March 5,1892





Record   and   Guide.





391







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"Entered at the Post-offlce at New York, N. Y., as secotid-class matter."





VOL. XLIX,





MARCH  12,  1892.





No. 1,252





BUYER8 of stocks must remember tliat two of the great staple
productions of this counlry—iron and cotton—are now in a
demorahzed and depressed condition, Not in flfty years has one of
them, cotton, sold at so low a price. Now the present buU market
haa for its foundation wheat and corn, which products, by great
good luck, are selling at figures higlily remunerative to tlie farmer,
and for this reason we have great prosperity in the West, and, by
reflection, to its railroads. Consequently, if the coming season
should bring good crops to Europe and bad ones here, the efîect
would be vei'y disastrous. Althougli chances are against this
happening, still tlie possibihty must he taken into account by the
stock speculator. Wall street leaders realize this, and are uslng all
their art to bring the pubhc in, and nobody knows better than they
that " hay must be made while the sun shines."' For this reason
fluctuations are wide and frequent; but tlie small transactions show
who really is at the bottom of it all. The coming week is likely to
bring pretty lively times in sugar oertificates, and people are likely
to find out why the capital stock was increased $2.5,000,000 a short
time ago. There is plenty of money yet to be made in Wall
street, as there are many stocks which as yefc have scarcely moved.

----------■----------

"pEOPLE iuterested in real estate well know that the speculative
-■- builder is one of the chief influences in determining the
character of a street or of a locaUty in a new part of the city.
The property-owners can do something; but they canuot do much
without the assistance of what may be called the "merchant" as
distinguished from the "contract" builders—particularly if the
street in question is long or the locality large. Thus the city
aufchorities designed to make the Boulevard the choice thoroughfare
of the West Side. Large sums of money v\ ere spent in improving
it, and property, consequently, put a very handsome value on
Boulevard lots. These prices practically prohibited the
improvement of the street during the early West Side move-
ment. Builders found it cheaper to take up West End avenue and
make it into a handsome thoroughfare, and this they have done
and are doing. No better instance could be desired of their con-
troUing influence in this matter. Until lately, withthe exception of
two rows of houses, there has been no speculative building on
Riverside Drive. AII the improvements erected were in the nature
of detaohed dwelhngs built by rich men for their own occupancy.
At the same time the prioes on the Drive were not so high that
speculative building was necessarily excluded. Consequently it
has been expectedthattheexperiuiental rows would befollowed by
others. This has proved to be the case, and there is now in course of
erection on Riverside Drive several additional rows, all iu the hands
of safe conservative builders. It is too early to predict whether or not
these ventures will prove to be unquahfied successes, bufc they un-
doubtedly mark the beginning of the improvement of that avenue
with the class of dwelUngs that the merchant builder builds.
Desirable property is now becomingscarcein the choice parts of the
West Side. It is closely held at good figures. Consequently
builders are and will be obliged to accept property which they
would rather avoid. Many as are the advantages of Riverside
Drive, it has the misfortune to be inaccessible at present, and
for this reason, although ils improvement is hkely to proceed
steadily, the pace wiil be slow until there is a rapid transit line on
the Boulevard. If what we say is true, however, there is no chance
of Riverside Drive ever equaling 5th avenue, as some fond prophets
hoped tbat it would, m the price which property thereon commands,
m the character of the improvements, or ia the class of resldents.
The dwellings will compare favorably witli the best dwellings on
the West Side; but they will be below the standard of the best in
the city. Where the new 5th avenue wiU be it is impossible to
foretell.





nary citizen unconnected with "politics." One of the latest oí
these peculiar matters is the strange opposilion which the Board
of Education is oíTering just at present to that portion of tho new
building Iaw(now before the Legislature), which enacts that all
school buildings hereafter erected in this oity shall be of fire-proof
construction. At a time when the tendency is so strong toward
flre-proof construction, when private individuals and commercial
bodies are so strongly favoring themore solid and securer method o£
building, it is decidedly unpleasant for citizens to see a reactionary
spirit manifested by a department cbarged with the safety of their
children—the most helpless part of the community in moraents of
peril. And, the manifestation of this opposition to advanced
methods is particularly obnoxious, coming as it does at a moment
when other departments of tbe city government are working in
conjunction wlth the leading architectural and buildingassoclations
of the city, and in conforraity with public opiniontoimprovebuild-
ing methods and practices and insure ijrotection agalnst unsafe and
unsanitary structures. The question which people are asking is :
" What object has the Board ;of Education in opposing this com-
mon-sense improvement 'i" The answer is diflîcult to find, or, at any
rate, it is not easy to discover one that reflects an especial amount of
credit upon the intelligence of the department.





SO far as we can see, the only plausible objection which the
department can urge is that of cost, but even that sole objec-
tion will not stand a moment's criticism. Let us take a 100x100
school building and see what the extra cost for constructing it flre-
proof would amount to. If from the area of 10,000 square feet to
each floor, vpe deduct the space given to stair-wells, light-shafts,
etc, there remains an area of 0,500 square feet to a floor. The cost
for constructing each square foot fireproof, and non-fire-proof as at
preseut, is set side by side below :                ^





FIRE-PROOF.

Per sq. foot.
c'ents.

Arches and cement íiUing............   îí.t

Steel beams..........................   20

Plastering:............................     4

Sleeper stiips.......................     3

Floorin^............................     6

Totalcost......................   B8





NON-PIBE-PROOP.

Per sq. foot.

Cents.

Wooden beams, 3x14, 12 in. centres .   12

Roufíh flooring and paper.........     6

Yellow piũe flooring.................     6

Underneath.ceiling boards..........     4

bteel sheet ceiling and cost of paint-
ing sauie........................     11





Total cost.......................   39

Four floors and the roof give 32,.500 square feet, which beingcor-
structed flre-proof aocording to the foregoing figures, cost $18,8.50,
and non-fire-proof $12,675, a difîerence of ^$6,175. To this must be
added about $3,000 for making the stud-partitions fire-proof instead
of non-flre-proof, as at present, bringing the total up to $9,175 in a
building which would cost perhaps .$200,000—a dlíîerence equiva-
lent to less than 5 per cent. It is scarcely necessary to add that
this insignificant saving isreally not worth considering in compari-
son with the security the additional expense secures, particularly
when it is remembered_that the buildings of constructed fire-proof
would notneed anything like the repairs the present non-fîre-proof
schools do; indeed, in the end they would be, if anything, less
costly.





rxiHERE are many things in connection with legislation at
-*- Albany, and the influence which the city authorities from
time to time exerc there, which are quite inexplicable to the ordi-





YERY evidently the cities of New York and Brooklyn are not
going to get very rich out of their share of the gross receipts
of the new bridge to be erected over the East River. The amend-
ments introduced into the •'Uhlmann" bill at Governor Flower's
iustance have been so drawn that nobody except the bridge corpora-
tion will matiîrially benefifc by them, and the încorporators of the
new company must be laughing heartily at the arrangements they
have made to " pay " for the franchise. One of these amendmenta
provides that whenever the earniugs of the bridge sball, during any
period of six months, exceed an average of $4,000 per day the com-
pany shall thereafterannually on the Istof December "payintothe
treasuries of the respective cities—a sum equaling in the aggregate
one per cent of its gross receipts, and an additional payment of one
per cent of such gross earnings shall be made by said company in
like manner for each multiple of $4,0U0 per day of such average
gross earnings." How, we should like to know, are the gross
earnings of this bridge and its approaches to be estimated. The
incorporators have given out that in Brooklyn it is to connect
with the tracks of the Union Elevated Railway Company, and
that a five-cent fare wiU he charged for a ride from any station
at that elevated road to the New York terminus. If this is the
case what proportion of the five-cent fare will be considered to be
part of the gross earnings of the bridge. Even, however, if there is
no Juggling with the accounts in any way the returns which
the cities wlll receive for the franchise is grotesquely out of propor-
tion to the value of the privilege granted. The amendment pro-
vides that when the company is earning gross about $1,400,000 per
annum, that it shall divide between Nevv York and Brooklyn the
handsome sum of $14,000 a year. Public franchises do not appear
to be such valuable possessions afteraU. do theyi' But let thatpass.
Doubtless an enterprise that will be such a convenience to the
public shauld be encouraged. In the beglnning it may lose money,
and hence it should be treated liberally. But in refcurn for
this     liberal    treatment   in   the    beginning,     ought    not   th«