July 20, 1901.





RECORD  AND  (iUlDE.





73







B1«BUSHa>-^ iySpHSlW^ 1868,

FBICE FEB  Y£AB IN  ADVANCE SIX  DOIXARS.

Published every Baturdau,

TELEPHONE,                                             CORTLANDT  137O.

'Communications should be addressed to

C, W, SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street,
.1. T. UNDSEY, Business Manager.

"t'ti/<rcd at tlte Puat-Ofllee at New York, N.   7., aa second-via ss matter."





'Vol, LXVIII.





JULY 20, 1901,





No, 1740,





The index to Volume LXVII of the Record and Guide, covering the
period belzveen January ist and June ^oth, 1901, will be ready for
delivery IVednesday, 24tk iiist. Price, $1. This Index in its enlarged
form is now recognised as indispensable to every one engaged or
■interested in real estaie and building operations. It covers all trans¬
actions—deeds, ntorlgages, leases, auction sales, building plans filed, etc.
Orders for the hidex should be sen! at once fo the office of publication,
14 and 16 Vesey Street.





WH'ERE the advance in' the Stock Market of this wsek was
not manipulated, it may be saiii to represent a reaction
simply from the downwarii movement which began s^cmething
more than a couple of months ago, and which was unduly ac¬
celerated by short sales invited hy the crop scare, the Pittshurg
strike and some minor bad news. The announcement of the har¬
mony board for Northern Pacific, though it caused shorts to run
to cover, has not been followed by a sustained buying movement,
cr brought the public back into the market in any numbers. Not
■only do our own public appear as sellers, but the European is
unlcadiug here whenever opportunity offers. That the latter will
continue to be sellers is apparent from the poor condition of
trade throughout Europe -and the panicky conditions that exist at
several of the financial centres. The refusal of the British mar-
liet to 'take the Indian loan, must he set down to its being already
overloaded with government securities and fearing to assume
further responsibilities with investors indifferent and the future
imcertain. It follows then that we may not look for help from
Europe, Our own situation cannot be considered satisfactcry by
any means. The west and south have participated heavily in the
recent stock speculation, and may have to draw home their funds
before crops are moved. Labor troubles are suflicientiy numer¬
ous, and in instances in'd'ividually large enough to give anxiety
and the crop outlook is not as rosy as it might be. Without ac¬
cepting all of the reports of damage done, it wtuM be unsafe to
assume that with two such setbacks as delayed seeding and
planting, owin-g to a cold and protracted spring, and the summer
heat and drought, the farmer and the carrier have no anxieties
as to the final results. It will take some time to ascertain what
the actual damage has been, but ii must have been cocsid&rahle,
with the danger of more not entirely removed. No experienced
business man need be told that general activity is affected by
the extent of the buying power of the farmer for the time being,
and that this buying power is more or less as crops are abund¬
ant or meagre.





'HE Irnportance which the question of the municipal own¬
ership of natural monopolies has assumed in the Ohio
gubernatorial contest must be considered accidental and facti¬
tious. The queation is a local one, and very little benefit can be
obtained by raising it to the level of a state issue. Theoretically,
indeed, the general question is hardly worth discussing at all. It
is pretty well agreed among economists that a city which was
able to make the very most of its fiHaneial resources would re¬
tain the ownership of all public franchises and operate them in
the interest both of the city treasury and the people who use
such services. But it is also almost as generally recognized that
under prevailing conditions, it is inexpedient for the municipal
government either to venture too far into the business of ac¬
tually operating street railways and running electric light
works, or to interfere too much with the service given by pri¬
vate corporations. In each separate city the problem should be
treated according to the special conditions prevailing in that
city. Ho'W can the best service be obtained for the public and at
the same time the largest amount of income made for the city
■treasury? .That is the question which always has to be answered,
and which will naturally be answered  differently   in   d'ifferent





cities. The answer will depend upon a number of different spe¬
cial conditions, such as the terms upon which existing franchises
are held, the quality of service which the corporations afford the
city, their willingness to pay adequately for their privileges, and
the general reliability of the municipal oflicials. Thus it is
never a case for the heedless applicaJtion' oE doctrinaire theories
either as to the dangers of municipal socialism, or the unques¬
tionable superiority and economy of services performed by the
municipality. The questions to be decided should be settled by
business men on  business grounds.





Insurance—Kow to Save Til-ney.

■p* ROM time to time circumstances come to our attention that
"*■ show that builders and owners, through ignorance cf its
provisions, do not obtain anything like all the pecuniary benefits
the insurance schedule offers them. This is largely due ia the
fact that neither has learned the value of expert assistance and
opinion upon this important item of expense. Only recently we
heard of a case where, on the advice of an insurance broker, the
owner of a commercial building, by a few inexpensive changes,
putting in some water buckets and replacing common glass in a
skylight with wire glass, was immediately recouped the cc&t sev¬
eral times by a reduction of his insurance premium. In an¬
other instance, similar expert advice removed the necessity of
tearing apart a building, about to be converted from domestic to
business uses, in order to supply a flue for a furnace, which
eventually was cheaply erected at the rear of the building, so that
the cost of alterations was much reduced. In both instances it
was only by accident that the owners found out what they could
do to reduce their expenses so materially. A competent insur¬
ance broker is a potential benefactor for the prcperty owner.
This is especially true of owners of mercantile buildings. There
are many property owners in New York who are paying yearly
liundreds of dollars in insurance premiums which they might
save by the expenditure of a few dollars for alterations in the'
building or,for the instaiiation of preventive apparatus.

The key rate for fireproof buildings under the mercantile
schedule is 10 cents on the ?1C0, and the specific rate on any
building is made up by adding the specified rate for faulty con¬
struction or mismanagement. Thus each building is rated on its
own merits or demerits. For unprotected cast-iron columns the
penalty is $1.50 on every ?1,000 of insurance as long as they re¬
main unprotected. If the openings on the floor, stairs or eleva¬
tor, have not proper coverings, the owner is assessed ?5.00 on the
thousand; if the heating apparatus is unsafe ?25.00 a thousand,
and if the defects in the heating apparatus are not remedied the
policy will be cancelled. A downtown broker several days ago
showed the writer a schedule on which the rate had been reduced
fiom 90 cents to 50 cents, a reduction of 44 per cent. The prin¬
cipal changes made were the placing of metal doors between two
buildings, thus reducing the area and the mum'ber cf tenants;
the reconstruction of the skylight by putting in wire glass in¬
stead of plain, the elimination of a stairway charge by boxing
the stairs, the addition of two watchman's clocks, the placing of
fire buckets cn every floor, and having the packing done in the
vault instead of in the basement. Apartments and tenements
have a special rating, the premium being ?1,00 on the thousand,
unless the area is over 2,500 square feet. If there are stores on
the grade floor the rate is $2.00, and if any business is carried on
above the grade floor, such as dentists' ofiices or the like, the
risk comes under the mercantile schedule and is specifically
rated.

These facts not only show thait owners often pay higher pre¬
miums than they need to, but also that the insurance of a build¬
ing is a technical and complicated question, which ean only be
satisfactorily answered by the expert. Yet we doubt whether
the average builder ever thinks of submitting the plans of a
building before erection to an insurance broker for examination
and opinion as to whether they can be improved upon in order
to later save fixed charges, oi' whether the average owner asks
his broker to go over the whole ground and make a comprehen¬
sive insurance report, showing whether, if anything, what can
be done to save premiums, as he would go to an architect, or en¬
gineer for a report on structural defects. Yet it would, in our
opinion, pay to do it.





1





TT OWEVER much one may question the industrial value of
■*■ ■*■ the local expositions which are being or are to be held
in various parts of the country, the stimulus they give both to
the popularization and improvement of American architecture,
painting and sculpture, is unquestionable. Architecture, espe¬
cially at the present time, suffers from two serious handicaps.
One is the utter lack of any appreciation of the best work of