Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-10
STOCK YARDS SOLID.
Story Of Their Removal Knocked
Silly by Costly Improvements.
GOOD VALUES ON FOURTH AVENUE,
But Many Think That Business Property on
+. That Street Will Move Up.
ONE SALE At OVER $4,000 A FRONT FOOT

The work Of reconstructing the stock
yards at Torrens station will soon be COM
pleted. Workmen are tearing down the
chutes next to the railroad tracks, which
will be replaced by others of improved de-
sign. This will greatly expedite the load
ing and unloading of cattle. With the
completion of this improvement all the
buildings and sheds will be practically
new and of the most substantial kind. The
cost has been heavy. and it would not have
been incurred If there had been any prooabil-
ity of the removal of the yards to walls or
anywhere else. That story, therefore, has re-
ceived its quietus
Recent sales of business property on Fourth
avenue have stirred up considerable contro-
versy in regard to values on that thoroughfare.
The auction sale Of the Caldwell lot brought
out opinions from number of leading citizens.
Some held that the pnce offered was too high,
while others maintained that in view of the
scarcity of eligible property of that description.
$4,000 would not be too much to pay for it.
This is matter of great importance and as W.
A. Heron & Sons are managing the property
in question, they were asked yesterday for their
views on the subject. One of the firm said:
I'VE have opened the year with the best sale
of business property ever made in the city,
being $3.50 900 for small lot, or at the rate OF
81 4OOa front foot This is the highest price
ever paid in Pittsburg. The lot is only go feet
deep, and is not two squares from the Caldwell
lot. 1t is not on Fifth avenue, either, but the
price realized exceeded any yet obtained on
that thoroughfare. We have sold property on
Fifth avenue, the lot being I2O feet deep, for
$500 foot front
az 80 chi do fho
opinions of some people, that Fourth avenue
property is dear at 5000 foot, to be sound.
Before the year expires some of our capitalists
will regret that they refused to pay 81 900 foot
for good business property on one of our
principal streets"
Several other real estate brokers were seen,
and they all concurred in the opinion that bus
iness property on Fourth avenue was reason
able at 81 900 foot. Its scarcity made compe-
tition lively, and this would not only sustain
values, but would force an advance.
There are said to be designs against the lower
part of the city. Said a Liberty street mer-
chant yesterday: II think the next great move.
ment in business properties in Pittsburg will
break out in the Point district. There are
many good sites there which ought to be, and
will be, improved. The buildings on them are
worthless. Some of them yield less than 2 per
cent to the owners. Ground in thatlocality is too
valuable TO be wasted. 1t could be sold at a
fair price any day, but owners are waiting for
a boom, and will neither sell nor improve. 1
think they will find out their mistake pretty
soon, and either do something themselves or
get out of the way Of others of more enter
prising spirit. Pittsburg having begun in earn
est to expand it is unreasonable to suppose
that its most valuable business portion can
much longer remain an eyesore to the public
nd q ha Tn mr. ic tal 0f i'm.
portant deals down there now. An entering
wedge is all that is needed, 1 think, to set the
ball rolling"
An examination of the statistics shows that
il is in the New England States that most of
the heavy increase in debts of traders failing
in 1889 is found total liabilities amounting in
that region to S3S, ,5255O5 or more than three
times what they were in the preceding year.
These increases in liabilities. upon examina-
ton, are found to have taken place in Massa-
chusetts and Rhode Island, not only among
wooden dealers, but among boots and shoes,
drygoods paper dealers, iron, rubber. pro-
visions and other concerns doing large busi-
ness. In the Middle States liabilities of fail
ing traders increased $4,000, ,0O0 or ll1f per cent
In other portions of the country the debts of
those who failed last year aggregated less than
in 1883. In Pennsylvania there has been a nota-
BILE increase of liabilities among various indus
tries, in all about $4,000 900 or 80 per cent but
in New York State the decreased Indebtedness
of failing concerns amounts to about S. S00, 900,
or "a PEI cent.
1t will be noted that the trouble has been
local, centering in three States-Pennsylvania
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island-and as it
reached its worst stages early In the past year
there is little reason for believing that there
exists to-day any widespread or unusual causes
for unsoundness in commercial circles.
-
In an action by an assignee of an insolVent
debtor to recover personal property belonging
to the insolvent at the time of the assignment
it is not necessary to allege fraud according to
recent decision of the Supreme Court Of Cali
fornia. In the case of pledge. in the absence
of an express contractmaking it the duty of the
Pledge 10 sell the property within a specified
time. the duty of the Pledge is to exercise or
dinary care he is only liable for neglect of such
care, and the pledgor cannot make it the duty
of the pledgee to sell merely by requesting or
directing him to do SO after the contract of
pledging has been made. So held by the Su-
preme Court of Minnesota
Reports from New York and Boston repre-
sent the drygoods trade in those cities as of
limited proportions. Mild weather has re-
strIcted the demand for winter fabrics, and to
this extent renders the disposal of the small
surplus of those goods slower than usual Re-
tailers continue to feel the effects of the warm
weather. In the wholesale branches Of the
trade little of a new character is to be noted,
with perhaps the possible exception OF slight
ly improved movement from agents to fill pre-
vious orders. A number of agents have made
public the opening prices on prints for the new
season. Prices Of cotton goods are not quota
bly, changed. but print cloths show hardening
tendency on a moderate business. Woolen
goods are in uniformly light demand al around,
as are also foreign goods at unchanged prices