April 29, 1905





RECORD AND   GUIDE





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"Entered at ttie Post Office-at Wew York, Jf. Y.. as second-cla.'^s matter."
Copyrighl  by  the Real  Estaie Record  and   Builders'   Guide  Company,





Vol. LXXV.





APRIL 29, 1905.





Important Notice To Our Subscribers





As previously announced in these columns, the sub¬
scription price of the "Record and Guide" will he
Eight Dollars (?8.00) on and after the first of May.
All subscriptions standing paid on our books on the
flrst day of May will, of course, be delivered without
extra charge, that is. at the old- rate, until the ex¬
piration of the period for which the subacriber has
actually paid. Single copies will be sold at the rate
of twenty (20) cents -apiece.
This new schedule has been absolutely necessitated
by the immensely increased service which the
"Record and Guide" has been called upon, and in a
measure forced, to provide for its readers. We have
previously pointed out that the sudden and enormous
increase in the number of legal papers printed in the
"Record and Guide" has altered entirely the rela¬
tion between what the "Record and Guide" supplies
to its subscribers, and what its subscribers pay for
the service. It is enough to repeat here that this
service has MORE THAN DOUBLED in amount and
increased in cost to the publishers more than ONE
HUNDRED PER CENT. It is in no sense an ex¬
aggeration to say that at Eight Dollars ($8,00) a year,
the "Record and Guide" provides a very much greater
and more expensive service than any other trade
paper whatsoever. No Real Estate Broker could more
than double his services and his expenses for a client
and not somewhat increase his charges on account
of the same. No Builder could erect a twenty-story
bnilding for the same price as a ten-story one. No
Building Material Firm could suddenly increase its
deliveries one hundred per cent, without increasing its
bills to its customers also. The "Record and Guide"
is in precisely an analogous position. We are sure
every fair-minded subscriber will appreciate that in
charging Eight Dollars {?8,00) for the "Record and
Guide." the management is only asking for a small
proportion of the greater expense incurred on account
of the enlarged service now rendered.





DURING the week sentiment in Wall St. has been altered
by the evident liquidation which was going cn. The bull¬
ish feeling which was absolutely dominant a few weeks ago,
and which was not very much impaired by the declines of the
week before last, has been succeeded by a feeling wholly op¬
posite in kind. The professionals have turned bears, and pre¬
fer to sell on the rallies, rather than buy on the breaks. The
operators on this side are having it very much their own way
at present; but it is difficult to understand why they should
continue to do so. The recent liquidation has talten much of
the wind out of the level of prices formerly established, and
there is no change in the business situation and prospect to
warrant any pronounced fall in security values. The liquidation
has been brought about chiefly by technical reasons. Prices
had been pushed higher than existing prospects warranted,
and down they came. But the demand will be much greater
at a lower level, and over confident operations on the short
side may well be dangerous. The one threatening aspect of the
existing situation is the possibility that the "gentlemens' " agree-
. ments, on which harmony in the realm of railway finance de¬
pends, may be succeeded by certain ungentlemanly quarrels.
This personal element is a constant factor in the market, which
remains dubious, and which undermines confldence, just be¬
cause there is no possible way of estimating its importance.  Un¬





der such circumstances it is still a good market to let alone; but
if prices should go much lower, there ought to be money in
conservative purchases. In relation to general business, a
slightly^ decreasing activity may be noted in the steel and iron
trades; 'but this should be a good thing—unless it goes too far.
A '-boom" accompanied by extortionate prices could have no sta¬
bility to it.





T^HE volume of the recorded real estate transactions con-
-*■ tinues to be unprecedented. Last week we pointed out
that the number of conveyances recorded during the first two
weeks of 1905 was 90 per cent. larger than the number recorded
during the two corresponding weeks of 1904. The third week In
April did not maintain this percentage of increase; but the
number both of conveyances and mortgages recorded was not
far from 50 per cent. larger than the flgures for the correspond¬
ing week of last year. In Brooklyn the increase is not so large
as it is in Manhattan and the Bronx, but the number of transac¬
tions is on the average about 25 per cent larger than it was last
year. It is improbable, of course, that the percentages of in-
quoted above will be maintained unimpaired throughout
the rest of the spring. They were the result of the excited
speculation in vacant land which characterized the real estate
market in March; and this speculation has subsided. But its
partia! disappearance has not deprived the market of any of
its genuine vitality. A very large volume of genera! business
is being transacted: and it is being transacted on a thoroughly
wholesome basis. We cannot recall any time for many years
in which so many different kinds of property appeared to be in
Fuch excellent demand. Even vacant land on Washington
Heights and in the Dyckman tract, sells fairly well, when it is
pressed for sale. The prices obtained by Mr. Morgenthau at
auction for lots on upper Ninth av and Broadway, while noth¬
ing remarliable, fairly represented the value of vacant land In
the vicinity for Improvement. That is, improvments would be
encouraged by these prices, instead of being discouraged as on
Washington Heights, In respect to the latter section, building
plans are coming out much more freely than they were a few
weeks ago; and it looks as if somew'here between $15,000,000 and
520,000,000 would be invested in tenements and apartments in
that neighborhood during the current year. But apparently
there is less chance than ever that the erection of cheap private
dwellings will obtain anything like the proportions that it ob¬
tained on the West Side.





WHILE it is not to be supposed that perpetual peace has
been established between the mechanics in the New
Yorlv building trades and their employers, the revised arbitra¬
tion agreement certainly starts on its career under fairer auspices
than did the agreement in its original form. The first arbitra¬
tion treaty was forced upon the unions by the Employers' Asso¬
ciation, who believed that it was an essentially fair arrangement,
and would gradually commend itself to the unions by the stable
conditions and fair wages which it attempted to perpetuate.
Such, however, did not prove to 'be the ease. The unions never
get over the impression that it was a one-sided agreement, which
worked against their interests; and some of them at any rate
were eager to break it at the flrst opportunity. Such an oppor¬
tunity soon occurred, and again the building trades were tied up.
After a long fight, the unions have again submitted, and sub¬
scribed to an arbitration treaty, wbich has at least a better
chance of being faithfully observed. It is true that this treaty,
also, has been forced upon some of the unions; but the pill haa
been sweetened by certain concessions as to the forms of the
agi-eement. wbich gives it more the appearance of a treaty be¬
tween two contracting powers of equal standing. As we have
said, one with any knowledge of existing conditions can be de¬
ceived into the belief that the oil of the agreement will prevent
friction in the building trades for a period indefinitely long.
There is no magic about an arbitration treaty, which enables it
to go on of its own accord. It presupposes loyal co-operation on
the part of the contracting parties, and a recognition on each
side that there is more to be gained by peace than by war.
We believe that there is a strong minority in the unions,
who hold that there is more to be gained by war than by peace;
and it is always possible that this minority will again se¬
cure the control. On th© other hand the unions are
inclined to be better satisfled with the new than with the
old agreement, and the chance of a serious dispute is
more remote. Tbe great advantage of the events of the
past few years is that they had helped both the employ¬
ers and the employees to recognize certain fundamental condi¬
tions governing their joint relations. The employers bave defin¬
itely acquiesced in the principle of unionism, and the employees
have had to recognize bow powerful an employer's association