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Real Estate Record
AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.
Vol. XXIX.
NEW TOEK, SATUEDAY, MAECH 18, 1882.
No. 731
Published Weekly by The
Real Estate Record Association
TERMS:
mE YEAR, in advance ..... $6.00
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 13T Broadway
J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.
Since the attempted disposal of Mr. Otto
Ernst's property in Eighty-third street by a
forged deed and mortgage satisfaction piece
there lias been quite an accession to the sub¬
scription list of The Eeal Estate Record
from lawyers and others having charge of
estates. Of course, our books have always
contained a large list of lawyers whose
clients dealt in or are largely interested in
realty, but the case of Mr. Ernst shows how
indispensable The Record is to every owner
of I'eal estate, as no liberty can be taken with
his title deeds which its columns would
not immediately show. The Record has
now been fourteen j^ears in existence, and has
published every official transaction relating
to real estate in New York and Brooklyn
during that period, as well as in the adjoin¬
ing districts. It follows that by using the
index an owner of real estate can very
readily get the history of every piece of prop¬
erty actively dealt in during that time.
Tlie case of Mr. Ernst shows what peril
people run in even owning property without
such guard as the columns of The Record
afford. The victim in this case would have
been a lawyer in the habit of passing upon
titles. The Record is simply indispensable
to anyone who buys, sells or invests in real
estate. No sharper can take any liberties
wiih your title which will not immediately
be brought to your notice by The Record,
and it is just here where the responsibility
of a newspaper comes in. The Record pub¬
lishes everything and suppresses nothing.
On this point it has a reputation which is
unchallenged.
in a house, and he is punished by law be¬
cause he chooses that sort of investment.
The law will not discriminate against him if
he invests his money in a horse or a ship or
an auction stand ; he is not called upon to
pay extra wages to his hostler or the man
who sails his ship. The law should favor
the collection of all just debts in the most
summary manner, and it siiould deal for-
bearingly with the capitalist who furnishes
good homes for reasonable prices. All legis¬
lation which favors delinquent tenants,
forces the landlord to increase iiis rents so as
to have an insurance fund against loss, due
to such legislation.
When will Isgislators learn that laws di¬
rected against landlords are really a detri¬
ment to tenants? In countries like France
and England, where the just rights of the
landlord are carefully guarded, rents are
very low, because the owner of property is
certain to get what is due him when rent
day arrives. But our local laws discrimi¬
nate against landlords, and juries show them
no mercy ; hence rents are necessarily high.
Assemblyman Breen's bill ought to be en¬
titled "An act to encourage dishonest and
careless tenants, and to tax additionally
those who pay their just rents." Mr Breen,
it seems, wants to prevent the summary
ejoctment of tenants who do not pay their
rent. In other words, the class of landlords
are picked out on whom forced contributions
are to be laid for the benefit of delinquent
tenants. Why should the landlord be treat¬
ed any differently from the butcher or baker ?
Yet in this country a curious prejudice is
fostered agaiost the man who puts his money
MR. VANDERBILT AND MR. GOULD.
In the summer of 1877, it will be remem¬
bered, there was a strike of the railway em¬
ployees, and it really looked as if tlie whole
transportation system of the country was
about to fall into confusion. Under ordi¬
nary circumstances there would have been
a partial panic in the stock market; but it
happened that in the spring of. 1877 Mr.
James R. Keene had come to New York
from San Francisco. Believing the lowest
point in prices had been touched, he bought
stocks largely and was loaded up when the
railway strike came. He found himself in a
tight place, aud an appeal was made to Jay
Gould. Russell Sage, W. H. Vanderbilt, aud
other great capitalists to help him through.
For their own sakes as well as his, they con¬
sented, as a panic would have been a verj'
awkward tiling to meet. So iu the midst of
the confusion and excitement, when the
whole railway system of the country was
paralyzed, the great capitalists deliberately
entered the street, and by active bidding
advanced prices under the most adverse cir¬
cumstances. These same great manipula¬
tors have recently combined for the same
purpose. Since last July, Ihe properties
they control have fallen off in market value
from 15 to 50 points. The market was stead¬
ily drifting towards a crisis, and so Mr. Jay
Gould, Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, Mr. Rus¬
sell Sage, and other great railway manipula¬
tors and owners have taken the public into
their confidence, and in published inter¬
views have let the world know that hence¬
forth they are bulls. They openly announced
their intention to sustain the market. Mr.
Vanderbilt, for instance, states that the rail¬
way war has stopped for flve years, and he
pledges himself hereafter to make rates re¬
munerative. Mr. Jay Gould proves that not
only is he not embarrassed, but t^at he is
worth nearly $50,000,000 in stocks alone,
without counting bonds and other invest¬
ments.
It must be confessed that the bulls have
just at present an enormous backing. E very
active, enterprising capitalist in the country
is more or less interested in some railway en¬
terprise. Their interests and hopes are bound
up in seeing the lines to which they are com¬
mitted completed. Vast iron, coal and other
industries are also committed to the bull
side. The party, therefore, has vast organ¬
ized capital at its back to sustain the market
against further depreciation. Then there
are other considerations which help the
bulls. Money is cheap, the immigration
continues very lai'ge, manufacturing con¬
tinues active, trade is good, and what is the
most potent argument of all, stocks have got
back to reasonable flgures; they represent
actual values.
As for the bear party, it is flushed with
past success, but it does not begin to com¬
mand the great capital of the bulls. It is
110,000,000 against f 100.000,000, and yet it
is very doubtful whether any great advance
will be made. Money ought to be tight early
in April, a state o£ things which usually
depresses the market. The gold drain con¬
tinues, and the general causes which have
broken prices are still in operation. Tiie
market is a safer one to operate in thau it has
been for some time past. No great break can
occur, so much is assured,, and so, if there is
not much to advance the market to very high
figures, there is an assurance that no ]ianic
will be allowed to interfere with it this
spring. It is not unreasonable to suppose
that a foreign demand for our securities may
now be created. It was Mi*. Vanderbilt's
attitude in the railway war whicii changed
the temj)er of the London market and sent so
many securities back to New York. The
capitalist s on the bourses of Eui ope, if satis-
fled that the great railway magnates iiere in¬
tend to sustain their properties, will naturally
be again purchasers of American stocks and
bonds.
THE LABOR STRIKES.
The strike of the laborers from Massachus¬
etts to Nebraska is one of the curious signs of
the times. In the latter State the troops have
been called upon to preserve order. A3
every capitalist and employer knows, there
has been a heavy shrinkage of values in all
manner of securities. Comparing the prices
of all active stocks, there has been a shrink¬
age of from 20 to 50 points in eight monihs
time. This represents an enormous total,
and has put a stop to thousands of enter-
pri:,es in which additional labor would have
been employed. Having had two years of
full-time work at good wages, the laboring
classes have got some money ahead and
have chosen the time when capital is aban¬
doning new enterprises to insist upon an ex¬
travagant compensation. One of the first
results in this city has been to put a stop on
the work at the new opera-house, as well as
the projected hotel, corner Broadway and
Thirty-ninth street. There is a demand for
new houses of all kinds in New York, but
the high price of labor, bricks and all build-
i'^g material, is making the capitalists who
are backing the builders very cautious.
Whoever erects any kind of a structure now
does so with a knowledge of the fact that labor
and all material are mere costly than they
have been since paper money times. There
is really very little encouragement in build¬
ing new houses, and a little enforced idle-
' ness would have the effect of reducing the