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March 2, 1907
RECORD AND GUIDE
437
DDfrrtB TO f^L Estate,BuiLDIffc AR,GKlTEeTU!^E .l^OUSEliOLD DEGOf!ATlC^I.
Btfsif/Ess Affo Themes of GeiJeraI Ij^tehest .
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
PahUsbed eiiery Saturday
CommiinloatioTis should be addreasod to
C. W. SWEET
Downtown Office: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York
Tolephono, Cortljiudt 3157
Uptown Office: U-13 East 24th Street, New York
Telephone, 4430 Madleoa Siiuate
''Entered at the Post Office al Neu) York. N. Y., as second-class matter."
Vol. LXXIX.
MARCH 2, 1007.
No. 2033.
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertisiug ScctiOD.
Page Page
Cement ....................xvii Lumber ....................xxii
Consulting Eugiueers ........viii Machinery ....................v
Clay Products ...............xvi Metal Work ..................xv
Contractora and Builders......iii Quick Job Directory.........xxiii
Electrical Interests ...........vi Real Estate ...................xl
Fireprooflng ...................ii Roofers & Rooflng Materials,. .xx
Granite ...................xviii Stoue....................xviil
Iron and Steel ................x Wood Products .............xxii
Lime .......................ix
GREAT things were expected tliis week in Wall Street from
the passage by the United States Senate of the Aldrich
financial bill, but so far from the market going up, it went
down, so that at one time it seemed dangerously near to de¬
moralization. A baker's dozen of leading issues touched new
low records for the year. Louisville and Nashville reached the
lowest point since September, 1904, and Brooklyn Rapid Transit
sold below what it has been at any time since the same month
in 1905. Of course there was aggressive professional selling all
along the line, and stop loss orders forced liquidation, especially
in Reading. Mere news, whether favorable or unfavorable, did
not seem to have any influence, though assuredly the revelations
of Mr. Harriman and others before the Interstate Commerce
Commission can scarcely be said to have inspired confidence.
Incidentally, on the Curb Nevada-Utah mining stock was dealt
in largely, and scored an advance. While, df course, it is im¬
possible to predict what the immediate future of the action
of Wall Street prices may be,-yet we must not be blind to facts
that in themselves are distinctly favorable. The leading aullior-
ity on the Iron trade points out that, so far as the finished
branches of the steel and iron are concerned, business is de¬
veloping in a very satisfactory manner, the mills being full of
work aud specifications coming in steadily. No recessions have
been made in prices that ruled at the opening of the week, and
the markets in Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Boston
and Philadelphia have heen quite active. There has not been
much change in money rates, call loans going through at or
under 4"^ per cent. Time money was firm at 5y2 to 5% per
cent., concessions being withheld by lenders in view of the
ending of negotiations for funds for the March disbursements.
Apropos of money matters in connection with the Aldrich bill,
the consensus of opinion of that measure is that, while it does
not provide those changes in our monetary system which are
so necessary and desirable, it is most certainly a forward step
to general currency reform.
THE report of the New York City Improvement Commission
has recently been issued in a handsome and fully illus¬
trated volume; but it looks as if this volume would be the
one substantial result of the labors of that body. It worked
for a number of years; it took all the counsel it could get upon
the problem of rearranging the plan of New York city, so as to
make the city both more convenient and more beautiful; and
the result is nothing more or less than a book—a book which
will cost the taxpayers about $10,000. There is no use seeking
to ignore or disguise the fact that the work of the Commission
is, from every practical point of view, a failure. Its report pro¬
voked little popular interest. Not one of the various improve¬
ments it recommended has received any serious considera¬
tion on the part of the municipal authorities. If, in tlie future,
similar improvements receive more serious consideration, there
is no reason to believe that the work of the Commission will
have any effect upon the plans which may be actually realized.
The report, that is, did not carry with it anything like the
authority which the report of the Washington Commission ob¬
tained, or the similar report which Mr. D. Burnham made for
San Francisco. What is the reason of this failure? We do
not believe that it is to be traced to the nature of the recom¬
mendations made by the Commission, because, as a matter of
fact, the improvements suggested in the report were all of
them sensible and desirable. The great trouble was that, from
the start,, an insufiicient body of public opinion had been formed
to support a plan which would have cost so much money.
Furthermore, the Commission itself, while composed of well-
informed and public-spirited gentlemen, did not carry with it
sufficient prestige. The number of people who are, vitally
interested in the "Better New York" are not very large, nor are
they very inlluential; and the practical difficulties which any
plan of improvement must overcome are so enormous that no
such scheme, however well considered, will have any effect
until a much larger proportion of prominent New York citizens
are willing to work actively on its behalf.
THE existing real estate situation in the business section of
Fifth av., Manhattan, is extraordinary. As was pointed out
in the Record and Guide some months ago, the success which
has attended the removal of Altman & Co. to that thorough¬
fare showed what an advantage it was for the better class of
dry goods stores to obtain a location on Fifth avenue; but with
this discovery came the further one that it was difficult, if not
imiiossible, to obtain sites large enough for general business
purposes. A big dry goods store needs a plot containing at
least 10,000 square feet, and, so far as we know, there is only
one plot of this kind to be secured in the best part of the
avenue. It is equally difficult to obtain a small frontage on
the avenue connected with a larger area on ^he side streets, be¬
cause the property on the side streets is strongly held, and has
been much improved. What the outcome will be, it is not easy
to see. The firms still located south of Twenty-third street will,
in the course of time, be obliged to move, but where can they
go? The demand already existing is forcing many of the
decorators and picture dealers who first occupied Fifth avenue
to remove to Madison avenue or the side streets, but their
removal does not cause any very considerable vacancies. At the
same time, the need of space on the avenue for minor business
purposes is so considerable that every available corner is being
improved with tall buildings. One result will be that business
wiir push further up the avenue than has seemed probable
hitherto; but even these additional blocks will do little to fill
up the gap. It certainly appears as if in the end some other
avenue or district north of Thirty-fourth street would have to be
pressed into service, and large fortunes are assured to those
real estate speculators who can anticipate the direction of this
necessary expansion.
Governor Hughes and the Legislature.
AMONG the reforms which Governor Hughes has proposed
to introduce in the traditional inethods of government
at Albany was oue concerning the procedure, whereby legis-
latiou, supposed to be in the public interest, was enacted.
In the past, aud particularly during the regime of ex-Gov¬
ernor Odell, it Ifad become customary for the Governor to
interfere actively in legislative business. He would propose
the passage of certain bills in his Annual Message and then
subsequently use all of his influence with the Republican
leaders to secure the enactment of this legislation. His in¬
fluence, official and unofficial, was so considerable that he was
usually successful iu persuading the Legislature to adopt his
views. Governor Hughes proposed to change all this, be¬
cause he did not like the idea of interference by the Executive
with what was properly the business of another division of
the State government. He also recommended a large amount
of extremely important legislation in his message;'and bills
embodying his program will, of course, be introduced into
the Legislature. But he has declared that he will do noth-
iijg actively to promote the enactment of these bills after
their introduction. The Legislature must deal with them
undisturbed and must alone take the responsibility for its
action or its refusal to act. The Governor's constitutional
duty in respect to legislation was confined to recommenda¬
tion, and subsequently either to the approval or to the dis¬
approval of any bills passed by the Senate aud the Assembly.
The Record and Guide is inclined to think that in this re¬
spect the Governor is allowing a scruple about the letter of
the constitution to interfere with his ability effectually to
promote the public iuterest. It is true that his express con¬
stitutional duties in the matter of legislation are confined
merely to recommendation, and then after passage either to
approval or disapproval. But the practice which has come
into existence of a more active participation of the Governor
in the work of legislation met a real need, aud a real defi-