The morning call., 1892-11-02
City REAL ESTATE.
A Better Feeling Despite the
Election Excitement.
THE FINANCIAL MARKET.
How the Executions Of Street Contractors Can
Be Checked - The Savings Banks
and the People.
THE FINANCIAL MARKET.

we quote tue following from advance
proofs of Thomas Magee's Real Estate Circu-
lar for the month Of October: There was
better feeling in real estate in October, in
spite of the clOseness of the Presidential
and local elections and the excitement and
distraction which both cause. There is
some h pc that after both are over, the de-
mand may improve somewhat and prices
show greater flrmness. Considering the
tendency to lower rents in dwelling and
some business districts, prices are fairly
sustained. The chief demand is for good
inside retail properties. They ere in some
cases as high as they ever were, aud in aeme
cases show an advance. FiTst-class resi-
dence lots between California, Broadway,
van Ness and Fillmore or Steiner streets are
well sustained, and along Washington.
jackson and Pacific streets. further out. no
notable weakening has taken place. Mis-
sion and Valencia, the best busi-
ness streets of the Mission district. are a
little OF IN price at present-tempOraT ly
so only. Lots in and around the Holly Park
district. between, say. Thirteth and Thirty
fourth streets, and close 10 Mission, are in
good demand, because building is rather
active there at present. The electric rail-
road has helped that region, and would be of
more value, because a greater convenience,
If the streets leading west of Mission were
bridged over the deep San Jose Railroad
cut out there. There is fair demand for
lots in the district west of Central avenue
and north Of Sacramento street, where, for
these dull times, much improvement is still
going on. On the whole, therefore, real
estate, though dull, Is in a healthy state.
In view of the work of the Assessor in
raising assessments $50, 600 Coo, and Of the
burlesque State Board OF Equalization,
which followed in the Assessors footsteps
with another and moro outrageous raise. ii
Is wonder that there has not been panic
In city property TaX-eating leeches are
constantly making more and more severe
raids upon II. There were $50 sales made
in Octob'r, Of the aggregate value of
81 1865
Money Market.
There was a good demand for money at
the savings banks last month from city
boTrowrrs. The rate Of interest has not
changed. The demand from the country
was fair There were $40 mortgages re-
corded In October of the value of 81. 277, 702,
and 2O9 releases Of the value of S645, l45.
The Value of Savings Banks.
The value of savings banks as safe re.
ceptacles for the deposit of the savings Of
people of small means, and the earning
thereby Of fair dividend rates thereon, has
been dwelt upon lnnumerable times; but
the value OF these banks to the borrowing
public has not often been referred to. II
would, Indeed, be hard TO say which class
is most benefited by the existence of these
institutlOns-the depOSitor or the borrower
We sometimes think that the latter receives
the most benefit. If these banks were sud
denly closed, and their deposits carried ONT
OF the State, enterprise and development
would be vitality checked The ninety
millions OF dollars they now control
are borrowed by the real-estate owners.
merchants and manufacturers of the CITY as
well as by the grain. fruit, wine and wool
growers or the State. \ ruin0us blow to
those businesses would result in a heavy
advance in the rate of interest Abundant
and therefore cheap money is the business
llte-bloOd OF the men who develop mercau-
tile, manufacturing and business ENTERPRISES
m the city. and TO al classes Nbo develop
ne varied agricultural interests O. fae state.
y IS not generally believed. bat +. 81 fbs
ct, that as rule sifeng men are b0rr0w-
-fs. hF ss-e.g & 20 @ean men wal wil
taas the risk q dsvsi0Dmf an 5
have the brains g push great enterprise
through 20 successful conclusions Mna
are frequently ae4r0 to say shat tber Fever
D0TToW-tn6t they never gave a Ia -tE4Ee
ID lleH lives. etc SGch men are Always
WedE men--nl-E-f p take risks reab 10
manage great en- rDrisss. sad aereFnre
bcu-1e rlODeIs. Il VII. DC ~G4I.,Sod that
men Of the Hebrew race are shrewd and
money-makers. They are, in proportion to
their NUN bers. perhaps, larger borrowers
than people of any other nationality. They
have here made millions OF dollars by bor
rowing from our savings banks since their
first organization. We do not here say that
all men should borrow; weak and unenter-
not; but tho strong and the enterprisinF,
even If already rich. may and do borrow,
thus adding greatly TO their wealth. II is
vastly safer TO borrow from a savings than
from commercial bank. The latter loan
either on call or Tor short terms OF thirty,
sixty or ninety days only. The borrower is
thus liable TO be called on at very short
or even a m oment's notice to pay up The
great drawback TO borrowing from q COM
meTcial bank lies in this fact and il is in
q han all ftxrF To-
payment Of loan, it calls when money is
scarce and therefore at the very time when
the borrower is least able to paw. This
trouble Is not experienced at a savings bank.
Il lends for one to five years, and practically
never calls In loan so long as the interest
is paid with anything like reasonable
Drompttude. These banks are now Of in
caIculable benefit, especially in new States
whose resources are yet largely unde veloped.
Money-LendIng and Trade.
The difference between the private money
lender and the retail or wholesale mer-
chant is very great and very noticeable.
The merchant retail or Wholesale to sell
his goods, must have very large, elegantly
ftted-un, central and, in a rental sense,
very costly premises. When customer
enters the doors of either he or she is re-
ceived with politeness which, even II only
assumed for business reasons is still very
welcome. On the other hand. the private
money-lender makes his headquarters in
some small back room, up one or two flights
of stairs, with no elevator in the building.
lie either has no sign out at all. or only the
smallest and cheapest possible one tackled
on the stairway. When q visitor enters, his
reception, even IL IL has a money-lender's
eordiality Ia II, Is much more akin TO zero
than TO higher temperature. The would
be customer has to submit TO a searching
examination as TO his financial ability aud
securities and, even if he gets the money
he wants, he has to pay the very highest
attainable rate of interest The wholesale
and retail merchant both sell on credit; the
money-leDder exacts his note and securities
before his close fist relaxes on the tightly
held dollar The lender has exacted what
he believes to be the safest OF securities; the
borrower goes off with his money TO take
his chances of its use In the tiger-like COM
petition Of fighting and uncertain world of
business or an even more risky field OF in
duStrial development. The day Of payment
Is safe for the lender-a time to be dreaded
frequently by the borrower Money bags
do not move uptown with the growth of the
city and lis changing centers Of retail
or wholesale trade Wall street, New
York. the center Of the infantile
monetary business of the days OF Washing
ton. is still the center OF the gigant tic tinan-
cial operations of the far greater world of
to-day. Merchants and trade move; gruff
Old gold coin sits still forever. That the
borrower is the servant of the lender re-
mains as true to-day as in S0lomon's time.
When hats come off, il is the borrowers
head that is always found uncovered. The
private lender and the private banker were
great powers in the middle ages; they are
power yet, too. but the savings banks and