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April 13, 1907
RECORD AND GUIDE
721
Dented TO RE^L ESTATE.BmLDlKcAp.C^lTEeTUI^.K<J"SEriM5DEfla(^^
Birsn/ESs Aifo Themes of GEiteR^l tKTSiP*J.j
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Published eiiers Saturdas
Comraunicalliens should ho addroasod to
C. W. SWEET
Downtown Ollice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York
Tulephoiio, Cortlandt 3157
Uptown Office: 11-13 East 24th Street. New York
Telephone, 4430 Itadlson Squaro
"Entered al lie Post Office at A"eio Tork, A' T„ as second-class matter."
Copyrighted, 1007, by C. W. Sweet.
Vol. LXXIX.
APRIL 13, 1907.
No. 2039
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
AdvertlslDg Section.
Page PjiK«
Cement ....................xvll Lumber.....................xx
Consulting Engineers .........vii Machinery .................viii
Clay Products ................xvi Metal Work ...................xv
Contractors and Builders ......iv Quick Joh Directory.........xxiii
Electrical Interests ............ix Real Estate ...................xi
Fireproofing ..................vi Roofers & Roofing Materials,xxii
Granite ...................xviii Stone ....................xviil
Iron and Steel ................x Wood Products...............xx
THIS week's stock market has been, strictly speaking,
a professional one. Stocks have gone up and down
without any apparent reason? although alleged reasons were
as plentiful as blackberries. Operations for foreign account
were in light volume and were conducted on both sides of
the market with no marl^ed result. There were periods of
strength, but prices failed to hold and reactions came with
unremitting regularity. Undoubtedly, neither the party op¬
erating for higher prices nor the party operating for lower
had any positive conviction as to the future or a decided
programme to carry out. There is still unquestionably con¬
siderable concern as to what may be the outcome of the dif¬
ferences existing between the Chief Executive and the nota¬
ble railroad magnate and his associates. No one can say
what would happen should these gentlemen, at the instance
of the Interstate Commerce Commission, be called upon by
the federal courts to answer questions as to which they had
pleaded privilege. This matter hanging over tiie market
was just as good an excuse as any other to account for its
dulness aud irregularity. The lower prices in copper metal
quotations on the New York Metal Exchange acted as a dam¬
per on copper stocks and securities. Since March 15 it has
fallen about two cents a pound. Although holders of Amal¬
gamated Copper have repeatedly proclaimed that there would
be an increase in the dividend at the next meeting of the di¬
rectors, it is said that although there is plenty of money in
the treasury to put the rate on a ten per cent, basis, the ex¬
isting rate will still be retained. Attacks on certain stocks
like Erie and Southern Railway issues have continued with¬
out any justification, according to those who control these
properties. Moreover, the bear element have been doing
their best to get up a crop scare, with so far little result.
Money on time and call still continues easy, the latter at
about 2 per cent., and general railroad earnings are in the
highest degree encouraging.
IT is refreshing to find on the part of a prominent real
estate owner and operator views as to the future devel¬
opment of New York as enlightened as those of Mr. Chas. T.
Barney, He sees clearly that the property-owners them¬
selves suffer more than any other class in the community
from the inconveniences of the existing city plan, and that
the bestowal on the municipal authorities of the power to
condemn more land than that actually needed for an im¬
provement is a condition of any improvement of the street
system of New York. If a larger proportion of the owners
of real estate understood the importance of street improve¬
ments as clearly as does Mr. Barney, there might be some
chance of securing for the city officials the necessary pow¬
ers; but the amount of general public interest provoked by
the idea is still comparatively small. The friends of the
improvement of New York iu conveniences and in good looks
should recognize the fact that the obstacles in their path are
at the present time so formidable that they cannot be over¬
come without the assistance of a much larger and more vig¬
orous body of public opinion. Nothing of any importance
in this direction can be accomplished until at least two
amendments to the State constitution have been passed, one
dealing with the debt limit and the other with the power
of condemnation, and we all know how much agitation is
necessary before constitutional amendments can be passed.
In the meantime the plan of the City Improvement Commis¬
sion must remain a dead scheme because the city authorities,
on those occasions when they are obliged to plan a new or
widen an old street will be obliged to adopt the cheapest
arrangement which will serve the purpose. Only last week
the financial advisory commission pointed out that the city
could not borrow enough mouey during the next five years
to meet its most pressing necessities; and the consequence
is that the plans for a new Court House and new parks are
already being abandoned. The available money will have
to be spent on such necessary improvements as schoolhouses,
subways, docks and the like. It can be argued that certain
street improvements are quite as necessary as new subways,
and a good deal can be said in favor of such a contention,
but such is not the general or official opinion. If a new or
widened street is absolutely necessary, as it will be for a
better approach to the Blackwell's Island Bridge, the Board
of Estimate will not be able even to consider the liberal plan
of the City Improvement Commission, which provides for
the condemnation of several entire blocks. It will be
obliged to adopt the cheapest possible mean's of providing
for the increase of transverse traffic. It is a short-sighted
policy; but what can be done? In spite of the enormous
wealth of New York, its municipal resources are very much
smaller apparently than its municipal responsibilities.
THE number of projects for building cooperative apart¬
ment houses are constantly increasing. A new one
has recently been announced for the corner of Park Aveuue
and Seventy-seventh Street, which makes the sixth building
of this kind which is being or is about to be constructed. It
is to be remarked that these projects are intended less and
less for the accommodation of artists. The studio, extend¬
ing through two floors, which was an essential part of the
plan of the first buildings, is becoming incidental in the
plans of the latter buildings; and this change obviously in¬
creases the appeal of the buildings for a vastly larger nura¬
ber of people. These studios were indispensable to painters,
but they are a mere waste of space to a layman. It may be
expected that iu the course of a few years the studio feature
will entirely disappear, and that the cooperative buildings
will contain a certain number single or duplex apartments
of the ordinary type. So far the cooperative building pro¬
jects have been uniformly successful, and unless the market
is over-stocked there is no reason to suppose that they will
not continue to be successful. They assuredly enable a sub¬
scriber to live on Manhattan Island more comfortably for
less money than in any other known way. An apartment
that costs from $16,000 to $18,000 in the building just com¬
pleted at Sixty-sixth Street and Lexington Avenue will rent
anywhere from $3,000 to $3,500 a year. This shows a very
handsome margin of proflt. so large, indeed, that speculative
builders are asking to obtain their share of it. Several of
the newer projects have been organised by speculators who
are seeking to squeeze as much as possible of the proflts into
their own pockets, and this is the chief danger which threat¬
ens the increased popularity of these cooperative schemes.
Subscribers, before putting their money in such ventures,
should be very careful as to the conservatism of its financial
scheme and as to the distribution of the proflt.
GOVERNOR HUGHES certainly gains upon acquaintance.
As the Record and Guide predicted, he has been forced
to bring pressure to bear upon the Legislature, in order to
secure the adoption of his bills, and both the spirit and the
matter with which he argues his cause are admirable. His
defence, for instance, of the provision in the bills which
makes the new commissioners appointable and removable by
the Governor was admirable. By no other means can full
responsibility, coupled with independence, be secured. If
the commissioners were elected, they would become the
creatures of the political machines, and their responsibility
would be obscured by a hundred other questions concerniu'g
local and state politics. But if they are appointed by the
Governor and removable by him, they cannot avoid their re¬
sponsibility to the Governor. Neither can he avoid his re¬
sponsibility to the people. The Governor, as chief execu¬
tive, should possess complete authority over all subordinate
executive officials, and just in proportion as these officials
are responsible or only remotely responsible in the exercise
of their duties, just in that proportion wili the state be in¬
efficiently served. The Governor, in insisting -ipon the prin-