July 28, 1906





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





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seoond-clats matter."





Vol,




LXXVIIl,









JULY




28,




1906.














No.




2002





INDEX TO  DEPARTMENTS.
Adyertlslng Section.

Page.                                               Page.

Cement    ....................IxlU   Law.........................xl

Conanltlng   Engineers    ..........x   Lumber..................xxviii

Clay   Products   ................xxii   Machinery   ...................iv

Contractors and   Bulldera   ......v   Meial   Work   ................xvll

Electrical   Interests   ..........viil   Qui-k  Job  Directory   ........xxvii

Fireproofing   .................ii   Real Estale  .................xiv

Granite   ....................xxiv  Roofers fi; Roofing Materials.xxvl

Healing   ....................xx   Stone   .....................xxiv

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

CUMULATIVE bull conditions of the year are beginning to
make themselves felt at last. It has been truly an un¬
natural situation, for each increase in the rate of dividend for
the past six months has been promptly followed by a decline
in the stock involved, although it had not theretofore advanced
in anticipation. Again, when at last Amalgamated Copper, in
which an increase in dividend had been unanimously expected,
celebrated its disappointment by a five point rise, Wall Street
was disposed to say that this nonsense had gone far enough,
and we must be permitted to have at least or at last a logical
market. It certainly looks now as if this may be the case
under the leadership of Southern Pacific and perhaps Canadian
Pacific. The large banking interests that have been buying
Southern  Pacific for weeks assert that the present move will

■ be phenomenal. Par is predicted, and many new records in
railroad shares as well. It seems a certainty that, measured by
market value, the country's crops will be the greatest ever
known, and the conditions for an extended bull movement in
stocks are thus highly favorable. Commission houses, which
means margin holders, are bare of shares, while perhaps there

.is the largest scattered short interest in the history of Wall
Street. The London settlement, just concluded, also shows a
meagre bull account and a large short interest in Americans.
This state of affairs, taken together with the decline in the
prices of last .January, afford materia! for an advance of fifteen
to twenty points. Some authorities say that 60 may well be
reached ou tbe next lap for Steel Common.





HERETOFORE we have expressed the opinion, to which we
still adhere, that low-priced railroad stocks like Wiscon¬
sin Central, Iowa Central, Toledo, St. L^nis & Western, and
others of a similar character will show the greatest profit, some
of them, perhaps, doubling in market value. The Wheat crop
will certainly be the largest or record, and only something
entirely unforeseen can prevent Corn from being so, while the
Cotton yield may well be the largest if we except the freak
crop of two years ago. Money has ceased to be an element of
danger to the market. That is to say. Wail Street has arrived
at the conclusion that money is to be eliminated from the
list of things of which to be afraid. Of the Russian situation,
it may be said that it is bound to improve, through the mere
exhaustion of the people, who are beginning to give evidence
that they are tired of dancing to the tune played by the ex¬
tremists of the several parties. To sum up, the strength of the
marliet indicates that it should both rise and -broaden. Strong
interests have certainly, for the time being, ranged them¬
selves on the bull side, and the return to this centre of activity
of financiers and operators of international fame and reputa¬
tion cannot but fail to have a beneficial effect.





A LL the reports from San Francisco tend to confirm the im-
-'^ pression that the spirit of optimism with which the
people of that city first met their disasters has been succeeded
by a spirit of depression. They are beginning to realize how
enormous the work of restoring the city must be, and what a
long time it will take. The insurance companies are paying
up very slowly, the population of the city is dwindling, and it





is even being asked whether the city will ever I'ecover from the
shock of the earthquake aud the effect of the conflagration. Such
a feeling of depression is natural after the strain upon the
nerves, which so serious a calamity necessarily involved; but it
probably contains as large an element of illusion as the earlier
hopes o'f an almost immediate recovery. The prosperity of San
Francisco will probably experience a set-back more serious than
did either Chicago or Baltimore under similar circumstances,
because the destruction was more complete, and because of the
peculiar situation of the city. It will be more difficult for San
Francisco to rebuild cheaply than it was for a city lilte Balti¬
more, which can draw on unlimited supplies of labor and build¬
ing materials. Nevertheless, we believe that the prosperity
of the city will prove to be beyond even the power of such a
calamity permanently to diminish. In the long run, the influ¬
ence of its magnificent harbor, of its improving means of rail¬
road communication, is bound to effect the process of restora¬
tion. It is bound to be the exporting and distributing centre for
almost the whole of California, and for parts of certain neigh¬
boring states. Seattle may for a while be able to snatch away
some of the Oriental export trade, and Los Angeles may become
for a while the distributing centre of a larger region; but, in the
long run, the competition of neither of these cities can seriously
diminish the amount of business which will be transacted" in
San Francisco, It will remain the commercial centre ef a state
which has larger undeveloped natural resources than any state
in the Union; and as California increases her production both
of agricultural and manufacturing commodities, San Francisco
is bound to be the place in which these goods are sold and dis¬
tributed, and in which the growing business of the state is
financed. The only doubt about the future of the city which a
person who understands the economic situation can feel is,
whether San Francisco can afford to rear on the ruins of the
old wooden city an edifice constructed of really fireproof mate¬
rials. There will be the strongest temptation to rebuild in
the same bad old way; and unless this temptation is with¬
stood, even at a vei-y heavy cost, the future prosperity may be
threatened by the only possible permanent danger, viz., by a
feeling of insecurity.





TT looks very much, however, as if the old wooden Sau Fran-
-^ Cisco would be succeeded by a city built of concrete. From
every point of view the system of reinforced concrete construc¬
tion seems peculiarly adapted to the local needs and conditions,
A wall of armored concrete is, of course, quite fireproof, and,
according to tbe opinions of experts, it is able to stand the strain
of an earthquake as well as a wall resting on a steel frame, and
better than masonry construction. Then a city of concrete
could be built much more cheaply than could a city composed of
any other equally fireproof materials. Clay is scarce in the
neighborhood of San Francisco, and the necessary amount of
bi-ick*couId be obtained only at an impossible expense. Good
building stone has to be carried from a long distance, and is
very expensive to lay. Steel beams must be transported from
the East, and come high by the time they are laid down in
San Francisco, On the other hand, cement mills could be
erected at convenient points in a short time, and without a large
investment of capital. Sand can be obtained in sufficient quan¬
tities, and stee! rods would be much cheaper to transport,
compared with the amount of work they do, than steel beams.
It seems very probable consequently that the new San Francisco
wil! be substantially a concrete city, particularly in view of the
fact that, inasmuch as the old buildings were mostly wooden,
the debris will not contain much material which can be used
over again. If such should prove to be the case, it will be inter¬
esting to see what the architects of the new city will do in
order to make concrete construction superficially attractive.
When reinforced concrete is used for factories and mills, there
is, of course, no reason for any veneer, but whenever the -same
method of construction has been used for buildings which face
the streets of a large city, some attempt has usually been made
to convert the dull monotone of the cement into something more
interesting. In many cases a coating of tiles has been used,
while in others the concrete itself has been colored in a livelier
fashion. However the surfaces of these buildings are treated,
it is very much to be hoped that the architects will not
be tempted to spend much money on the oi-dinary decorative
detail. Such detail is meaningless when plastered on a concrete
building, the effect of which should be made to depend upon
good masses, lines and surfaces, varied by well-placed openings.





T TNRIVALLED in excellence as are the hotels of New York
^ City, the extent of the accommodations they offer, the
conveniences which they have installed, and their progressive
management, combine to make it the more surprising that New