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March 30, 1907
RECORD AND GTJIDE
623
^ ESTABUSHE33^M,AR.CHai^l368.
Dev&TED to f^EA.LEsTAJE,@mLDl^fc A^R.CiflTECTUI^E.HoUSEHOlIiDEGCiS^nOll.i
Busii/ess At^Themes of Gej^r,aI IKterest.,
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Published eVere Saturday
Communications should bo addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Downtown Ofiice: 14-16 Vesey Street. Nevi' York
Tijlephono, Cortlandt 3157
Uptown Office: 11-13 East 24th Street, New York
Tolephono. 4430 Madison Squaro
"Entered al He Fost Office at Neio Tork, N. Y,. as second-class mailer."
Copyrigbted, 1907. by C. W. Sweet.
Vol. LXXIX.
MARCH 30, 1907.
No. 20S7.
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.
Page Page
Cement ....................xvH Lumber.....................xx
Consulting Engineers ...........v Machinery...................vi
Clay Products ................viii Metal Work ....................ix
Contractors and Builders......iii Quick Job Directory.........xxiii
Electrical Interests ...........vii Real Estate ...................xl
Fireprooflng ...................ii Roofers & Rooflng Materials.xxii
Granite ...................xviii Stone....................xviii
Iron and Steel ................x Wood Products...............xx
THERE has heen a bett&r. feeling iu the stock market
this week, althtjugli on Monday aud Tuesday many
operators got a scare again. Business has been active, dull
and irregular. In tbe mornings there was strengtli only to
be succeeded by weakness in the afternoons and at the close.
Those financiers whose opinions have weight say that tlie
flurry is over for the present and that an understanding has
been reached in the struggle and differences between the
Federal Government and the corporations. These individ¬
uals tell us that stocks are dirt cheap and say that they
should be bought. This is well. Let it be borne in mind,
iiowever, that this advice is not for the margin trader. The
latter at present should give Wall Street a wide berth un¬
less he plays for a gamble. Big people with large means
may purchase stocks with comparative safety, as they
can buy outright as an investment with no fortune or
great advance iu the immediate future. As has been
well said, Wall Street at the moment is the gambler's para¬
dise, consequently whoever buys stocks on margin should
now realize that he is gambling and not investing. For a
time at least there â– will be declines and rallies and it may
be months before there will be normal conditions in the
street. The cotirse of particular stocks, whether industrials
or railroads, is not important in the light of the disastrous
ups aud downs all along the line in which the downs were
in the large majority, but undoubtedly the decision of the
Supreme Court of Minnesota in the Great Northern Railway
stock issue case exercised a favorable effect on the market.
The decision is in lavor of the company on all important
points. The company proposes to proceed with the issuing
of the $60,000,000 additional stock upon the terms as orig¬
inally announced. A part of the proceeds of the new issue
will be usecl to pay for extensive construction work, some
of which is completed. On the announcement of the de¬
cision Great Northern rights on the curb sold off over four
points because it was said that the company would reriuire
the payment of the first four instalments, ?24,000,000, on
April 9th. Another fact that merits notice is that Toledo,
St. Louis & Western preferred stock (Clover Leaf) has, as
was predicted in this column months ago, declared a half-
yearly dividend of 2 per cent. The stock at its present price
(about 50) thus returns 8 per cent, a year. It is said a pool
has beeu formed to advance the stock. The money market
both for time and call loans has been easy.
THE real estate interests of New York will breathe a sigli
of relief at the prospect that the contracts for the
new Seventh and Lexington Avenue subways will be let be¬
fore the existing Rapid Transit Commission is superseded.
The city administration is to be commended for acting vig¬
orously and efficiently in this matter. The routes which
are about to be opened for public competition are the result
of almost three years' careful and thorough work on the
part of the Transit Commission and the Board of Estimate.
They embody the findings of the best expert opinion in the
city as to those subway extensions, which are most likely
to be immediately practicable, serviceable and profitable;
antl there is not the slightest reason to believe that a new
commission could in any way improve on these plans. But
if the contracts were not let before the existing commission
is superseded, the new State Board would undoubtedly con¬
sider it_ necessary to review the whole situation and to make
up its own mind independently as to the number and kind
of subways which the city needs, and such a .review could
not consume less than a year and might easily stretch over
a longer period. The present administration is right in
seeking to avoid such a delay. Additional subways are as
immediately necessary now as the first subway was in 1S99,
and the delay of a year or more would cause immense pub¬
lic inconvenience and loss. It is very much to be hoped
conseciuently that the contracts both for construction and
operation will be let under the existing law and New York
assured of the completion within four years of two new
subways, besides the subway connecting the bridges. One
could, indeed, consider this result as certain, were it not
for existing disturbances in the financial machinery of Wall
Street. The condition of the municipal finances is such
that the bidders lor the new subways will probably have
to raise a large part of the cost of construction on their
own credit, and the present is a very bad time for any large
scheme of corporate finance. Even a railroad in such an im¬
pregnable financial condition as the New Haven is obliged to
retrench, and a corporation, whose credit is as bad as that
of the Interborough-Metropolitan Go., would, of course,
have a hard time in raising many millions of dollars for
new construction. It remains to be seen whether this ob¬
stacle will prevent the appearance of bidders, aud in this
way lose for New York the result of the last three years of
preliminary work.
THE sale at auction of the properties included iu the
Doherty estate was attended by surprising and grati¬
fying success. The properties fetched an aggregate of some
twenty per cent, more than the figures at which they were
appraised—a fact which was all the more astonishing, inas¬
much as the most of the parcels were not situated in tbe
most active speculative neighborhoods. On the other hand
the parcels on Eighth Avenue in the forties, were on the
margin of the best speculative region, and the high prices-
which they brought was an evidence of excellent judgment
on the part of their purchasers. There is probably more
money to be made in buying corners which carry themselves
ou Seventh, Eighth, Fourth and Lexington avenues, than in
any other single class of Manhattan property. During the
next ten years it is these centrally situated aveuues which
will obtain the greatest advantage, not only from the growth
of the city, but from the readjustments, which will take
place as a result of the shifting of population and busiuess.-
Between Twenty-third and Fifty-ninth Streets business will
be obliged to spread farther east and west than it has done
south of Twenty-third Street, and the aveuues named above
will receive the chief beneflt from this lateral expansion.
There can be no doubt, also, that of late the general invest¬
ment value of real estate has improved enormously com¬
pared to tbe investment value of railroad stocks and bonds.
Ten years ago real estate was in bad repute among invest¬
ors, because of the uncertainties which attended its own¬
ership. But now the uncertainties attending the ownership
of railroad shares are far greater; and real estate will reap
the beneflt of the attacks which are now being made upon
railroad properties. The demand on the part of investors
will, in the future, be persistent; and it should mean a
ready market for all real estate owners, who are willing to
sell their property at a fair price.
AT THE public hearings in Albany during the past week
some very telling points were made against Gover¬
nor Hughes' '/Public Utility" bills, so-called. Mayor Mc¬
Clellan was quite right in objecting to the appointment by
the Governor of the local commission; and he was quite
right also in objecting to the payment by the city of all
the expenses of the local commission and a large share of
the expenses of the State commission as well. If the local
commission is, as the Governor claims, necessarily a State
Board, let its expenses be paid by the State. As a matter
of fact there is no reason why the functions, which are to
be conferred upon the Public Utility Commission of the first
district, should not be conferred upon the Rapid Transit
Commission. The Rapid Transit Commission is responsible
for its work to the Mayor and people of New York City,
instead of to a Governor elected by the votes of people liv-