Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

The Record and guide: [v. 35, no. 882]: February 7, 1885

Text version:

126 The Record and Guide. February 7, 1885 o.iteied in a separate volume indexed by the names of the parties af¬ fected. Of course, it will occur that some deeds and mortgages will in¬ clude and cover many lots, and will have tobe "posted" on thg page of each separate lot, just as the "Abstracts" are. There are a number of little details about the particular lot, and the particular deed or mortgage or tax sale or lien, that can be noted on the particular line of the latter. But each item affecting the title has its own line. Assuming that something is done or occurs once every five years to affect a lot, twenty lines would show the record of a hundred years, which carries us back to the time when nearly all of the present City of New York was in farms; (I myself remember walking with my father up to the country at Fourteenth Street and Broadway): and a fair ledger page contains fifty to sixty lines, so the account of a lot once begun will last quite awhile before it need be simply con. tinned on a subsequent page. Now when a buyer or a lender, or his lawyer, desires a chain of title, let the searcher look at the Guide-map (which he will soon know by heart), turn to the block volume, turn to the page having tbe tax number, and in half an hour copy and verify the whole chain of title; then examine the names in the judgment dockets, and the work is done. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------•---------------------------------------------------------------------------------■ The Sun, Evening Post and the other daily journals which are so indignant when the government spends money for legitimate pur¬ poses, such as imiiroving rivers and harbors and constructing necessary postoffices and custom-houses, are delighted with the pro- jiosed reduction of newspaper postage, in whicli the government takes ujion itself to carry the newspaper mails for almost nothing. The government has been paying out for a great many years from $8,000,000 to $10,000,000 which goes directly into the pockets of newspaper publishers without anj' equivalent. The poorest servant girl or laborer is taxed two cents for every half-ounce letter, but our millionaire publishers and rich newspaper corporations have been charged only two cents for every pound of their matter passed through the mails. It has now been decided to reduce this to 1 cent per pound. The carrying of these mails must cost the government from three to four cents a pound. In other words, the government will pay out hereafter from $8,000,000 to $12,000,000 more than it receives for the class of matter represented by the newspaper pack¬ ages. The Sun is a prosperous paper, paying its editor some $60,000 per annum and its stockholders 30 to 40 per cent, on their paid-up capital. It could well afford to reimburse the government at least cost for the carriage of its mails, but it heartily endorses this outrageous swindle while lustily protesting against every appropriation for urgent public improvements. Never by any chance does the press ever give the facts about this subvention which they receive annuaUy from the treasury of the United States. ---------•--------- What Attracts Gold? It wiU be remembered that there is no silver coinage act in England. It is and has been a gold monometallic countrj- for over halt a cfntury, but it is a curious fact that since the commercial world has followed England's example and demonetized silver, it is the nations which have not discarded the latter that attiact gold into its bank vaults and general trade. Italj-, Austria and Greece have recently adopted the gold basis, and hence a scramble for the yellow metal, which has reduced prices the world over, but has inflicted the severest injury upon the gold unit nations. This is shown by the foUowing exti-act from the London Econom ist of January 24 condemn¬ ing the Bank of England for reducing the rate of interest from .5 to 4 per cent.: While our stock of the metal has been curtailed, our ability to draw upon foreign supplies has evidently diminished. Throughout the early part ot last year gold was flowing iii upon us in groat volume, although the bank rate stood only at 2},' to 3 per ceut. Now, however, a 5 per cent, rate has proved quite ineffective in attracting gold from abroad. And this is all the more remarkable, because at nearly all the chief foreign centres the banks hold larger amounts of the metal tlian thev did at this time last year. Con trasting the position of the Continental und New York banks now and at the con-esponding date in 1884, we have the following: COIN AND Bl'LLION. 1885. 1884. Bank of France, gold ..................... £:3:1,KT(i,000 £3? 842 000 Fank of Franco, silver....................... 40,990,000 .39 9.36 000 BiDk of G.-rmauy........................ 26,612,000 SsisOl^OOO Ausfro-Huuirarian Bank, gold............... 7,883,000 7,170,000 Aiistio-Hungarian Bank, silver........... la,737,000 12'27o"ooo Netherl.aiifls Bank, gold...................... 2.268,000 l'9r:j"ooO Netherlands Bank, silver.................... 7,695,000 T 7.^0 000 NewYork .V.wociated Banks................. 19,700,000 14 080000 Bank of England............................ 21,694,000 21.657^000 ■ " That we have been unable to make drafts upou those larger stocks of nld, although we have been making a high bid for them, shows that they piping held with an unusually tenacious grip. Nor, in view of the fiuan- ^'-d commercial difficulties that have lieen rife, is it difBcult to under- nomeuhy they should be thus held. In these cu-cumstances it is obviously 000 nea/.*'^'^'^^"'^ *°*''^^''""'"^ ^^''"*'"®'^''"*'<'°- Knowing how the inter- •o^'o OOO -ifti" "^ '''°"' ^'^^ ''^'^" depleted, and ho^v difficult it has become to fOiU,UUU,JUv ni abroad, it ought rather to strive to use the control which of the United .''o o^'er the market to make its 5 per cent, effective, than by P expose to tbe risk of further diminution its stock of gold, many, r ranee p^ ^f jagj. autumn conclusively showed to he barely sufl3- than $4 per capita 6-franc piece contTures shows that whUe the associated banks of New standard dollar ; bP>'' stores of gold over ?30,000,000 under the opera. Bxnelled bv the use o'.WK tb^ "i'^^^i w|th money rsiiering from 1 \Kfi\4 per cent., England with the rate of interest varying from 3',j to .5 per cent, has barely retained its store of gold. Is not the inference irresistible that bi-metallism attracts gold, which fact is further proved bj' the increase in the gold reserves of the Bauk of France, notwithstanding the enormous mass of sUver held by that country. We beg our readers to look at the figui-es given above and draw their own moral. Proposed Union of Capitalists and Laborers. Mr. Frank C. HoUins' pamphlet on "Sensational Legislation" is bearing fruit. In that pubUcatiou he urgetl that there should be a union of the representatives of the great corporations and the laboring classes with a view to mutual advantage. The matter has been taken up by labor unions in different pai"ts of the countrj-, and by the employes of many of the great rail waj' companies. Those of the Northwest Companj', the C., C., C. & I. and nearlj' all the Vanderbilt roads, as well as the Georgia road.i, have alreadj' taken action. The objects in view are best told bj' the following resolutions which have been pa-ssed at a gieat number of meetings: Whereas, There exists a depression in business of such unexampled severitj' that it has led to grave trade embarrassment', resulting in the dis¬ charge of workmen and cutting down of watjes: nnd IVhereas This state ot things co-exists with abundnnt harvests, low prices for conmiodities, and vast sums of gold, silver and currencj' locked up in the Government Treasurj', the vatllts ot the National Banks and other places; and Whereas, This depression has been largelj" caused by the agitation of the tariff question and attacks upon legitimate euterprises employing lalior, thus causing a loss of confidence, disa.strous failures of manufactures of all kinds, resulting in starvation wages and idleness in all cla.sses of the com¬ munity throughout the countrj': Therefore Resolved, That the time has come when an organization of all cla.'^ses and grades of societj' should be iiiuiiediatcly effected, and bj' memorials to Congre.ss, and bj' resolutions pa.sse(l bj' the respective labor and business organizations in every State throughout the Union, unite in demanding that Congress make liberal appropriations for the improvement of our coast cities and rivers, erection of postoffices, aud do such other work which will not only enrich the nation but give employment to idle iron and steel mills and other manufactures and through them to the coal interests employing thousands of minei's now idle. Resolved, That the agitation of the tariff (jue.stion must cease, and that Congre-ss as well as our State Legislatures should liend every effort to pass¬ ing just laws in the iuterest of lioth labor and capital, and the restoration of confidence to the business communitj' and in the countries abroad whose monej' would seek emploj'meut ui this countrj', thereby em'ichiug it through the emploj'ment it would give to all gi'ades of societj'. Resolved, That officers of corporations must be held to a strict accounta- bilitj' for their acts bj' laws which do not now exist, making it a criminal offence, punishable bj' imprisonment, to pubhsh a statement over their sig¬ nature which can be proved to be false. Resolved, That while officials of corporations must be held sti-ictly respon.sible for their acts, every attack bj' political demagogues, or other¬ wise, upon corporations, manufactures and enterprises ^)f all kind.*, tho effect of which would be in the end to contract their busiuess, compelling a discharge of clerks, mechanics and laborers, and the reduction of their wages, must be vigorously resi.sted. Resolved, That the co-operation of labor and capital in effecting these reforms would open new channels for monej', and the wheels of industry would again be set in motion, and financial depression give place to com¬ mercial prosporitj'. It is probably too late for resolutions such asthe above to have much effect on Congress: but if the movement is continued it maj' have a very powerful effect upon the action of the next Congress. An organization, representing a million of voters, with the powerful corporations at their back, could get almost any legislation out ot Congress. This is shown by the success ot the Grand Armj' of the Republic Posts. To this organization is to be credited the enormous pension appropriations. Their modus operandi is explained by the way in which thej' have worked a Job to give to the members official War Records for nothing. Congress has been inundated with petitions to give photographic views of the battle-fields and plans of campaign, and fm'ni.sli them to the private pei-sons who now have these records in possession. It is, of course, a Job ot the most rascally kind, but it will probably get through Congi-ess. If an editor should protest against this Job, he is bulldozed with letters from all parts of the countrj-, J'et it is doubtful if there are l.i.OOO members in these office and plunder- seeking Grand Armj' of the Repubhc posts. Were the great coryxirations emd their sj-nipathizlng emploj-as as well organized politicaUy thej- could accompUsh wonders. In lt>8:j there were some 490,000 persons directlv in the pay of the railwaj' companies. It is to be seen if this great potential power can be utilized. '■ I would rather have the management of a tenement house filled with turbulent families than have the i-unning of a large and costJj- flat house.'' This weis said by one of the largest house agents in New York to the writer. " You surprise me. I supposed that the drunkenness and disorder in the large tenements made it hard lines for an agent," re.sponded the latter. "You see," said the house agent, " that in the tenement house rents are paid by the month. You can force the occupants to abide bj- the rules, for if they do not, out thej- go: aud there is an end of that particular trouble; but the costlj- suites of rooms iu the modern flat houses are occupied by the year, and when there is trouble betweeu people in the same building it is difficult to compose the contention. It is an old saying and true in a measure that no house is large enough for two families, and people who live in flats sometimes find that out. Suppose, for iustance, that the family which lives ujion the lower floor is a quiet one, the members of which retire early, say at 10 o'clock: but on the floor above is located a family of a gayer turn of mind. They receive companj-, have music and dancing up to 12 o'clock, and sometimes after. Now the."e will be more or less noise and shuffling of feet and consequent dissatisfaction among the other families. The gay family will not be deprived of their custuiuary pleasures, while the quiet family is natmally irritated at being kept awake. Theu again on the third or fourth floor there may be a lamilv with children, little babies, which the nm-se takes out dailj- leaving the baby v.agous in the lower hall. Now the occupants of the first floor may be a childless couple; perhaps there is an old maid or two Ij'ing around loose, and they are naturally angry about the hallwaj's bein^ crowded up with baby wagons. This vrill give you an ideg. of some t'f th^ difconiforts o{ niftnafins apart¬ ment houset! "" ........" ...... ...... "~ ^ .