August 26, 1905





RECORD AND   GUIDE





341









mm.





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CopyriBht by tho Real Est.ita Record and BaildeTs' Gaida Company.





Vol. LXXVI.





AUGUST 20, 19U5.





No 1954,





Cement    ................      xxv

Clay  Products   ...........     xxiv

Contraclors  and  Builders.,         vi

Fireprcofing    ............          ji

Granile    ................       xiv

Heating   ...............        xx

Iron and Steel   ..........    xviii





INDEX   TO   DEPARTMENTS.
(Advertising Section.)
Page





Law   .............

Machinery     .......

Jletal Work  ......

Slrne   ............

Quick Job Directory

Real   Estate   ......

Wood Products . ...





Page
viil

V

xxii
xxiil
xxvi

X

xxii





ONE interesting characteristic of the current Stock Market
is the increased evidence of general buying. The pari:ici-
pation cf the non-professional public in the market is still com¬
paratively small; but it is growing larger. It is characteristic of
these uon-professional speculators not to begin buying until
prices are already pretty high, and apparently prices have
reached by this time the necessary stage of exaltation. It
should be added, that as soon as this stage is reached, specu¬
lation for still higher prices becomes more dangerotis. The
bankers and the professional operators, who accumulated
stocks late in the spring and early in tke summer will sell
them to the public, and will then wait to see how far the buy¬
ing movement will go. If it goes too far they can turn around
and sell the market in anticipation of the inevitable reaction.
But at present such a turn of the tide is still distant. There
are some disturbing factors, such as the negotiations at Ports¬
mouth, but each succeeding weelt seems to add something to
the excellence of the business situation in this country. One
would, indeed, suspect the chorus of hopeful anticipations,
which come from the financial pages of the daily journals,
were it not that tlie situation really seems to be as good as
it is generally considered. The question is: What use the
railway financiers will make of this prosperity during the
coming year? It is incredible that tkey will allow it to pass
without some considerable distribution of new securities.





REAL estate brokers report almost universally that the
demand for house-room is quite as good as it was last
year, and that there will be very few vacancies at the end of
the renting season. This applies quite as much to the higlier
as to the lower grade of tenements. Tenants in elevator
apartment houses are showing less disposition than usual to
move, because they realize the dilficulty of securing other ac¬
commodations. At the same time there is not so much talk
as there was last year of increases of rent. Landlords are not
obliged to make concessions in order to tempt tenants; but
the great increase in the number of tenements and apartment
houses under construction has restored a more normal rela¬
tion between the demand for house-room and tlie supply.
Builders still have every encouragement to continue construc¬
tion on a large scale; but if the present rate of building is
continued for another year or two, it is safe to say that the
supply will run somewhat ahead of the demand. During the
current year almost $60,000,000 will be spent upon new resi¬
dence accommcdations in Manhattan, about $25,000,000 in the
Broux, and about $40,000,000 in Brooklyn. Speaking roughly,
$125,000,COO ought to build enough house-room to accommo¬
date something like 200,000 inhabitants, which is assuredly
a larger number than will be added to the population of New
York City during the same period. Of course, this enormous
mass of construction was intended to meet a deficit, as well
as to accommodate the current increase; and for that reason we
can believe that it can be wholesomely continued for at least an¬
other year. But it cannot be continued indefinitely, as to the in¬
crease of population, for which house-room has to be consSruct-
ed, that is a matter which it is difficult to determine. About lOO.¬
OOO inhabitants are supposed to be added to the population of





New York every year; but it is entirely possible that the
State enum.eration will show a larger increase than anyone
has guessed. The^. in addition, living accommodations have
to be provided for the 10.000 or 15.000 people who are un¬
housed every year by the encroachments of various Itinds of
business upon space formerly occupied for dwelling purposes.
All tilings considered, the number of new inhabitantns for
wliom houses have to be built each year is probably over 125,-
000; and it wiil soon be 150,000. New York builders have
plenty of work cut out for them.





Organization of the Real Estate Interests.

FDR many years the Record and Guide has been insisting
upon the necessity of a thorough organization of the
real estate interests. There was no association of property
owners which conld speak with complete authority in the
name of real estate, and which could support its declarations
with a sufficient weight of influential opinion. Some of the
existing organizations serve useful purposes and accomplish
excellent work in protecting the interests of the owners of
tenement houses or those oE the property-holders of particular
districts. The Board of Brokers, also, is a representative and
valuable association, which serves not only the special inter¬
ests of real estate agents, but also in some measure those of
the whole real estate fraternity. But its membership is not
sufficiently large and representative to speak with authority
in the name of the taxpayers of New York City and the State.
The consequence was that when legislation was proposed at
Albany, as it is during every session, which deals with real
estate and mortgage taxation, the real estate interests suffered
from inadequate representation; and hills were passed, at the
dictation of the Republican machine, that served still fur¬
ther to increase the amount of taxation whicli real es¬
tate is obliged to bear.

The new association of property-owners, which has just
been completed, should meet this necessity. It is the out-
com.e of the mortgage tax law. the passage of which at the
last session of the legislature convinced large property-owners
and their representatives of the necessity of more efficient
representation. It has obtained the support of practically all
the important corporations and individuals whose interests
are vitally connected with real estate. The names of the
gentlemen who have joined the association include the officials
of the title and mortgage companies, those of the important
real estate trading and investment companies, and those of
the agents and trustees of the large estates. In addition, of
course, many large individual property-owners and operators
are interested in the association. It is proposed to make it
a permanent organization, with paid officials and a local habi¬
tation. It starts with every prospect of a long and useful
career.

The name of the association, viz., that of the "Allied Real
Estate Interests," has been happily chosen, because it suggests
the broad scope of its purpose and policy. It is not an organ¬
ization of the property-owners of New York City, but it will
seek to rally to its support the real estate interests of the
whole of the State. This idea of making it a State organiza¬
tion is both new and admirable. A merely local association
would not have anything like as much influence a"t Albany as
an association with a membership scattered throughout the
whole of the State; and there is no reason why such a mem¬
bership should not be obtained. Legislation affecting real es¬
tate taxation concerns the property-ovifner of Buffalo and
Rochester as vitally as it concerns the property-owuer of
New York City. All are alilce interested in the repeal of the
mortgage tax law, and in the prevention of any similar pro-.
:cct of double taxation, and all should be united for these'
purposes.

Of course, an organization, such as that of the Allied Real
Estate Interests, would avail little, provided it confined its
activity to protesting against unwise and unfair measures of
taxation. Its most important function will be the dissemination
of correct ideas in relation to taxation, with particular ref¬
erence to the tax system of New York State. The difficulty
up to the present time has been that the tax policy of the
State has been dictated by considerations of party expediency
and local interests, rather than by any wish to obtain an
equitable and economical distribution of the tax burden. The
Republicans, under the leadership of Mr. Odell, have deemed
it good policy to relieve real estate entirely of the general
State tax, and to raise State revenues exclusively from special
taxes. For a whi'.e this policy was apparently very popular,
because the special t:;::es were levied upon comparatively few
people, and upon a comparatively narrow range of interests.
But recently the attempt to  obtain  as  much  revenue as tlie