The New York Herald Newspaper, September 12, 1875, Page 7

REAL ESTATE. “lhe Noiseless Panic” and Its Progress. Effect on the Market of Rapid Transit and the Post Office Removal. THE MORAL OF FORECLOSURES. Nearly One-Quarter of the Total Real Estate of the City Hypothecated. The Banks and. Insurance Compa- nies the Holders. What the Herald Said of Real Es- tate and Money in 1837, ‘There is but little change in the real eetate market to report since our review of it published in last Sunda; Herarp. It was then shown that the general shrink- age since 1872-73 has been fully one-third on general parcels, while some specialties, that in expoctation of a greater riso had been run up to fictitious and unnat- ural prices, had settled away fifty per cont, This view of the market is fully confirmed by subsequent inquiries among the savings banks and the life insurance com- panies, where heavy volumes of bonds and mortgages are held. It is generally conceded by officials of these Institutions that on all property except such as ts in the hands of THE WEALTHY AND UNEMBARRASSED OWNERS the shrinkage is from thirty to thirty-three and a third per cent on tho ruling prices of 1873, Already many of these institutions have had resurveys made of she property upon which they have made advances, and tro calling in a sufficient amount to cover the shrinkage. The president of one savings bank that holds over $6,000,000 of bonds and mortgages reports that he has | taken this precaution, fearing that in some descriptions of property there will be a still greater dropping away of prices, and that other banks and some life insurance companies have, to some extent, done likewise. The wisdom of this tourse is in some quarters criticised, and the life insurance officials are divided as to its advisability. Some who have been questioned by the writer state that it is the only safe way to guard against possible loss, while others claim that so much margin is allowed by the companies between the valuations and the loans as to make such caution unnecessary, Among these is an officer of the Mutual Life Association of New York, which has $70,000,000 in bonds and mortgages, who prophesies that if this policy bo pursued to any great extent IT WILL PRECIPITATE A PARIC inthe money and real estato market, Brokers and heavy real estate owners report that the prospects for » brisker fall business grow brighter daily, that the re- port of the Commissioners of Rapid Transit has in- duced inquiries from capitalists for uptown property, and that the removal of the Post Office has had its ef- fect as well in stimulating offers for property in that section of the city, which, it is believed, will advance beyond any point reached in recent years. They base | this opinion upon the fact that many lessees of down- town property whose leases expiro in May next are al- ready seeking lcases of property further up in the streets adjacent to the federal buildings, and hence, as the demand for stores and offices increases, the value of the property will move up in full sympathy with ronts. Of the correctness of this view thero can be no doubt. So long as the Post Office was nearly half a mile below its present site, banking houses, lawyers’ offices, brok- ers’ offices, real estate dealers and railway and mining companies centred there. They naturally gravitated about it, Now that the Post Office has come up to dis- pute with the new Court House the right to recognition as a beautiful structure, and the Western Union Tele- waph Company is doing likewise; now that the Rapid ‘Transit Commission has located the GRAND CENTRE OF ALL THE ELEVATED ROADS, at Park row, and now that the work of the Brooklyn Bridge is progressing rapidly and with a prospect of carly completion, the Post Office, the City Hall and all that territory from Wall to Canal street and from river to river must, asa matter of course, maintain a steady hold upon the market, Tho market may not imme- diately experience a marked change, but when the Brooklyn Bridge lands its passengers opposite the City Hall and two or threo lines of elevated railways drop their human freight within 200 yards of that point, property and rents must become fixed at a figure that | will RESIST ALL ATTEMPTS TO EITHER “BULL”? OR AR’? it, and for the next decade remain stationary at a point commensurate with the advantages this territory offers for business. It does not require a very wide stretch of imagina- tion to see the old second and third rate buildings on the east side of Park row and Centre street, from Ann street to Reade or Leonard, crumble into dust and apon their sites costly brick, iron and marble struc- tures arise to supply the demands of trade and com- merce. Indeed, there is no reason to doubt that the “bull general desire to get up town and “the Swamp” of to-day may be the ‘Wall street’? of the metropolis ten or fifteen years hence. North ward the magnetic needle of business points the way; and there can be little doubt that shrewd capitalists who are already surveying the field in this locality cal- tulate with a good degree of oprtainty on the realization of their conclusions. We will miss, it is true, the un- eavory population of DIRTY CHILDREN AND SLATTERNLY WOMEN who are gathered in the densely populated tenements of the Fourth and Sixth wards, but rapid transit, it Is to be hoped, will have enabled them to occupy better quarters away out in the suburbs beyond the Harlem River, and they will be the gainers as wellas we who may remain occupants of the locality. There are, as has already been said, agencies at work that may cause the present prices to be maintained In certain quarters, but everything pointe toa settling down of the market to a safe basis for the invest- ment of SURPLUS CAPITAL SERKING PROFITABLE PLACEMENT, The completion of the work at Hell Gate next year or the year after will possibly increase the value of prop- erty in the upper end of the city, and the building of rapid transit roads, now projected, may run up values in the suburbs of the city. If the proposed bridge between Astoria and New York, across Blackwoll’s Island, be built property on Long Island in that region may ad vance a little. Then, if the establishment of the great abbatoirs in the upper end of the city results in abolish- ing the fat-boiling and slanghtering nuisances on the North and East rivers valuable property that now is held very iow will advance somewhat, This view of the future is generally held upon “the street,” as was demonstrated in last Sunday's Hxnarn, “We find,” said Messrs, Lespinasse & Friedman, real estate brokers of Pine street, ‘that the REPORT OF THK RAPID TRANSIT COMMISSION bas prompted a demand for uptown property. Two very heavy buyers have recently invested in such Property in expectation of rapid transit proving a success, and owing to the recent tion of valves there is a better disposition on the part of foreigners to invest than ever before, They cannot find paying bonds and mortgages in which to place their capital, and as the property disposed of at the galesroom is chiefly foreclosures, they are afraid to invest there. Then they must encounter vogue bidders at times, and hence they took their chances in the general market. A case in point is the property corner of Fifty-eighth street and Broadway known ss the Voorhis parcel, It was put up two or three times and knocked down finally At alower figure than it went off at on the first fore- closure sales, You cannot get anybody to buy at these tales whon they merely read off a description without iagram and full details. AUTRRS MUST GO IT BLIND, hence capital heeitate about buying under fore- closure, There is a better feeling in the market since and ‘bears’? of Wall street may not follow the | reduc. | NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1875.—QUADRUPLE SHEET. the Rapid Transit every man who owns a lot better times. Our experiences show that rapid transit will benefit property on the streets or avenues through which the road passes. Property on Ninth avenue has been increased fifteen per cent in value by the Greenwich street road, and rents of tene- ments and stores on the avenue have increased. There must be a large lot of city property in foreign hands at the present time. A fow months ago a Cuban came here, and purchased four lots on the corner of Fifth avenuo and Seventy-fourth street for $210,000, It is unim- proved, and he still holds it for a rise. All foreigners have confidence in our real estate. This gentloman was so satisfied with his investment that he endeavored to purchase the adjacent six lots from Mr. Tiffany on ‘the same terms, bat Mr. Tiffany declined to sell. First class property in this city, this frm maintains, has never reached the prices at which similar property is held in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, hence the confidence folt by foreigners. They also expressed the opinion that property IN THE XEIGHBORNOOD OF THE KEW PORT OFFICE was certain to advance to a point where it would be- come stationary at a fair valuation. Edgar Williams, of Williams & Raynor, took a similar view, and expressed the- belief that busi- ness would revive this fall, under the stimu- lating influences of rapid transit and other improve- ments. This will be so, they think, especially about the Post Office and the City Ball wears the demand for business offices will be large, Possibly there will be a corresponding decrease down town about the old Post fice, ‘I think,” said he, ‘that we will have a brisker market, and persons who have been ‘bears’ be- fore the cn ory of the Rapid Transit Commissioners now admit that the market is likely to recover." Mr. E. H. Ludlow, of Pine street, thought the effect of rapid transit, which is very certain of being a suc- cess, would be to equalize values between Fifty-ninth street and tho ge end of the island. Ho argues that the holding by the banks and insurance companies of such a heavy volume of bonds and mortgages tends to paralyze real estate business and prevent capitalists competing with them: that they should be taxed equally with the private bond and mortgage holders, or the lat- tor, ltke them, should be exempt. Then capital would INVEST LARGELY IN BONDS AND MORTGAGES, and life be given to the real estate business. Mr. Homer Morgan takes a similar view of the holding of such a large sum of bonds and mortgages by these great corporati and declares that if the Legislature will remove tho personal tax, the surplus millions now lying idle in Wall stroot will be invested in bonds and mort- gages, and Teal estate be less subject to fluctuations that unsettle the market; and, better still, would stimulate improvements that afer all have a great effect upon the Teal estate market, HEAVY HOLDERS OF LIENS UPON REAL STATE. Among those who profit Lg a by the necessities of holders of real estate are the insurance companies and saving banks, who make advances on bonds and mort- es at seven per cent per year. That benefits result to the owners of small parcels who are unable to carry it no ono will deny; but it becomes a question whether, after all, the carrying by these great corporations of a Commismoners’ report, ana is waiting for very large amount of bonds and mortgages does not \ Indirectly lead to depreciation of the prices of lands and tenements by _inducements offered to weak holders to speculate upon the rise and fall of the market, The easy facilities afforded them to realize money upon one parcel with which to buy when real estate is depressed other parcels have drawn many persons into ‘the street’’ who have little or no capital to back them, and, as a consequence, legitimate capital is forced to compete with them. Bonds and mortgages have always been a safe and popu- lar security, im which savings banks and in- surance companies _ invest and, withal, it is the most profitable. The savings banks and the life in- surance companies pay no tax upon the amount held, so that they have a clear profit of seven per cent, with. out any risk, while private parties investing in the samo securities only realize, when the personal tax is paid, about three percent. A careful examination of the ‘official reports made to the Legislature of the standing of New York savings banks and insurance companies shows where nearly one-fourth of the entire real estate of thogity is The figures show the bonds and mortgages held January 1, 1875, as tollows:— EW YORK. Banks. Amount, Abingdon Square..... $91,700 Bank for 8avings.(Bleecker street). 5,817,430 Bond Street. 568,996 6,460,058 764,500 9,000 3,354,485 34,100 15,500 2,284/800 3,716,575 East Side. + Nothing Eleventh Ward. 871,450 igrants’ Industrial 7,215,388 Equitabl 18,700 | Excelsior... 243; | Frankha, 661, | German. 4,705,000 | Germania, of Morrisania, 295,11 | German Uptown. 509,675 Greenwich 5,273,383 Harlem... 450 Institution 1,227,300 Irvin, aocee SAO Manhattan + 4,075,193. Merchants’. . '27,650 Metropolitan... . 2,612;900 Morrisania. 0.0.55 ~ ' 89,300 Mutual Benofit..... + 165,138 National... Nothing 79, Total loaned on bonds and mortgages in round numbers. ... $64,947,332 Total resources New York county banks... 195,335, 164 This shows thirty-five per cent of their total resources invested In bonds and mortgages. BROOKLYN. , 732,000 abe 600 2,779,350 282,249 Fast Brooklyn. 840,150 East New York. 69,104 116,900 Kings County Island Williamsburg .. Total, in round number: Total resources. .......- 6, 280, 047 ef + 48,990,262 This shows about thirty-three per cent of their total resources invested in bonds and mortgages. NEW YORK, Mechanics and Traders’ Mercantile. Merchants. New Yor! ys Now York Equitable. New York.. vege ee New York Produce Exchange. 14,000 | New York and Yonkers Nothing | 124,000 | 3336, 250 | 202,500 | Nothing 65, United States, .. | Rutgers’ | Sateguard, St. Nicholas. Standard 182,625 Nothing | Marine Insurance Companies. Atlantic, - Orient Mutual. Nothing Pacific Mutual... Nothing Sun Mutual. 8,500 Union Mutual, 124,650 Total New York fire and marine com- seeeeees $10,950,910 Amount. s Kings County. Lafayette Long Islan Ridgewood. . Williamsburg City.. 350,700 $1,416,937 > ‘ORK CITY, Loans on | Names of Companies. Real Estate, Total Assets, | American Popular... $686,176 Brooklyn Life, 2,244,341 | Continental 6,473,158 | Equitable 25,608,847 Germania, . 6, 640,004 Globe,.... + 4,006,131 Homeopathic Mutual 578,114 Knickerbocker , 7,214,719 Manhattan 9,561,402 Merchants’ 196,659 Metropolitan 1,848,088 Mutual... 72,191,288 New York... see 27,179,394 New York Life and Trust 2,398,485 North American, Security... United States. Universal Lifo. Washington 4,379,4: World. (344,258 © Totals. -$119,931,887 $189,813, 944 Lu MPANY OF BROOKLYN. | Home. $1,308,400 $4,113,905 RRCAPITULATI Invested in Bonds and Mortgages. New York savings banks... $64,047,332 | New York fire and marine ynsurance companies,.... 10,950,910 Now York life insurance COMPANICS......4e00+++++ 119,081,887 i ————_ $15,830,129 | Brooklyn savings banks.... $16,280,047 Brooklyn fire insurance companies. .......-22-++- 1,416,937 Brooklyn life insurance # COMPANY ..eseeeeeeeeee+ 1,308,400 ———._ 19,005,384 Grand total invested by banks and in- surance companies (New York and | ae $214,835,513 | ‘Tho total Valuation of re this city upon which the rate of taxation is based is $800,000,000, which is on the basis of sixty per cont of the real value, It will he seen that within a fraction of one- fourth of this amount is under mortgage or HYPOTHECATED WITH THESE CORPORATIONS who have the bonds locked up in their vaults drawing interest. The law permits savings banks to advance fifty per cent of the value of the property on bond and mortgage, and the insurance companies two-thirds, or sixty-six and two-thirds recent. Investigations show that they make a very low valuation of property offered as security for loan, and the general practice of the banks is to loan on wi improved realestate but thirty per cent, and oni proved parcels only about one-third of its assessed value, or thirty-three and one-third per cent. While the law permits thom to take mortgages on property within a radius of fifty miles of the city, inquiries show | that all the companies limit’ their loans to | this city and Brooklyn. The effect of the | law as to the taxation of bonds and mortgages and _per- sonal property being in favor of the banks and the life insurance companies, the private capitalist 1s debarred of purchases, and the fire insurance companies cannot, with a difference of four per cent against them, competo with them in THE BOND AND, MORTGAGE MARKET, Yet it is estimated that fully $155,000,000 of private | capital is invested in this kind of property. — It this 1s | so we have a solution of the numerous foreclosure sales of this summer and falJ. A large volume of capi- tal that, for want of something more remunerative, has been put into bonds and mortgages, in expectation of a rise in real estate im the fall, as was usually | | the case in previous years, is being withdrawn for the purpose of more profitable investment. Many have invested only temporarily, so as to husband tho principal and interest in expectation of a greater buoy- ancy being given to the real estate market alter the fall business sets in, This is, no doubt, one of the reasons | for the increase in the’ sales by’ foreclosure, whilo | another is, doubtless, as we explained last week, the utter inability of weak holders, who have carried largo parcels in anticipation of the market touching a higher point, to REALIZE THEIR GOLDEN DREAMS OF WEALTIT. The latter class are inere speculators, who, having little or nothing originally, fear not to yonture. They are not satisfied to grow. gradually to wealth. They would bound to fortune, Butler it is who says:— i In all the world there is no vice Less prone to excess than avarice. They are avaricious. men, mere adventurers, who, having no heavy interest in the way of capital to jeop- | ardize, hope to profit by chance. Gamblers they might be called, who profit by tne necessities of the hour. Having discovered that the fancy lines of property they have attempted to carry are not likely to realize as they expected they DEFAULT, AND LET IT GO UNDER THE MAMMER to the original owner at little more than the price of the mortgage. But the questions here present themselves, “Why does not capital take advantage of these foreclosure sales? If parcels go under the hammer at fifty or sixty | per cent less than their actual value why do not heavy capitalists compete with the holders of these mortgages!” It is assigned in explanation of this holding back of capital that the Exchange foreclosure sales are largely attended by fee paren bidders who are in the interest of che mortgage holder to bid it in, and that no one knows what he is buying, as no diagrams or details of the property are given beyond a mere description. It is, therefore, asserted that a purchaser at these sales, uniess he be in the con- fidence of the partics offering the property, goes it blind and loses in the end. THE LESSON OF THE PANIC OF 1836-7. The stirring incidents connected with the monetary and real estate panic of 1836-7 are still fresh | in the recollection of old New Yorkers. In | 1834 speculators began to bull the market, and | organized real estate rings and pools to | run up property. Men rushed madly into the market and staked everything upon the chances of a | rise. Prices were forced up far above their nominal values in 1834 and 1835. And the great fire of the latter year sent real estate upto a sull higher figure, | until ‘the total valuation in the ay was over | $223,000,000 in 1836. Property sold after the fire for a higher figure than it was valued at before the fire, with the buildings included. ‘The Post estate in Beaver and Pearl streets was a caso in point. Before the fire it stood in the market, with the buildings, at $500,000. After the buildings had been swept away the land sold for $600,000 cash. Kents naturally went up with the increase of real estate, | and as speculation ran wild there were a few only who saw the threatening clouds gathering. MEN WERE INTENT UPON GETTING RICH f and cared not for the future prosperity of the business so long as they realized heavily upon tueir investments | of that year. To such a point had fancy prices reached that in the early part of 1837 the revulsion began to be felt. Food, rents, fuel and all the necessaries of life ad- | vanced with the fictitious prices of real estate. Tho Henao of February 7, of that year, foresaw the break- ers ahead and deciared:— There seems to bo a general combination of all the speculn- pitalists and land owners against the poor, and the cor- m aids them by the opening of streets. Tenants are out and many private families. owing to the high ro breaking up housekeeping, and going to boarding The old Knickerbockers, however, permit tetlants to hold over at the old rate or a slight advance. There is danger ahead. During the early part of Fobruary the excitement in | the city was intense, On the 13th a great public meet- | ing of the masses was held in City Hall Park, in which | over 20,000 protested against high rents and high prices of food, Through the pusillanimity of the authorities | q bread and rent riot was precipitated, and a mob of | several thousand hungry people sacked the | provision house of Eli Hart & Co, in Washin street, The situation was thus described in the Hrnaty of February 6, one week before the riot:— It ia well known that the great fire of New York in 1835 gare a new impetus to usurers, extortionists, speculators and grasping Inndlords at the moment it excited the eyin pas of mankind, The destruction of nearly a whole ward In the city was seized upon and made the catise of the most terrible exactions for rents that ever was known in the his. | tory of a people. Soon after the | seal pon the fire the bey the legal A o | cent a month was the modest demand, but this kept | | ing until the world was astonished at the fact that thirty a forty per cent interest became the ordinary rate of usanes here in Wall street during s period of over six months, The land speculators and the money speculators, shoulder to shoulder, increased and enlarged the momentum b: practices until at this moment the state of things linsb so alarming as to create a dread of @ revolution or a goneral | emigration from the city. Immediately atter the bread and rent riots the specu- Jators and landlords began to case up their grasp upon | the market, the monetary panic came, fail Fred. not only in the city, but all over the ‘country fancy prices that had been maintained so lu away with a rush, taking down with them th | who had rioted so long in the market, In the Hxranp | of March 25, 1837, an illustration of the | propensity to gamble in realestate is | given, A speculator, it appears, — purchased ja parcel of land ’ in one of the outlying towns at $100, per acre, divided it into lots at $50, $100 and $150; took mortgages upon them at ten times their ed the mortgages for city property, and | cleared by the transaction, in a fe || Tho Hekato of March 24, 1837, in its 1 j relers to the speculation in” money | realestate in 1834, 1835 and 1836, and a i last. the crisis hi ome, Land | $100 per aere has been divided into lots and lubelled $1,500 and $2,000, and sometimes $10,000, The flood of failures now coming upon us is a blessing trom | Heaven. Nothing is lost—no property is destroyed, | This crisis does not, like a tire, consume property simply restores the harmonious and steady action of the great machine, We havo yet to see the worst, Let us prepare—let us prepare.” | In January and Fobruary rents went up twenty to | | mcompany purch: | made a great port—a town was to be eres | also of $50,000, thirty per cent, but after the panic they followed the | downward tendency of real estate. The revulsion was so great that according to the HERALD's money article of October 8, 1837, the total value of real estate decreased 292,194, as compared with 1836, The failures Mar to August is placed by the same authority at $250,000. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE REAL ESTATE PANIC OF 1834-7. The Henauv, of June 6, 1837, has the following article illustrative of the panic and its result There is nothing more interesting, nothing more philo- sophical, nothing more like “history veaching by example,” than to contrast times and soasons with ‘each other. ‘ake, for instance, the land speculations of 1834 and 1837. On the Bat of May, 1839, we wrote an article, ther. published in the ‘8 follows :— his time agreeably not large, probably thi a friend of his, aw value of real estate, the fall and rise of every rock or heap of rubbish on the island, asked him, “Would you like to make a small speculation’ in land?’ "I don’t know.” re- Tan quite ignorant of the value of land.” | ‘said the friend, “purchase this lot; it is the best in the market; keep it afew months and see now it will come out. ‘The gentleman dlid so, Tt was what ts called the Comm dore Chauney property. It iy situated on the eastern sho ud, near Yorkville, about fifteen acres, and cos It was the name which was sold other day for | ‘This is one of the numer the | $120,000. 5 spe | Turge sums of mouey recently nade in speculations in landed | Property. ¢ spirit or mania is rising higher. From the hours of twelve to two the public sale room in the Exchange is crowded to suffocation with buyers and sellers, Three or fou ctioneers in one corner are moment. Lands in every par different, rocks, mountains, lny reselling and were o 2" * The denlere are making rapid fortunes. Of one it js said he will clear this year 800,00 out of his commissions, another | $40,000, another $25,000, &c, It is now high tide, full m 1 but take care for the turn, i en lane, Water street, up town, down town, has varied three or four times from’ two to thirty per cent on its value during the last twelve or fifteen months. Be cautious, be prident. What is the picture now? We will tell. ed of Mr. A. Schermerhorn a farm belong. | ee him, situated on Gowanus Bay, below Brooklyn, for $100,000, of whieh $50,000 were paid ini eash and a bond and mortgage given for the balance at seven per cent. As soon as completed, the company laid out the farm in streets, lanes, docks, slips and “everthing,” as Master Dogberry ‘handsome about them.’ Gowanus Bay to be | . ships built, a | mayor and aldermen elected, and again, as Dog: everything comfortable about them.” revulsion came, ands, lots, towns, swamps, not | only were not salable, but they were worth nothing beyond the crop of cubbages you conld raise on them. Things became | so bad that the company calle “ dot We have $50,000 to p sleeping a day and a half on the by their heads and came n, “Let uy give the purchase back into Mr. Seb shande; we will lose | stalinent of $50,000, but we may save the latter akes, swamps, meade reselling if the — peop! auctioneers and some of the About a year ago 4 meeting. How ean we ri Vhat shall we int” After | * they shook This proposition was ix made to. the preprietor. } He shook his head. “I'l the bargain.” They stared, ulted the horoscope again, and then, lifting up their ‘es. weeping, said :—"We'll give $10,000 and all the land ‘you will take it buck and cancel the bond aud, mortgage.” ‘This is now the condition of the negotiation. +e So much for the land speculations of 1833 and 1837, Oh! Oh ht While there is no probability of a monetary panic at present the history of the past clearly shows the neces- Sity for speculators in real estate to be cautious, A | careful engineer, seeing THE RED FLAG*OF DANGER ANEAD, will “slow up’? and not wildly rush pell mell into the | chasm that may be awaiting him and those who he is piloting in safety over the broad expanse of States. peculators have in the past revelled to their fill, and some of them have gone down in the numerous panics in real state that have marked every ten years sinco 1817. according); 1 st AN OPPORTUNITY I8 NOW OFPERED THEM to “slow up.” Failures in commercial business usually follow a period of speeulative gambling in stocks, and real estate and stocks have been run up to prices jar in excess of the real value, and this year has been marked like 1886-7 by commercial failures, but not to the same extent. There is danger, however, that the bitter bat- tle now raging between the advocates of a metallic and | greenback currency may precipitate a condition of things ere the next Presidential election little less critical than that of 1834-37, and before the end of 1877 many real estato men may regret that they had not “slowed up" as others did; that they had not taken the advice of the HERALD,as many far-seeing capitalists | did before the crash of 1837. INSTANCES OF SHRINKAGE SINCE 1872-3. No considerable number of real estate operators agree as to the shrinkage of values on certain lines of | property this year as compared with the high-priced periods of 1872-3; yet all seem to concede the general shrinkage has been’ fully one-third, or thirty-three and a third per cent. With a view of ascertaining tho shrinkage, as regards location, inquiries have been instituted, and one of the real estate firms that is Jooked upon as inclined to ‘bull’? the market, can- ‘didly admits that their sales show the following de- | cline since 18 Shrinkage. Per Cent, 35 Location, About Inwood and Spuyten Duyvil About Fort Washington. Along 8th avenue from 145th to Along the Grand Boulevard from 59th to 155th street. gees etvessececccceces 40 00 35 Along 5th avenue fom 59th to 124th street... 25 to 35 Along 7th avenue from 110th to 145th str 30 to 35 Along 4th avenue from 60th to 125tn street. ... 30 Lots between Madison and 6th avenues below i 59th street = 20 to 15 | ‘A few ri pa and values placed upon the same property when inflated prices prevailed, will better illustrate the shrinkage. From the records in the County Clerk's and Registrar's office | and other sources these sales are obtained. Sold for (or valued-at) in Sold for Location, 1872-73. in 1875, Four lots at Inwood, with house... $107,000 $67,000 Lots and house, Fort Washington 110,000 80,000 Eight lots, Grand Boule | 152d street. 80,000 52,000 | Nine lots, cori e | enue boulevard and near 131st i street (valued) opp 48,000 31,000 | Six lots on EI street (valued).. 150,000 105,000 | House and lot, 20x100.10, south | side of 119th street, east of | avenue A......ceee +. 18,000 10,900 Four lots on west side of Central enue, south of Grand avenue — 4,000 8,400 House and lot in 135th street, near Alexander 8,000 6,000 House and lot i , near Alexander........ 14,000 10,000 * Eight lots opposite held at same figure realized this amount. BROOKLYN AND WESTCHESTER COUNTY. In Brooklyn the same condition of things is found, | Indeed, owing to the distrust felt in the city authort- ties and the alleged stealings by the rings engaged in public improvements, real estate is rapidly going down across the river. No person is disposed to buy, and holders who need money are letting go parcels at re- duced values, In the Eastern District this is especially so. The property owners of Williamsburg and Green- point already begin to tire of the union jormed two or three years ago, as it has nearly doubled their taxes; and they’ are agitating the question of secession from Brooklyn, claiming that they are unduly taxed for the benefit of the lower end of the city, and that in consequence their property is clating in value, It is reported that some of the savings banks are foreclosing their mortgages in xpectation ofa decline to a lower point, This is par- rly so in the Eastern District. Tho writer spent yesterday among the real estate operators in Westchoster county and they agree that the market is very dull and the summer had been marked by no sales of any im- portance except where holders required money and sacrificed it, that property below 149th street stands about as it did two years ago, but that from 149th | up to Fordham there lias been a decrease of from twenty to thirty per cent. Houses above the Harlem Bridge aro not in demand except at a rental of $600 per annum and under, and real estate then report that capital could profitably be employed im the construction of houses for rental at from $800 to $400. There are those who have the reputation of being astute barometers of the market, who still maintain that prices are likely to advance this fall, but they are | generally looked upon as bulls who are interested in maintaining the values of two years ago, All real estate men Who are not interested in keeping the prices up agree that values are reaching their proper level, and that any capital that ventures into transactions in the hope of the prices of 1872 and 1873 being again reached, Will be liable to great shrinkage. THE NEWARK CELLULOID FIRE. ANOTHER MAN REPORTED BURIED IN THE RUINS, Public interest in the reeont disastrous celluloid fac- tory explosion and fire in Newark was given renewed life yesterday by the report that the body of another victim was buried beneath the debris, Just ve- fore the explosion a young man, named Edward Dickerson, a tobacconist, was seen passing up the alley leading from Mulberry street to the rear of Dan Bryant's stables and has not been seen or heard of since, Yesterday a force of men under direction of Police Captain James Donahue was busy all day searching for the missing but with+ out success, Mr, Compton, the undertaker, who was slightly injured by the fire, is of the opinion that Dick- ergo is not in the tins. THE CORONER'S INQUEST in the case of Hugh Carney promises to be most search. ing In tts scope, With a view to making it all that nterest demands Coroner Osborne has empan- a jury, consisting of well known highly intelli- viewed the body and . The journeymen plumbers of Newark have opened a subseription list for the bene. | fit of the family of the unfortunate Carney, All the men’ injured by the falling of the walls are improving rapidly in the hospital and at their homes, | VETERANS. then adjourned till Mond: A BENEFIT FOR TH Death, the sharpshooter, has been for the last sixty years steadily sending the veterans who defended the star-spangted flag and humbled British pride in the war of 1812-14 beyond tho reach of bugle blast or drum call. Still, there are a few of them left, veterans with bent forms and tottering steps, but still with stout hearts, in which the fire of patriouism never flags. Some of these eu are poor and sick, Their children have pre them to the grave and the friends of their youth are scattered, If to anybody the country owes a liveli- hood ‘tis to these old, withered oaks of a departed for- all see them no more in our Fourth of processions. Meanwhile we may help those ng them who are sick and needy by attending thoir pienic at Sulzer's Kast River Park, at the foot of Eighty- fourth strect, on Tuesday, 28th inst, , of | them a helping band at Syracuse, | stalked about with the air of men who had everything | the outlook was a bright THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK. The Democrats Getting Ready to Go to Syracuse. TAMMANY’S TRYING TROUBLES. Country Delegates To Have the Whip Hand in the State Convention, What the Contesting Delegations Expect and Tammany Dreads. The Struggle in the Fourth Sena- torial District. Now that the republicans have placed their State ticket in the fleld the democrats are beginning to settle down to business in dead earnest, especially in this city. It was all mystery with them last week, and the leaders were very chary about grving their views as to the probabilities of the situation, but now that their opponents have shown their hand they are more talka- tive. The impression seems to prevail among the Tam- many men that the Saratoga ticket is a weak one and can bo easily beaten if the democrads throughout the State do not allow their local bickermgs and jealousies to interfere with the general work of the campaign. A few weeks ago, when the Wigwam chiefs had not as yet come to the conclusion that the anti-Tammany move- ment in this city was a more formidable one than that of last year, not so much on account tho strength of the men who have egged iton as managers and wirepullere as because of the sympathy secrotly extended to them from va- rious country districts in the way of promises to give the “regulars”? “fixed” to suit themselves and who felt certain that | the very name of Tammany would be enough to make the country delegates FALL INTO LINE and do the bidding of the “Boss” without a murmur, 7 { country delegations. The anti-Tammany express || themselves as not only confident of getting {air play at the hands of the Convention, but of securing as permanent chairman @ man who will see to it that Tammany, no | better show than avy other delegation. However, the Wigwam wirepullers are old hands at the business, and if between now and next Wednesday the Governor can be induced, for the sake of securing an undivided sup- port of the New York city delegation in 1876, to throw is influence in their favor, the Convention will be » harmontous one in the long run, even though it is certain that the Morrissey anti-Kelly men and theix abewtors will not give way without a big row. Some of the Governor's friends say that, knowing he holds THE TRUMP CARDS, he will side with theanti-Tammany party rather than weh Tammany as at present organized, in whose fealty t himself in 1876 he has not the strongest confidence, and that, if bard pushed, the only substantial conces: sion his country friends in the Convention will give Tammany will be to admit her, del along with the others, giving each @ vote. This action, however, would be an indirect violation of the rule of 1871, some of the politiciang believe, and would only be resorted to under the most pressing circumstances. Morrissey’ delegation, {6 may be said, from the Eleventh district stand in = peculiar attitude, as do several delegations from other districts, who will, independent of the anti-Tammany delegations, claim'to be the regular Tammany as well ag anti-Kelly ‘men. Should they be declared Tammany and the anti-Tammany men win the day, they will have to share the fate of the other Tammany dele- gates who are not anti-Kelly, and if the Kelly men should be the victors and get their delegates from all the districts recognized and the independents should not succeed in being considered of the Tammany they will, of course, have to % WALK THE PLANK. So as between the anti-Tammany and the Kelly Tammany and the so-called Tammany delegation op- posed to Kelly there 18 a good prospect for a lively time all round and a strong, During the week there has been but little in the main discussion of probability that the Morrissey delegation: and the other delegations that claim to be Tamm: and as opposed to the anti-Tammany men as Kelly’ | friends, will be between two fires, which will end in their destruction, TOE FOURTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT, Although, as a matter of course in a campaign where there are so many loaves and fishes to be won or lost, in so many different parts of the city, each judicial, aldermanic and assembly district will have, as it were, & separate battle of its own to fight, there is but little doubt but that the fare in the Fourth Senatorial district will command | gencral interest of the entire democratic party of the city, regular and irregular wings alike, to the exclusion ofeven the State ticket—that is, if Morrissey should put his boasts into practice about his being so strong | with the masses and runs as a candidate himself, There are those who have good opportunity of knowing the | probable course the great ex-pounder of human consti- | tutions may take, and who, in speaking of the possibilit; of his running as an independent candidate, wag their heads wisely and say, “if? this, that and’ the other thing should happen, “then” he might not run him- self, but back some friend like Hayes to run as his rep- | Tesentative, If he should not be a candidate there will | be but little general interest felt. in the struggle in the district, and if he does not, after all his talk, it will some of the wiseacres think, because the “ifs’? are n of the right twist to suit his way of CARRYING ON A CANVASS in which success is assured beforehand. It is needles The revelations of the past three or four days have | to state that Morrissey hates John Fox even more opened their eyes to the real situation of affairs, and have convinced even the most sceptical among the Gen- eral Committee managers that mere talk and bombast will not suffice to throw the anti-Tammany delegation from this city into confusion and disorder before leay- ing town, much less to make their admission to the Convention in fragments or asa whole an impossibility. No one realizes tho dangers of the situation now better than Mr, John Kelly, whose visit to Mr. Hendricks has not by any means served to strengthen Tammany in tho eyes of the country del- egates, who have, in almost two-thirds of the interior | counties, aiready pledged themselves or been positively instructed to vote in the Convention for no man who is not in hearty sympathy with THE GOVERNOR AND HIS POLICY, Had it not been for the shrewdness of the wily Samuel, who influenced the assembling of some of the rural conventions as early as the first week in August, every one of which passed resolutions eulogistic of his course thus far, Tammany, even” with the demo- cratic factions opposed to her rule declaring war to the knife, might have resolved to go to Syracuse, as of old, with a determination to play the big brother part in the Convention, — trust- ing that, as of yore, tho little fellows from the country could be tempted, if not coaxed, into following wher- ever she saw fit to lead, Indeed, when the Committee on Organization met at Tammany Hall in the carly part of last month, under the thin disguise of being an informal assemblage of prominent democrats trom the | various Assembly districts, and, in defiance of the rule laid down by the Convention of 1871, deliberately de. cided that the primaries for the election of delegates | to the district conventions in tho city should be held on a given day, which decision was obeyed to tho letter by a majority of the Tammany district committees in their formal call for the primaries, many of the ward Jeaders had their minds made up to “warm” Tilden at Syracuse, through their representatives at tho Con- vention, The warming process was not to bo AN ALLIANCE WITH THE CANAL RING, direct or indirect, for that would, they knew right well, be suicide itself; but it was settled, so far as could be without any formal declaration of policy, that tho | Governor should not be allowed to dictate the Stato ticket, The first impulse to this determination was given when tho State Central Committee was in Saratoga about a month ago by the ap- pearance of an article in an Albany paper, known to have been inspired by the Governor, which declared in so many words that Mr, Tilden’s wishes should not only be consulted but considered law in the | coming campaign as to what persons should be noni- nated throughout the State for Senators and Assembly- men. Forgetting that, though inspired by different motives, this one man power demanded for the Gov- ernor was precisely the kind of power that has been wielded so long in this city by even “reformed Tam- many’ with such disastrous results to thoso who dared to protest against it, the Tammany leaders first showod their disapprobation by quiet growling and finally got bold enough to speak right out about the grasping policy of “Grandmother Sammy,” as thoy elegantly dubbed the Governor, It was thought, too, at the time that Tammany, while not appearing to court afight openly with the Governor, could create a bad feeling against him and his supporters among a good proportion of the country delegates by showing what a Ereat loss it was to the party that he had not removed the Fire Commissioners and other heads of depart- ments at the instance of the Mayor, 60 as to MAKE WAY POR GOOD DEMOCRATS, who could be made sorvicenble to their country friends in many ways when they got into a tight corner during the campaign. But the Governor, by his shrewdnoss in having the rural conventions declare themselves in his favor, before the delegates were even decided upon in some instances, nipped this little game in the bud, and so, day after day since the Convention in Broome county rang out the first peal for him, the Tammany Jeaders have seen that, as a central organization, they could not exert any influence on the Convention by kicking against the pricks, Mr. Tilden’s hurried visit, to this city last week, too, was a new source of alarm, particularly when it leaked out that he had been called upon by several of the anti-Tammany leaders, with whom he had long interviews. The grand result’ of all these untoward events made itself manifest a few days | ago, and Mr. Kelly, who is personally on good terms | with the Governor, although hoe does not think he has done his duty as a democrat to the city democracy, de- termined to . SQUELCH THE GROWLERS, and so Tammany has resolved to follow and not to at- tempt to lead the country delegates at Syracuse—in fact, to fall into line and vie with them in expressing their devotion to the Governor. It was given to Senator Moore's district to lead off on the new tack by following in the footsteps of the country conventions in eulogiz- ing Mr, Tilden and declaring that men in sympathy with tim should alone find consideration with the State Convention. Other city districts have taken their ene from this, and the indications now are that, in order to secure a full representation in the Convention, the Tammany men will do anything the Governor's country friends want them to, even to the extent of denouncing the lowering of the laborers’ wages, which Mr, Wick- | ham and his republican heads of departments brought about, and for which the laboring classes, right or wrong, hold Mr. John Kelly and the Tammany General Committee responsible, But just what success Tam- many will meet with in her efforts to have ail her dele- gates admitted to the Convention in return for het now expressed willingness to be meek and humble if she is tully recognized as the only true blue repre- sentative democratic organization in’ this city, is yet a matter of the wildest speculation, and it would sxeem that her chances of success were fully discussed on Fri- day night at the secret meeting of the Committees on Organization, without any one member being able to convince himself or be convinced by any one else, that one. If the delegations from New York were to be bunched as a whole, as in Tweed’s time, by the committee on contested seats that will be appointed, Tammany would, of a cer- tainty, get in without trouble, for there can bo no denying the fact by any one who hay taken the trouble to watch the methods adopted by the | two factions in their primaries, that Tammany, ina majority of the districts, ts really represented by men regularly chosen by eonventions, regularly elected by crs of the districts, On the other hand, there districts im which the antt-Tammany delegates more faithfully represent the democrats in s than do the Tammany delegates, Thus it n that investigating the CLAIMS OF THE RIVAL DELEGATES rately by districts, if the committee really mean to carry out the role of 1871 to the letter, will re. sult in’ the admission of a number of the anti-Kelly delegates, which will act as a dead weight to the Tam- many delogates on occasions where, if Tammany con- trolled the entire sixty-three delegates {rom the city, she night hold the balance of power as between disngrecing n the distri | cordially than he does the other John; but itis by no means cortain as yet that the conviction of Fox's friende that he wid get ‘the Tammany nomination is based on anything stronger than their own desire to have | him nominated. He is a man of wealth, ready to da his share of spending it freely in a legitimate way ta | gain his political point, and a good organizer; but, im | the opinion of many, he has lost his grip on many por- | tions of the district which were once favorable to him, | and that this fact has determined Mr. Kelly to refraig from giving even a suggestion as to whether he would | prefer Fox to any other man as acandidate. The m | in the district who were faithful to Tammany Hall | when Fox left it contend that he is not entitled to a re- nomination, and that if the question is left to the Sen- atorial Convention alone he cannot secure the nomina- | tion, even if he should bez for it, which he has not yet done. This condition of affairs has, quite naturally, sharpened the wits and en- livened the energies of the friends of the othes | candidates, and from this time forward till the Convention meets the canvass will be a warm one. The Sixth Assombly district delegates will, it 1s said, from the start, go ‘solid for Assemblyman T J. Cam who, they think, by reason of his long service in the | lower house, has fairly won the right to be promoted to aseat in the upper chamber, Assemblyman Nicho- las Muller, from the First district, 1s hkewise being strongly pushed by his own Assembly district, with positive assurances from active men in the other dis- | tricts that if there should be no SPECIAL INFLUENCE RXERTED from headquarters in favor ot any particular individuad they will give him such a hearty support as to make hig | success im the Convention a cortainty beforehand. Mr, | Maller during the Tweed régime was several times put | forward by his friends as a candidate for the Assembly, | but the “Boss,’’ who only wanted willing tools to a8 | his work, would have none of him, and this fact, | coupled with the other that Mr. Kelly was the first te | suggest him as a candidate last year, and that in the Logislature he showed himselt’ to as thorough a party man as he was a faithful guardian | of the interests of his constituents, his’ friends ‘ believe will make him a formidable competitor for the Senatorial prize in the Convention, Indeed, during the | past week the general drift of opinion in the district | seemed to place Fox in the calculations as only a possi- ble candidate, while Campbell and Muller were quoted | as probable. ' The advocates of the claims of the latter ntend that the game, as they call it, is in theis if no outside pressure is brought to bear in favou of anybody else, and that their combined forces cam defeat any third candidate who might pea As there will be 108 votes in the Convention, they say that by combining their respective delegations they could bring | the vote within seven of a majority, and, that done, they both feel certain, so it is said, of being able to se- cure at least twenty votes outside of the delegations of the First and Sixth Assembly districts. But the great question naturally arises—if all this be as stated— | Which one of the two will be the first to give way ta the other? There is one thing certain about the district, and that is that the Tammany organizations are thgroughly organized in ‘Assembly district, and that the anti-Tammany o! jona | are not by any means as firmly welded togetuer as they are in some of the uptown districts, though a possible exception may be made of certain portions of the Fours teenth ward, where Hayes’ personal friends have beew hard at work and will give a pretty good accoum | of themselves when election day comes. The Fourtk | Senatorial district has always been a Tammany district, | and when other districts in times of storm and neriods jeal ¥ TIDAL-WAVE BOLTS | have in the past given way to the enemies of the Wig- ' wam chiets, the Fourth has always stuck to the Big In- juns through thick and thin, even against some of ite most popular local favorites. It will tuus be perceived that an anti-Tammany candidate must have, under any and all circumstances, a hard road to travel to save hime self from getting so ‘badly defeated as to be able ta swear, the day after election, that he was in reality bond side candidate. No one understands this bet! than Morrissey, and it is reasonable to that he will look well before he leaps; for if he should ran and get badly deteated he would,’ in a political sense, be ag dead as poor Marley—‘as dead as a door nail.” 1¢ will not do, some of the Tainmany men say, for hing now, with the stand he has taken, to GET OUT OF THE FIGHT by backing some one else against the regular Tammany | candidate in order to be able to say, if his man gets de« ! feated, “If I myself had run it would have been diffors ent;”” and in this connection, despite ull the talk in the | district to the contrary, it may be said that most of Tammany wirepullers outside of it cling to the bel that, at the eleventh hour, Mr, Kelly, especially if Morrissey should decide to run in the district, will ex- ert his influence to induce all other candidates to with draw in favor of John Fox. At all events, whether Mors rissey runs himself or not, he is bound to take sideg with his friend Hayes, and as they both claim to be regular Tammany, Mr. Kelly’s Committee on Organize tion to the contrary notwithstanding, the struggle will be a fierce one, and more than one of the candi- dates for the various offices in the Senatorial dist where fate will largely depend upon the battle for Senatorship, will have to have a pretty elastic con- science after election to be able to take the oath pre- scribed by the new constitation relative to bribery and corruption. WAITING FOR THE WIND TO BLOW. During the week there has been but little discussiog of the merits or demerits of the various aspirants fot the judgeships, the positions of Aldermen, Coroner, | &c., ‘and until the Convention has finished its work the | politicians will keep their plans to themselves. Whi | that comes to pass the campaign will be begun wi vigor, and the candidates for the Assembly will trotted out in all the districts. ANTI-KELLY DEMOCRATS. A meoting of Fifteenth ‘Asyombly district democrate | was held last night at Continental Hall, James T. Dra han, Esq., in the chair, Ex-Assemblyman Jemes Cos tigan introduced resolutions denouncing John Kelly iw severe terms, which were unanimously adopted. | Ai | other meeting will be held on Monday evening to elect delegates to the State Convention at Syracuse, THE BOARD OF EXCISE. The Commissioners of Excise met yesterday to try the complaints against Koster & Beal, charged with selling liquor on Sunday, George K. Woodward, » clorgyman, testified to having, in company with a Mr, | Cotter, gone into the saloon kept by the respondents in Nassau street, near Spruce, and there drank @ glass of Hungarian beer, | After some testimony by Mr. Clayton, who accom panied the last witness into the saloof, the case was adjourned until next Wednesday, at cleven A. M. | QUARANTINE AFFAIRS. The Legislative Committee appointed to investigate the working of the Quarantine Department resumed ite session yesterday at Castle Garden. There being ne witnesses in attendance the investigation was adjourned until the 9th of November, at half-past ten o'clock. EXPLOSION OF A GAS PIPE. At four o'clock yesterday afternoon a gas pipe em Ploded on the third floor of the Seventh Regiment Ar. mory, carrying away a portion of an iron window sash | and otherwise damaging the building to the amount @ | $500. Luckily, however, no one was injured,