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October 13, 1906
RECORD AND GUIDE
597
ESTASUSHED^ttARPHZli!>l868.
Dev&teD id REH.LEstate.Building AR,c.i<i7E(rT0i^E .KouseMou) DEQt3RAnorf,
Bi/si(/ess AffoThemes of GEjJEHftl Wteresi.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
' Published every Saturday
Communlcallona should ba addrosaod to
C. W. SWEET
Downtown Oflice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York
â– â– ' ' " Telephons. Cortlandt 3157
' Upto-.vn Office: 11-13 East 24th Street
,- . Telephone, Madison Square 1698
"Entered at the Tost Offlce at New York. N. Y.. as second-class matter."
,Vol, LXXVIIl,
OCTOBER 13, 1906.
No. 2013
^ . â– ... INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. .
Advertising Section.
Page Page
Comaot'....'.,;...........,. ,xxiii Law...........'.............li
.Consulting Engineers ..........x Lumber..............â– ... .xxviii
Clay Products ..............xxii Machinery ..................iv
Contractors and Builders......v Metal 'Work .....'..........xvii
.Electrical Interests ........viii Quick Job Directory ........xxvil
Pireprooflng ...'...............il Real Estate................xiii
Granite..................xxiv Roofers Se Rooflng Mater'Is, .xxvl
Heating ...................j:x Stone...'......; ..........xxlv
Iron and Steel ___,.......xviii Wood Products...........xxviii
THERE is still the same tantalizing Stock Market thia week
as characterized its action last â– week. What movement
â– there is may be said to he confined to some half-dozen issues
that were recently active. Professional operators view this
activity with suspicion, believing it to be for the purpose of
â– marketing the stagnant issues and some large traders seem
disposed to go short in support of their views, -With the rise
in the discount rate of the Bank of Germany to six per cent.,
-an unusually high figure for this season, and firmness in Lon-
:don rates, some disquietude has naturally been caused, and in
a general way it may be said that the prevailing feeimg about
the market is one of caution, if not of fear. It bulls hard. Call
money is working easier, htit that does not prevent the appre¬
hension about.the money market later on, "which.may, hamper
business and real estate interests considerably. It is not be¬
lieved that the fai!ui-e of the large mercantile and banking
house of Cebalios & Co. of New York and Cuba will seriously
affect the New' York Stock Market, although the firm was in¬
terested in a numher of American enterprises. The stocks con¬
trolled by Ml'. Harriman are decidedly strong. Steel, Coppers
and some specialties are higher and they are in the hands
of those wbo can put them still liigher if they so desire. Steel
Common reached the highest price in five; years and there are
those who believe that it will still further advance. . In spite
of the dulness in the market, to which the political situation in
this State may contribute, the Government October crop report,
with its assurance of an unprecedented corn crop, should, among
â– other favorable conditions, serve to stimulate speculative seati-
-ment taken in connection with our business prosperity.
WHILE the money situation has become less obtrusively
insistent, the modified feeling is not based on any rad-
'.ical change or on any substantial alteration of underlying con¬
ditions. In spite of everything the real estate market has given
further evidence during the week of a determination to im¬
prove. Brokers continue to report the failure of some negotia¬
tions on account of inability to procure the loans necessary to
consummate the deals, but at the same time they consider that
the outlook for the immediate future is encouraging. Transac¬
tions meanwhile are admittedly somewhat in the position of
being held up, but to a greater extent in Brooklyn than in
Manbattan; for in tbat borough, if not in Manhattan also,
matters are complicated by tbe fact that owners manifest no
inclination to make concessions from the very high prices at
which they held their property during the summer, and the
â– ptiblic are less eager to buy when any speculative hope for the
immediate future enters into their calculations. Notwithstand¬
ing that more buildings were planned in Brooklyn than in the
Bronx, Queens and Richmond combined during the last quarter,
there is a scarcity of houses of the kinds that families seem
most to desire in that borough, and a surplus of other kinds—
tbe matter of location, to be sure, having a great deal to do
with it. In Manhattan the dealing under the head of simple
speculative transactions is: being confined to particularly choice
â– location's, but buying for permanent investment, for family resi-
^denee-'pu^t)<5SQSi^ and'for Mgfi^lSBS-Improvements-hag :been e^
-ceedlngly well represented in the business of the .week. While
bui.ding operations remain quite active, not so many projected
improvements are being arranged for, and architects are able
to take a breathing spell. In tbe department of building mate-
, rials, cement has retreated from the high altitude of quotations
to which it ascended in September, but still commands a higher
: price than in the month of August, Brick prices are firmly main¬
tained at a little better than tbe level of last month, indicating
that, ;notwithstanding the lessening of bui.ding projects, the
.amount of old work in band is stili very large; and it must
be remembered that the natural end of the building season is
now not very far away, with the indications strong tbat the
winter will not be au open one; and builders must begin to
shape their arrangements accordingly.
IT is very much to be hoped that the life insurance com¬
panies will listen to the appeal of the Bronx brokers and
, lend a larger proportion of tbeir assets on real estate, but there
h-s bern as yet no indication tbat tbe reform in the financial
^methods of these companies implied any alteration in their
investment policy. They have not been lending tbeir money
any more freely on real estate than they were lending it a year
ago; and no single company has annotmeed its intention of do¬
ing so. The Metropolitan Life may be investing a somewhat
â– larger proportion of its assets in building loans, but the in-
;terest of this company in such speculative ventures is of no
.general assistance to tbe real estate market. Yet it is dilHcult
to understand why, under a reformed system of administration
tbe life insurance companies should not lend their money more
freely upon real property. Under former conditions their
neglect of this class of investment was, of course, easily explic-
able. It was the investment in stoclvs and bonds and the par-
-ticipation in syndicate operations which offered the officials
â– of tbe companies tbeir special financial opportunities, while
â– at the same time the management of,tbe companies needed
securities which might increase in value for the purpose of
obtaining a surplus which could be used in writing off deficits
which arose from other sources. Under the reformed manage¬
ment, however, tbese reasons no longer apply. Deficits due to
extravagant office buildings will no longer be created and syn¬
dicate operations are forbidden. It is, of course, a good thing
for an insurance company to have a large fraction of its assets
-in recurities which may increase in value; but it Is also a good
thing for tbem to invest largely in real estate mortgages which
do .not; increase In value, but which are equally safe, and pay
on the whole a higher rate of interest. Certain of the more
conservative companies, organized in other states, have for
years pursued such a policy to the immense advantage of their
-policyholders; and in the long run we imagine that the New
York companies will find it wise to follow suit. Such a change
must, however, be brought about very slowly. They could not
systematically, sell their existing holdings _without • hurting
.values, and the best that can be expected of tbem would be tbe
investment hereafter of a large proportion of tbeir surplus in
real estate securities. We believe that as soon as the existing
stringency iu tbe money market is over it will be found that
.the financial managers of the insurance companies will find it
to the interest of their policyholders to increase in this man¬
ner the income from Investments.
A GREAT ten-story buildiug for the business of James Mc¬
Creery & Co. opened its doors tbis week. It is in Thirty-
'fourth street, what may now be called a main thoroughfare, op¬
posite to the Waldorf-Astoria. Undoubtedly the large growth
in business of some up-town cross-town thoroughfares and the
building upon them of hotels, theatres, retail business estab¬
lishments and office buildings illustrate again a curious feature
of New York's industrial growth—the importance of streets
having at either end or both ends a ferry connection. Nominally
a ferry runs from a place where business has been established
connecting the tributary neighborhood to some point either in
'New Jersey or on Long Island. Actually it is the maintenance-
of a ferry and tlie conveniences which a ferry offers for traffic
â– and transportation that are of beneflt to a street. For a num¬
ber of years there was a ferry at the foot of Canal street, and
during that period Canal street was one of tbe chief retail thor¬
oughfares in New York. With the abandonment of tbe ferry
the distinction of Canal street as a retail centre ceased. When
• the Fourteenth street ferry was established on the West Side,
,West Fourteenth street enjoyed a decided boom, wbich never
â– extended, however, to Bast Fourteenth street as a retail trade
.centre, there having been no ferry at that point on the East
,-River. In like manner the portion i^f Grand street east of the
3oweiy and served by the Grand street ferry bas retained for
years Its character as a retajl centre, Farther â– 'ivest, ^rand strept