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Real Estate Record
AND BUILDERS' GUIDE.
Vol. XXIX.
NEW YOBK, SATUEDAY, APEIL 1, 1882.
No. 733
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.
Judges, juries and the law are doinj? al
tliey can to increase rents. They persist in
regarding landlords as the enemies of the
human race. A woman in Brooklyn, after
tliree trials, has succeeded in mulcting a
landlord for f 1,200 because of an accident
for which lie was not to blame, in front of
one of his houses. The tenant being irre¬
sponsible, the owner of the property was held
to account for a matter in which he was en¬
tirely innocent. In Paris it is the munici¬
pality which is held to account, when an un¬
guarded area or an open coal hole is the
cause of bodily injury to a passer by. It is
held to be the duty of the police to guard
against street accidents. In that city the
law and the courts are friendly to the land¬
lords. As a consequence in Paris rents are
cheap compared with New York, as the
landlord has not to provide an insurance
fund against the injustice of the courts and
juries as he has to do in this city. These
verdicts are a blunder in every way and
for every $100 recovered from a landlord the
great body of rentpayers has to pay $10,000
to the persons they- try to injure but really
benefit.
the kind of lawyers we send to Albany can- { & Lackawanna, and in time, in all prob-
It seems the Mutual Union is now control¬
led by the Western Union, and so Jay
Gould is the greatest factor in the press
and business marts of the country. While
the country is filled wirh cries against monop¬
oly, one man has secured control of the
great means of communication by which
news is transmitted and the business o'f the
country earned on. The way matters are
moving, it looks as if Gould would also con¬
trol the cable communication between the
United States and the rest of the world. Jay
Gould is unquestionably a man of extraor¬
dinary ability in a certain way, and it is
equally true that he is as dishonest a man as
ever lived. But the public must not expect
hereafter to have the truth told about him by
the newspapers, until he dies or looses his
control of the agency, without which the
press could not live.
not be depended upon to do anything that
would prevent litigation or cut down law¬
yers' fees. It woiTld add $50,000,000 to the
value of New York realty if the New Zea¬
land land laws could be put in force here,
and the titles of property be as safe as the
ownership of stocks and bonds. Were this
done, houses and lands would become nego-
uable and would serve as a collateral at
banks. Real estate people ought to act
quickly in this matter, for Bar Associations,
no matter how good their intentions, are
apt to be procrastinating.
The Bar Association has indorsed the
recommendations of its committee, having
in view a simplificatic n of the methods in
transferring real estate. The action of this
body of lawyers is all that could be expected,
but this is a matter which is of vital interest
to those who deal in real estate, and what¬
ever changes are proposed should first under¬
go the scrutiny of persons interested exclu¬
sively in realty. Leading lawyers, who have
assured positions, could probably be depended
upon to suggest wise alterations in the law
for the benefit of the property holders ; but
The Suburban Rapid Transit people, who
have secured from the Park Commiosion the
right to build a bridge over the Harlem
River at Second avenue, say that the suit
brought by the Second Avenue Railroad
Company to prevent the |work will not
amount to anything. The opposition to this
company seems to have died a natural death.
The Suburban Rapid Transit have their
maps and plans nearly completed, and are
still securing right of way. They are
obligated to build the Harlem bridge within
two years, and it is not likely that the full
system of roads which they have engaged to
construct will be completed for three years
yet. It is a pity that the roads and bridge
could not be constructed during the present'
year, for in that case the population in the
Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards
would rapidly increase from 50,000 inhabi¬
tants to three times that number. Should
Brooklyn have rapid transit before the An¬
nexed District as soon as the bridge is opened
the overflow from New York will cross the
East rather than the Harlem River.
ability, with the Ontario & Western, as
well as with the West Shore & Buffak". In
addition to the great coal and freight busi¬
ness of New England, this road, it is
expected, will monopolize the coal business
of New York City, for by using the Hudson
River, on the New York & Northern tracks,
the "black diamonds" can be brought
within the heart of New York without
breaking bulk after leaving the mines. It la
estimated that some 1,200 cars will pass
every day over this bridge. Three dollars a
car would make $3,600 per day, which would
be a very handsome return upon the capital
invested. Cornwall is destined to be a very
important railway centre. It has been sug¬
gested that perhaps an elevator might be
constructed on the bank of the river, which
would receive grain from the West. As the
channel is deep, vessels might be freighted
with corn and wheat ahd sent direct to
Europe. Mr. Vincent C. King, late Fire
Commissioner, is the President of the High¬
land Junction Railroad Company.
THE HIGHLAND JUNCTION RAILROAD
COMPANY.
This is the name of a new corporation, of
$1,000,000 capital, which will begin in May
the workof building a bridge over the Hudson
River. This edifice will be 2,815 feet long,
two of the spans will be 700 feet apart, and
the bridge, when constructed, will be 150 feet
above tide water. The law of the State re¬
quires the span must be at least 135 feet
above the surface of the water. The maps
for this structure have been made by E. V.
Smith, surveyor. It is to be constructed be¬
tween the Storm King and Break Neck
Mountain. The channel at this point of the
river is near the west shore, and is fully 700
feet deep. The whole distance of the rail¬
way, including the bridge, will be about ten
miles. It will probably cost some $6,000,000.
When completed, it is believed it will be a
most iinpertant link for commerce between
New England and the rest of the country.
New England consum'ed last year nearly
37,000,000 tons of coal, and at least three-
fourths of the coal used in the Eastern States
will reach it by this route. The Highland
Junction Railway will connect on the east
bank with the New York and New England
FUTURE BUSINESS CENTRES.
The high price paid for a house at public
auction in Thirty-fourth street, near Broad¬
way, calls attention to a location which may
yet prove to be a most important one for
business purposes. Any point where various
tides of travel meet and which has an open
space in the centre, is very sure in time to
have a great value for business purposes.
This is shown by the past history of realty
in the neighborhood of the City Hall Park,
Union square, Madison square, and certain
portions of Fourteenth and Twenty-third,
streets. When the Standard Theatre was
built on Sixth avenue above Thirty-second
street, it was regarded as a perilous theatrical
venture. But the location turned out to be a
good one for a theatre, and since its estab-
Ushment Dalys, Wallacks and the Bijou thea¬
tres have been opened on Broadway niear the
site of the Standard. There are indications
which, we think, point out that part of Broad¬
way as a great future centre for retail trafiic.
It is here that Sixth avenue joins Thirty-
fourth street and Broadway, a broad thor¬
oughfare, which crosses them both. As the
city grows northward, the costly retail traf¬
fic would naturally find its way to this part of
the city. Theatres are naturally placed where
they are easy of access from distant locations,
and business houses follow the same law as
that which controls the location of places of
amusement. The time will undoubtedly
come when the Tabernacle church will be
needed for business purposes, and when
Thirty-fouith street will naturally become a
business street, as are certain sections of
Fourteenth and Twenty-third streets. A
horse car track is needed on Thirty-fourth
street between Sixth avenue and Third, so
that an uninterrupted car ride can be taken
from the Hunter's Point Ferry to the North
River. At one time it was supposed that a
certain kind of what may be called carriage
Com I lany, and on the west at Cornwall with
k the Erie, Pennsylvania Central, Delaware business would grow up on Fifth Avenue,