REAL ESTATE RECORD AND BUILDERS' GUIDE. VOL. XXYIII. NEW YOEK, SATUEDAY, OCTOBEE 15, 1881. No. 709 Published Weekly by The such marked advance as has been seen on tary of the Treasury, Jones will be supreme this island. People who deal in real estate in that department. It is believed that Ros­ REAL ESTATE RECORD ASSOCIATION should pick out the choicest properties their coe Conkling will eventually be the Secre­ TERMS: .means can afford. In nineteen cases in tary of the Treasury, but it is not consid­ twenty when a parcel of land is cheap it is ered wise for him to take office just yet. It ONE YEAR, in advance $6.00 undesirable. Better have one good lot well is understood that this fadmimstration will Communications should be addressed to located than two lots or even four in a back­ be inimical to Jay Gould. The President, C. W. SWEET, 13T Broadway. ward neighborhood. A few lots on this Roscoe Conkling, and Senator Jones have island will be of more permanent value than come in antagonism with Gould ih several J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. a corresponding number of acres on the op­ transactions. The new President takes no posite shore of the Hudson River. stock in the anti-monopoly cry; he is a friend There is a common remark that so and so, of the great corporations. The above infor­ who f ormally^had a bad reputation, is now so mation is based on excellent authority. The talk about additional park facilities rich that he can afford to be honest. This, has resulted in a scheme for having a however, is contradicted in every case where THE COURSE OF PRICES. pleasure ground in the Tw'enty-f ourth Ward, a dishonest speculator wishes to make a deal, It is a truism among those who have extending from Highbridge to a point be­ no matter how i-icli he may be. William H. studied tlze course of prices, that when there yond Hastings, ten miles in length and Vanderbilt has not scrupled to deceive his is a revival of business, it is Stock Exchange 3,000 feet wide. This gigantic park is to friend^ and tlie public Avhen a great stoclc securities which are first affected, then gene­ embrace 3,500 acres. It will be 5,000 feet speculation was on hand. It was his ow^n ral merchandise, labor and land coming last distant from the Hudson river and there is associates who lost the most money in his of all. An expansion in prices, whether to be an east and a west side avenue, each Western Union deal wlien he sold out to Jay gradual or sudden, is in consequence of, or 150 feet wide. The ground will cost about Gould. Cyrus W. Field is a very rich man, accompanied by an increase in the volume $1,000 an acre, or $3,500,000 in all. Should but look at his course in the 'elevated road of the currency. It makes no difference this magnificent scheme be carried out, the system and the sale of Manhattan stock. what the currency is, papier, silver or gold, present dulness in real estate north of the Jay Gould is the latest instance. He not money is the measure of prices. The vast Harlem river, would be followed by very only used his organ, the World, to show how additions of bullion, especially gold, to the great activity. But as yet it is only a utterly worthless w^as Manhattan, but he and paper money in use before 1879, have given scheme, aud may never amount to anything, Sage made affidavits that the stock was val­ <•> us an advancing market for nearly every­ ueless in their opinion. This was to api^ar- thing for two years and seven months. We called attention some time ago to the ently prevent tlie issue of receivers certifi­ Stocks were first affected; next came labor. remarkable change that was to take place in cates. Yet when Gould was thus deceiving The active speculation in corn, wheat and New^ York in the construction of large, in investors and inducing short sales, he was the metals shows that the fever has got into the place of small or moderate sized houses. quietly buying up the stock and within ten the veins of trade. It cannot be long before The way things are going on, New York wull days after he had made his solemn oath that the speculative activity will manifest itself soon have a greater number of vast build­ Manhattan was worthless, he was the owner vigorously in real estate. ings than any city in the world. These great of a majority of the stock. Hundreds, if structures are not for business i)iirposes Last June we warned builders and con­ not thousands, of small operators have lost merely, but are intended for dwellings. tractors that labor, and all the products of a great deal of money by the way Gould has Great flats and apartment houses have be­ labor, would soon show a large advance in acted in this one security. Many an lion- come an essential feature of New York City prices. The increased demand for work­ ester man tlian these leaders of the street is life. It is noticeable that all the new build­ people came soonsr than expected, due, how­ now serving his time out in our states prisons. ings ou Broadway are both deep and high. ever, to excessive building. But here we Once a rascal, always a rascal, whether he is One or more elevators have become an indis­ are in the second month of the fall season, worth ten cents or a hundred million. Jay pensable adjunct to new houses on this with the prices of all material showing an Gould has the press of the country by the island. It follows that the time is coming advance over the figures obtained last spring. throat through his control of the telegraph, when there will be more people to the Nor do we see any immediate prospect of and hence nothing is said. Our readers will square foot in this city than in any of the average lower prices for labor, or of anything recall the fact the REAL ESTATE RECORD has other capitals of the world. Our street pop­ which labor manipulates. always said that Manhattan stock would not ulation will, as a consequence, become It is in times such as these that everybody bo wiped out and that the rich rogues who denser than in any other city. New York may be said to be making money. The com­ were decrying it were secretly buying it up, will, in appearance at least, in ten years time petition is not among would-be sellers, but and such has proved to be the case. be the most populous city on the globe. It among buyers. Every one sees, or thinks he no longer pays to erect a small house in a sees a profitln the business he is engaged in, Some time since attention was called in valuable location. To get a good interest, a and he is eager to employ labor and to lay in these columns to the recovery of prices in large edifice with many offices or apartments stocks of raw material. It follows that the New York City realty. We instanced a case must be constructed. While the fashion for bank accounts of the saving class are in­ of a large real estate legal firm, whose clients large houses at present diminishes the de­ creasing. In such times, even if business apparently lost heavily in West Side build­ mand for, and consequently the price of, men have not any ready money, the steady ing lots because of the shrinkage in values unimproved real estate, it will eventually growth of their assets makes them feel easy, after the panic of 1873. Property which lead to very high prices in all eligible loca­ and hence they purchase more than in ordin­ cost $15,000 was marked down to $8,000 and tions, either for business or living purposes. ary times. A continuance of this steady under in 1877. But the same lots to-day show Where population becomes dense, land must employment of labor and enhancement in a profit of from 15 to 35 per cent, over the necessarily become high. values, inevitably ends in a furore for pur­ original investment. All who were able to chasing real estate. As soon as a man makes hold their property on this island came out Private advices from Washington are to money, he wishes to secure himself a home, largely ahead. Brooklyn realty owners have the effect that the most influential advisor and, on the first intimation of hard times, not been so lucky. Lots were offered last of the new administration will be Senator timid capitalists put their money into real week at auction which came far short of the John P. Jones, of Nevada. Jones has a sec­ property. This is why real estate " booms " taxes and assessments. There has been some ond self in an Englishman, named Robert­ up to the very beginning of a panic, and it and, in a few cases, a fair recovery in values son, who writes Jones's speeches and re­ also explains why it is real estate values are on the other side of the East Eiver, but no ports. If Timothy O. Howe is made Secre- , 80 stubborn in periods of 4 financial j^ disaster 964 THE REAL ESTATE RECORD.