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Real Estate Record
AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.
ml
Vol. XXVI.
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1880.
No. 665.
Published Weekly by
® Ije %m\ Estate ^Retorb l^ssocmtioit,
TERMS,
ONE YEAR, in advance....SIO.OO.
Communications should be addressed to
C. ^W. SIVEET,
No. 137 BBOAnwAV
NEW PHASE OF THE TRANSPORTA¬
TION QUESTION.
What will be the relation of the railway
transportatioa lines in the futvire to the ex¬
press companies, the palace car combina¬
tions and the fast freight lines ? These or¬
ganizations were formed inside the railway
systems to effect what the companies were
not prepared to do for themselves—^the
palace cars to carry passengers from one end
of the country to the other, the express com¬
panies to transi^ort parcels, valuable and
light articles of freight to different parts of
the country at an advance upon the ordinary
rates, while the transportation lines dealt
with the several roads and formed practi¬
cally a trunk connection between the farm
regions of the interior and the great mar¬
kets of the country and the ports on the sea
coast.
It must be borne in mind that these or¬
ganizations sprang uj) and were in active
operation before the railway system was de¬
veloped, and prior to the consolidations and
pooling arrangements which are fast limiting
the number of railway systems to three or
four. Now, that all the roads are becoming
either transcontine?:)tal or feeders to great
interstate lines running from the Atlantic to
the Pacifio coast, is it not probable that they
will change their relations to the palace car
companies, the express companies and the
transportation Knes ? Already the Wabash
system of roads is carrying express
packages. The Baltimore & Ohio Road is
fighting the Pullman Palace Car Company,
and the poolitug arrangements inade by the
great trunk - lines are doiug away with the
necessity for freight transportation lines—
the Merchants' Express and the like. In
other words, as the combinations of railway
direction becomes greater and have a larger
area of country to cover, they have been
enabled to provide for the freight and pas¬
senger traffic, which has heretofore been
monopolized by these parasitic organiza¬
tions. The profits which legitimately be¬
longed to the railway companies, have in
the past been frittered away upon organiza¬
tions which lived only because the com¬
panies themselves could not transact all their
business.
But, will the public be benefited ?
We judge not, for the present. The gains
of the express, i)alace car companies and
transportation lines will, in all probability,
hereafter be divided between the inner circle
of railway officials. This generation will
never know the profits made by the leading
railway magnates from what may be termed
the secondary business brought into exist¬
ence by the railway lines. Apart from their
interests in the roads, the VanderbUts and
others are holders of palace car stock, of
stock yards stock, they all will also be large
liolders of refrigerating car stock when these
come into more active use. Then, they are
enabled to provide immense fortunes in
land for their heirs by investments in real
estate in the neighborhoods of depots they
I)ropose to establish. Thousands of vast
fortunes are being rendered possible within
the next twenty years by the selection of
sites on the new lines running to the Pacific.
All along the Southern, Union, Central and
Northern Pacific Roads the land has already
been appropriated, which, in the fullness of
time, will bring colossal fortunes to the de¬
scendants of the present race of railway
directors and manipulators.
When the roads begin to do the express,
palace car and transportation business, it will
inure to the benefit of the immediate asso¬
ciates of the great railway magnates. But,
in time this abuse will be corrected. The uni¬
fying of the railway systems will enforce the
responsibility of the directors not only to the
public, but to the government. These facts
cannot be always hid—they wiU be too pal¬
pable, &nd, after a period of abuse, in which
the people will be exj^loited, proper legislation
will bring about a remedy. It is not improb¬
able that some of the great railway lines
will purchase the good will and business of
the express and palace car companies, but
yet it must be remembered that corporations,
literaUy, have no souls. In dealing with the
government they exact a heavy premium for
their vested rights. In dealing with one
another they have no compassion. On
several of the roads the express companies
have already been peremptorily ordered off.
The courts have so far taken the conservative
view and have admitted that they have some
rights which the existing corporations must
respect. It is, however, safe to predict that
within the coming decade the railways will
themselves do their own express and palace
car business, as well as secure the profits now
absorbed by the freight transportation lines..
mtist congratulate the Various committees
that they have at last agreed upon a site,
and now fervently hope that they will
succeed in raising the funds requisite for
this vast enterprise, within the time speci¬
fied by law, January 10. It is a pity that an
agreement as to a site was not reached at
the very outset, and the disagreements may
have led to the withdrawal of cai^ital that
ought to have been subscribed ere this.
Nevertheless, this tardy but unanimous se¬
lection of Inwood may yet induce capital¬
ists, hotel keepers, railroad magnates and
others to supply the money necessary to
make the exhibition a grand success. With¬
out this preliminary assurance, of course, it
would be idle to anticipate' great results
fi'om an undertaking that must be excelsior
in all its various details, so that New York
can be proud, indeed, of the Interna¬
tional Exhibition to be held within its
borders. Its projectors have the very best
of wishes for success. It depends upon their
energy and intellect now whether they will
or can take judicious advantage of the good
wfil that bids them God speed. Time is
short; two years pass by very rapidly, and
with due foresight success may yet be as¬
sured.
Inwood, the site selected, can be reached
from the Grand Central Depot in fifteen
minutes. Some of the Hudson River steam¬
boat companies own land near by and have
only to drive piles down to make lauding
places. There is forty feet of water at the
landing. The tract selected has a mile
frontage on the King's Bridge road, and a
mile frontage on the Harlem River. In the
250 acres which it contains there are 4,350
lots. The land is held by about fifty owners-
THE INWOOD SITE.
The quaint saying of the Hibernian gentle¬
man that "the site for the World's Fair
would be selected after the Fair has been
held" will not prove true after all. We
RAPID TRANSIT ON THE HUDSON.
Wo have heard a great deal of late of the
transval district, which includes the iregion
known as Carmansville,Washington Heights
and Inwood. There can be no manner of
doubt that there is a grand future for this
district, situated as it is on the borders of tlie
Hudson, and embracing some of the most
beautiful grounds known on and around
Manhattan Island. An effort has been made
recently to bring this section more promi¬
nently into the real estate market and to urge
upon investors the propriety and advantage
of lodging their spare funds in the soil of
that section. No one, of course, can find
fault with the efforts of those interested to
bring this locality more prominently to the
front. But the sound proverb that " God
will only help those who help themselves,"
comes in quite appropriately right here.
Why do not the owners of property in and
around Inwood, which extends from Fort
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I.
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