October ii, 1902.





RECORD AND   CTTTDE.





S17





—now the Sub-Treasury—was eight years under construction.
There is danger that the one now under way will be longer.
The enabling act was passed four or five years ago, and title to
the site acquired more than three years ago, to be precise, on
July 26, 1899. Since then it has been a matter of little spells of
work interrupted by long spells of delay, and now after nearly
three years have passed since actual physical work began, there
is very little to show and no sign of preparations for taking the
undertaking in band in a business-like way. At this rate the
last custom house will beat the record of the flrst for slow con¬
struction way out of sight, the public and custom service will
continue, meanwhile to he inconvenienced and the National
City Bank kept off their site on Wall st., and presumably,
thereby restrained indefinitely from joining the ranks of cor¬
porations that have made monumental improvements.





A GREAT and wealthy English family—that of a Duke or a
Marquis—might well have several magnificent country
places, as well as a sumptuous and imposing town-house, but it
looks as if some of the American families, in which wealth has
been resident for several generations would far surpass in the
number and magnificence of their private dwellings any but the
monarchs of the most important European States. This com¬
ment is suggested by the announcement that W. K. Vanderbilt,
Jr., proposes to erect a New York residence on land recently
acquired opposite the Catholic Cathedral. This gentleman be¬
longs to the fourth generation of his family—since it has become
prominent. Each of these earlier generations, except the first,
has proved to be great builders. W. H. Vanderbilt erected the
old brownstone houses on 5th ave., which are now being altered,
and not long after dwellings for two of his sons were built on
52d St. and 57th st. The late Cornelius Vanderbilt added ex¬
tensively to the 57th st. house, and had the "Breakers" put up at
Newport. GeorgeVanderbiltisresponsible for "Biltmore," and for
two dwellings now being erected noxt tc the new Union Club. Fred.
Vanderbilt, besides his house on 5th ave., owns a modern country
residence at Hyde Park, N. Y. Other members of the family
have built houses of their own in Vermont, at Madison, N. J.,
at Scarsborougb. N. Y.. and on Long Island. And now the
fourth generation is beginning its career of construction, with
the result that eventually there may be almost as many Vander¬
bilt residences as there are Carnegie libraries. No other wealthy
family can as yet compare in this respect with the Vanderbilts;
but it may be remarked that the Goulds are showing something
of the same tendency. Of course, the reason is that in American
families the wealth is in some measure distributed among sev¬
eral children, who, each of them is able and willing to have
his or her own particular establishment. The result is a multi¬
plication of town and country houses, which in the aggregate
makes a most imposing showing. If other rich families have
done half as well by the time the fourth generation is reached
the handsome American residence will become perhaps the most
distinctive, and certainly one of the most numerous, types of

local building.

—■------------------------------------~*-------------------------------------------------------------

THIS city happens at the moment—though temporarily only
we hope—to be very much interested in the subject of a
lecture delivered before the Congress of the Sanitary Institute
(British) by W. N. Shaw, M. A., Sc. D.,F. R. S.,on the Treatment
of Smoke, in which he asked if they were justified in asking prac¬
tical men of science, whether the treatment of smoky air, on a
plan similar to the treatment of sewage, is mechanically possible
within reasonable limits of original outlay and current expense.
Of course an inquiry of this sort arises much more naturally in
Great Britain than here, for there a foggy climate intensifies the
Inconveniences arising from the universal use of soft coal, and
if these could be obviated it would warrant the incurring of con¬
siderably more expense than would he justifiable here. Still the
inquiry is one in which we. must be more or less interested, and
there are many cities in this country which could benefit by a
practical and satisfactory outcome, if such can possibly he ob¬
tained, Mr. Shaw seems to believe that there is at least a theoret¬
ical basis for the hope that the problem can be satisfactorily
solved. He bases his calculations upon the amount of air to be
treated. He estimates that five millions of tons of smoky air are
sent up by the household chimneys of London's 600,000 dwell¬
ings each day and two millions of tons by its fourteen thousand
flve hundred factories, so that seven millions of tons of air are
used daily in carrying off London's smoke, as compared with a
million of tons of water to carry off its sewage. The cost of deal¬
ing with the sewage is about $3,000 a day. What the cost of deal¬
ing with smoky air would be there were no means of estimating.
But supposing a ton of dirty air could he treated for the same
cost as a ton of sewage, the cost of clearing the air of London





might be set down at about $20,000 a day, or $7,310,000 per an¬
num, which would he equivalent to a rate of $4 per $100. The
offsets are very large, the expense attending a heavy fog being
considerable and the constant injury done by the smoke to prop¬
erty, from wearing apparel to buildings, would if calculated run
up into colossal figures; but, the mere mention of the suggested
rate, shows that unless the estimate of cost of treating smoke
can be very much modified, there is little to hope from the in¬
vestigation from the practical point of view. The public do not
weigh indirect benefits or charges against direct ones, and they
would certainly oppose so large an increase of taxes for any pur¬
pose. Still the imagination likes to dwell upon the prospect of a
smokeless city, and scientific investigators are not likely to let
the matter drop. The employment of electrically driven fans
which in mines are made to deliver vast quantities of air per day
has suggested the possibility of the application of mechanical
means to deal with the befouled air of cities. Investigators of
the problem will be encouraged when they remember that the
solution of the sewage problem was doubtless obstructed by a
popular belief in the insuperability of its difficulties, and they
will thus be armed in advance against some opposition.





"T~ HE franchise for the Pennsylvania tunnel now goes to the

^ aldermen sgain. If they reject it, after the convincing
proof offered that the rejection will mean an abandonment of
the project for the present, they will simply testify to the grow¬
ing impression that they are not fit to be entrusted with any
grave responsibility. Their policy in the case of all desirable
public improvements, from the Rapid Transit Subway to the
removal of the Hall of Records, has merely been obstructive.
It is true that since their power of interference with important
public business is limited to the veto, the only way the Board of
Aldermen can assert itself at all is by a policy of obstruction;
but if they continue to misuse that power, it will in the end in¬
evitably be taken away from them. Public interest cannot
suffer the application of such a constant break to the machinery
01 city affairs. In the present instance it has been shown con¬
clusively that the interests of the laboring men will not suffer
from the adoption of the franchise, as it stands. They are as¬
sured of fair wages and an eight-hour day. All that they will
lose is the attempt to make a great corporation recognize a
principle—a principle which, whatever its value, they have no
no right to press at a sacrifice, as in the present case, of manifest
and vita! public interest.





Tax Valuations.

JAMES L. WELLS SPEAKS TO THE WEST END ASSOCIATION.

President of the Tax Department James L. Wells delivered an
able address upon the administration's tax valuation policy, be¬
fore the West End Association, on Monday evening last, and
received a vote of thanks from the Association. Since the meet¬
ing the ability of the address has been the subject of current
conversation among those who heard it or have had an oppor¬
tunity of reading it. Mr. Wells elaborated the principles that
he had previously laid down in reports and interviews: That
the law requires that real estate should be assessed for pur¬
poses of taxation at full market value; that instead of being
inequitable, this is equitable, inasmuch as personalty is so as¬
sessed and rea! estate at 01% of value; that It would not in¬
juriously affect the city in its relation to the State, because the
State Board of Equalization exists for the purpose of preventing
that; that while the debt limit will be increased by the increased
valuations, it did not follow that extravagance would result,
and, that the taxes on the high valuation would be the same
as on a low one, the only difference being that the rate would be
lower. The subject of Mr. Wells' discourse was referred to the
Committee on Taxation with instructions to report at the next
monthly meeting, their report to be a special order for discussion
on that occasion.    There was no discussion on Monday.

Last Monday's meeting of the Association was the flrst follow¬
ing the vacations, and was presided over by Cyrus Clark, Presi¬
dent. J. Milton Doremus, No. 320 W. SOth st; Henry M. Toch,
No. 10 We.=!t 94th st, and Max Vogel, No. 315 W. TOth st, were
elected  to   membership.

The Committee cm Legislation. Law and Schools reported that
the matter of special flre alarms was the subject of negotiations
between the city authorities and the fire alarm company which
raised the question; therefore required no further action. The
matter of the Amsterdam av tracks was now pending In the
courts, the question being as to the right of the Borough Presi¬
dent  to order their removal because of disuse.

Geo. B. Sheppard, secretary, reported that under resolution of
May meeting, 6,000 postal cards were sent to voters of the 21st
Aldermanic District, to ascertain their views in the matter of
regulating  the  speed  of automobiles.     Over   L250  replies were