and issues which were without discount in the remotest regions of the land. They had other advantages also, wbich made them very powerful in the national legislature and the press, as well as in buainesa circles. But it ia the vice of all credit institutions to intensify existing financial tendencies. The banks have helped the government to create the corner in national securities which is ao hurtful in many ways. They have fed the firea of apeculation when it raged the fiercest, by loaning money on narrow margins when pricea were at their highest. When the inevitable reaction came and distrust was general the banks did all they could to aggravate the prevailing fiaancial distress. They refused to lend money on any security, even governments, and actually forced solvent firms and institutions to go into bank¬ ruptcy. Then when the day of trial came it was found that the banks themselves furnished the most striking illustrations of unbusinesslike methods and personal dishonesty. Up to this time every bill helping the national banks was sure to get through Con¬ greaa. In their war on silver they were backed up by the press and the great business exchangee. The bank magnates did not like the silver policy of the govern¬ ment, as it created a pap^r currency fav superior to their paper issues, and made money cheap in regions where bank accommoda¬ tions were scarce, such as the South and West. Had we an exclu¬ sive gold currency, such as the banks desireJ, tbe rate of interest would have remained high, and the catajtrophe of two weeks ago would have been anticipated by a year at least. It ia now doubt¬ ful if either of the billa before Congress to help the banks will be endorsed by that body. In the meantime the gold and silver cer¬ tificates keep on increasing and the couutry is beginntog to realize that a circulating medium based upon an actual deposit in the vaults of the government is far safer than any paper issue of a bank. If Congresa would only withdraw the fives and tens of the bank as well as the greenback issues, we would then have a gold and silver currency to transact our retail trade similar to that in vogue in Great Britain and Germany. In actually using our reserve in g^ild for currency we would check the tendency to export the ydlow metal which is a constant menace to the fiuancea of the country when the balance of trade is against us. The letter we publish elsewhere giving a history of the new build¬ ing law and explaining its leading provisions will be read with intereat by all in the building trade. The law as passed seems to have been an honest effort to protect the public without injuring the interests of investors aud constructors of new edifices in this city. The Inspector of Buildings cannot under the new law act in an arbitrary manner. Ttie provision in regard to theatres would seem to insure our citizens against danger to life in case of acci¬ dents or fire. Altogether the new law ia a satisfactory one, except to unscrupulous contractors who wish to make money without any reference to the kind of buildings they put up. Notwithstanding the depression in railway shares many of the returns show an increase of receipts over last year. New York Centralis an exception, but that road has been injured by bad man¬ agement. Ita rivpls, auch as the West Shore, the Erie and more especially the Pennsylvania Central, furnish more luxurious accom¬ modation for the aame prices, hence the unquestioned falling ofl in the paaseDger buBiness of New York Central,