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January 4, 1908
RECORD AND GUIDE
43
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Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Tublisfted Every -Salardap
By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, P. W. DODGE
Vlce-Pres, & Genl. Mgr., H. W, DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER
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"Entered al the Past Office at Nvw York, N. Y., i/s srcDiid-cl'igs mi/itcr,'-
Copyrighted, 1907, by The Record £ Guide Co.
Vol. LXXXL
JANUARY 4, 1908.
No. 2077
INDEX TO DEPARTME3NTS.
Advertising Section,
Page. Page.
Cement .....................xxiv Lumber .....................xxiii
Clay Products ...............xxv Machinery ....................xx
Consulting Engineers .........xxi Metal Work ...............xviii
Contractors and Builders......xii Quick Job Directory..........xvii
Electrical Interests ...........xxi Real Estate ..,.................xv
Fireproofing ...................xix Rooters & Roofing Materials,xxvi
Granite .....................xxvii Stone .......................xxvi
Iron and Steel................xxii Wood Products .............xxiii
A Remedy for Financial Ills.
To the Editor of the Record and Guide:
I read with a good deal of pleasure the editorial in your issue
of December 28, possibly because it coincided in its substance
with my ideas. The one paragraph in the editorial seems to
me to cover the whole cause of the financial flurry, that is,
"The money which the banks of the city should have loaned
into local business channels, and especially to real estate in¬
terests, was poured into Wall street instead." The State of
New T'Ork, as I believe, gives to this particular location (Wall
street) the privilege to loan money on call at any rate of in¬
terest that the borrower may see fit to pay. In consequence
those in control of that machine are able to keep the money
rates at such a high pitch that every bank in this city and
outside of it, in their scramble to make a profitable showing
to the stockholders, loan their money at the high rate of in¬
terest on call, without the least consideration of the business
interests,
I am of the opinion that this condition would easily be righted
if the Legislature of our great State of New Tork would take
from the Wall street contingent the right to charge any more
than legal rates of interest. Then the average business man
would be able to borrow from his bank as he is in the habit of
doing when the call rates in Wall street average two and
three per cent, Tou speak of Canada having had nothing of
this sort of financial condition the past thirty years, while we
have gone through three of these disturbances, and this con¬
firms absolutely in my mind that it is only because the Bank
of England controls the money rate of that country, while In
Wall street we are absolutely at the mercy of those stock job¬
bers and money-rate manipulators; and it is only because they
are allowed to charge such abnormal rates. If it would be
possible to make Wall street money lenders be satisfied with
six per cent., this surplus money would flow into that channel
for the use of gambling.
New York City and State being' the flnaneial centre of this
.country, its high rates of interest attract the money of every
bank and individual throughout the country to the detriment
of the business interests for its reasonable accommodations,
GEORGE F. PICKEN.
Taxation of Church Property,
To the Editor of the Record and Guide:
The communication from W. S, on page 1,042 of your last
week's issue, entitled "Shall Church Property Be T'axed?" is
timely. The question is one that is growing in importance
from day to day. For many years I have been advocating the
affirmative of this question. In June, 1894, I addressed a letter
on the general subject of taxation to Hon. Andrew H. Green,
a member of the Constitutional Convention, which was then
sitting, from which I take the following extract:
As to exemptions from direct taxes, there should be none, ab¬
solutely none, for any matter or cause, in favor of any interest
whatever. Benevolent societies, churches, schools and hospitals
should all be taxed antl each pay its quota. The system or exenap-
tioKs has become a scandal and reproach. It has grown out of all
proportions, and if it were cut off .absolutely and forever, neither
the cause of religion nor of charity would suffer one lota. The
fact that a church or a charitable society is to be subject to taxa¬
tion and that taxes hereafter are to be considered in the estimate
of its running expenses will be no deterrent to the formation and
organization and the continued prosperity of churches and charitable
societies o£ all kinds.
I hope this question will be discussed and that we shall have
all views bearing upon it pro and con, J. C. LEVI,
33 Nassau Street.
A Broad View of New Building Code.
THE action of the Board of Aldermen at their meeting on
the 17th of December in referring back to the Committee
on Buildings the report of the Building Code Rgvision Commis¬
sion with instructions to hold public hearings, was an eminently
proper one. The subsequent vote of the committee, after the
first of these hearings, to return the proposed Code to the
Revision Commission with instructions that they should hold
further public hearings at ^lich suggestions for modifications
might be received from the various trades and interests con¬
cerned, was equally wise. No code can be a success which does
not meet the approval of those for whose use it is formulated.
Some one has said that the best Building Code could be
comprehended in the six words, "Ail buildings must be built
aright"; and while it is true that laws are made for the pun¬
ishment and regulation of evil-doers, the Building Code must
furnish as well an accepted standard of what is right which
all may safely follow.
A code which prohibits proper construction would be almost
as undesirable as one which would allow improper construc¬
tion. It is perfectly clear that in the printed report of the
Building Codfe Revision Commission as submitted to the Board
of Aldermen there are certain provisions—notably those which
prevent the employment of reinforced concrete construction
for buildings of Class E—which are in error and which do not
express the intention of the Commission. It is to be hoped,
therefore, that committees representing the various interests
will carefully consider, section by section, the proposed Code, as
the committee of the Employers' Association is doing, and
will submit promptly to the Commission their recommendations
for such modifications in the Code as they may deem wise so
that the Commission may make such changes therein as will
conserve the public welfare and yet meet the conservative
demands of the various trades and professions particularly
interested, '
It is to be regretted that Alderman GrlfCenhagen, the vice-
chairman of the Building Code Revision Commission, should
not have been privileged to remain in office to see the comple¬
tion and adoption of the Revised Code, for which he has labored
so earnestly. Mr. Griffenhagen has set a high standard for the
new chairman of the Aldermanic Committee on Buildings to
follow. His regular attendance at the sessions of the Commis¬
sion and his manifest desire that only such regulations should
prevail as should be to the best interests of the city at large,
are worthy of the highest praise. Let us hope that the chair¬
man of the Comipittee on Buildings of the new Board of Aider-
men will set an equally high standard of performance and that
with the assistance of all the different interests particularly
concerned in the provisions of the Code, a Building Law may
be adopted which will be as nearly Ideal as may be possible
in this year of grace, 1908.
ELECTUS D. LITCHFIELD.
Regulations for Standpipcs.
The following addition to the regulations established Dec. 1,
1904, for the installation of standpipes (fire lines) in buildings
of certain classes, required under the provisions of section 762
of the Greater New Tork charter, and Sections 102 and. 109 of
the Building Code, is hereby promulgated:
"In all buildings in course of erection, and which are con¬
templated in these regulations, the standpipe (fire line) must
be carried up with each fioor, after the structure reaches the
seventh floor, or a height of 85 feet, and an outside Siamese con¬
nection provided in proper and accessible place, and regulation
hose outlets provided on each floor above the second as the work
progresses, the top level of riser to be securely capped at al!
times except when work on the standpipe Is in progress at that
point,"
(Signed) FRANCIS J. LANTRT,
Fire Commisisoner.
—Tlie Republic Savings and Loan Association will pay to Its
shareholders six cents on the dollar. Referee Alexander Mc-
Kinney filed his report this week in the Supreme Court of
Brooklyn, This association has enrolled on its books the names
of many people of moderate means who inhabit mostly the
towns along the Hudson River. Many promises of large profits
were extended to them and the disappointment at the failure,
which occurred seven years ago. was intense. All the more so,
as in many cases the loss of the money serious^r em:harrassed
them.