April 20, 1907





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





765







ESTABUSHED^ tf^ftRPH 2LU> 1866.

Dented p RE^LEsTWE.BmLDiffc ARP^iTEeTUR.E.KouaEiCMDPEaiijnoi^'i
Bi/sniESS fjb TtimES of GejIer^I IrftERfsi,,

PRICE   PER   YEAR   IN   ADVANCE   EIGHT  DOLLARS

Published etierff  Saturdap

Communications should be addroBsed to

C. W.   SWEET

Downtown Oltice:   14-16  Vesey Street,  New Yotk

Telephone, Cortlandt 3157

,  Uptown Ollice:  11-13 East 24th Street, New York

Telephone, 4430 MadlBon Square





"Entered at tie Post Office at X'ew Tork. Jf. J"., as second-class matter."





Copyrighted,  1907,  by C. W.  SwceL





Vol.  LXXIX.





APRIL 20,  1001.





No.  2040.





INDEX  TO   DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.

Page                                                PJigt

Cement   ....................xvll Lumber.....................xx

Consulting Engineers   ..........vi  Machinery   .................vlli

Clay   Products   ................xvi Metal   Work   ...................xv

Contractors and Builders   ......iv Quick  Joh   Directory.........xxill

Electrical  Interests   ............ix Real  Estate   ...................xl

Fireprofing ....................ii Roofers & Roofing Materials.xxii

Granite   ...................xviii Stone   ....................xviil

Iron   and   Steel   ................x  Wood  Products...............xx

WHILE the stock market this week cannot exactly be
characterized as weak it has heen decidedly irregu¬
lar and unsatisfactory alike to hoth bulls and hears. It may
hest be described as professional, which means that those
who make the quotations are alike indifferent as to whether
stocks go up or down so long as their commitments are on
the short or long side and "Scalping" profits are to be made.
This condition necessarily causes one day's closing to he
buoyant, with many stocks at the highest prices, only to he
succeeded the next day by exasperating Irregularity, dulness
and trading of the narrowest character. Under these cir¬
cumstances, the great public about which we hear so much,
is not participating in the perennial Wall Street game, and
it would not appear that those who control the pastime are,
in the light of the recent disastrous slump, using the most
alluring means to get more players from the great bulk of
citizens who are more or less interested in speculation. The
fear as to what Mr. Harriman may say in connection with
the Union Pacific Railroad before the Interstate Commerce
Commission is no longer an important factor in the situa¬
tion, although manipulators are always ready to take advan¬
tage of the outcome to suit their own purposes. Stocks
for investment purchases are not high at present prices, but
the market is still not inviting for speculators on margin.
As indicated in this column last week there is so far little
or no foundation for a ,crop scare. This fact is reflected in
the steady price of grain. Certainly there is nothing dis¬
quieting in the reports of railroad earnings or business gen¬
erally.. On the highest authority, it is said of the United
States Steel Corporation, that its orders for the week ex¬
ceeded those for the previous week by 10,000 tons and that
the corporation has iu hand inciuiries for rails for 1908 de¬
livery to the amount of 250,000 tons. Moreover it is stated
that even if there should be retrenchment on the part of
the railways the iron and steel industry is likely to. make as
good a: showing in 1907 as in 1906, and that even if the
dividend is not increased on the common, it will not b©
passed in the future. The quarterly dividend at the rate of
eight per cent, per annum was declared on Thursday by
the Amalgamated Copper Company. The earnings of this
corporation are very large. Money has ruled easy both for
time and call loans though the latter touched  3 per cent.





THE "Times" recently contained interviews with two of
the most successful real estate operators who have of
late years been doing business in New York, Mr. Robert E.
Dowling of the City Investing Company and Mi-. Felix Isman.
Mr. Dowling's opinion of real estate in Manhattan was
summed up in the following sentence: "I have known many
real estate experts during the last twenty years, and the
greatest of these was a man who never sold any real estate."
Mr. Ismau's opinion was not expressed as definitely as this,
but it was substantially to the same effect. He pointed out
that the McAlpin estate had been advised again and again
to sell its block front on Broadway between Thirty-third
and Thirty-fourth Streets, but that its owner had showed
his good sense by holding on and  watching a steady and





enormous increase in the valne of this property. The idea
is, of course, that the operator, who buys Manhattan real
estate and holds it for a comparatively long period, is likely
to make much, if not more, money than the operator who
is continually turning over his capital and accepting small
proflts. Withiu certain limitations this idea is undoubtedly
correct.-' No doubt It rarely pays to hold unimproved prop¬
erty on the outskirts of a large city for a long term of years,
unless the price at which it is originally bought is very low.
As soon as the price of such property reaches a certain level,
its carrying charges are likely to eat up the further increase
in value. The speculator who makes money in unimproved
property within the limits of New York City is the man who
buys just before the sudden increases in value which are
constantly taking place and takes his profit as quickly as
he can. The same statement is substantially true of tene¬
ment-house property, which has no early prospect of becom¬
ing anything else. A great deal of money has beeu made
since 1903 by speculations in tenement houses, but it has
been made chiefly by quick turns. While in the long run
tenement houses properly managed should yield good in¬
comes, the conditions that have recently made them profita¬
ble speculative purchases are not likely to return for a
good many years. Ou the other hand it is unquestionably
true that with improved property that has a good business
future the man who holds on tenaciously is the man who
makes the most money. The extremely successful operators
of recent years have been those who could afford to buy old
buildings tn the heart of the best business neighborhoods,
and then wait for the inevitable harvest, and the same state¬
ment will continue true during the next ten years. The
great increases in value throughout that period will take
place in the area bounded by Twenty-third and Fifty-ninth
Streets, Lexington and Eighth Avenues; and the longer a
man holds on to property in that district the better off will
he be.





SENATOR SAXE'S bill, which will prevent the Rapid
Transit Commissioners from letting the contracts for
the Lexington and Seventh Avenue subways, should, if
necessary, be vigorously opposed by the real estate interests
of this city. The Real Estate Board of Brokers should use
all of its influence agaiust the bill, if for no other reason
than because its passage will largely diminish the number
of real estate transactions that can be consummated during
the next twelve months. The only argument used on be¬
half of the bill is that, unless it is passed, the new local
Public Utility Commissioners will have their hands tied in
respect to subway extensions for the next two years.' But
why not? No valid objections can be urged against the pro¬
posed Lexington and Seventh Avenue subways as desirable
additions to the transit system of the metropolis; and there
is not the slightest reason to believe that the new commis¬
sioners can improve in any essential respect upon this part
of the work of the present Board. If the careful and ex¬
haustive plans of the existing commission are thrown away,
it will mean simply that the new Board after long delibera¬
tion will reach what will be for all practical purposes a
similar scheme. Iu the meantime, however, rapid transit
extensions, of which Manhattan and the Bronx are very
much in need, will be postponed for as much as a year and
a half. Moreover, it is quite possible that the delay will be
even longer. The weak aspect of Gov. Hughes' new com¬
mission concerns its relations to the local authorities of the
city. His commission will be a State body, on which the
local authorities will not be represented, as they are on the
present Rapid Transit Board, yet which will depend for the
effectiveness of its construction work upon the approval of
the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. What are the
prospects that the plans of the State Commissioners will be
accepted by the Governing Board of New York City? The
members of that Board resent the proposed action of the
Governor and the Legislature in forcing upon them a State
Commission, over which they have no control, and which is
not responsible primarily to the people of New York. They
will scrutinize the work of the State Commissioners when¬
ever it is within their power to do so, not only with care,
but in a distinctly hostile frame of mind. It is entirely
possible, consequently, that the two Boards may not be able
to reach an agreement over any revised plans for subway
extensions, and that all new construction will be held up
for a long time during the eourse of the dispute. It is very
much better, consequently, that in the beginning the new
State Board should not have any subways to plan, and that
the people of New York should not be obliged to face an in¬
definite   delay   in" the  construction   of  additional   means  of