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February 20. 1904
RECORD ANT) CUIDE
373
^ ESTfcBLlSHED'S$/(^^J\cb^^lyâ– ^
BwiniDTD R^Estate.BuiLDif/c *;pCi(rrECTUnE,KousD(ouiDEBtiyuiDU,
Biisntess >iiD Themes of GEtfen^ iKitupap
fJVICE PER YEAR. IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS
fubUsfiad eVerp Saturday
de well to show more descrcllon and anxiety for the public
inieresi in lis exercise. Why is 11 that our executives are as a
rule so superior to our legislaiive bodies?
Communications elioold
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vese
% V. LINDSET, Business Manager
B addressed to
Street. Nevir YopK
Tolephono, Ctortlandt 8167
'"Sniered at the Post Office at Neto Tork, N. T.. as second-class matter."
Vol. LXXIIL FEBRUARY .20, 1904. No. lSi5
The Index to Volume LXXl of the Record aud Guide, corcr-
iug the period betweeu July 1 aud Dreeiulier Itt. W^. /.s- uo<r ready
for dclin-ri/. l-rin:^]. This Ilulc.r iu its rolarunl fn-w is now
rCCO<Jui:--il <»: i)nlh,-rns,ihi<' l« rrrrii inu- ruu-'H'''' <"• niirreeled in
reaiestiilr mid binliliuf/ operatious. II covers till fniiisarlioiis—
deeds, mortgages, leases, anciion sales, bwilding lAuns filed, (ta.
Ordersforthe Index should be sent atonce to the office of pvhlica-
iion. Handle Yesey M.
STAGNATION and depression have dominated Wall Street
throughout the week. There is at most no outside buying,
and the professionals are getting discouraged in their efforts to
create a market If they put stocks up they have to buy more
than they want. If they put stocks down, they meet with stiff re¬
sistance below a certain point. The news has been bad; but it
appears to be -R'orse than it is. The declines in gross earnings
have been due chiefly to weather conditions; and they are
counterbalanced by certain notable increases, which continue
to take place on the Western and Southwestern lines. Rates
have been disturbed, but no very exhausting warfare of this
kind is to be e.xpected among such responsible railroads as
those concerned in the cutting. The most disastrous event, of
which there is any danger, would be an upheaval in the near
East during the coming spring; but such a contingency is ex¬
tremely improbable. Altogether it pays an observer at the
present time to keep his eyes away from Wall Street aad
fixed on the general business situation. That siiuation
is not all that can be desired; but it is decidedly better than
Wall Street is at present in a position lo realize. If it were once
freed from the pressure exerted upon large enterprises by the
apprehensions created during the past six months, and by the
lack of loanable capitaj, bitsines men would flnd themselves in
a tolerably prosperous condition again.
MAYOR McCLELLAN has acted witli the greatest good
sense in vetoing the grant made by the Board of Al¬
dermen to the Westchester Railway Company. The message in
which he explains his action, is a model of what such a message
should be—brief, weighty and pointed; and if he applies the
principles enunciated in the message to the city's dealings
with corporations, throughout his administration, his action
will enormously strengthen his hold upon popular confidence.
It is apparent that Mayor McClellan, like his predecessor, Mr.
Low, proposes to give us a sound business administration, and
that the city's interests are so far safe iu his hands. The ap¬
proval by the Board of Aldermen of the Westchester scheme was
apparently backed by such a slrong element in the Mayor's own
party Ihat one could not help fearing that it would be allowed
to gf through, and the veto naturally provokes wonder as to
what will be the next move of the opponents of the Portchester
Road. Through their control of the Board of Aldermen, they
can undoubtedly block all action upon the project, if they want
fo do so; but it is to be hoped that owing to the Mayor's in¬
fluence, better counsels will prevail. The Portchester project
deserves the consent to cross streets in the Bronx, for which
it asks, provided it.will satisfy the city authorities that it will
pay for the city property it uses, partly because it has obtained
the other consents necessary to the construction of the road,
partly because it can offer the assurance of good connections
south of the Harlem, and partly because it gives every evidence
bf acting in good faith. The people of the Bronx and West¬
chester County are unanimously in its favor, and will feel
deeply aggrieved in case their interests are trifled with any
further. What is more, the Board of Aldermen should recog¬
nize the dislike and suspicion with which its action in this
matter has been regarded by public opinion. If it wishes to keep
the authority bestowed â– upon it, under the new charter, it will
THE real estate market during ihe past week has been char¬
acterized by a continued levival in the purchase of private
dwellings, by a noticeable subsidence in the speculation in va¬
cant lots,' and by the usual large amount of trading in flats and
tenements. The better demand for private dwellings is the
most encouraging aspect of the situation, and it is likely to be
continued throughout the spring. The increased cost and the
comparative scarcity of apartment-house accommodations will
doubtless have their reaction upon the cheaper dwelling house
districts of Manhattan, and will cause a quickening of the de¬
mand for the cheaper private residences which still exist.
Many of the residences have undoubtedly been bought recently
upon the upper East Side for the purpose of erecting flats in
their place; but this very fact sbould improve the demand for
the remainder. Another encouraging sign is that there
is more money being loaned on real estate than formerly.
The January figures were very low indeed; but they represented
the business consummated in December. The February figures
I'epresenting the business done in January, make a better show¬
ing. Doubtless, however, a good deal of business is being post¬
poned at present in the hope that the borrower may possibly
obtain later the benefit of the enactment of the mortgage tax
exemption bill. New building projects of all kinds are slow to
develop. During the past week only two of any interest have
been announced^one a loft building for the corner of Fifth
Avenue and Sixteenth Street, and the other an apartmeni-hotel
for Sixty-second Street and Broadway. The building, however,
when it comes, will come with a rush—and come it will.
T
A Practicable f cheme.
HE report of the Committee on Thoroughfares of the Mu¬
nicipal Art Society has the great advantage of being a
conservative dofument, and of recommending no change of the
existing street lines which could not be compleied at a compara¬
tively small expense. Ot course, in any case the expense will
be large, but most of the changes in street lines proposed by the
committee are concerned with streets on which proper.y values
are not high and ihe improvements themselves are. considering
the resources of the city, its other responsibilities, and the laws
under which it must act, entirely practicable. Furthermore,
most of the changea i-ecommended, while they will benefit
wagon iraflic, will have the additional value of being of enormous
assistance in providing better lines and more room for the
surface and sub-surface railway traffic. This is an aspect of
the matter which should not only be not neglected, but should
be kept absolutely at the very cop of the discussion concerning
a revision of the street plan. It is of prime importance, both
because of the actual value of the new streets in the transit
system of Manhattan and because the need of the new streets
for the sake of improving this transit system constitutes an
effective and popular motive for the earnest and immediate con¬
sideration of such projects.
The proposed new and wider streets which seem particularly
desirable to the Record and Guide, may be described as follows:
In the flrst place ihe changes in the street lines which will
unite more effectively the old Greenwich village with the rest
of the city, north and south. These changes include (1) the
extension of Seventh Avenue to a prolongation of Varick Street,
and the widening of Varick Street itself. (2) The extension of
Sixth Avenue to Varick Street. (3) The extension of Christopher
Street to Union Square. The first fwo of these proposed changes
have frequently been proposed before; but their revival is par¬
ticularly appropriate at the present time because the prolongation
of Seventh Avenue and the widening of Varick Street would
constitute an excellent thoroughfare along which to carry the
West Side subway, while the outlet afforded tor Che street rail¬
way tracks would be equally desirable. As to the extension of
Christopher Street to Union Square, that is necessitated by the
trolley tunnel terminal at Christopher and Hudson Streets,
which most assuredly needs a direot connection with the shop¬
ping district.
The lower East Side imperatively requires similar changes;
but the precise revision of the street lines which would be most
useful and most practicable, is not so obvious. Delancey Street
must, of course, be widened; and some street parallel to the
Bowery must be enlarged "Trom East Broadway to a connection
with Second Avenue at Houston Street, Furcherraore, with Che
increase of tralflc which will set in toward the new bridges,
it will be undoubtedly necessary to widen Park Row from the
City Hall to Chatham Square. The Committee on Thorough-