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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 29, no. 733: April 1, 1882

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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,