July 7, 1906





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Vol, LXXVIIl.





JULY 7.  1900.





No.   1999





INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.

Page.                                               Page.

Cement   ....................sxiil  Law.........................icI

Consulting   Engineers   ..........x   Lumber..................xxvlil

Clay Products ................xxil   Machinery...................iv

Contractors and   Builders   ......v   Metal  Work   ................xvU

Electrical   Interests   ..........vlil  Qul;k Job Directory  ........xxvli

Fireproofing   .................11  Real Estate  .................xiv

Granite   ....................xxlv   Roofers & RooBng Materials.xxvl

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

Iron and Steel  ..............xvlil   Wood Products   ...........xxviii





PRICES of Stocks have been higher this weelt, but whether
this indicates that general improvement in the market
is at hand, or it is mere short covering, cannot be stated with
any reasonable degi'ee oE positiveness. Ijondon showed ad¬
vances in American stocks on our National holiday, but ac¬
tivity in the British metropolis in our securities is not
important, inasmuch as the cue for higher figures is invariably
taken from this side of the Atlantic- There are evidences, how¬
ever, of a better feeling, and although the clouds of pessimism
still are over the market their texture is of a somewhat lighter
character. The situation is one about which it is scarcely safe
to generalize, for surprises may be sprung upon us when least
expected. It is a curious fact that in seven years of the last
ten years a bull market has been begun in July, Perhaps, the
higher opening on Thursday morning for some leading stocks
may he a forerunner of the proverbial repetition of history.
There were gains of from one to five points in Anaconda,
Great Northern preferred, Louisville, Copper, the Steels, Read¬
ing. Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific, Gas,
Smelters and Pennsylvania, showing that the appreciaition
was equally distributed both in industrials and railroads.
Prices In London, too, came much higher, and incidentally it
seems that in this paradoxical market stocks go up more
quickly and easily than they go down. So the Cassandras
who have talked about general business contraction and of
a desire on the part of some interests to bring about thor¬
ough liquidation, may prove to be untrustworthy authorities.
Then, we are also told that there would be little disposition for
investors to come into the market until dividend paying stocks
had further declined with the cost of long time loans. But,
according to the American humorist it is not safe to prophesy
unless you know. A favorable feature of the situation is the
excellent outlook for the crops, which should he a bull argu¬
ment. The money situation is also decidedly better. Foreign
exchange is likewise at a point where we can take gold profit¬
ably, but it is doubtful whether any large amount will be en¬
gaged. Reports from the leading commission houses show
that they are carrying for customers fewer stocks by twenty-
five per cent, than at this time last year; from which fact
readers may draw their own conclusions.





FROM the foregoing summary of present conditions, it is
plain that both English and foreign investors believe in
the United States. Our government's report on the condition of
Cotton on June 25th had an exceedingly favorable effect upon
British sentiment, as did the thrashing returns from the winter
wheat crop and the estimates of spring and winter wheat.
The Russian situation is still a disturbing element, and, is
likely to remain so indefinitely from present appearances. But,
if prosperity means anything, there is certainly nothing to
complain of in this country. Fi^om Cleveland, Ohio, we learn
the first half of this year has been the most prosperous in the
history of the iron trade. The outlook for the second half is
also very favorable. The recognized authority in the United
States on Iron and Steel points out that the scarcity of labor
adds a new and perple-SJns element to the situation.   There is





said to be too much prosperity. Lack of hands it is stated has
made it impossible for the leading coke companies to operate
more than ninety per cent, of their ovens, and they are, there¬
fore, forced to purchase some coke in the open market. The
rail makers are also overwhelmed with orders, the aggregate
tonnage for the next year's delivery amounting to 150,000 tons.
Orders for the heavier classes of finished material continue
to come in, among them bridge work for the Southern Rail¬
way, and ten thousand tons for bridge work in Pittsburgh.
With such great activity in our great staple material it is dif¬
ficult to believe that there should he any misgivings for the
future and that for the time being, at any rate, the country
is not going to rack and ruin.





BIG BUILDINGS in New York have by no means attained
the maximum height and in the opinion of many build¬
ers the colossal structures of the future will much overshadow
those now described as skyscrapers. But, if the construction
of high buildings is only partly attained, the utilization of
small buildings, and especially those on important thorough¬
fares, does not seem lilcely to go much farther, as there is a
limit to the endurance of the old foundations, and the building
and tenement house laws operate to prevent many other
clianges. A means, however, has been found for making small
old buildings on leading thoroughfares more profitable for
rental purposes without danger to the structures themselves
or without violence to the building laws. This has been ac¬
complished by the method of subdividing the smallest stores
under a plan which may be best, perhaps, described as "divid¬
ing them in quarters." That is, a store having a frontage of
twenty-five feet and a depth, of fifty, 1,250 square feet is thus
divided: one store has a frontage of 12i,4 feet to a depth of
25 and the other has a frontage of 12% feet with a depth of
50 on one side and 25 on the other. This gives two stores
with a frontage of 12J^ feet each to be let to two tenants, the
shallow store fulfilling the requirements of those who particu¬
larly require a "show" on a thoroughfare, while the other store
is rented to a tenant who requires both show and space. By
this simple method, seen to be general since May 1, the rental
value of a New York store is increased 50 per, cent, without
material expense for alterations, and the plan has been found
to work so well that it is being generally adopted.





NEW YORK CITY is one of tiie dozen American cities which
owe their first, if not their chief, prosperity to the excel¬
lence of their harbors, Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk,
Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston, San
Francisco and Seattle are the others. But while most of these
cities have been developing their commerce upon lines which
left the development of dock privileges to chance or necessity,,
the City of New York has not only acquired the practical con¬
trol of all its important docks, but lias developed them as prac¬
tical aids to commerce. The cities of the United States have,
collectively, $GO,OuO,000 invested in docks, wharves, piers and
landing places, and of this amount the City of New York has
$45,000,000—three-quarters of the whole sum. Boston has $800,-
000, Philadelphia $1,100,^.00, Mobile $1,500,000 and New Orleans
$5,000,000. The other port cities of the country have no docks or
wharves as a municipal asset. Among interior cities—interior
to the seaboard—Cincinnati, Louisville, Duluth. Pittsburg and
Memphis are the ones having a considerable ownership of
wharves for river or lake commerce, Pittsburg and Cincinnati
have $1,150,000 each and Sacramento $225,000. The policy of
New York City for many years has been to make its water-front
productive, and this result has been attained by the carrying
forward of a comprehensive system for dock building and for
subsequent dock use by reletting. The dock rights of New York
were acquired at different times and in different ways—some by
right of colonial grant, others by development, and still others
by actual purchase. Valued at $45,000,000 at present, the docks
and wharves of,New York represent to the city an actual value,
judged by the revenue they yield and the benefit to business
which they assure, of not less than $100,000,000, probably.





THE SUGGESTION made by the Corporation Counsel to
refer the matter of the revocation of the stoop permits
on Fifth avenue to the City Improvement Commission is an
excellent one. Doubtless many of our readers will wonder
what the City Improvement Commission is and what authority
It has; but the commission is a body whose value is out of
all proportion to the advertising It has received. During his
first term Mayor McClellan appointed this commission for the
purpose of drawing up a plan for the improvement of the street
layout of K'ew York. Qity and for the prater adornment of