June 23, 1906





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





1183







BiTsh/ess juto Themes of GEjtoy^l tHtER.E5t^
PRICE   PER   YEAR   IN   ADVANCE   EIGHT   DOLLARS

Pabtlsfted   every   <Saluriap

Oommuniaations should he addressed to
C.  W.   SWEET,   14-16   Vesey  Street.   N«w York







9




Te




lephono,




Cortla




idt 315




















"Entei-ed at tht Post 0.8lce




at 2t'eiB




TorAr,




K Y.




as




second-clas* mailer."





Vol.




LXXVIL




JUNE 23,




1906,









No,




1997





INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.

Advertising Section.                                     >

Page.                                                Page.

Cement   ....................xxiii  Law.....................'....xl

Consulting   Englneera   ..........x  Lumber..................xxviii

Clay Products  ................xxll  Machinery...................iv

Contractors and Builders   ......v   Metal  Work   ................xvll

Electrical Interests   ..........vlil   Quick Job Directory ........xxvii

Fireproofing   .................li  Real Estate   .................xiv

Granite   ....................xxiv  Rooters & Rooflng Materials.xxv!

Heating   ....................xx   Stone   .....................xxiv

Iron and  Steel  ..............xviii  Wood Products   ...........xxviii





THIS week the stock market had a had spell, and it must
lie said that prices went down easily, and that Wall
street had an unusual attact of nerves. Reports from the large
commission houses disclose a comparatively small hull ac¬
count, while if only a tithe of those talking lowev prices are
acting on their predictions, there must he a fair short interest
in the market. The rank and file bull operators, including
the class designated as the public, are greatly discouraged
and complain that Wall street is a new game, as played at
present, and that the system permits nobody to make any
money. Stocks go np on facts that should cause them to de¬
cline, and vice versa. Baltimore & Ohio, which has heen ad¬
vancing for two weeks, increased its rate of dividend from 5
to 6 per cent., while Pennsylvania Railroad, which controls
Baltimore & Ohio, has been all the time declining. Many
Baltimore & Ohio holders sold out when the stock reached
112, and shifted to Pennsylvania at 135 only to see the former
go to 118, while the latter fell to 129^^. These contrary actions
are characteristic of the whole market. Advance information
or intelligent forecasts of events are to be shunned in these
days.. They seem to be too expensive, even for the very rich.
The only operators who are making any money are those who
consistently sell the market on every jump and buy it on
every sliimp, irrespective of the current news at the time. All
recent crop news from the West has been favorable, and the
advance in grain this week has been caused by a less favorable
crop outlook in Germany and France.





SHOULD .there he a partial crop failure on the Con¬
tinent of Europe it might, taken together with the advent
of France in financing American railroad loans, have an im¬
portant bearing on our money market this autumn and give
us the long-looked-for hoom in railroad securities. There has
been a slight improvement in the Russian situation during
the week, in spite of disquieting events in that country. Time
makes for its betterment, because people get tired of turmoil.
It comes too high. The general market outlook cannot he re¬
garded as unfavorable with the constant accession to the
dividend ranks of certain stocks. American Locomotive an¬
nounced this week its initial dividend on the common stock,
and Corn Products Refining Company also declared a first
dividend. A statistical authority recently collated the earn¬
ings of sixteen American railways and ascertained that ten
are earning more than fifty million dollars a year and six more
than between forty and flfty million dollars. These sixteen
roads earned in 1900 $670,561,000 and in 1905 $1,046,394,000.
It is but fair to predict that in 1906 they will earn ten per
cent additional. Notwithstanding all this, it is probable that
a comparison would show that the average market price of
the shares of the sixteen companies in question ts less to-day
than in the winter of 1900-01, It is not, therefore, surprising
that operators in railway stocks are discouraged and that
things have reached a pass where good news or a dividend
increase is actually dreaded by those who are long of the
market.





THE CORPORATION COUNSEL, acting under Mayor Mc¬
Clellan's direction, has done well to bring once more
before the public the whole question of the stoop line on Fifth
avenue. The Record and Guide has frequently stated the reasons
which make it desirable that the city should rescind the permits
under which the owners of private property on Fifth avenue
have been allowed to extend their stoops beyond the building
line; hut It may be well to state these reasons once again.
When these permits "were issued, the encroachments on public
property did not interfere with any public interest. Fifth avenue
at that time was a thoroughfare devoted exclusively to resi¬
dences, and its existing carriage-way was abundantly wide
enough to accommodate all the traflic which would naturally seek
its use. Of late, however, these conditions have entirely changed.
The avenue from Fourteenth street to Forty-eighth street has
become a business thoroughfare, and the character of its busi¬
ness Is such as to appeal particularly to people who use car¬
riages to do their shopping. It so happened that Fifth avenue
is also the only longitudinal thoroughfare north of Astor place
that is entirely free from trolley cars, so ' that It is the
favorite route for people who are driving up and downtown.
The consequence is that on winter afternoons it is thronged with
carriages. It does not provide enough room for all the
vehicles whose drivers are tempted to use it, and wherever
this dense stream of traffic meets a volume stream of cross-
town traffic, as at Forty-second and Thirty-fourth streets,, the
congestion is acute. The only sufficient remedy for this con¬
gestion is the widening of the carriage-way; and the only
way to effect this widening is to revoke the permits for stoops
and Insist that the owners of private property cease to occupy
public property to the disadvantage of the public. When once
the stoops are abolished, the sidewalks will be much wider
than is necessary for pedestrian traffic, and the 'arralge-way
can be increased by at least ten feet on either side. Moreover,
these permits can be revoked with comparatively little hard¬
ship. The great majority of the stoops have already disap¬
peared, owing to the conversion of private residences into busi¬
ness buildngs; and the owners of the few encroachments that
remain can easily afford to withdraw frora the occupation of
part of the sidewalks. These owners have benefited enormously
during the past five years because of the growing business
importance of Fifth avenue. Their property has more than
doubled in value, and they should be willing, if necessary, to
spend a small fraction of this increase for the purpose of
making the avenue more useful for the kind of bvsiness which
has such a great source of proflt to them. Moreover, they
would be reimbursed for any money which they might be ob¬
liged to expend by the increased value of their property. The
prosperity of Fifth avenue depends upon the adequacy of the
facilities which it offers to rich people who travel to and from
its shops in carriages; and any widening of the carriage-way
which relieved the existing vehicular congestion would Im¬
prove business on the avenue and enable property-owners in
the course of time to charge higher rents.





ORDINARILY building mechanics should be putting forth
their largest measure of product at this stage of the season.
The busiest part of the year when there are no hindrances or dis¬
couragements begins about this time. Other months may be
more favorable to certain branches, but for the fundamental
trades the hour for the highest application should be striking
now. And this present season should prove to be the busiest
in the history of New York. In projects it is quite as pro¬
lific and rich thus far as was the season of 1905 in the corre¬
sponding months, but in actual work done, and in money put
out, it is not yet equaling the previous season. Thus, the
estimated cost of new buildings and alterations projected in
Manhattan and the Bronx, from the flrst of this year up to
and including June 15, exceeded $95,000,000, compared with
$79,000,000 for the corresponding period of 1905. In number
of new buildings planned, this season's record in Manhattan
falls only about one hundred short, but iu the Bronx it is nine
greater, according to the-statistics at hand. Projected buildings
in Brooklyn borough number thus far 3,497, and are valued
at $24,194,000, against 3,623, of the value of $25,784,000, for the
similar period In 1905. These flgures may be interpreted as
meaning in the case of Manhattan that the buildings planned
for, while fewer in numher, are of a higher quality than was
the case last year; that in tbe Bronx they mean more dwell¬
ings and fewer tenement houses, and in Brooklyn only a slight
diminution in number and general quality. With all these
plans for construction there should be an immense outflow of
money, at least equalling the current of last year; but it is
noticed from the statistics regularly published in the Record
and Guide that two thousand fewer mortgages have been filed this