The herald., 1897-09-30

partments it Is more than proba BILE tina
the council will not be able to make the
financial ends meet. What then are the
cbliga tions of the property owners to
themselves and to the public? So far as
their own interests are concerned, If the
street is allowed to remain much longer
IN its present con6ition the foundation
will be about ruined and the expense
enorm ously increased. The present con-
dition of the street cannot but have, ard
does have bad effect upon the business
of the merchants there, who have just
cause for grievance.
The actual cost of resurfacing includ-
ing all expenses for surveyors fees and
inspectors charges, a bout which so much
has been talked, need not exceed 81. 70
per front foot. Add to this the cost for
keeping the surface in repair for five
years, which would be exceedingly small
If the work were attended to week by
week, including interest on the amount
and the total cost for the five years need
not exceed two dollars per front foot, or,
equivalent to forty cents per front foot
per annum for keeping up fine pave
ment on the principal business thorough
fare of the city. This calculation. is
made on official authority and cannot be
successfully disputed
1t can also be shown that the property
owners on Spring street would be largely
In pocket by paying for this improvement t
in lieu of attempting to force the adop-
tion of the principle that streets must be
made and repaired at the public ex-
pen.se. The work when done at thepub-
lie expense is really paid for by the tax
payers, and the Spring street property
owners would have to contribute their
quota for the keeping up OF the other
streets of the city which would amount
to far more in taxes than the payment for
their own individual frontages.
4 + 4
The Builder and Contractor notes,
among other items, the following:
Judge B. N. Smith contemplates the
erection of a dwelling house upon his
recent Maple avenue purchase.
w. F. West has commenced the erec-
ton of a series of fine residences on
Menlo avenue, between Twenty-seventh
anu w WcHty -iilIltH IL StItelS.
F. E. Brown contemplates the erec-
tion of three two-story residences on the
southeast corner Of Ninth and Maple
avenue.
Plans are being prepared for Perry
A. Howard, ex-Street superint endent, for
a residence to be erected on the corner of
Towne avenue and Agatha street, to
cost about S250O.
Thomas Vigus has had plans prepared
for four two-story frame residences, to
be built on the north side of Twenty
eighth street, between Grand avenue and
Hope streets. to cost $4,000 each.
One OF the quaintest residence build
ings to be erected in this city is the log
house of Judge f. H., Lamme, on the
corner of Rosedale and Adams streets;
it will cost about $1,000. and will be built
by days work.
Theo. Wiesendanger has secured the
lease Of sixty feet on the east side of
Broadway, between Fourth and Fifth
streets, from the Bumiller-Hickey es-
tate, and proposes to erect two-story
business block as soon as necessary
can be made.
The eccentricities Of assessors are
well illustrated in an exhibit recently
issued by the New York Financial Chron-
icle, which shows the population, as
sessed valuation Of real and personal
and the net debt of the fifteen
largest cities in the union. For obvious
reasons the annual rate of tax levy is
omitted. The tax rate would'only have
a q 70 In TO tfcfia .I,a
the valuation of assessed property is
uniform or nearly So According to the
exhibit under consideration, the total
Of Boston was, in 1896, 1881. .252,-
900, against $243, ,476. 900 for Chicago. But
Chicago is credited with population Of
2 900, 900, against 494, 900 for Boston. Bos-
ton thus appears to have about four
times as much property as Chicago,
while Chicago has more than five times
as many people as Boston. But the
burdens of government are in meas
ure equa1ized by 10 per cent rate in
Chicago, against 1.3 in Boston.
San Francisco figures In this list with
a population of $40, 900, assessed property
to $S57 ,506NOO and a debt of
$1,000 New York is put down at 1,945,-
s71 in population, $2,1O6, 4S4, 900 in prop
arty, and debt Of s120, 710, ,5S5. Brooklyn,
N. Y. has the next largest debt, $57. .543, :,
)97; Boston third. $40, ,535, ,01S and Phila-
ielphia fourth, $35, ,479, $50. The value of
property reported by the as
'essor in the several cities compared
with the real estate Is about as one to
our. Boston gets higher proportional
value than that, and New York lower
Brooklyn can only show $15,65S, 900 OF
personal property, against $539, ,445 900 Of |
reality. This disparity may be accounted
or in the fact that many residents 0.
Brooklyn pay personal taxes in New
York
We have heard of two cases lately
where the rents were cooked" by fraud
llent arrangement with the tenants, |
says Magee's Circular. They were thus
placed much higher than they actually
we're, and much higher prices thereby OBJ
aimed for the properties. We have re-
peatedly said that in the purchase OF
'enting property the buyer should insist
IN having inserted in the contract the
'ents as stated. All honest agents will
want this done, for they can only repre-
sent the rents as given to them by the
,eller.
Good Sign
A woman who loves her husband