Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 62, no. 1587: August 13, 1898

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Record and Guide 221 ESTABUSHED^ :iieiu.>ie68. DEtfriil) p Rp*|. EsTAJi.BuiLDiffe Aj^prfrreffTuiff j{oU3EilaiiDD3tnjnoii Bifsn/Ess AJtoTheses of GEjfeRii iKrci^si., PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. PutUtshed every Saturdaj/ TaLBPBora, CoBTLAKiyr 1370* Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J. l.LLNDSEY, Business Manager. "Entered al the Post Offlo* at Keio York, N, Y., as send-etai8 matter." Vol. LXII. AUGUST 13, 1898. 1,587 THE optimistic flights in which our people are indulging are natural under tlie circumstances, though thinking people cannot help wondering whether we are not, with characteristic impetuosity, trying to realize the benefits of our improved con- tions before giving them time to mature. The papers to-day are full of prophecies of coming prosperity. It is always in order to predict prosperity, sooner or later, for a country so rich in na¬ tural resources as this is and possessed hy an industrious, frugal people; hut even for us prosperity has to be evolved by natural agencies and there may come a period of waiting for this evolu¬ tion that may make some regret their eagerness of to-day. The position of the United States to-day, is, it must be admitted, one calculated to arouse intense satisfaction. A war which has been carried to a successful end and in which has been displayed the highest military qualities on our part is about to put us into pos¬ session of strange lands. While this violates our previously cher¬ ished political traditions, it opens markets for our manufacturers which they would otherwise have great difficulty in reaching. "We have for several years been marketing our produce abroad with good profit and have been buying little, so that we have large resources within call. Under the sharp lessons conveyed by the financial troubles of 1893 and subsequent years our people at home have been living providently. Capital has increased in vol¬ ume and there has yet recurred none of that extravagance for which our urban populations at least have been, in other periods, rather too famous. Altogether our position is one sound in prin¬ ciple and full of promise if we do not break away from the wis¬ dom acquired in times of tribulation. A nation victorious in war has, however, to watch itself carefully in order that it does not lose self-control. At such a time it dwells in a rosy light that re¬ flects itself in every direction and generally produces trouble. Germany went through such an experience in the '70s, Let us hope that we may be wise in time and not overdo things. Much of the firmnees of our position is due to the fact that for two years running we had abundant crops, while other peoples had very poor ones, and we were a^Ie to sell at good prices from our superabundance. This year crop prospects are generally good and we will lose the advantage of being exceptionally favored. We have still a good deal to do hefore we can reap the commercial re¬ wards of our military prowess and change of political faith; and, for these reasons, and also because it is our nature to indulge in extremes of mood, a word of caution, though by no means one of discouragement, is in order. T T/BIAT the result of John Bull's anger over his latest rebuff 3lX in China will be it is hard to say. Irritating him as the matter does, there are still good reasons why he should not pro¬ ceed to extremities. The predominance of Russian influence in China cannot be immediately, though it would undoubtedly, if maintained, he ultimately followed by loss of trade, and the British government and people may wish to see what the Ameri¬ can move into the Pacific may foreshadow before entering on the big struggle that must come to decide who shall supply China's wants, and much more besides In the far distant East. However, this last blow to Britain's pride is a stinging one, and anticipations of its effects must create anxiety in business circles everywhere. As to purely financial and commercial matters: Loaners of money are beginning to be cautious because the in¬ debtedness of Europe to the United States and that the fall pur¬ chases of wheat and cotton have still to be made suggest the probability of a renewal of the westward gold movement. Aus¬ tralasian affairs are greatly on the mend, the first time this may be confidently said since the banking crisis of 1893. Compared with that year gold production has increased, $25,000,000; copper minins lias developed to compensate for the loss on silver output. and wWle the value of the wool clip is not quite as great as it was five years ago the business in frozen meat and dairy prod¬ ucts more than compensates the loss in that direction. In the five years there has been considerable extension of the area of land under cultivation and, of course, a larger proportion of the population become dependent upon agriculture. As a result of this improvement it is expected that the accounts of most of the Australasian colonies for the fiscal year recently closed will dis¬ play excesses of revenue over receipts, Estimates of the Indian jute crop point to an outturn of 90% of a normal crop. The Paris bourse has been cheered by an advance in all the Spanish issues which are so largely dealt in there. Vienna continues to he de¬ pressed by the unfortunate internal political conditions in Austria-Hungary. For a third time in a little more than a year the Reichsratb has had to be closed by imperial decree because of deadlocks to business because of racial antipathies. The great question in dispute, is, of course, that of obtaining a fiscal agree¬ ment between the two great divisions of the Empire. The Minister of the Board of Trade said recently, referring to the importance of this question: "It is only if we are united for mutual support and help that foreign States regard us as a great Power. Who will, economically speakiug, consider Hungary alone without Austrian industry a great Power, and who will consider Austria in the light of one if she lacks Hungary's agricultural production?" Some endeavors have been made to determine Spain's financial position if the war closes, as it seems about to do. It appears that since the insurrection broke out in Cuba in February, 1895, bonds to the amount of $550,000,000 have been issued, and that $80,000,000 are known to be due in the island besides debts, the amounts of which are not known. A debt of $40,000,000 was created to meet the rising in the Philippines, but the debt on that account is no more an accurately determinable quantity than that of the Cuban in¬ surrection, Peace comes to prevent immediate bankruptcy of the Spanish treasury, but it is not altogether certain that the com¬ promises that have already been made with some of its bond¬ holders will afford it sufficient relief. ONE of the four canons of taxation laid down by Adam Smith is that "the tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be cei-tain and not arbitrary," To prevent arbitrariness in the quantity of the tax on real estate the law provides that real property shall be assessed at its selling value. It is a well-known fact that, in practice, the assessed and the market vaiue of real estate rarely correspond, and that the ratio which the one bears to the other commonly differs in the several administrative tax units into which the State is divided. But so long as the ratio between the assessed and the market value remains the same for all real property within each individual unit the element of certainty is not materially disturbed. Every man is able to cal¬ culate with sufficient accuracy what the fixed charges on a given piece of land will be, and to regulate his investments accordingly. There is a socialistic element, however, which maintains that taxation ought to be employed, not merely as a measure of reve¬ nue, but also as a means oi correcting inequalities in wealth. This is precisely what was attempted in the town of Mount Pleasant, where the assessors have undertaken, in the words of one of the board, to "take the taxes off the poor and put tUem on the rich." In the review before Referee W. E. Hoysradt of the tax valuation for 1897 on John D. Rockefeller's property, it appears that this parcel, comprising 981 acres, was assessed at $687,000, whereas real estate experts testify that its actual selling value is only $385,000. It is hardly more than a generation since the banks of the Hudson were under cultivation as farm land. The market price of this land bas now reached a point where to cultivate it would not pay interest on the capital invested. The farmers be¬ hind the Hudson River slope, who comprise the bulk of the per¬ manent population and who occupy less costly land, are having an increasingly hard time to make both ends meet,simply because their farms are becoming too high-priced for profitable cultiva¬ tion. It is evident, therefore, that the proper policy to pursue for the townships along the Hudson, say from New York City to Peekskill, is to encourage the development which is rapidly trans¬ forming these settlements from agricultural communities to sub¬ urbs of New York City. But no man, not even a multi-millionaire like John D. Rockefeller, is willing to establish his summer resi¬ dence in a place where he will have to resort to the courts at frequent intervals for the revision of illegal, excessive tax valua¬ tions. Such litigation constitutes an uncertain and arbitrary tax, which not only discourages investment in real estate, but fer¬ ments class hatred, and drives wealthy residents to seek refuge in more congenial surroundings. Y T is more than likely that the Board of Public Improvements X. will, at its meeting on Wednesday next, approve the tentative street- map for the territory east of the Bronx River, recently