New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-02-09
TIE nnESTIOY OF RENTs.

February Is trying month Tor unsettled
tenants in this city, the owners OF houses and
the pOssessors Of mexpmed leases being fOrtu.
nately free from the house-letting and house.
hunting ills that other New-Yorkers are heir
to. The custom prevails here of deciding in
February whether we shall move in May; and.
il so, where we will go, and how much we.wiu
pay. According to the chronology of the Met,
ropolitan landlord, the business world standS
still during these three months. He per.
mits himself to fOresee 10 rise Or fail
Of gOld no fluctuatiors in the price OF
labor or 81 brea@s no change in tho
ease q transportation to other localities; no
21tstatiQn i9 the ratio e r"~",ntlon 70 '"'
buildings for its accommodation. He casts hiI
eye over the city in January, selects the points
from which to make his attack upon the pOckA
cts Of his victims, and lays ont his campaign
for the year. To make yearly advance upon
his prices, and to uphold such advance by
specOus pleas, constitute the golden rule by
which he is governed. Last year no told his
anxious tenant that the population Of Newt
York was round million, Of which number
Ope-fOurth had not where to lay their heads
Hence, % per cent was added to the scale Of
rents and forced from unwilling tenants. That
theory has been disproved by the returns ot
the census -taker, and, instead of 1t, we are
told that "the 1870 buildings commenced
"within our city limits in 1866 were not
Sufficient to contain the increase of popu.
"lation. Therefore, we are reluctantly COM
PEELED" ETC., etc. q
Now, is there any sufficient reason for "a ad,
vance in rents in 1871 1t y true that in 1861
there were but 1870 buildings begun; but that
was an increase of moro than SO per cent oyet
the number begun in 1855, while no one will.
claim that the increase in population was nearly
so great OF first-class dwelling houses there
were 400 in 1865 only 3O8 in 1855. In tenement
houses (the most accommodating in point Of
numbers in proportion tO.space occupied the inr
crease was nearly 100 per cent, there having been
GA in 1865 against 1Gl in the previous yeat'
Deducting then from the 1910 new buildings bes
gun last year. the stores, factories, charohes
stables and other uninhabited buildings there
were 1919 dwelling-houses remaining. By tho
census of 1885, there were in tho city t9,9A
inhabited buildings, which, the population be-
ing 7263S6, sheltered an average of 14.7 per-
soas each. The same average for the 1919
new dwellings Of last year will allow an IN.
crease of population of 1880 without anI
greater crowding than before. The average
yearly increase of population from 1866 to 1866
was only 9,64S, while in but one deoade-from
1915 to 1S5j-for the last forty years, has the
average yearly increase equaled that for which
provision was made by the new buildings q
last year. The increase in dwellings has there
fore been amply sufficient to accommodate the
natural increase of population, and this de-
mOnstratiOn refutes the strongest argument OF
the landlords.
la Brooklyn the increase in building has
been proportionately much greater than IN this
city, there having been about 500 moro build
ings began there in 1865 than in New-fork.
In addition TO this cause for reduced rents.
the vexations and prOtracted delays attending
travel between the two cities has considerably
damaged Brooklyn real estate interests There
should be, therefore, decline in the prices OF
houses and leases. The difficulties attending
travel between the extremities Of the island OF
New-YOrk have been great ally of extor-
tiOnate landlords. lnasmuch as the Legislature
will undoubtedly grant authority for enc OF
more of the projected plans for rapid trans
portaton by steam power from she Battery to
Harlem River, the unOecupied lands of the
Twelfth Ward and of Westchester County will
be brought into active competition with tho
lower locations heretofore especially favored.
and the pressure upon the latter will be cor
respondlDgly lessened.
An opinion is advanced by some of the real
estate owners and agents that the discussion Of
f-bA will
during the period of its uncertainty (builders
not caring to contract until they know whether
they are to have eight or ten hours work from
their workmen) and that if the Eght-IiOuf
law should pass, the cost of construction would
be so increased as to prevent the building neces'
sary for public accommodation. But, on tho
other hand should the laborer or the mechanic
have two hours per day more to himself, he could
the more easily live in suburban towns than
when he must be at his shop from Z a. m. to
6 p III. Hence, many of those who now crowd
our teheilent- houses would then gladly traverse
the longer distance to their homes, for the sake
of the purer air and greater freedom of the
country. These observations are made Win
especial reference to dwelling hOuses and rents.
But, of stores and stOrehOuses, there were l4c
erected In 1866; but 81 in 1865, and 81 more iac-
lories and workshops in 1865 than in 1865. How
he lower portion of our city is being covered
With palaces of trade. the details given else;
where of the new structures IN the Fifth Ward
pest show.
1t is to be expected that the cry of in
,reased rents will be echoed by every person
Who has houses TO rent, or whose commissions
IS agents swell or diminish according TO the
ise in rents. That there will also DO many
enants who will comply with the February
demands for higher rent is to be presumed.
But if tenants generally decline to pay the adj
-ance required, and during the stwo months
# probation seek such arrangements, in city
II country, rs will conform TO their judgment
nd thalr nnraeS. nliceS must be decidedY