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May II, 1907
RECORD AND GUIDE
909
ESTABLISHED ^ f^RRCH Bl^ 18S8,
Dev&teD TO fHI-Estate.BuiLoiKg ^aflTEeruHE.KousEKoiDDEOffilJTlorf,
B^/s[^/Ess AftoThemes of GetJer&I If/iERpi.^
PRICE
DOLLARS
PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT
Published eVert/ Saturdap
OomtQiiniciitiona sliould liB aiklro.^aed: to
C. W. SWEET
Madison Square: II-I5 East 24th Street
Telepliono, 44.30 Madison Sciu.aro
"Entered al the Fost Office at 2i'ew YorJi, ^. Y., as second-class matter."
Copyriglited, 1C07,'by C. W. Sweet.
Vol. LXXIX.
MAY 11, 1907.
No. 2043.
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.
Page Page
Cement ...................xvii Lumber .....................xx
CousuUiiig Engineers............v Machinery ...................vl
Clay Products...................ix Metal Worlt...................viii
Contractors and Builders......iii Quick Job Directory.........xxiii
Electrical Interests ...........vii Real Estate.....................xi
Fireproofing.!.................ii Roofers & Rooflng Materials.xxii
Granite ...................xviii Stone.....................xviii
Iron and Steel...................x Wood Products ..............xx
MONEY rates, the crops and labor troubles were tlie
factors whicii have influenced the dull and irregular
slock market this week. Wheat has been feverish aud the
outlook for au avemge yield is by no means encouraging.
'J'here are those who are of opinion that the higher price of
wheat is hot owing to the prospect of a bad harvest, but
that farmers are determined to get better figures for tlie
new crop, and also for what they may have on hand from
last season. "While Wall Street is said to discount every¬
thing, it is doubtful if it is doing so on the crop situation.
A sluggish market is anticipated during the whole of May
and then should crop prospects be better there may he
greater activity. In connection with reports of widespread
crop damage, which, of course, affects the prices of railroad
slocks, some of the officials of the transportation lines say
that they would not regard "the curtailment of the output
of grain as a calamity," as many of the railroads have all
they can do now and with a bumper crop they could not
haul it, therefore they might be compelled "to let it rot or
store it." Such a statement may be plausible, but should
be accepted only with several large grains of salt. Never¬
theless, the business of the country cannot be iu a very had
way when the steel, iron equipment aud electric companies
of the United States now have on their books estimated or¬
ders for $1,200,000,000 worth of work, the profits on which
will be about $250,000,000. Nothing in the manufacturing
history of the country equals this record and yet the fact
remains that more raoney is wanted to finance this pros¬
perity and to improve the railroads. New York Central
must go into the market again for new capital. Europe has
shown confidence in American railroads, but the full amount
required cannot be obtained tliere. The bulk of the sum
must be contributed by our own moneyed men who, in sub¬
scribing to new issues of securities in some of theae roads,
run but a minimum of risk. The enormous amount of
operating expenses of the New York Central is the result of
paying damages on account of the recent accident in the
Bronx. More than a million of dollars is said to have been
disbursed already in connection with this disaster. The
bears are making the most of the conditions which they
believe justify their position, and many Western houses are
making themselves conspicuous on that side of the market.
Misgivings as to the course of prices do uot seem to be
shared in to the same extent in London, where American
stocks have generally shown encouraging strength though
with limited transactions. It is by no means certain that
there will be easy money rates throughout the summer
though they will depend largely on the rates for sterling ex¬
change. The announcement during the week of the author-
i/.ation of an additional sevenly-five million Union Pacific
bonds, and thirty-six million Southern Pacific preferred stock
was a surprise to the street, and the Hst sold off in conse¬
quence.
Hunt. Exclusive of the laud, the building cost $200,000.
Thus it has required but twenty-five years for a business
building of the highest class when erected to become anti¬
quated. Did anyone dream of this then? Surely not, or
an edifice less substantial and ornamental would have been
erected. This one was put together under the prevailing
theory of "Iron construction," as then practiced, with no
other thought than that it would stand for centuries, aa
physically it might, but as an income earner it has fallen
from the first rank, and the place it occupies can be used
to better advantage. Under a continuance of present influ¬
ences in husiness, and with no restrictions being imposed
as to buildiug height, it is only a question of another quar¬
ter century when the lower part of New York will be liter¬
ally choked with skyscrapers. But the probabilities are
that legal restrictions will be imposed without much oppo¬
sition when the certain consequences hegin to appear in un¬
tenanted offices and shrinking rent rolls. The year ISSl
was an exceptionally favorable time for building, as the
city and country were just recovering from one of tjie peri¬
odical depressions that formerly afflicted us, and which the
people know better now- than to submit to, understanding
that the bacilus of fear was more responsible than the germ
of financial disease. After one of the periods of fright, ex¬
tending from 1873 to 1S79, and which ended with the re¬
sumption of specie payraents, building began to strengthen.
Recovery was slow at first, the year 1878 showing only fif¬
teen raillion dollars' worth of work laid out in New York,
but in the year in which the plans for the Guernsey Build¬
ing were filed (1881) the operations of builders amounted
to as much as in the previous record year of 1871. Values
were no longer speculative, wages and materials were low,
while the demand for housing was strong. Bricklayers and
masons received eighteen dollars a week, carpenters twelve,
marble cutters fifteen, painters fifteen, and tinsmiths aud
plumbers eighteen. Pine lumber sold for sixty dollars
a thousand feet, and natural cement for $1.25 a barrel. The
Tribune and the Western Union had the tallest buildings in
town, and we note that one of these is at this present time
being added to in height. In the same year that the Guern¬
sey edifice was rising other notable works were undertaken:
The United Bank, the Mills and Potter buildings, the Produce
Exchange, the Welles and the Vanderbilt buildings. Contrast
their type with the giants of this year, one costing millions
and the other only hundreds of thousands of dollars. What
shall we be building in the next quarter century? Look
from the Guernsey across the way to where the new City
Investing Building and the Singer tower are going up and
make a guess.
THE PLANS for the Guernsey Building at 162-4 Broad¬
way, which is now being displaced by a superior struc¬
ture for the Lawyers' Title Insurance and Trust Company,
were filed in the year 1S81 hy the architect, Richard M.
A BILL has lieen introduced into the Senate by Senator
Allds, providing that -whenever a. deed is recorded
the grantor must deliver to the Recording officer an affidavit
declaring the price paid for the property. This affidavit
will not, however, be a matter of public record. It shall
be given to the Tax Commissioners for the purpose of help¬
ing them to determine the assessed value of the property
for taxable purposes. The bill is opposed by Mr. Allan Rob¬
inson, president of the "Allied Real Estate Interests" on
the ground that "there is no reason why dealers iu real
property should be required to disclose the details of their
business and the price of their land than that dealers in any
other kind of property should be required to permit their
customers to find out at what price they buy aud
at what price they sell to other customers." Surely
this statement on the part of Mr. Robinson Is not
entirely candid. Tbe purpose of the bill is uot to im¬
part information to the public or to the trade respecting the
prices at which real estate is sold. Its purpose is to enable
the Tax Assessors the better to perform their duty; and in¬
asmuch as under State laws reai property is supposed to be
assessed at its full value, the State has surely every right to
compel a property-owner to supply the necessary informa¬
tion. The practice has become general iu New York of
coucealing the prices at which real estate is purchased, part¬
ly in order to cover the tracks of speculators, and partly
in order to raake it difficult for the deputy assessors to do
their work; and if real estate operators use such methods
partly for the purpose of evading taxation, the State should
be allowed to protect itself. As a matter of fact the State
has many reasons for needing a complete record of the prices
at which real estate is sold. It has reserved the power of
condemning land for public purposes; and when this power
is exercised, it should possess records which would diminish
the chance of any over-charge. As a matter of fact it is