Aitgfiist 27, 1904
? 1 TIECORD AND GUIT.^
437
S:
^eX ESTJ^USHED-i^KyUlpKSiy^lSsa.
Dzv^TeD p f\E\L Estate . Builoi//g A;_RcKrrECTi;RE,Koiis£:i1old DEGtHiATioiJ.
BusiiJess AtioThemes OF GEifen^l IHtej^st.
PIVICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS
Published eVery •Saturday
Co mm unic ation 9 should bo addressed to
C. W. SWEET. 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorK
J. T. LINDSET, Business Manaser Telephone, Cortlandt 3157
••Entered al tlie Post OMs
B at New Tork. N. Y.. as se
cond-class matter."
Vol. LXXIV.
August 27, 1904.
No. 1902
IT becomes more apparent all the time that the great cause
which has recently been making towards higher prices in
Wall Street has heen the plethoric condition of the, banks. They
, have had muth more money to lend than they could find any
, profitable use Cor, and since good securities wei-e comparatively
cheap, it was inevitable that a speculative movement in the
- direction-of higher values should take place. In as much as it
was chiefly the scarcity of loanable capital which broug'ht down
â– securities with a crash in 1D03, it is naitural that abundant sup¬
plies of money should send them up again; but it must be re¬
membered that easy money is not cf itself a safe basis for a
, bull movement. It needs the support of general public interest,
. and this has not yet been aroused. The large cotton and corn
..crops,will mean unusual withdrawals of mcney from the New
York banlis, during the fall, and consequently the more careful
â– scrutiny of loans iu this market. Higher priced money would
â– net make rauch difference, provided that there was a good gen¬
eral demand for stoclts, as well as a professional one; but in
' the absence of <iny very considerable popular interest, a con-
•tib'uaticn of the recent advance would probably be succeeded
,,later,by a discouraging reaction. There is undoubtedly reason
. for a higher level of values than any which has yet been reached;
, hut under the circumstances such a level ought to be approached
• "slowly.
WHILE very few new buildings are at present in the course
of construction on Washington Heights, yet a sufli-
..'cient, number will be started this fall to enable builders tO' test
â– the demand next spring. The majority of these buildings are
flve-story flats, situated in the southern part of the district, and
- along the present well populated line of Amsterdam avenue;
. and this is only natural because a builder desires to be as safe
•as possible in risking his money iu a comparatively unsettled
district. But besides these flve-story tenements, there are sev¬
eral six-story elevator buildings in the course of construction,
situated in newer neighborhoods, and the success of these build¬
ings will be watched closely Tjy builders. Fuiithermore, there
. are or will be at least Iwo rows of private dwellings under con-
. struction. This dees not sound very formidable, but considering
that, these two rows will comprise almost half the number of
private dwellings to Jje erected in ^Manhattan this year, these
two rows have their significance. One of them is situated on a
wide street in an unsettled neighborhocd, and is composed of
â– houses that could not sell for less than $30,000. The other is
located near the hulk of the present inhabitants of Washington
Heights, and each house is four stories 'high, is estimated to
cost some. $15,000, and cannot well sell for less than $25,000, It
,,^111 be seen, consequently, that the first attempts to begin the
_ erection of private dwellings on the Heights are looking towards
.:_a-conaparatively expensive rather than a comparatively cheap
- type of â– building. â– There seems to be no reason why a very large
amount of building should not be started on the Heights during
, the coming spring. Money will be cheap, the city will have no
existing excess of residential accommodations; and the Heights
â– will-be tiiqre_ accessible than the Bronx,
â– T^;HE existing -pi-eference which the builders in the Bronx
â– ^ are displaying for tenements and flats to private residence
suggests the desirability of their introducing a type of flat, which
â– is much-better known in the West than in New York, On tHe
â– outskirts.of all the larger western cities, there are being built
- ftire« and four story apai-itment houses, intended for the use of
^^^omiiaratively well-to-do people. The three and four story tene-
^â– •meirts- now being erecte^l in the Bronx and Brooklyn are nearly
_'„ffll_,,oE .them (lesigued .for the cheapest class of tenants, and no
S.-Etempt is made to give the surroundings of these dwellings an
r attracti.Yfl ,appeai-ance.. Xn .the-West, on the-other hand.-three
and four story s , e frequently made
extremely invlti:J™'"£ s Views on the t^j^ surrounded by
a comparatively sp Ordinance. Mch is planted with
shubbery, flowers an the general contracted carefully planned
so as to afford not onlp of the LegiBlativ;omfcrt, but interest¬
ing ouitloo'ks to the sltire'g! Associationsting vistas within. It
frequently happens that each flat, occupying as it does, a whole
floor, has a piazza of its own, and this feature while it does not
add t-o the architectural propriety of the buildings, provides the
tenants of the flat with an outdoor room, which adds enormously
to thejr comfort during the hot weather. In short these fiats
really become an extremely attractive type of residence. They
have none of the ordinary disadvantages of fiats because the rooms
are spacious, t'be surroundings are pleasant, and the occupation
oC a whole floor gives the tenant a sense cf privacy not to be
obtained iu a better populated building. The whole idea de¬
pends, cf course, upon the combination of comparatively cheap
land situated in a comparatively good neighborhood—a com¬
bination not as yet to be discovered in many parts of the Bronx;
â– but in a few years there should be plenty of land of this kinn.
and builders will flnd it profitable to adopt this western idea and
improve upon it.
Some Aspects of the Existing Lockout.
FOR a number of reasons tbe flght which still continues be¬
tween the Employers' Association and the Building Trades
Alliance is of the utmost importance. Ordinarily a strike or
a lockout has comparatively little signifleance except in rela¬
tion to the object immediately sought, and whether or not the
unions fail or do not fail to gain the recognition, the advance
in wages, or the reduction of hours desired, the general situation
so far as the relations between capital and labor are concerned
is not appreciably affected. But the present lockout has not
only all the immediate consequences of very considerable mo¬
ment, but the victory either of the employers or of the alliance
would have an important and a lasting effect upon the relations
between the unions and their employers throughout the entire
country. This is not only because the Employers' Association
represents the building industry of the largest city in the United
States, but because that Association is flghting-for-a principle,
which is capable of being widely applied. A victory on-its part
will mean that an excellent principle will be much more flrmly
esta.blished than it is at present, while defeat would mean appar¬
ently that the method whereby American employers of well-
organized labor can expect to run their business profitably will
be by breaking, the power of the unions. The struggle conse¬
quently will occupy an extremely important pla'ce in the history
of the conflict between American capital and American labor,
and its satisfactory solution in a victory of the Emiployers' As¬
sociation would sti"engthen the forces all over the country, which
are seeking to improve the relations between bhe employers and
the employees.
It is natural that a decisive fight of this kind should take
place in the building trades, and in the building trades of New
York. The mechanics in the building trades are thoroughly
well organized all over the country, and they occupy an ex¬
tremely fortunate position in relation to their employers. In
the first place there is comparatively little chance of dispensing
with their services by means of the use of machinery, and the
labor cost of a 'building is and will necessarily remain a very
large propcrtion of its total cost. Consequently the increase of
the wages paid to the mechanics of the building trades does not
diminisli the demand lor his services as it may do in certain
other industries. Furthermore, builders are very apt to grant
these demands when it suits their convenience, because they
know that they can get back what they surrender from the
consumers of buildings. The general conditions which have
made union labor in the building trades powerful and well paid
receive in New York City, and particularly in Manhattan, a very
peculiar application. Very large sums of money depend in New
York upon the prompt and quick completion of buildings. The
price of land is so high, and many of the buildings so big and
expensive, that if a skyscraper is not completed by a certain
date the delay may mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of
dollars, and a similar state of things exists in relation to
cheaper residential buildings. Such buildings do not consist of
small private dwellings, involving the investment of very little
capital, but of at least six story tenements, which ruin their
builder unless they are completed by a- certain date. The me¬
chanics have been able to take advantage of these conditions,
not merely to gain from their employers the highest wage,s paid
in the country, but also in certain instances to extort from these
employee's large sums of money to the end that disastrous strlk.es
might,be called off. - It was only certain unpi,"lncipled-membera
:Of:, the unio^is-.T^lL'iGh: resprt-ed ,(p;.thls-. last Rrai)tic.e.-;l>u.t: 16 fep-