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July I, 1905
RECORD AND GTJTDE
Dev&teD to Re^l Estate . glJlLOI^'o A,Rc^<ITEtmT[^E .Ho-useKold DEGOfiAnorf.,
BifsitjEss Alio Themes of GEflETiftL iHTERfs-j.,
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Fablished eilers Saturday
Communications should oe addressed Co
C. W. SWEET, 14-.16 Vesey Street. New York
Telophoiie, Cortltindt 3157
"ISntered at Hie Post Office at Kno York. i\', Y.. as second-class mailer."
Copyvi;:lit by tha Real Estnto Record and Euildei-s' Guide Corap.iny.
Vol. LXXVL
JUDY 1, 1905.
No. 1946.
Cement ............... xxv
Clay Products .......... xxii
Contractors aud Builders. vi
Pireprooling........... sii
Heating............... xxiv
Iron and Steel .......... xviil
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS,
(Advertising Section,)
Page
Page
Real Estate ........
..... xiii
"\^'ood Products . , , ,
.....xxvi
THE strength which the stock market showed last week
has naturally not been as well maintained during the
current week. It was not to be expected that prices would
rise continuously and considerably. There is still very little
interest taken in the stock market outside of professional
speculators; and under such circumstances the taking of
profits, whenever there are any, keeps the market-pace toler¬
ably slow. Moreover, the week before a holiday period, which
lasts several days, is not likely to he a week of activity and
advancing prices in a professional market, because speculators
do uot like to carry considerable lines ot stocks over such an
interval. As to the general situation its good and bad points
remain unchanged. On the side of higher prices are good
crop prospects, increases in railway earnings, a fair volume of
general business and a probable increased rate of dividend dis¬
tribution hy a number of railway and industrial companies.
The conditions which will tend to moderate any bull campaign
are, however, not to he despised. Increased dividends have al¬
ready been pretty well discounted; there is no room for any
considerable increase in the price of many securities, merely
on an income basis; and as the fall approaches there will
probably be some stringency in the money market. The bal¬
ance inclines in favor of higher prices, bat uot for much higher
prices and a slight change in the situation might tip the scale
in the other direction.
habitants in six months, or if the same rate is continued, for
over 75,000 new inhabitants during the year. By the time the
next federal census is taken there ought to be at least 600,000
living in the Bronx, and perhaps as many as 700,000. The
figures would be still larger, if the current rate of increase
were maintained, but after a year or two there will be a fall¬
ing off, because of the inadequacy of the means of transit to
Manhattan.
WHATEVER may be the ultimate effects of the new mort¬
gage tax, its immediate effect will undoubtedly be to
increase the prevailing rate of interest for real estate loans
by one-half of one per cent. The money-lenders will raise
their percentage liy that amount, and the borrowers will be
obliged to pay it. Thus, the expense of carrying real property
in New York City will be increased by something over $3,500,-
000 each year. It will be just as if the tax rate were increased
ten or fifteen points, and its effect will be precisely the same.
The real estate owner will pay the tax, unless he is so rich that
-he can carry his holdings without borrowing; and he will get
it back out of his tenants if, and when, he can. In the pres¬
ent prosperous condition of real estate renting in New York,
the increased burden will not make so very much difference;
but it will at the same time arouse the resentment of every
body who buys a piece of real estate and cannot afford entire¬
ly to pay for it. The harsh fact remains that the owner of
. real estate, who now pays nine-tenths of the local taxes, will
he obliged hereafter to pay a still larger proportion of 'hem,
and will be obliged to give up to the state $3,500,000 more of
his revenue. The situation is made more laughable, if not
more pleasant, hy the fact that this sum is collected from the
owner of real esiate for the purpose of relieving him from state
taxation. Five dollars is taken out of one pocket in order that
four dollars or less may not be taken out or another; and the
burden will fall with uneiiual severity upon New York, be¬
cause of the exceptional activity of real estate in that city.
There never was a clumsier, unwiser, less justifiable special
tax imposed, and the people who after July 1st will suffer from
its consequences will note with pleasure the effect of such
stupid legislation upon the composition of the next Legislature.
BUILDING in the Bronx continues to be extraordinarily
active, and it continues to he confined chiefly to tene¬
ments. During the first six months of 1905, omitting only the
last week, plans were filed for 1,157 new buildings to be erected
at an estimated cost of $18,902,415. The amount of money
which is being invested in' Bronx improvements is 2J4 times
as large as it was last year; and it is five times as large as it
was only two years ago. It is, furthermore, larger than the
amount of money which was being spent in Brooklyn last year
and constitutes almost two-thirds of the unprecedented rate of
expenditure in Brooklyn at the present time—all this in spite of
the fact that Brooklyn has about four times the population of
the Bronx, of the -whole amount of money, which is being spent
upon new building in the Bronx, almost three-quarters goes
into tenemente. Plans have been filed up to date for 350 brick
tenement houses to he erected at an estimated cost of $13,916,-
500, and the people who live in these tenements will almost
all of them work in Manhattan, because the plans filed call for
the construction of very few new business buildings. The
Bronx is becoming more, rather than less, dependent on Man-
liattan for its growth and prosperity. If all the residential ac¬
commodations now being built in the Bronx are occupied with
inhabitants, the population of that Borough must he increasing
at a remarkable rate. The 350 new brick tenements will ac¬
commodate on the average 100 people each, which means room
for an increased population of 35,000. Besides this, plans have
been filed for .35 new frame tenements, which will accommo¬
date another 1,000 people; 110 brick dwellings, which will ac¬
commodate at least 600 people, and about 475 new frame dwell¬
ings, which will accommodate fully 2,500 people. Thus living
room is being provided for an increase of almost 40,000 in-
•I
UR contemporary, "The American Architect," has some¬
thing to say about a firm of paint-makers who receuUy
seat out a letter to architects offering any member of the pro¬
fession a commission of 'Tive Dollars per barrel" if he would
specify the paint manufactured by the commission-giving firm.
Our contemporary feels that this is rather a bold offer of a
â– 'business discount," but after all, is there not a certain straight-
forivardness in its bruLality that makes it pleasauter to contem¬
plate than other more delicate manifestations of private graft
in the architectural profession and the building trades? Can¬
didly, we would rather deal -with this "Five Dollar a barrel
man" than with more reticent firms that use the "discount sys¬
tem" as a regular adjunct to their business and "stand" for any
reasonable amount of blackmail levied upon them hy periodi¬
cals and architectural catalogues in the name of the profession,
or some member of it. No one is called on to believe all the
stories that are told before reaching the conclusion that the
relationship between the architectural profession and the build¬
ing trades is not by any means as wholesome as it should
he or it might be. One may fairly suppose that the "ethics"
we hear so much about sounds bigger than it bulks in sub¬
stance. Indeed, only recently the observation was made that
"Outside of politics in New York and Philadelphia, there is
nothing very much worse than the architectural crowd." We
object to the "nothing worse," but as a matter of fact there is
more "profession" in professionalism among architects than
there ought to be, and the architectural societies should take the
matter in hand and do something to make their standards sub¬
stantial. It is a point in favor of licensing architects; then it
the profession were regulated by the State, the penalty of
revocation of license could he imposed upon the architect who
entered into any one of the hundred illicit side practices that
beset his transactions with building material men.
A S the plans of the New Jersey Tunnel Company becomes
â– ^^ more definite, it is evident that the trolley tunnels will
make New Jersey a formidable competitor with Long Island
and the Bronx for the overflow from Manhattan. It is now
stated that an express service will be established, which will
carry passengers from the Manhattan terminals to Newark In
thirty minutes; and such a service will bring Newark as close,
if not closer, to the financial district as the subway has brought
that part of the Bronx which it serves. If the operating man¬
agement of the Hudson River tunnels can make this claim