Ft-bruarv 6, 1904.
RECORD AND GUIDE
269
ESTABUSHED "^ MABPUSl"^ 1868,
iklAllD TO Rpj. ESTAIE. BUILDIJ^G ft|!&I^ITECTUri^ ,t{oUSElJOlIl
BUSil^ESS AI^ThEUES of GElJEIt^ iKTEffi^Ti
faiCE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS
Vublishod eVers Satardap
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorH
5. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager Telephone, Cortlandt 815?
'"SiUered at the F^st Office, at N,
Vol UXXIII
I I'orA, N'. Y., as secotifl-class matter."
FERRUARV
1904.
No. 1S73
THE movemeiit in the prices ol securities continues to be
controlled chiefly by prol'essioual and techuical influences.
The failure of the bull pool last week to obtain any following
in its effects to advance prices, resulted in a general recession
of quotations, and proved that no large speculation on the side
of higher values was possible at the present time. On the other
hand, the course of prices during the week now ended, shows
equally well that below a certain point the market is always
supported so that any active bear speculation proves also to be
impracticable. It is noticeable in this connection that just as
steel preferred led the decline last week, so it was used this
â– week by the interests supporting the market to prevent that
decline from being carried too far. It looks as if these in¬
terests bought stocks on every decline, and quietly sold them
again on every rally so that any considerable movement in
either direction was checked. There can be no doubt, also, that
if this is the policy of important banking and financial interests,
the policy is well conceived. Any considerable advance would
be necessarily unwholesome under existing conditions, while any
marked decline is not only unjustified, but would unsettle public
confidence to a deplorable extent. Unless conditions are pro¬
foundly modified in the meantime, there is no reason to suppose
that the description will not appiy to the stock market until
after the election next fall, although if there is any tendency
either in one direction or the other, it should be in the direction
of an advance in prices.
fT HE most encouraging inference to be drawn from the real
* estate sales reported during the past week, is that the
market shows a decidedly broadening tendency and that this
broadening tendency is concerned chiefly with private dwellings.
There are evidences that the over-production of expensive resi¬
dences, which threatened at one time to cause some trouble, will
not have any serious effects. Little by little builders are sell¬
ing off their houses; and as few new ones are being built, it
is probable from present indications that the demand wil! be
good enough this spring to reduce to a normal amotmt the
offerings hanging over the market, A fact which does not
confirm this prediction, but which is of peculiar interest, is that
Mr. Haggin has decided after all not to build on the site of the
old Progi-ess Club at Sixty-third Street and Fifth Avenue.
The property is now being offered at a considerable advance
over the figures for which it was purchased a couple of years
ago; and since it is the very best site of the liind available on
Fifth Avenue, it will be interesting to see how soon the property
Is sold and who will be its purchaser. Apparently since there
is no large club still unprovided with a good location, the only
possible buyer will be a man as rich as Mr. Haggin himself. It
will also be interesting to observe what the effect will be of the
effort which Columbia College is making to sell the block
bounded by Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth Streets and Fifth
and Sixth Avenues, to the owners of the houses. It can scarcely
fail to transfer the Fifth Avenue frontage into a business
block and to encourage a good deal of reconstruction on the
side streets; but under existing conditions these changes will
take place slowly. The extent, however, to which the market
for dwellings all over the city is improving, is shown by the cir¬
cumstances that whereas as a rule there has been a decrease of
about 100 per cent, almost every week, recently, in the sales of
this kind of property compared to the corresponding week last
year, this decrease very nearly disappears in the figures for
the past week. In this instance only four houses of this ciiass
have been reported as sold since our last issue, less than the
number sold during the corresponding period of 1903. For the
rest there is the usual increase in the total number of trans¬
actions; but it should be noticed that this is rather less con¬
spicuous than usual in the flats. On the other hand, it is even
more conspicuous as regards the vacant lots.
THERE are many rumors that Governor Odell proposes to
make an effort to restore the apparently waning popu¬
larity of his party in this State by proposing a measure of home
rule—one comprehensive enough to include not only local excise
regulation, but also the regulation of local service companies
of all kinds. If the rumor proves tc be true, it will do credit
to the Governor's good sense; and he has so consistently stood
for home'rule in everything except excise matters, that doubt¬
less he is willing—even if he fails, in carrying through his
purpose. Of course no home rule proposal can be discussed
until its details are known, but there is one aspect of the mat¬
ter which, in the light of the public reports, is worth some
attention. It is proposed, so the newspapers say, to confer
these additional powers on the Boards of Supervisors of the
several localities. The board in this city corresponding to the
Board of Supervisors in the other counties is the Board of
Aldermen; so that apparently the intention is to confer these
additional powers on that body. It is much to be hoped, how¬
ever, that such is not the case. The Board of Aldermen is not
the body upon which should be bestowed such a grave increase
of responsibility. It has always proved itself to be either in¬
efficient and corrupt in its relations with public utility com¬
panies of all kinds, and for that reason large powers were
taken away from it after the scandal in connection with the
Broadway street railway franchise. Under the revised charter an
attempt was made to rehabilitate the Board by enlarging its
functions once more, but its behavior in case of the Pennsylvania
tunnel franchise and the Portchester road, shows that it is as
incapable as ever of acting in such matters from disinterested
public spirited motives. It is not to the Board of Alder¬
men that the additional powers should be gi-anted, but to the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which is the real govern¬
ing board of the city, and in which the public have full
confidence.
AT its meeting on Monday last, the Board of Education re¬
elected the present Superintendent of School Buildings,
Mr. Charles B. J. Snyder, for another term of six years. Ordi¬
narily such an election would mean but little to the building
trades, but in the ease of Mr. Snyder it has a very distinct
significance. Before his administration began, the offlce was
aptly described by the title, Superintendent of School Buildings
—now rather inadequate, as "School Architect." or something
of that sort would be much more accurate. Formerly, indeed,
the Superintendent was scarcely more than what would now be
called a chief inspector. As far as design was concerned, or¬
dinary packing-boxes were the only style admitted, of which
the curious may see an example in Public School 77, at Eighty-
sixth Street and First Avenue, the last production of his prede¬
cessor, and as unsuitable internally as it is hideous externally.
A public school was then a distinct detriment to the value of
surrounding property, a blot and a nuisance in a neighborhood.
What a different character has been imparted by Mr. Snyder's
skillful designs may be seen in any one of the new schools
which are continually being opened, a good example of which is
Public School 1G5, in One Hundred and Ninenteenth Street, be¬
tween Second and Third Avenues. In the outlying districts,
where land is not closely built up, a new school now forms a
nucleus around which buildings spring up as if by magic, A not¬
able instance of this is at One Hundred and Seventy-third Street
and Third Avenue, and another at the Jerome Avenue School,
both in the Bronx. In each of these cases apartment houses and
stores have quickly surrounded a school building, which was
planted in the midst of fields. Nowadays, like the railroad, the
school must precede, rather than follow, the growth of popula¬
tion. We congratulate the Board of Education upon its good
fortune in securing and retaining the services of so capable an
architect.
IT is a distinct relief to hear, as has been announced this week,
that all points of disagreement between the Housesmlths'
Union and Local Union No. 2 of the International Association of
Structural Iron Workers have been settled, and that four local
unions will be formed in this neighborhood, each of which will
receive a charter from the Internationa! Association. The news
is not as important as it would have been several months ago,
for under existing circumstances the fangs of Local Union No. 2
have been very effectually drawn. Circumstances, however,
have a way of changing, and the time might have come when a
disaffected minority of iron-workers could have caused a great
deal of trouble. President Buchanan stated recently to a repre¬
sentative of the Record and Guide that until some agreement
was reached, the local union would feel justified in waging a
guerilla warfare which, even if innocuous at present, might
be serious at another time. Consequently it is distinctly reas-