The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-06-05

adeIphia more depressed than other cities
No. my friends. IL our condition be pc
culiar it is in that it is exceptionally for
tunate. Special and temporary causes are
giving work and wages to larger percent
ACE Of our people than are in their enjoy
ment IN almost any other city upon the
Atlantic seaboard. | venture to say, and
say it without fear Of contradiction, that
there are at this time more Dwelling -hous-
as building ia that little strip OF the
Twenty fourth Ward which lies between
Lancaster avenue and the Park, than are
building in Richmond aud fredericksburg,
VA Charlotte. Salisbury and Greensboro,
\ c. Charleston, Columbia and Aiken,
5 O., Savannah aud Augusta, Ga, and
Jacksonville, Florida. | have recently
walked the streets of those cities without
discovering u dozen buildings IN process OF
construction. At jacksonville few old
tenements we're being torn down when !
came away, i'll order that brick stores
might be erected to accommodate North
ern travellers next winter, but not ia aid
Of any local industry.
New York. Is her condition better
than ours think not. When manu-
features are paralyzed commerce stagnates.
Let us see If this Is not trae. Here Is .
slip from the New York World, of March
"A. The caption is Empty Buildings on
Broadway" Without OBTAINING you too
long, let me read the opening paragraphs.
The writer says
In all the business portions Of the
city tenantless buildings are frequent,
while portions of buildings, lofts or Of
hces, are more placarded at present than
at any previous time The brokers and
agents lists of places in the market are
growing with increased rapidity, as the
day for final answer and settlement
draws near. While, on the other hand,
the list of applicants and lnquirers Is very
meagre indeed.
The senior member Of the firm Of John
Lloyd & Sons, in speaking Of the pros
poets and the condition Of the market,
saws - have never known So dull a sea
son it even surpasses last spring, which
followed immediately on the panic, and
was as bad as we thought 1t possibly
could be. In store property contracts
and leases are few and far between. In
stead of being all IN rush, a. we should
be at this portion Of the year, we have ev-
erything put on our hands and no one
calling to take them of. The trouble
seems to be that there Is no one going into
business while there Is more than the
usual percentage going out ard closing up
affairs without leaving any business sue
cessors. The revived business which ev-
erybody has been expecting to come with
the spring, does not seem 10 be foreshad-
owed in the real estate market, and in the
renting Of business places IN the city"
People are cautious, and no one wishes
to take hold Of new plan if he can pos
sibly avoid it, Things may change, but
they will have to do SO very quickly if
anything is to be done at the present
season. The dullness does not seem to be
confined to any special section Of the city,
or to any particular business. 1t is gen
eral business stagnation, q sort of after
wave Of the panic Of '73. There are
about one-third more buildings now open
70 rent than there were a year or q year
and half ago. We are making no leases,
but getting along as best We can, bridging
over the present interval in hopes of
better time ahead The temporary rentals
which are made are in many cases at a re-
duction Of between 80 and 40 per cent.
The New York Tribune of April 29,
under the head Of Rents and Profits Fall
1,g- Debts aid Ta1es Rising," says The
depression in the foreign trade OF this
port is seriously affecting the owners and
lessees Of warehouses, and has produced
considerable fall III the rents and market
value Of that kind Of property. We have
compiled few statistics from the monthly
commercial reports VI the Treasury De-
partment, which will be found Of interest,
as showing the extent Of the disastrous
fluctuations in our import trade. The fol-
lowing table gives the gold values of the
imports Of iron and steel, wool and wool
ems, aud cotton, silk and linen goods INTO
the United States in each of the last
three calendar years