altogether disrupted. However, the times
are critical and the necessity urgent, so
sacrifices on the part of present employ¬
ers of the type of men required for the
building of ships must be made cheer¬
fully and without hesitancy. The man¬
ner in which the men are released for
this important work will be the measure
of individual or corporate patriotism.

The Federal Shipping Board is accom¬
plishing a work of vast importance to
the defense of the United States, and
the men who have or will enroll for
labor in the shipyards are undertaking
la patriotic service that will be the equal
of that performed in the trenches in
France. The number of men that we,
as a nation, will be in a position to send
and maintain in Europe will depend
almost wholly upon the volume of ton¬
nage that we are able to produce within
the next few months. This is required
for the transportation of men and
supplies.

—■
Sprinklered   Buildings.
Kdiior of  thr  Record  and  Guide:

The coal shortage has revealed the
reliance on automatic water sprinkler
systems for fire control. The effective
maintenance of these systems has been
impaired by freezing in hundreds of
buildings in New York lacking fuel.
Because of the temporary loss of this
protection a conflagration becomes an
imminent possibility; the peril appalls
the fire underwriters, and because of it
the fuel administrator allows use of coal
to prevent freezing of sprinkler systems.
All of these facts have been reported
by the news press.

And from these reports the idea has
gained currency that the impairment of
sprinkler protection by freezing has
been due to inherent defects in sprinkler
systems. Nothing could be farther from
the truth. The impairment has been
because the water in the "wet pipe"
sprinkler systems, required by the fire
underwriters in heated buildings, has
been allowed to freeze and more or less
cripple the svstems. or else the water
has been shut off and the pipes drained
to prevent freezing where heat could
not be maintained because of lack of
coal.

In unheated buildings where water is
liable to freeze sprinkler systems are
installed "dry pipe," i. e., instead of
water the piping contains air under
pressure, which holds shut an auto¬
matic water control valve. This valve
opens and admits water into the pipes
when the pressure is weakened by the
escape of air through sprinklers opened
by fire.                                                    .

Scores of sprinkler systems are being
restored in New York by making them
over temporarily into "dry pipe
systems. And an interesting fact to con¬
template is that in Canada sprinkler
systems have been much better main¬
tained than down here. Up there they
are much better acquainted with Jack
Frost, and the sprinkler system farthest
north has been on the job, while the
one farthest south has been allowed to
eet cold  feet.

IRA G. HOAGLAND.

-----------«------------

Coal   Situation.
Editor of the Record  and Guide:

The coal situation could, in my opin¬
ion, be summed up as follows: (1) that
not enough is being done to make good
tlie loss of labor at the mines, drafted
for war or won away by higher wages
offered for other work, (2) that coal
movement is still being interfered with
by the irresponsible use of priority or¬
ders by Government employees who too
often mistake the petty part they were
meant to perform for the main machine,
and (3) that there is a lame lack of co¬
ordination between the gentlemen in
charge of the several steps which must
be taken to get coal from the mines
into   our   coal   bins.

Much could be accomplished by the
appointment of coordinators who should
be men mustered from and accustomed
to getting teamwork in large organiza¬
tions, to get the men charged with the
various parts of the work, to bend their

RECORD   AND   GUIDE





excellent    efforts    together,   instead    of
each for himself, as at present.

Dr. Garfield's order of January 16 is
not surefooted as a mounting correc¬
tive measure. It leans towards letting
nonessential industries eliminate them¬
selves by the painful process of lower¬
ing the effort and product of every plant
and person engaged in industry, and
then proceeds to make priorities, ex¬
ceptions or exemptions for a selec,ted
few, leaving the others, essential and
non-essential alike, to fight for the coal
that is left. If the supply of fuel and
labor cannot be increased, the way to
get them for essential industries is to
shut down the clearly nonessential in¬
dustries and go as much further as is
necessary to release the labor, fuel and
other materials needed to build efficient
armies and to push the essential indus¬
tries and farming full tilt. plus, until
the war is won.          A. W. WARNER.







Hell   Gate  Development.

j-.ditur of  the  Record  and  Guide:

It seems too bad that there should be
any difference of opinion relative to the
necessity of deepening Hell Gate and
the East River to forty feet. Congress
passed a law last year which permitted
the deepening of this waterway to forty
feet so that warships might pass from
the navy yard to the ocean without hav¬
ing to go through New York Harbor.

This is the time to do things thor¬
oughly and completely. The difference
between forty and thirty-five feet is
material. In one case the large naval
vessels can use the East River, while,
were the latter pursued, only one means
of egress and ingress would be afforded
the  vessels.

The Record and Guide took the stand
when the matter first came up that no
half-way measures should be adopted.
The Merchants' Association has been
active in the movement; so have the
Bronx Board of Trade and other organi¬
zations. Dock Commissioner Murray
Hulbert was instrumental in having the
forty-foot law passed, and he made a
strong protest against the thirty-five
foot  amendment.

It is to be hoped that common sense
will prevail and that the extra five feet
will be excavated so that the navy may
have the full benefit of an improvement
which has been many years coming, but.
when completed, should add millions of
dollars to the commerce of the Port of
New York.

A. L. K.





This department is intended to be of serv¬
ice to all interested in the real estate market,
whether as broker, agent or property owner.
The readers of the Record and Guide are in¬
vited to send in questions on matters per¬
taining to real estate, building and building
management, though legal questions will not
be answered in this column. Questions snould
be stated as fully but as briefly as possible
so as to allow intelligent answers. Arrange¬
ments have been made through which the
questions will be answered by a Committee
of the Real Estate Board, including 1 le
following

E. A. Tredwell, real estate broker.

Frederick   D.   Kalley.   real  estate  broker.

Robert R. Rainey, real estate broker.

B.   E.  Martin.                      .  ,     ,    .,,

William   Douglas  Kilpatrick, builder.

H. H. Murdock, architect.





Question No. .^a"?.—Can you possibly en-
lUfhtPn me what was the eventual outcome Of
lhe bill introduced, by Senator Gilchrist and
.-i-ioned some time ago by Governor Charles S.
Whitma/n>, authoriziiw the Sinking Fund Com-
■m.i.ssionei-s of New York City to adjust and set¬
tle all disputes between the City and, indi/viduaJs
or corporations as to qucsticms of Title, Taxes
and Asscssm/i^nts affecting the land at Cone-y
Island, between West Twenty-third and West
Twenty-seventh streets, north of Mermaid ave¬
nue f J fw'^ " subscriber to your valuable
papci' and realize the lyaluc of the atiswers gvven
through the medium of your Query Department.

Answer No. 303.—Senator Gilchrist's
Bill, Int. 1352, became chapter 500 of the
laws of 1916. A number of settlements
have been made under the act; for ex¬
ample, the minutes of the meeting of
the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund,
held November 8. 1917, showed author¬
ization for settlement with the Lafayette
Trust  Company.





Hearing on Torrens Bill.

The registers of New York, Kings and
Bronx Counties, and the county clerks
of Queens and Richmond Counties act¬
ing as registers, have completed the
bill amending the Torrens Land Title
Registration Law, and will introduce'it
in the Legislature this week. They will
ask for a joint hearing of the Cominittee
on General Laws in the Assembly and
the Judiciary Committee in the Senate,
and "will invite the bar association, tax¬
payers' associations and the real estate
organizations of the Greater City of
New York to participate in the hearing.
In speaking of the bill Register Edward
Polak of Bronx County said:

"The amendments have been carefully
considered, especially as regards their
constitutionality, and if they are passed
it will simplify the court procedure,
lower the initial cost of an examination,
expedite the time to examine a title,
establish a permanent assurance fund,
and make real estate a liquid asset so
that owners of real estate can borrow
or sell, and upon short notice have the
title examined through the register's
office; all titles to be examined by an
official examiner of the register's office,
and the fees therefor to be deposited to
the credit of the county so as to reduce
taxation.

"The registers will take the matter
up with the city administration, and
will ask that the Board of Estiniate.
representing the city of Nevv York,
approve of this measure, as it will mean
the lowering of the tax rate."
IS   IN   ITS   FIFTIETH   YEAR   OF    CONTINUOUS





1918 Tax Rate to Be Higher.

A statement of the financial condition
of the city was sent to the Board of
Aldermen this week by Mayor Hylan.
The statement was made in conformity
with the Charter. The city's gross funded
debt as of December 31, 1917, was
$1,469,448,477.26, exclusive of liabilities
for land acquired and contracts entered
into, amounting to $61,514,872.06. The
net funded debt is $1,020,671,102.25.
There are self-extinguishing bonds
which, when deducted from the city debt,
bring the indebtedness of the city "within
the debt limit" to $775,184,744.04. The
city can incur indebtedness to ten per
cent, of the citv's assessed valuation, or
$825,454,900. The debt-incurring power
on January 1 was $50,270,155.96.

"The Mitchel administration," said
Mayor Hylan. "made many comrnit-
ments and obligations, and during
1918 there will be an estimated remain¬
der of $10,861,338.59. It is certain that
the 1918 tax rate will be much higher,
because of the gross extravagances of
the past."





Income   Tax.

Daniel C. Roper has published the
following statement, extending the time
for filing income tax returns to April
1. Secretary McAdoo has approved the
ruling.    The statement follows:

"Because of unavoidable delay in the
preparation of forms and regulations
for the war excess-profits tax, and hence
in the preparation of the related fornis
and regulations for returns forthe in¬
come and war-income taxes, and in order
to afford taxpayers a necessary period
for the preparation of returns after re¬
ceiving tlie forms and regulations, the
time for filing returns due after October
16, 1917, and on or before March 1, 1918,
pursuant to the act of September 8,
1910, and the act of October 3, 1917, for
income, war-income and war excess-
profits taxes, whether they are to be
made on the basis of the calendar year
or of a fiscal year ended during the
year 1917, is hereby extended to April
1. 1918. So far as this extension applies
to the returns of corporations to be
made on the basis of a fiscal year other
than the calendar year it amends the
provisions of T. D. 2561, as amended by
T. D. 2615 and 2633."

PUBLICATION,