April 23, 1904.
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Vol. LXXIII.
APRIL 23. 1904,
rpHERE has been some of the good and some of the bad
'*' about the Stock Market during the past week; but on the
whole it had the appearance of a market which did not know
its own mind. Dominated, as it was, by professional operations.
reactions were promptly succeeded by rallies, and the net changes
are small. The best news of the week was the continually in¬
creasing ease of money, and the worst news, perhaps, the signs
of hesitation, which, according to the trade authorities, the iron
and steel business is beginning to show. This was sufficient to
cause a fall of several points in Steel preferred; but the news
was no news to anybody who had been watching the situation
closely. The railroads are not buying to any great extent and
will not during the cuiTent year. Nothing more than moderate
business is to be expected for the year 1904; and if the Steel
Corporation earns its preferred stock dividend it will only by
a process of bookkeeping. There are signs, also, of hesitation
in other directions, which will be sufficient to keep the market
quiet for some time to come. Still the easy money market should
gradually have it.s effect, and little by little, the buying should
improve.
Tn spite of the fact that the total number of sales announced
â– *â– during the past week was a good deal over 200, against only
13S for the corresponding week last year, the market gives the
impression of being a waiting one. Among the sales was 24
of vacant property, aggregating 102 lots, against 12 of vacant
property, aggregating 53 lots, for the corresponding week of last
year. This is a substantial increase, but the increase is not as
much as is warranted by the circumstances, and if the next two
weeks pass without any dangerous labor troubles a good deal
of additional activity may be anticipated in this branch of the
market. There can be no doubt that the movement is actually
beginning, which will end in a Washington Heights boom.
Some seven different improvements are already under way in
that section—the forerunners of a host. From the points of
view both of the Heights and the West Side, the killing of the
seven-story semi-fireproof apartment house bill in the Senate
was extremely unfortunate; but on the other hand, there is no
little vacant property on the Heights, situated on a steep grade,
which will be benefited by the bill that did pass, permitting the
level from which the number of stories are counted to be six
inches above the highest point of the curb level. An encourag¬
ing sign is the increasing activity in private dwellings, some 8
or 9 more of them being sold during the past week than during
the corresponding week last year. Among them are several
comparatively expensive houses. That so many builders of ex¬
pensive houses have succeeded in disposing of their holdings,
in spite of the bad times, is a convincing proof of the vitality
of the demand in New York for that class of property. The auc¬
tion market, also, is looking up—a number of important sales
being scheduled for the near future. Among them may be men¬
tioned that of a hotel on Sherman Square, an interesting selec¬
tion along the line of the Subway, acquired for easement pur¬
poses, and the valuable Kemp estate holdings near Sth avenue
and 50th street. This last is particularly important, for the
disposition of this property will determine to a large extent the
fate of that part of the avenue. As lor the values, let no one be
bold enough to predict. The sale of the Black. Starr &. Frost
Building, at 39th street and Sth avenue, for a price of about
$1,000,000 seems incredible; but this price is stated on good au¬
thority to be correct. Inside lots on the same block have sold
as high as ?2SO,000, while $500,000 has actually been offered for
the other corner. Hence, as the building Just sold stood on two
lots, a value of $850,000 for the property without the building
might have been paid. But $170 a square foot for S.OOO square
feet on an avenue which is about as good for business purposes
throughout more than a mile of its length, is unprecedented.
rri HE extensive buying which the Pennsylvania Railroad Is
'^ undertaking in the two blocks between Sixth and Seventh
avenues, immediately to the east of its terminus, is nalurally
arousing a great deal of curiosity as to what the company even¬
tually proposes to do with the property. Is it buying merely
for tho porpose of obtaining elbow-room around its terminus,
and in order to diminish liability to damage suits at a later date?
Or is it planning, as has been suggested, an outlet to Broadway,
similar to the proposed arcade from 33d to 34th streets? Prob¬
ably the immediate purpose of the purchases is merely that of
securing the easement for the extensive subterranean works in
that neighborhood aa cheap as possible, but at the same
time the property secured for this purpose may subse¬
quently be used in some way which will improve the ap¬
pearance of the neighborhood and the accessibility of the tun¬
nel—objects to which the Pennsylvania Railroad cannot be in¬
different. The two block frontages on Seventh avenue, for in¬
stance, if ever sold by the railroad, would undoubtedly only be
sold to somebody who would erect a building of some archi¬
tectural pretensions. Furthermore, since 33d street is a narrow
street, it might be worth the while of the railroad to increase its
width by means of an arcade. Indeed, this is something which
ought to be done by the city government, which, after all the
railroad is doing voluntarily could afford to widen 33d street
and provide some more room on Greeley Square; but our city
officials are so much occupied with immediate troubles that they
cannot give rauch thought to those even of the comparatively
near future. It is significant, however, that the Pennsylvania
is pursuing a much more liberal aud far-sighted policy than the
New York Central. It is planning for plenty of space in the
neighborhood of its terminus, and will not permit itself to be
shut in on a narrow street, as its competitor has done. Fur¬
thermore, the accessibility of the terminus and the importance
of 34th street and Greeley Square will be very much augmented
in case the Rapid Transit Commission accepts, as announced,
the subway scheme of the New York City Railway Company.
It is interesting to note, particularly for property owners, how
these big schemes inevitably grow on the hands of their progen¬
itors, and how vast and incalculable their remote consequences
will be.
THE residents of Brooklyn are tireless in demanding new
favors from the city government. At the iiresent time tho
trafiic between Manhattan and Brooklyn is not one-half as
dense as the travel north and south in Manhattan, but although
Brooklyn travel is less dense, it is being provided for at an
enormous cost and on an unprecedented scale. Three new
bridges and two new tunnels, increasing by seven times the
existing trackage and by more than seven times the passenger
capacity, are already under construction, while the much
heavier trafflc north and south is only being granted two, or
perhaps three, times the existing carrying capacity. Yet Brook¬
lyn now wants another tunnel entering Manhattan at Four¬
teenth Street. It is time to call a stop. Brooklyn has received
all that it is entitled to for the present; and it should be content
with the completion by means of good connections of projects
already under way. If it wants to increase its demands, it
should ask not for more tunnels, but the application of urgent
methods to urgent problems. The most urgent problem of all
is the improvement of the service on the Brooklyn Bridge; and
as this can be enormously improved by the rearrangement of
the platforms of the Manhattan terminal and the enlargement
of the switching facilities, no time should be lost in meeting
this pressing need by immediate action along the lines sug¬
gested. The Board of Estimate should appoint an architect
who should be commissioned to draw plans of this rearrange¬
ment of the platforms on the basis of Mr. N. Poulson's plan,
which is admitted by experts to be entirely practicable. Apart
from the improvement in switching capacity, the problem is
not an engineering problem. It is one which a well-trained
architect is most competent to solve; and it should be placed
in the hands of such a man. What Brooklyn most needs should
be cordially and immediately given, and that is some transit
relief in the near future. But no more tunnels or bridges for a
decade or two.
IT has been announced, apparently from authoritative sources,
that the Plan and Scope Committee of the Rapid Transit
Commission proposes to adopt substantially the rapid transit
routes suggested by the Metropolitan interest; but tiiat they
will be made attractive to the Interborough Company by adding
connections with the existing subway at strategic points. This,
in the main, is undoubtely the policy which offers the best
chance of a good bargain for the city. The opportunity of ob¬
taining a subway operated as part of the street railway system.