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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 32, no. 815: October 27, 1883

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October 27, 1888 The Record and Guide, 827 THE RECORD AND GUIDE. 191 Broadwray, N. Y. TERMS: QTiE TEAR, in advance, SIX DOLLARS. Commurkicationa should be addressed to C. W, SWEET, 191 Broadway. J, T. LINDSEY, Buainess Manager. OCTOBER 27, 1883. Last week we ventured to predict that the great bear campaign of 1883 was over, and that better prices for stocks might be ex¬ pected for a short time at least. And the course of the market for the week has vindicated the forecast. But we do not anticipate any prolonged " boom." There will probably be a better feeling, for the bears are intimidated, but operators would do well to be cautious. With failures in all departments of business, and the price of iron going down, there can be no hope of permanently prosperous times, which is the only real basis for a strong and bealthy stock market. There are, it is true, aome vgry^-geo elements in the situation. Labor is still emplQjwd-Hir^od wages, our crops are sufficient, if not abund^ntrand our population is in¬ creasing. As soon as we ship grain, gold will conie this way from Europe. As stocks have been sold down unduty there has been an excuse for the recent advance in prices. The heavy verdict of $20,000 given by the jury to Dr. Taylor for the damage to his business and property, at tbe corner of Sixth avenue and Fifty-third street, will be ruinous to the elevated road syBtem if endorsed by the higher courts. These roads have been and are an enormous benefit to New York, They have made large sections of the city habitable and doubled the area of taxable prop¬ erty. They have, it is true, damaged some property, but the city and not the roada ought to make that loss good. And this, no doubt, would be the feeling were it not for the scandalous miscon¬ duct of Jay Gould, Russell Sage and Cyrus W. Field iu their vari¬ ous elevated road stock operations. But the traveling public and tlie city of New York have benefited so immensely by the elevated system that it would be unjust to cripple and punish the latter for the misdeeds of certain conscienceless speculators. But of course these court proceedings will go on, as they are very profitable to the lawyers. J- Quite a number of land and building associations have been formed recently, with the view of purchasing and improving cer¬ tain properties. Under our laws it is now quite possible to apply corporate management in the purchase, improvement and sale of real estate. ■ There are many enterprises which might be made profitable were they not too large to be handled by private capital¬ ists, but an association of a dozen or more persons could raise amounts sufBcient to improve quite a good deal of real estate. The time is coming when these associations will become very popular, and when the Beal Estate Exchange is organized the shares of these corporations will be regularly bought and sold, as are other securities. Indeed, eventually no inconsiderable part of the deal¬ ings on the Real Fstate Exchange will be in stocks representing lands and houfies. cabal must be dethroned, and stripped of his power, and real authority given to actual municipal leaders. The latter must con¬ trol hip own appointments, without any reference to a power be¬ hind tbe scenes. The result of the Brooklyn election ougl'ttosbow the popularity of home rule and responsible government, and thus force the State Legislature to so amend our city charter that New York can also have the benefit of non-partisan and responsible gov¬ ernment. Unfortunately neither of the parties care anything for either. A vote for the local Democratic ticket means, of course, the perpetuation of Mr. John Kelly's power, who is, by the way, a better man than his enemies have represented him to be. But Mr. Kelly is no municipal reformer, and a retention of the Democrats in power simply means the old order of things. But some day or other responsible government will be the issue, and it will win. The Democrats of Brooklyn have nominated as their candidate for Mayor a reporter of the New York Sun, Some journals are disposed to question the fitness of Mr. Hendrix because he is a re¬ porter, but this is a mistaken view of the case. To be a good reportei one must be intelligent, alert and honest, qualities which are Indispensable to an executive officer. The teaching which a journalist gets in following his profession makes him acquainted with men and things, and gives him a wide range of experiences. The Republican nominee, Mr. Seth Low, has made for himself a good record and his campaign is based upon his deeds. He has met all his engagements with the public, and has endeavored to govern Brooklyn on business methods. He has faithfully tried to be non-partisan. A very sharp contest is now being waged between these two young men, who are credited with intelligence, integrity and energy in about an equal degree, the merits of either being so indubitable as to make it a matter of indifl[erence whicb shall be chosen, excepting for party reasons. Municipal government in this country, as administered under party rule, has completely broken do^vn. We want responsible government and home rule to purify our local politics. Executive authority must be reinforced, and the chief magistrate of a city held responsible for all his ap¬ pointments and acta. We must get rid as far as possible of Alder- juaniorulei. The^irresppnsible "hose'-' at the hea4 pf a political The Metropolitan Opera House. The new building which has been so much and so variously talked about has at last been put to the test oE use, and, as every¬ body who has witnessed a performance in it will admit, has passed that test with great credit to itaelf. The practical requisites of an opera house may be put in this order—1. Facilities for seeing and hearing. 2. Ease of entrance and egress, 3. Ample stage room. Really all the complications may be reduced to one or the other of these three requisites, sound construction being taken for granted. There was some grumbling on the first night from the occupants even of the balcony that they could not hear at all, and that they could see nothing but the stage, and at the back of the build¬ ing there were complaints alao of ventilation. But these complaints seem to have been mostly unreasonable, and to bave been com¬ plaints of the inevitable conditions of the building rather than of the manner in which those conditions had been dealt with by the architect. Of course the seats in a house of five tiers {six, counting the half tier of baignoir boxes) cannot be of equal value, or any¬ thing like it. If they were of equal value there weeM be no sense in making them of unequal price. That every spectator in the house should have a fairly good view of what is going on on the stage, and should be able to hear fairly well is all that can be fairly asked and more than is commonly had ; and these two things have certainly been attained in the new house. It is quite idle to quarrel with the fact that some of the spectators in such a house can see next to nothing of the audience. The reports concerning the acoustics vary, as indeed is inevitable in such a house. Some spec¬ tators say that they heard very well, and others near them that they heard very imperfectly. But there was no complaint from the parquette or tbe boxes, and those above who did not bear well only complain that the sound was faint. There is no complaint of any reverberation, and no reason to believe that there is reverberation anywhere. The house may not be a brilliant success acoustically —that remains to be fully determined—but it is most certainly not an acoustic failure. After all, however, the audience at an opera is part of the show, to many of every audience tbe chief part of the show, and one can account for. if he cannot sympathize with, the complaints of those who feel themselves defrauded when they can only see the stage. The fact is that it was impossible to arrange it otherwise, even with so enormous a parquette as that of the new building, if there were to be five tiers above tlie parquette. The balcony would have to be cramped more or less for the sake of the family circle, which even then would not be a satisfactory place. And, after all, what is tbe advantage in two galleries ? There can scarcely be three performances a season when both will be filled, and a part of the audience at every other performance must be more or less inconvenienced for the sake of these. In fact, the endeavor to secure a seating capacity of 3,000 persons in a house of which three tiers are given up to boxes holding less than 700 persons, was a mistake, either on the part of the architect or of his clients. Assuming it to have been a condition imposed upon him, either directly or indirectly, by a belief that the seating capacity of the house would be decisive of the competition, it is bard to see how it could have been more intelligently or skillfully met. What is, perhaps, most admirable in the house is the perfection of the arrangements for filling and emptying it. On the first night, with an audience unfamiliar to the place, and as large as can be expected ever to be assembled in it, there was no confusion, no delay, no crowding, no stampeding. There is no public building in New York of whicli the exits and the entrances are anything like so ample and convenient. True, there ia scarcely any other public building in New York free on all four sides; but the mere fact of insolation would not make all parts of the building eo read¬ ily accessible aa they are without very careful and minute study of the relations of the different sections of the house to their several entrances and to each other. The only drawback to this admirable system is the number of attendants required for so many separate entrances, but omelettes cannot be made without breaking eggs, ^n4 in so enormously an expensive entertainment as Italian opera,