The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-11-14
TIE DAILY ARGUS.
wednesday November IA, 1883.
RENT IN NEW YORK.
T. Landlordisn in the Metropolis From
One Point of View.
A Broker Who FornuIates Some
Newell yiews---Re HEfgh-.-
Busincss bad, and
Vice Versa

New YORK, Nov Al had converse
ton in the money centre of New York with
a broker about the influence of high rents on
business incomes This man has more wit
than education, but his views are puzzling.
Said lie: '.Whenever rents touch the low
mark. business begins to start up,
When they reach the high mark,
business is bad That is thu
trouble with New York city to.day-ex.
cessive rents. Some people think that is
mark of prosperity. On the contrary it in
dictates that the great bulk. of the people are
paying too much to the landlords, and not
making their regular incomes"
Explain that said /.
EVERY man, said my friend. "who roines
to New Xork to do business makes the first
element of calculation to be his rent. be-
come broker, for instance. l start
with my rent as the basis of bust
ness What l require is an Office. / CON-
mence in time of low rents. My rent, for
instance, will be- $1,000. proceed to build
up business. In the course of time my
landlord comes to me and says: 4 must
have % per cent. more for these offices
My clerks come to me in success
sion and say. Our rents have
been put up, too, where we lodge or live, %
per cent, and we want that much more from
YOU The whole scale advances with the
change of rent Meantime there is perhaps
q decline in business, and l am actually not
doing as much with the 25 per cent. advance
as when l was paying the &, 900.
Now continued my informant, ~ have
given you an exact picture of downtown
business in New York, and, indeed, of bust
hess and rents all over New York. In 1876,
or Whereabouts, all business was at the lowest
ebb. The panic of 1873 hal deepened upon
the land The question about going into
business at all in New York was whether
one could afford to pay the rent.
Rents were then comparitivel- small.
Office buildings were plain. There
were few elevators There were none of
these nine-story office buildings. Not only
. The brokers' but the large business community
which covers all the lower part Of this island,
set to work frugally on low rents. Commits
sion merchants gathered here. The energy
and frugality of all these classes of men built
up business There came after while a mild
and gentle boom. We had hardly got into it
when along came our landlords and said
Rents are to tH put up, This office that YOU
are paying $500 for We shall charge you
S2,000for The rents have been raised from
time to time, and the business has fallen off
"All speculation, which demands the most
daring energies of men, has been fiat as pan
cake for year past. Vet here are rents go
lug up right in the midst Of this stringency
Spectators, driven away from other parts of
the country, or routed out of other forms Of
business, have put up enormous Office build
ings all over the lower portions OF the city.
If a man had a bank, he stuck up a ten-story
building to get his own rent free, or us much
as be could out of less prosperous men. The
example of these big'buildiHgs has increased
until they cover the lower portion of the
town, involving many millions of dollars,
and they are Sucking the life-blool out of the
decreased business we do