TVTarch 7, 1903.





RECORD AND  GUIDE





r





425













ita^TBD TO J^L Estah; . Building App^tTECTURE .t{ousnfoiD Deo<bi«ioH.
.Bifsafess aiJd Themes Of GnfeR^ IjftERfsp

PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS

Pablished eVerp Saturday

Communicationa sliould be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 14.16 Vesey Street.  New YopR

J. T. LIITDSEY, Bualneas Manager                            Teleplione, Cortlandt 3157

"Entered at the Posl 0.ffi.ce at Neio York, 2V. Y., as second-class mailer."





Vol. LXXI.





MARCH 7, 1903.





No. 1825.





EBADY FOR DELIVERY NEXT WEEK.
The anmial incinher of the Record mid Guide Quarterly eontain
•ing all the real estate records for the year 1902, annotated and al-
p}iabetically and numerically arranged, is now ready for delivery.
Published by the Record and Guide, 14 and 16   Vesey St.

IN view of the failure of Congress to take any step to better
our currency system, or even to apply the modest remedy
for one evil proposed by the Aldrich bill, it Is not surprising that
the rates for money advanced thisweek.or that the stock market
was disorganized. The ordinary movement of money severely
tries the resources of this centre at this season of the year, and
it may he taken for granted that with the experiences of last
fal! so well in mind, the attitude of loaners has become more
cautious than ever; and, while there are indications that help
may he had from abroad, the terms upon which this only can
be obtained do not improve the general situation. Congress' in¬
action is the more to he regretted because, as current railroad
earnings continue to reflect a widespread business activity, it is
leasy to see that if the small measure of legal relief desired had
ibeen afforded, confidence would have been sustained, and, while
speculation need not necessarily have been encouraged by it,
the present disturbance of the security markets need not have
rtaken place. As it is the circumstances of the time have made
money the entirely controlling factor of the situation, and its
■jnovement can hardly be expected to be otherwise than against
■quoted values in the long run. It happens that demand is as
.great in London as here, and this condition is spreading to other
ipoints—Berlin and Vienna, for instance, where ease has lately
ibeen the rule, while Paris sees a necessity for protecting its sup¬
plies from invasion by foreign' demands. It is highly probable
than London will have to bear the brunt of this universal de¬
mand for money, and this makes any support to our security
market from that quarter not only unlikely, but more calculated
to compel further realizations from over there. From yester¬
day's movements we may be supposed to have had the shake-up
requisite in the circumstances, but the outlook for money does
not encourage the hope of a sustained bull movement and rates
are distinctly against the maintenance of the high prices until
now obtained for low-return issues. The moral of the remarks
made in the following paragraph regarding consols and other
European issues of the first-class has application on this Bide
of the Atlantic as well as on the other.





THE injunction issued by Judge Adams in the United Statea
District Court at St. Louis to prevent a strike upon the
Wabash Railway is an important advance upon judicial inter¬
ference in labor disputes. Hitherto the powers of the courts
have only been used in these matters to restrain picketing and
prevent other forms of coercion. gtill the injunction issued
this week cannot be said to interfere with the liberties of the
workman, who can stay with or leave the service of the railway
company as he chooses. It prevents the Trainmen's Union from
disorganizing the service of the company, and, while only In¬
tended to deny directly to the third party the right to interfere
between the other two, it ought at the same time teach the work¬
man that as a part of an organization formed for the public
service, he has duties towards the public which he must respect.
The decision, though rendered on purely legal grounds respect¬
ing the rights of the parties interested, is in line with the strong
public sentiment that regards as intolerable the actions of
unions which overlook every right of the public to be consid¬
ered before they are committed, and also that constantly grow¬
ing sentiment that other means of settling disputes between
employer and employed must be found to displace those that are
subversive of order and destructive of property and business





prospects. These sentiments are in no sense actuated by en¬
mity toward workmen. Quite the contrary. Everyone desires
tbat their interests should be protected, which includes theit
title to proper compensation for their services. Wherever they
are improperly treated or paid they have a perfect right to de¬
mand and secure redress, but in doing so they must consider the
possible consequences of their actions. It Is in this Wider Sense
that their policy must be shaped, because it is the Indirectly in^
terested third party, but the one from whom the support of the
others is drawn who is now the real complainant.





Combustible **Fireproof" Buildings Again.

^p HE destruction of the Roosevelt Building at tbe corner of
^ 13th street and Broadway is not likely to increase the
confidence of the public in "fireproof" structures. Indeed, no
one ought to wonder at the statement made recently that "noth¬
ing burns so readily as a flreproof building." As a fact, man?
of the worst conflagrations we have seen of late have been in
so-called "fireproof" buildings, and a public, not sufficiently
aware of the real conditions of the case, is likely enough to
jump to an unwarranted conclusion. So it has come to this
pass that it is hard to get the average man to believe that a
building essentially fireproof can he constructed to-day, or that
the trouble lies not with the science of building, but with the
practice of it.

Who is responsible for this state of affairs? In the. first
place, the owner. Too often he is a man who, from ignorance
and cupidity, prefers cheapness to substantiality. It is he who
has created the existing system of the Unqualified Lowest Bid.
This system is becoming an unmitigated curse in the building
trades. It puts a pressure upon everybody to scamp work and
reduce quality, to pare away and trim away to tbe last degree
the substance and durability of our buildings. In other trades
that system of purchase may have very decided advantages, but
it must be remembered that in almost every other trade the
article sold is so to speak more current, more visible, less dura¬
ble in itself, more subject to examination and final judgment
The manufacturer who puts on the market, let us say a pair of
poor shoes, is soon detected and his dishonesty or incompetence
quickly comes home to him to roost; but a builder's work hid¬
den under flooring and behind lathing and woodwork Is not so
readily brought to the test. There is no stamp, or name or trade¬
mark on it. Frequently, too, the original owner of the build¬
ing speedily parts with his property, and this sale acts as a
prompt discharge of the moral responsibility of the builder to
the man who employed him. We need not ask how many
owners of houses in New York City know who erected their
buildings?

But, with the owner, the architect also is at fault.     Speak¬
ing with a few exceptions in mind, the architect unfortunately
is never too deeply concerned in the scientific   and   practical
aspect of his work.     Fireproofing and a host of similar matters
are not really the things he cares about.     It is extremely diffl¬
cult to interest him in them.      He is not a builder in the real
sense of the word, but a maker of pictures, a scenic artist.     He
has very little of the scientific conscience of the engineer nor
does he share the engineer's love of the real facts of whatever
problem he may be called upon to treat.   As a result the archi¬
tect has had practically no  share m the improvement, so  far
as equipment and construction are concerned, of the modern
building.     He has taken no original interest in its development,
and his secondary or adopted interest in it has been "pounded"
into him   by others   outside the profession.     The   Roosevelt
Building, for instance, at the time of its erection, could have
been made entirely safe from such a conflagration as the one
that  destroyed  it,  at  an  expenditure of  two  hundred  dollars.
But that fact did not appeal to the architect.      It is quite true
the building was erected before the present building laws.     Al
the time of its construction it was legally up-to-date; but scien,-
tifically it was far from up-to-date.     The architect used fire¬
proof arches.     Yet, although the materials were at his com¬
mand, he was perfectly content to leave much of the iron of his
building  unprotected.      At  the  same  time,  he  busied  himself
with plastering the exterior of his building with a vast amount
of  not over-admirable  ornamentation,   a   few  square  feet   of
which might have heen dispensed with for the sake of averting
a conflagration such as the one that ultimately destroyed  the
building.   In this he was typical of his profession.

There are literally hundreds of buildings now standing in
this city, also called "fireproof"—not one of which really is fire¬
proof. The architect does not show any deep concern about
the matter. If the law pushes him, or the owner pushes him,
he moves; otherwise he proceeds to fill his building with flam¬
mable lumber, adopts the minimum, rather than the maximum