September i6, 1905





RECORD AND   GUTDE





425







,^                               ESTAEUSHH) "^ i^lWpH 21*^^ IQ68.

DEi&TED TO Ra.L EISTAJE. BuiLoiffc AjiodTECTUw .KousnioiD De«(HJ1m^,
BiisnJEss A(to Themes of GEjtoi^l littti^si^

PRICE   PER  YEAR   IN   ADVANCE   EIGHT  COLLARS

PublUfied  etierg  Saturdag

Communloatlons BhouM do addreaaei to
C. W. SWEET,   14-16 Vesey Street, New York

Telephone, Cortlandt 3157





"Entered at the Past Offi.ce at New Tork. N. Y., as second-clasa mutter."





Copyrisht by tho Real Estate Record and Bnildera' Gnld« CompaiLT.





Vol,  LXXVI,





SEPTEMBER 16, 1005.





No. 1957.





INDEX  TO  DEPARTMENTS.

(Advertising Section,)

Page                                                    Page

Oemert    ...............    xxvii        Law     .................           x

Clay   Products   .........     xxvi       Mactinery   ............           T

Contia-tors and Builders.        vH       Metal   Work   ..........      xslv

Fir'proofing   ...........          ii       Stone    ................       xxv

Graui'e    ...............       xvi      Quick J b Directory ....      xxii

Hea ing   ...............      xxii       Real Estate   ...........         xi

Iron and Steel   .........         xx      Wood Products   ........    xxviii





IT may he doubted whether there will be very much mooey
made by the advancing prices of stocks during tbe next six
weeks or two months. Such advances cannot take place ex¬
cept by the large use of borrowed money; and considering the
heavy demands which will he made upon the money market
throughout the fall, it is probable that the banks will dis¬
courage the engagement of much money for speculative pur¬
poses. Such a condition as this might not avail, in case good
securities were cheap, but as a matter of fact they are toler¬
ably high. They may not be so high that another year of
very prosperous business would not warrant a still higher
level; but they are so high that any general public participa¬
tion in a bullish speculation can hardly be expected. It is
surely better to wait until the pending borrowing is over, and
until it is possible to estimate the benefit which the country
will obtain from the sale of its large, crops at very high prices.
Those benefits may be very large indeed, and may justify a
number of railroad companies in increasing their rate of dis¬
tribution to their share holders. It may also mean so much
business to the larger industrial corporations that their pre¬
ferred stocks will become good six or even five per cent, in¬
vestments. In this case there will be an abundant justification
for advancing prices throughout the winter. But a prema¬
ture speculation might well deprive the American business
community of at least some of these benefits.





THB legislative investigation of the big life insurance com¬
panies is undoubtedly convincing the disinterested pub¬
lic opinion of the country that these companies should be con¬
ducted under very different laws. What the investigation
shows is that the assets of the companies are practically at
the disposal of certain large banking houses, who use them
as a vehicle for disposing of their securities. That the connec¬
tions of the companies with the banking houses is for the most
part profitable, is irrelevant. A trust fund, such as the assets
of one of these companies, should not be used under any cir¬
cumstances as an aid to doubtful speculative operations; and
it would not be necessary to use them in this way were it
not that the new business of the companies is written at such
a large cost. At present the companies need to get from iYi
to 5 per cent, on their assets, because they ar,e obliged to pay
such large commissions to their agents, and so long as they
pay these commissions, stricter regulalions as to investments
would undoubtedly mean a diminished return to policy-holders.
But if the life insurance business were conducted under much
the same laws as savings banks, the decreased return on their
assets would be counter-balanced by decreased expenses. Of
course, such a change could not be made without the adoption
of a few standard policies; and the insurance companiea would
have to mantain bureaus of publicity, which would necessarily
cost a good deal of money; but the advantages and the neces¬
sity of life insurauce are so well underst..od now that a gen¬
eral reduction of their agency expenses on the part of the big
companies might well b© achieved without, any large loss In





the total number of policies written. The companies would
recommend themselves to public approval, not by speechful,
energetic and expensive canvassing, but by the returns they
could offer to a policy-holder upon his investment. It will be
strange in case some such outcome as this, whether under
State or Federal regulation, is not the result of the current In¬
vestigation.





TV yf ASONS and bricklayers are complaining that the In-
iV± creasing popularity- of various methods of reinforced
concrete construction is depriving them of a great deal of work,
such is undoubtedly the case, and inasmuch as the use of rein¬
forced concrete is only beginning, and will assuredly increase
still more rapidly in the future, the brick-layers will doubt¬
less have additional cause for complaint. But if so it will be,
at least to a certain extent, their own fault. No doubt rein¬
forced concrete construction is bound, on its own merits, to
come into large and varied use, but its use will certainly be
accelerated in the vicinity of New York by the unnecessarily
high cost of brick-laying. Little by little the briclc-layers have
been able, by the strength of their organization, to force up
their wages, until they are now paid at the rate of 70 cents
an hour for an eight-hour day. If the brick-layers themselves
actually profited by these high wages they might be considered
as justified, but as a matter of fact the enlarged cost of brick¬
laying which results therefrom does not increase the income of
the brick-layer. The high average wages attracts to New York
more brick-layers than are needed; and the consequence is that
the mechanics lose, by Jack of employment, what they gain
by high wages. Of course, they do not have to work aa
much for the same amount of money, but as long as they
are not overworked that is a very doubtful advantage. In
any case the net result is that brick-laying in New York
costs much more than it need; and this fact wil! count
aganist brick construction, now that it is confronted
by the completion of a new and excellent method of building.
Of course, the mechanics will not voluntarily reduce their own
wages, and in the course of time this fact will have a consid¬
erable effect upon the amount of brick bought and laid in New
York City.





A N interesting item that has lately been drifting home-
-^*- lessly through the papers reports that Charles M,
Schwab destines the home which he is building on Riverside
Drive for a public, museum, when he can no longer dwell there.
The item seems not to have been contradicted, and it is inter¬
esting in its reminder that hardly a splendid private house
has been bequeathed to the American people. There is a new
idea for our philanthropy! With the increased appearance of
very elaborate, costly and beautiful houses filled with artistic
treasures, which are not allowed to stock it like a muselim,
but which are severally fitted to .their immediate surroundings
—so that they become a part of its essential furniture—or, as
in the case of a chimneyplece or stairway, of the house itself
—the problem of what to do with it when the owner has gonj
Is bound to be more and more pressing. Adequately to main¬
tain such a homo makes very heavy demands, not onl^ on the
purse, but on the love of art—a demand that not many heirs
can satisfy. There may, also, be no heirs; while to separate
the house and its treasures, willing^ the latter to a public mu¬
seum"; is to rob them of their setting and so to destroy a good
part of their value. If we have not had this kind of philan¬
thropy before, it is because we have only lately, with the rise
of vast fortunes, commenced to build this sort of houses. In
Europe many a private palace has become by such means pub¬
lic property; and to name over the most famous museums is
to recite the names of families and homes—as Pitti, Uffizzi,
Luxembourg, and Chantilly, That in the possibility of such
a future for his work, the architect must find vastly increased
incentive and inspiration, scarcely needs a saying; nor need
one explain that the citizen who leaves to the public the
product of his artistic taste and judgment in collection and ar¬
rangement leaves much more of his personality than he who
bequeaths to it only stocks and bonds.





IT appears certain that a demand for a moderate revision
of the tariff is increasing, rather than diminishing, with¬
in the ranks of the Republican party. So far it has been suc¬
cessfully resisted by that large section of the. party which
is afraid to raise the issue, but it is improbable that this re¬
sistance can be successfully continued. The new Congressmen
did not have the courage to tackle the question of revision,
but unless ws are very much mistaken, the Republicans of
tbe nejft Congress will, in case they control that body, find It