January 30, 1904.





RECORD AND   GUIDE





217







ESTABUSHED "^tfj   .

DkIoVD To RfV- EsTWt. SuiLoijfe A^iTEcnis? .KooseUoid QEomf^
.Bifsotss Alto Themes of Ge»Jer^ iKTERglTi

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'Published eVert) Saturday

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S, *. LINDSEY, Business Manager                           Telepbone. Cortlandt 3157

~ ""Jeered al the Post t
■vol. LXXIII.





rival interests, will be maintained for a very long time. It looks
very much as if the street railway interest was threatening
competition merely lor the purpose of securing some advanta¬
geous agreement with the Interborough Company; and this
appearance of the matter is made the more plausible by the fact
that a tunnel, such as the Metropolitan Company proposes,
would not serve the purpose for which it is ostensibly intro¬
duced. It wouljl not really relieve the congestion of the surface
railway traffic. Whatever happens, the people of New York
may be perfectly sure that in the end it will be combination
and not competition. Under any circumstances, however, the
immediate necessity is rapid transit legislation; and the Record
and Guide is glad to observe that the views of the Commission
on that important matter are being embodied i





■e ai New Tork. N. T.. as second-class matter."





JANUARY 20, 1904.





No, 1872.





THE turn for the worse which the course of prices on the
Stock Exchange has taken during the past week, is merely
one of the inevitable reactions which cannot be avoided in the
long process of readjustment which is taking place in security
values. This particular reaction has indeed been brought abouf
hy a consensus of bad news. Railroad earnings are beginning to
be discouraging; the steel trade, inspite of some activity in wire
nails, tubes, bars, and structural shapes, has not been picking up
as much as has been expected; the situation in the Far East
has taken a turn for the worse; and the violent speculation iu cot¬
ton undoubtedly has an unsettling effect. It is no wonder, conse¬
quently, that the selling was better than the buying—particu¬
larly in view of the fact that the speculators whose purchases
caused the advance last week, were not able to secure much out¬
side support for their bull movement. It is apparent that under
existing conditions no quick or prolcnged rise is possible.
Business prospect do not justify iL, and there is no money for
the purpose. The money market ia really the way to the situa-
ation, aud there will not be for the present any margin over
and above what is needed by business commitments which have
practically been already made. But any severe fall is generally
unlikely, provided business does uot become any worse than it
is. It will be a waiting speculative market in which prices
will go up or down in obedience to the news of the day and the
exigencies of the technical speculative situation.





I





THE rapid transit situation is ijecoming interesting. Tire
Intertiorougii Coinpany. tlirougli Mr. McDonald lias again
made application for Lexington Avenue and Broadway subways;
and tliey do so with an assumed luit amusing unconsciousness of
tile criticisms wliich have been passed on the Broadway route. Oh
the other hand, the Interurban Company, it is announced, is
also preparing a plan which includes a lower West Side and an
upper East Side extension—the East Side tunnel following the
line of Lexington Avenue and the West Side tunnel the line of
Eighth Avenue and West Broadway. This route is promising,
but can hardly be criticised untii the details are definitely stated.
In the meantime we cannot refrain expressing a doubt whether
the competition, which is apparently heginning between these





1 a bill.





-.-lllii ronstnnt development ot Fifth Avenue as tbe business
i llinroiigbtare on which are situated the most expensive
retail shops, makes it more than ever Important that steps should
be taken to widen the roadway of' that avenue. The congestion
of the .carriage tralHc during the busy part of the afternoon oh
Ibat thoroughfare has been worse than ever this winter, and
has resulted in most annoying and exasperating delays, and this
longestlon wiii, ot course, become more and more annoying as
time goes on. One great advantage of Fifth Avenue for what
Is known as the carriage trade-that is tor the people who shop
in carriages-is the fact that, unlike Twenty-third Street and
Broadway, it is tree from trolley cars, but this advantage is
1-eing sacrificed because the roadway is too narrow to accommo¬
date the large and Increasing number of carriages whose owners
arc tempted to use it.   Moreover, this roadway could be widened'





without any great expense;





THB number of transactions in real estate reported here¬
with is smaller than it was during the preceding week;
but it is as usual very much larger than during the cor¬
responding week last year. There can be no doubt, however,
that in order to obtain a fair idea of the significance of this ac¬
tivity some of the wind must be let out of the wheels by a large
puncture. While a great deal of trading is being done in Har¬
lem, and particularly in the upper part thereof, it is not so large
as it seems, liecause some of the operators interested therein are
undoubtedly using the newspapers to make the movement ap¬
pear to be livelier than it really is. With whatever deductions
we may make on this score, however, it remains lively enough,
and will result in a great deal of building this spring. The trad¬
ing has not developed any new characteristics. It is interesting
to note that a better demand Is setting for residences in the
northern part of the city, and the sales include a number of
dwellings of a comparatively good class, both on the East Side
and on the West Side. The latter section also contributes to the
budget several sales of elevator apartment-houses, which will
help to release builders' capital in that vicinity. The hulk of the
transactions, however, both in vacant lots and in ffats continue
to take place in Harlem. On the whole, the market exhibits a
broadening tendency which may be expected to become still
more apparent soon. During the next few weeks some interest¬
ing auction sales of lower East Side and West Side property
will be held, which will test the demand in this branch of the
market—which ought, under existing conditions, to be good dur¬
ing the spring.





i well known, the sidewalks are





exceptionally wide because property-owners have been appropri¬
ating part ot them for stoops under revocable permits; and the
time has come when these permits should be revoked and the
space which is gained thereby, thrown into the roadway. The
remodeling ot the old residences for business purposes, which
has been proceeding so rapidly during the past few years, has
resulted in a great many cases in the voluntary removal of the
stoops- and while it would cause trouble and expense to do
away With them in those instances, in which the houses are
still Inhabited as residences, it would be a Justifiable step to
take provided property-owners were given several years m
which to make the change. Of course, it would not he necessary
to apply this remedy further north than Forty-seventh Street
and south of that line the property-owners, so far from ob¬
jecting to it should welcome any means taken to widen the
roadway in that it would very much increase the availability of
the avenue as a business thoroughfare. Indeed, the business
houses aituated on the avenue should organize for this purpose
and never cease agitation for the widening until it is accom¬
plished.

To  the Editor of The Record a»d   Guide:

The Bostwick bill for the exemption of mortgages from an¬
nual taxation. Is a measure ot vital Importance to the real estate
interests of New York. Conceding that there may be mmor
errors in drafting the bill which need correction and conceding
further that any tax or mortgages-even with a recording tax
of tiv mills-is wrong in principle, it would seem to be good
common sense for all interested to unite in working to secure
the passage ot this bill. To tax real estate at full value and
also to tax the mortgage on it. is obviously double taxation.
But to hold out for this principle, after ten years of fruitless
effort to secure mortgage exemption, and in the face both ot
oppcsltlon from up the State and of the need for added State
revenue, is surely not practical.

The good effects of a. mortgage exemption bill cannot be esti¬
mated in advance. What proportion of the $350,000,000 an¬
nually loaned on New Tork city real estate pays a personal tax?
What added millions would be loaned if secure from the risk
ot being mulcted ot 1% per cent, ot the 4 per cent., or 37% per
oent of their Income? The best judges say that an immense
demand for tax exempt New York city mortgages would result,
which would reduce interest rates probably by Va ot 1 per cent,
per annum; a boon to all real estate owners, flrst by lowering
the charges (or carrying real estate, and second, by Increasing
the value of real estate through the double operation of a higher
yield on the eduity, and a lower rate ot capitalization of income
in harmony with lower interest rates.

There is certainly the strongest incentive for all real estate
owners, investors and builders to work for this just bill. The
Governor is reported to favor it. and the prospects for its pas¬
sage are bright. If all interested will speak in no uncertain
tones to their representatives at Albany, the bill will become
,jj„,                                                          RICHARD   M.   HURD,

President Lawyers' Mortgage Company.

The foregoing letter from Mr. Hurd speaks admirably for
the well-informed opinion among New York property-owners
and their representatives in respect to the Bostwick bill.    If,