July 10, i§97.





Record and Guîde





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VOL. LX.





JULY   10, 1897.





No. 1,530





NEW  BUILDÍNG  LAWS.

The Recûrd and Guide wiU publish a new
edition of the New York Building Laws and
ordinances as soon as official copies of several
recent laws can be obtained from th« Secretary
of State's ofíĩce. Those who are familiar with the
manner in which our previous editions of the
building laws have been compiled know what to
expect—a handy volume, with headings and mar-
ginal notes, fuU indexes and colored engravings.
This is a complete and standard work, edited by
William J. Fryer, and is invaluable to architects,
builders and others interested Ín building oper-
ations. The new edition will brĩng the building
laws up to date, together with the Greater New
York Charter provisions, which latter take effect
next January. Orders for the new publication
may now be sent in to the Record and Guide,
Nos. 14 and i6 Vesey Street, Ncw York, and
deliveries will be made at the earliest day practi-
cable,

ASTRIKE of miuers iu tbe soft coal regions of tUe middle
States and some anxiety f or the erops under tbe burniug
temperature of this week, bave cbecked tbe buyiug movemeut
in the Stock Market. Tbe failure of tbe President to forward
bia message asking tbe autbority of Congress to appoiut a cur-
rency eommissiou, after it bad been semi-officielly announced
tbat be would do so, has not beeu witbout its ill-effects, particu-
laiiy as it lays bare the fact tbat a strong oppositiou to the crea-
tion of the commission will develop if tbe matter is pressed
now. Cougress apparently does not wisb to open wbat tbreatens
to be a long dĩseussion iu the beated term and proloug an al-
ready lengtby specĩal sitting. By all indications the considera-
tion of tbe curreuey question will bave to go over uutil nest De-
cember, and tbe market will lose the beneflt naturally antiei-
pated from tbe eaiiy appointmeut of a commission. Tbe uest
move will be detenniued by tbe f ortunes of the stiikers and by
comiug agricultural reports.





LORD SALISBURY'S signifieaut speech and the Russiaii
uote to the Powers show that a erisis bas been reacbed iu
the peaee negotiatious whÍcE must eud in a few days, eitber by
TurUey's yielding to tbe wisbes of the Powers or in its turu be-
ing subjected to coerciou. Only the mad ob.?tinacy of tbe Sul-
tan iu the matter of the retention of Thessaly and tbe eucourage-
ment he receives from that part of the foreign press that refuses
to ackuowledge that tbere is real coneert amoug the Powers,
makes it possible to believe tbat he wi!l bold ont against the in-
timations tbat have been given him. Viewed í'rom a ratioual
basis the esisting crisis only makes the couclusion of peaee more
îmminent; but we saw Greece foolĩsbly enter into war jn deflance
of a great physical protest and inay see Turkey do it just as
foolishly. A Russian army over the frontier and the ports block-
aded by foreign warships might bave' a wholesome influence
and hasten matters. Tbe fact tbat thesc measures bave to be
hinted at are not, bowever, eueouraging to Europeau btisiness;
and, wbjle their effecta are not apparent at tbe moment, they





cannot fail to be unfavorable or to make themselves known iu
due time. Anotber unfortunate feature is found iu the poor re-
turns from the harvest fields. These affect not only Britain,
but the great wheat growers like Austria-Huugary and Russia.
Tbey are npt quite as bad as current gossip iu our gi-ain markets
would make tbem, but they are bad enough to create appreben-
sions of serious curtailments oC business. Added to these there
is the anxiety caused by the news from the far East, where tbe
conditious are already making inroads on Britain's export trade.





THE CITY'S SOCIAL POLICY.

■n^HE exti-aordinaiT growth of urban populations, particularly
■A.      during the last balf-eeutury, has neeessitated a i-eadjust- [<
ment of theory as to the proper funcLious   of   muuieipal   gov-   k
ernmeuts.   At the begiuniug of tbe ceutury ouly 3.97 per cent.   '
of tbe  populatiou  of   the  United  States   lived  in  cities.     In
1S50 tbe percentage was uot over 12.4y.   But in 1890, 29.12 per
eent, or ueaiiy oue-third of the entire population of the eountry;
lived iu urban eommunities.                                                            í

At thtí begiuuiug of the eeutury the typical city was merely
a baphazard aggregation of houses aud people, without eon- I
seiousness of a eommou life or of commou civíc ideals. The'l
publie activity of the municipality was resíricted to tbe main* |
teuance of physical order aud tbe protection of life and prop-
erty. Cities were periodically depopulated by epidemie dis*
eases, and urban life was regarded as a hardship, if uot as a posr-
itive evil. But the inereasiug coucentratiou of population has
eompelled a recognition of city hfe as a uormal aud permanent
coudition, aud with tbis recoguitiou bas eome a determiued ef-
fort to exploit tbe possibilities of co-operation for tbe purpose oí
raising the staudard of urhau existence. Seieutific sanitationi-
bas bauisbed epideinics forever, aud tbe moderp city, making a
dtity of necessity, provides for the pbysical, intelleetual, and
moral well-being of its populatiou by tbe enlargement of op-
portunities for recreatiou, by Ihi- iuipryvemyut \)í housiug, trans-
portatiou, and cducational facílities, aud by uudertaking tbe;
cai-e and reelamation of the vicious, the sick aud the uufortu-i
uate.

Tbis altered coneeption of tbe duties aud fuuctions of the;
munieipality bas heeu most strikiugly illusti-ated iu the capitaáJ
eities of Great Britaiu, Frauce aud Cermany, for tbe effasts of 1
the coneentratiou of populatiou bave been more pronounTed inj
some older countries thau in the Uuited States. Bnt tliat t.hí,
new social policy is not coutíued to Europeau municipalit'ies í&l
apparent from the recent experience of New York City. Thjel
IJlatform on whicb tbe preseut administration was elected, iuj
189i, unreservedly proclaimed the eardinaĩ principles of tbe newl
policy, and some of the conseqiiences of tbe pohtical revolutioii
of tbat year bave been clean, side alreets.thedestructionof blockaj
of uusanitary barracks to make room f or small parks, aud the re-*j
visíon and better enforcement of tbe laws relating to teuements.[
The pier receutĩy opened at the foot of 3d street serves thej
double purpose of furnishiug recreation to the teuement-bouse
populatiou in tbat neighborhood aud of euabliug it to procurel
fresb farm produce direct from tbe counti-y. But, perbaps, tbel
most emphatic break with our traditioual policy is the projectl
to supply tbe city witb a system of public batbs, lauudries, and|
uudergrouud comfort stations.                                                        >

Tbe platfoam of the Committee of Seveuty, wbĩeh had chargí
of the citizens' movement of 1891, coutained, amoug otbers, tbĩsy
piauk:   "We favor. the establishmeut of adi^quate public batbÍj
aud lavatories for the promotiou of eleauliness and iucreasedl
public comfort."   A sub-committee was appoiuted by the secre
tary of tbe Committee of Seventy to collect and publisb informí
tion whieh would serve to commend the plank to voters   an(^
wbeu tbe Committee of Seventy was dissolved, several ôf thí
members of the sub-committee, uameiy, Messrs, Wm    Gastoi
Hamiltou, Moreau Morris, and Wm. Howe Tolman were retaiuec
by tbe uew Mayor as an advisory committee, witb a view tS
formulating praetical plaus for the reaĩizatiou of tbe Committeí,
of Seveuty's implied ante-electiou pledge.   This commitfee prol
cnred the enactment of a law at Albany autboriziug the city tl
iucur debt to the amount of $200,000 for the erection of free pub-
lie batbs and comfort statious, and employed the firm of Cady,
Bei-g & See, architects, to design a bath and a latrine, based oií
tbe committee's study of European models.     The commlttee'g
report, comprising au exhaustive   review   of   munlcipal   bath
lanndry, and latriufe systems abroad, and recommending a sys
tem of six batbs and two undergrouud stations for New York
was published iu Januai-y of this ycar.   After many delays, du«).
to tho difficulty of fixing ou a site, tbe Board of Estimate anc '
Apportionment has autborized the issue of .$25,000 of cousolí
dated stock for an iuitial uudergi-ound eonifort station fn Cit
Hall Park, aud tbe speeifications preparatorvto ĩettiiĩs'
tract for the work of construetion are now beJor'- díû.