Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 47, no. 1197: February 21, 1891

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February 21, 1891 Record and- Guide. 903 #_____________________ DeAteD to nEA.L Es WE . euiLDIlfc AjftlilTEinJlV MoUSEHOLD DlOOR^TWlt BUsitlESS Alto Themes of GEfJER^l !;Jt£f^est PRICE, PER VEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Telephone, . - - Cortlandt 1370. Communications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol, XLVII, FEBRUARY 21, 1881. No. 1,197 rriHE stock market haa been OuU almost to stagnancy, and in -^ spite of some small concessions in prices during tbe past week has retained such a strong underttjlie that important declines Heed not be expected. The most discouraging featute during, the week was the suspension of tbe American Xioan ^nd Trust Oorii- pany, which appears to be entirely solvent, but with ita assets' partly locked up in bonds tbat could not be immediately realized on. If there was a similar iunsettlement of cianfidence in otber institutions no doubt tbey would be found to occupy a like position. Tbe failure produced some uncei^- tainty, but apparently is not likely to result in mueh disaster. Tlie report of the House Committee against free coinage is proba¬ bly the death-blow of that measure for the present Congress; and Wall street apprehensions in that respect will be confined tothe possibility of an extra session. That, however, does not seem to be Tery likely. The immediate source of danger for the future lies rather in the labor market thao in any other direction, for the wheat crop prospects are good. The holders of coal stocks will do well to remember tbat the labor organizations are sufficiently strong to be ready in May to strike for an eigbt-liour day in that region, and as it is unlikely the concession will be made, a fight must result. Indeed, all over the country the trades unions are getting restless: so that no one can teil what disaster may not be threatened. The reduction of the Burlington dividend to four per cent indicates that its managers understand the situation thoroughly and mean in future to pay only earnings, a policy which is probably assisted by the fact staring them in the face that the surplus of former yeare cannot now be depended upon to carry the road through bad years. The time was wbeu the dividend paid was no indication of the earnings, but now the case is different. One encouraging feature is the strength of themarket for cotton manufactures. The prices of goods in that line have hardened at the very aame time that cotton itself is very cheap, selling as low one day dm-ing the past week as 8^^ cents. The print cloth market, even, which lately has been the only point of weakness, has strengthened. Barring the possibility of strikes the outlook is very good. The miners' strike will be no common one. The trade unions will be under a leader already appointed by the federated trades of the country, who will bring every force known to trades unionism to win the battle. On the side of tbe railroad and mine owners the fight wiil be a determined one, and will show that their inanagers are alive to the importance of the issue. The recent crushing blow which trades unions have received in Austraha, likened by tbeir leaders to that which Napoleon received at Moscow, will encourage capitalists to fight to the end. Capital federated will prove to be stronger than laborfederiited should the issue be fought out on these lines, but it is to be hoped that wise counsel may yet avert the contest. ■ i-------— THE foreign markets are beginning perceptibly to feel the influence of easy rates for money. A large majority of the iictive stocks and bonds show a tendency to advance. This is par¬ ticularly true of government issues, those of France, Germany and Russia being stronger than the rest. In London the English rail¬ way securities have been slightly weak, owing principally to small reductions in the dividends of important rOads, while American railway securities have shown sti-ength, following the course of prices in New York. Tbe discussion of Mr. Goschen's Leeds speech continues, and from its temper there seems to be no doubt but that some change in the banking laws of England, as well as in the currency system, will result. There is a disposi¬ tion to give the government the advantage of every doubt until definite proposals are made to Parliament. The shareholders of the Bank of France are becoming more reconciled to the terms on which their privileges are to be extended, for the shares of that institution which declined at first have since recovered. The broad lines of the budget of M. Rouvier, for 1892, have been announced. A sum of 76,000,000 francs will bave to be provided for, of which 38,000,000 are for supplementary expenses arising from the laws TOted during the last session, 12,000,000 for interest ou the new loan, and 36,000,000 for the reduction in the railway duty. Of this 40,000,000 are expected to come from the normal increase in the revenue from asieting taxes and the residue from new or increased duties in the customs tariff. In Berlin home secui ities bave not been very strong, but foreign issues have. The government is preparing for a large block of 3 per cent bonds; bow mach is not exactly known, the estimates varying between 400,000,000 and 700,000,000 marks. An interesting item comes from Vienna: An Austrian manufacturer, described as a '■ man of enterprise," has started for New York with a number of young skilled workmen, to attempt to establish a rnother-o'-pearl manufactory in this country, and thus repair {for him) the damage done by the McKinley bill. A few more sucb instances might help to reconcile the electorate to this bill. OWNERS of Broadway property, between Canal street and Waverley place, will find in another column an article of much importance to them. Hitherto property between these two streets has been among the most jjrofitable of all on the city's main ttuxoughfare. At present only a glance is needed to see thatthere is sometiiing wrongwith it. There is scarcely a buUding in that section that does not display signs "To Let," and on some buildings theSe placards are so numerous that the question arises whether the rents received are sutficient to pay the tases. TUe reasons for this unex¬ pected ctHidition of affairs are obvious. Witbin the last ten years the New Mercantile Uistrict has been building up, and it offers to certain divisions of the dry-goods trade advantages not only in the matters of rent and accommodations, but favorable facilities for bliipping, due to location. How impor(5.nt tbese advantages are may be understood from the fact that though the rent of Broadway stores and lofts has declined fully 10 per cent, and in some cases more, property is only partly tenanted. IT is easy to be seen that owners of Broadway property bave, depended for tenants too much upon mere position. In most cases their buildings, if not old in years, are at least antiquated iu tiieir equipments. Most of them were planned more than twenty years ago; ventilation is poor, hght is bad, they lack elevators, and pretty nearly all of the essentials of a first-class modern buildiug. They have been badly cared for, too, and in many cases bave a certain ramshackled api)earance which savors more of the Bowery than of Broadway. On the other hand the buildings in the New Mercantile District are ali modern, compara- tivfctyi well-planned, and are usually thoroughly equipped for the purposes for which they are^intended. Moreover, they are located on streets where general traffic is very light and where the sbipment of goods is an easy matter. We expect to find, as new buildings in this district are completed, a steady desertion of Broadway, at tbe point we are speaking of, unless owners tbere make still greater concessions than they have so far made, or turn entei-prising and improve their property. The latter is the proper course, and the one which will be adopted in the end. MASSACHUSETTS was the first State in this federation to adopt the Australian ballot law, and it now promises to be the first State to put into practice tbe Torrens system of land transfer. Both Edward Atkinson and Professor Thayer of tbe Harvard Law School have recently been considering the matter, aud as ideas spread in that community more easily than in any other in the country, we are not surprised to learn from a letter to the Evening Post that tbe Boston Executive Business Association indorsed the plan of a commission to examine the sub¬ ject and report a law to the next Legislature. Ten years ago discussion was running high in this city over the same matter, audit, too,finally crystallized in a commission. Butasmost of our readers will remember, the matter was presented in a different way. The security of titles in this city was threatened by the multitude of instruments recorded, which affected them, and the utter lack of any system of indexing, whereby the various papers could simply and conveniently bo found. We are uot so sure that this was not the best approach to a satisfactory reform in the methods of land transfer. We have obtained our block indexing, which is working satisfactorily, and which in time will greatly simplify the trouble of searching. But, meanwhile, the title guarantee companies have come into existence, which, while they do very well for a temporary expedient, will constitute an impediment to tbe manifestly desirable extension of the system in the direction of re-indexing. We are not sorry, however, to see tbat Massachusetts is approacliing tbe matter in a more direct and radical fashion. Governor Russell, who, let it be hoped, will fulfill the expectations which his career thus far have created, has sent a message to the Legislature " explaining the system, enlarging on its advantages, summarizing its history, and recommending the appointment of a commission," He believes that the Torrens system is the longest step that has yet been taken toward?-freedom, security and cheapness of land trans¬ fer, He finds ife advantages to lie in the fact that it is optional and mm