December 17, 1904





RECORD AND  GUIDE





1345





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I^oteO id f^L e:^w^ ■ BinLDi>'c Afw^rrEcruRE .tjousnloii) DECcaipDil.
BilsBfess Alb Themes OF GEtti^l IHtt^st.

PRICE  PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS

Pablisfied every Saturdas

Communications should be addressed to

C.   W.   SWEET,   14.16  Vesey  Street, New YorK

J, T. LINDSET, Euslness Mana-or                        Telephono, Cortlandt 3157

"Entered al tlie Posl Offii-e al New York, N. r..as seco7id-class matter."
Vol. LXXIV.                DECEMBER 17, 1904.                      No. 1918.

THE stock market is justifying the apprehensions of those
who have regarded the speculative situation with dis¬
trust. It behaves as if the end of one period of speculation
had arrived, and that a beginning had been made to another
period. The bull movement eulmiuated a couple of weeks ago;
and since that time it has been twice proved that the attempt
to force prices up any higher cau only result in disaster. The
market did not completely crumble away, because there were
strong interests behind it, and because general conditions were
good. But it became uncertain and fretful and finally dull.
It is just the sort of market, of which the public is afraid. Pro¬
fessionals can swim in such treacherous waters, but the out¬
sider does not like these violent fluctuations. If the bull market
came to an end because the public refused to buy stoclcs at the
prices they had reached, it is manifest that the iniblic are still
less likely to come to the assistance of the speculators, now
that a season of uncertainty has begun. It looks consequently
as if "Wall street was in for an intermediate period, during
which prices are likely to sag, and which will prepare the way
for a further advance or a further decline—according to the
business outlook some months frora now.





corded, against 1344 for the corresponding period in 1903, and
1221 for the corresponding period in 1902. Thus in the course
o£ two years the conveyances have increased by 80 per cent, and
the moVtgages have increased in a still larger proportion.
Again the figures for the two weeks covering tiie last of Novem¬
ber and the first of December show still larger increases. In
this period in 1904 there have been 809 transfers of Manhattan
property recorded, 517 of Bronx property and 1126 of Brooklyn
property. The total for New York county was 1326. In 1903
during the same period there were^recorded 583 Manhattan,
207 Bronx and 950 Brooklyn transfers, the total for New York
connty being 790. In 1902 for the same period the Manhattan
total was 500, the Bronx total 18S and the Brooklyn total 805.
In 1901 the Manhattan total was 432, the Bronx total 170, and the
Brooklyn total 655. Thus in four years the total for the three
boroughs has increased from 1087 to 2452 papers, an enlarge¬
ment of about 140 per cent., while in two years the increase
was from 1493 to 2452. It is obvious that such increases as these
puts an entirely different complexion upon the problem of deal¬
ing with such legal records. Methods and appropriations which
sufficed in 1902 can no longer be used to-day; and it behooves
the county officials to take care that they are not caught out
during the coming spring. The movement looking towards
the development oE the Outlying districts has only just begun;
and it will carry with it an amount of legal records during the
busy season of the real estate year which will make even the
foregoing figures look small.





THE comparative moderation in the speculative buying of
vacant lots, which began to show itself a week ago, has
been continued during the week just closed. The total number
ol transactions is ahout the same as the week before, and shows
a diminution of a third from the high-water mark. This de¬
crease is a matter of congratulation rather than regret, par¬
ticularly in view of the fact that it is accompanied by a livelier
interest than ever in improved real estate in Man¬
hattan. During the past week three important pm-chases
have been made of old buildings, in locations on the
margin of the skyscraper district; and every one of
these will mean improvements in the coming spring. In¬
deed, indications are multiplying that unless the labor situation
interferes, the year 1905 will witness a large amount of the best
kind of building-construction, that is, which is undertaken by
business men for the purpose of accommodating an in¬
creased or an altered business. The Altman store is the most
prominent illustration of these, and will necessitate the erec¬
tion of several new buildings besides that of Mr. Altman himself.
Indeed property in and near 5th ave. has suddenly become more
active than it has been throughout tbe entire fall, and the de¬
mand is so much larger than the supply that prices are again
increasing. A novelty of the week is the filing of plans for a
new apartment hotel in the Long Acre Square district. For
eighteen months the buildiug of apartment hotels in that part
of the city has been dead and the projection of a new and large
one suggests lhat perhaps 1905 will also witness a revival of
the apartment hotel business.





THE Record and Guide wishes to call particular attention
to the enormous increase in the volume of the real estate
papers which are being recorded in the county registry offices
of New York and Queens. The number of these papers has
strained the machinery of every company or individual who is
obliged to take account of them in the ordinary course of
business. The Register's offlce itself is able to record them only
owing to a special transfer of funds. The title companies have
the utmost difficulty in properly handling the uumber of papers
offered and the Record and Guide finds itself under the neces¬
sity of doubliug the sines of the issues which it ordinarily pub¬
lishes at this season of the year. A few figures derived from
our weekly tables will indicate the volume of the legal matter
now being recorded. In the November of 1904, for instance, some
2261 conveyances  of Manhattan aud  Bronx property were  re-





THE contract, which the Board of Rapid Transit Commis¬
sioners proposes to make with the New York & New
Jersey Tunnel Company, offers an excellent solution of a com¬
plicated and difficult problem. The perpetual gi-ant of the cross-
town line gives the trolley company a permanent foothold in
New York, whereby it can exchange traffic with all the longi¬
tudinal tunnels which may hereafter be constructed. On the
other hand its temporary occupation of Sixth ave., from 9th to
33d sts., will also enable it to collect aud distribute the many
thousand passengers who wish to shop in New York or go to
the theatres. It will be a great advantage to these passen¬
gers not to be obliged to transfer, because the necessity of trans¬
ferring costs on the average several minutes of time and some
little inconvenience. Moreover, instead of building the tunnel
forty feet below the surface, it will be situated as near the sur¬
face as is consistent with the construction of necessary cross-
town lines at 23d St., but the city retains the right to purchase
the Subway whenever such purchase becomes desirable in the
interest of the municipal transit system. This arrangement
takes account of every future contingency, while also giving
an excellent immediate connection with the trolley tunnel; and
it wii! mean that the many thousand thrifty residents of New
Jersey will be able to use the New York shops and places of
amusement much more than they do at present. The proposed
connection will not be as convenient as it might be for the
people who wish to go to and from their places of business, but
the trolley tunnel terminating at Church and Cortlandt sts.
will supply this demand. In view of these plans of the trolley
company it seems absolutely necessary for the Lackawanna and
the Erie Companies to build into Manhattan. Without an elec¬
tric service terminating at some central point on this side of the
river, they will in the long run lose a considerable portion of
their suburban traffic.





THE efforts which the police are making, under the super-
intendance   of   Commissioner   McAdoo   to   regulate   the
vehicular  traffic  at important  points  of  avenue intersection-
such as Madison and Greeley Squares^are being attended with
a considerable degree of success; hut so far as 5th ave. is con¬
cerned the Commissioner is right in asserting that the only way
to relieve the congestion oC carriage traffic is to take some of
the superfluous  space  from  the  sidewalks and  throw it  inti
the carriage way.    It is extraordinary that the storekeepers o
23d st. aud on Sth ave. do not insist that the stoop- permits "
these thoroughfares should be revoked.    The congestion of
riage traffic on the avenue in winter is not only dangeroi'
inconvenient,   but  it  is  a  very   bad  thing  for  local  Ij-^^gg
That business  depends  largely  upon  the ability o£.j to be
people to  reach the 5th  ave.  shops  convenientl'gu'arantees
carriages, and just in so far as the avenue is tors the residue,
tain the traffic of this kind which natural!-
far   are  its  business  opportunities   dim'-^^^-
of the stoops would occasion some ex'''' ^"'^ "^^^ ^"^" ^^^
owners below 46th st., who still
but the proportion of these per
year, and it is to the interest_
avenue  that  the  existing co ~





; high wages.
_,mechanics of New York, do