January 15, 1887
 

The   Record  and   Guide.
 

61
 

THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,
 

Published every Saturday.

191 Broad.A?vay, IST.

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JTOHN 370.
 

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Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.
 

VOL. XXXIX.
 

JANUARY 15, 1887.
 

No. 983
 

been committed. Governor Hill wants a Jaw passed by which
murderers shall have only two trials; that is, there shall be only
one appeal to the highest court of the State. But, in truth, our
whole criminal practice should be reformed. The object to be
attained is swift trial and immediate punishment. The aim of the
present system is to enable lawyers to pile up charges, and it seems
to be impossible to get any Legislature, composed almost wholly of
lawyers, to amend our criminal practice in this regard. Hence Judge
Lynch is so active in so many parts of the country—not very far
from New York either.
 

A large extra edition of The Record and Guide is published this
uieek, and loill be sent to thousands of business firms and individuals
who have never seen it before.   All who receive sample copies should
study this paper carefxdly and they will see that no active business
man in any department of trade can afford to be without it.   We
not only publish the official transfers of real estate and the mort¬
gages, but a world of other matters affecting ihe interests of busi¬
ness men.   All who sell goods of any kind are interested in the
judgments and chattel mortgages which are on file.   All that the
Common Council does affecting real estate, with everything relating
to assessments, the doings of the Exchange, lists of new buildings,
the reports of auction sales, what is doing in the brokers' offices, are
all to be found in The Record and Guide more completely than in
any other publication.   Not only real estate owners, dealers and
auctioneers shoidd have this paper; it is equally indispensable to
lawyers, merchants, banks and money lenders, for it gives thefidlest
information as to the financial standing of all people who buy or
seek credit.    Our patrons tooidd do ivell to look over our advertising
columns to-day.   It ivill be noticed how important and varied are
the interests they represent. There is no existing paper that appeals
to the business community so completely as does The  Record and
Guide.
 

AU the newspapers admit that Henry George was the most pop¬
ular speaker at the free trade meeting on Wednesday evening
last. He was cheered to the echo, though he is anything but an
attractive orator. This large personal following will make him a
power in the politics of the country ; yet it may be doubted if he
will ever poll so large a vote as he did last November for Mayor.
Tens of thousands of ballots were cast for him by persons who
were opposed to the theories he has set forth. But his candida¬
ture was used to emphasize a protest against the party machines
of this city. The subsequent labor vote in Boston shows that the
working people are not yet ready to leave the old parties. But if
Mayor Hewitt's administration aims to keep the machine politi¬
cians in power then there is danger of Henry George or some
person like him coming to the front with votes enough to elect
him chief magistrate of this now ill-governed city.
 

"With this week's issue we have given a great deal of room to
the publication of our usual annual review of the markets for build¬
ing material. The comparison with 1885 is generally of an excel¬
lent character, prices, as a rule, averaging somewhat higher;
nearly every leading article of a standard character reaching a
larger movement, and leaving no accumulation on hand in excess
of that shown January 1st last, affording ample evidence of the
growth of building operations. Indeed, had not the labor agitation
during the early portion of the season led to the abandonment of
considerable contemplated work, it is the opinion of prominent
operators that 1886 would have developed the largest consupiption
for material of any year on record. Some differences of opinion
prevail respecting the prospects for the approaching season, but,
as a rule, the optimist view predominates, and the impression holds
that, unless some idiosyncrasy of labor crops out to create trouble,
business will prove liberal and satisfactory throughout.
 

The newspapers which oppose the creation of a Cabinet depart¬
ment of agriculture and labor are blind to the tendency of things
in all modern governments.   There is not a nation on earth but
what keeps adding to its bureaus and departments as the popula¬
tion and business of the country increases.    In primitive govern¬
ments the one monarch or ruler attended to every thing, but, finally,
the necessity arises for Secretaries of State, Ministers of Finance,
War, Justice and the like.   Ia all highly-civilized governments the
seats of  authority   bristles with bureaus.   As  Hfrbert Spencer
phrases it,  "the evolution is from homogeniety to hetrogeniety."
Compare, for instance, the complex British Cabinet with that of
a barbarous African ruler.   In the House of Representatives there
were only twenty-six votes against the creation of this new depart¬
ment, which expresses the sentiments of the people far better tnan
the hide-bound opinions put forth by our city newspaper writers.
 

Valuation of City Realty for 1887.

The assessed valuation of real estate for 1887, as compared with
1886 and previous year, is shown in the following table:
 

Jay Gould vehemently denounced the Interstate Commerce bill
here at the East; but when he got West he thought better of the
measure, and said to an interviewer that if one provision of the bill
was not so ambiguous it would be all right. Nevertheless, all the rail¬
way managers and manipulators are opposed to the creation of a
comraission which might interfere with their plans. Once estab¬
lished, the national commission would point out abuses which it
would require additional powers to correct. Unquestionably the
methods now employed to increase the capitalization of roads and
add to the private fortunes of persons in control of the corpora¬
tions would be seriously interfered with. An Interstate railway
law is inevitable, and when enacted it would be for the benefit,
not only of the public, but the holders of railway securities. But
the Jay Goulds, the Stanfields, Huntingtons, and the other rp-il-
way magnates who have grown rich under the existing system,
will very naturally oppose a reformatory measure of this kind.
 

Wards.

First   ...........

Second..........

Third....... .

Fourth.........

Fifth............

i'ixth............

'Seventh.........

Eighth.........

Ninth...........

Tenth...........

i- leventh .......

Twelfth........

Thirteenth.....

Fouteen h.....

Fi'teenth.......

Sixteenth.....

Seventeenth___

Eighteenth ....

Nineteen'h.....

Twentieth......

Twenty-first___

Twenty-econd.
Twenty-third ..
Twenty-fourth.
 

Assessed Valu¬
ation, 188<.
$r9,636,Hl*
31,-.iii2,140
38,v94.iMiO

13 i.ii.srg

45,5 9,6^8
23,97 ,441
16. 34.e.')9
3l,45-i.209
2«,(»:-i9,'66
1T.437.''85
16,577.370

121,905.680
10.18r.W5
24,312 215
5.%l89 2i6
37,033,5 4
33.584.5*31
77,690,378

198.296,968
44.9.54.495
88,341.311
9.5,178 8>-9
I8,f>.'i9.< 59
10,272,115
 

Assessed Valu¬
ation, 188H.
$7-(.~9i»,763

34 :i66,378
38,:<85.429
13 210.848
4=i.S)97.412
24.y52.693
16.9o.%446
39,037 «17
29.246,090
]7.!«'0.365
16.791,lyg

134,0:11,832
10,366.41ft
24.679,727
6.'i,P38,--i4t
37 857,127
33,88 ,094
78.1.=; 3,344

204 91«,4S5
45.641,676
89,'iH4.423

103.72S.440
19,616,976
11,194,090
 

Ass".''sed Valu¬
 

Increase
 

ation, 1887
 

sincf i886.
 

$80,61 l.<!0i
 

$1,820,442
 

3i.:86,b79
 

42 .3 4
 

38.7(11,"40
 

315,611
 

13,411 ,595
 

200,'; 92
 

46,!39.307
 

441.^-95
 

24,624,141
 

371 448
 

17 3 (1.0.57
 

3.54.611
 

39,287,403
 

249.- 86
 

29,7!'2 0-..'3
 

545,033
 

3^2v:7 49r
 

3 :,1^2
 

17, 09,206   ;
 

418,< 77
 

158,.^48,' 57
 

24,516.225
 

]0,':5 .265
 

;i8'4,8.''0
 

2-,01<.470
 

331.743
 

56,376,7.53
 

538.f.l2
 

.38,1'^5,3S9
 

328.162
 

34 444.6"8
 

5.59..514
 

78.8.7,155
 

66.3.811
 

211,8!^',\.>40
 

6,893,7, 5
 

46..='52,070
 

910,394
 

f9,817,4 9
 

733,1 M 6
 

113,-94.537
 

10,< 66.097
 

21,0.56.317
 

1,43'.341
 

11,791,460
 

597,370
 

$1,257,275,903
 

$53,334,838
 

The newspapers are demanding the speedy trial and prompt
punishment of Rourke, the drunken policeman who murdered his
iDenefactor, a fellow officer. But why speedy justice in his case
more than in others? Our whole system of punishing criminals is
a scandal to our civilization. Our laws are designed merely to add
to the emoluments of lawyers and not to punish those who are
guilty of grave crimes against society. A criminal now has a
right to have several trials, and, if he has naoney, the " laws delay"
enables bim to live a couple of years _at least after the offence.has [ i^g.
 

Total..............$1,168,413,13!'      $1.20.3,941,065

The above table is interesting as showing the quarters of the city
in which there is the greatest increase of values.   The First Ward,
which has been called the toe of Manhattan Island, exhibits an
increase of nearly $3,00l\000 in the valuation of its property.     The
Twelfth Ward, which embraces all the upper end of the island,
shows an addition of $24,500,000.   In the Nineteenth Ward there
is nearly $7,000,000 increase, and in the Twenty-second Ward over
$10,000,000 increase.   The older portions of the city do not vary
much from the valuations of last year.   What is surprising is the
relatively small increase in the region north of the Harlem—that is^
the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards.   From the nature of
things the activity in this region and the consequent enhancement
of values must increase very largely from this time forth.    Large
as is the valuation of the Twelfth Ward it will be surpassed before
1900 in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, unless, indeed,
these large sections of territory should be cut up into additional
political divisions.   Of course, it is understood that the above val¬
uation for 1887 is subject to amendment by property-holders, who
have a right to appear before the Commissioners and get their
assessments reduced if the assessors have done them injustice. But
the total given above will not change very much after the corrections
are completed.   But these figures show how the metropolis is grow-
It is very clear that the assessments of next jear will largely