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January l8, 1908
RECORD AND GUIDE
123
ESTABUSHED-^)ARRPH£Lir*186a
Dented PJ R^L EsTArE.EUlLOlffc Af^,ITEeTUR.E .F{oUSEHOLD DEGOHATlOlf,
BusnTESBAfto Themes'of'Gei^I- Irfttt^Esi.^
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Communications shonld be addressed to
C. W. SWEET
fabtished Every Satttrdas
By THE KECOKD AND GUIDE CO.
President. CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W, DODGE
Vice-Pres, & Geal. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F, T. MILLER
Nos. 11 to 15 East 24th Street, New York City
(Telephone, Madison Square, 4430 to 4433,)
''Entered
at the
Post
Office at
Nan
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Copyrighted,
190T
by
Tbe
Record
&
C.ui'le
:o.
Vol,
LXXXL
JANUARY
IS.
1308.
No.
20
(9.
INDEX. TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.
Page, , Page.
Cement ......................xiv Lumber ......................xiv
Clay Products ___'............xvi Machinery ....................jv
Consulting Engineers .........xii Metal Work ....................x
Contractors aud Builders.......ii Quid! Job Directory..........vii
Electrical Interests ...........xii Real Estate ....................v
Fireproofing .................xiii Roofers & Roofing Materials .xiv
Granite .....................xvii Stone .........'.............>;vii
Iron and Steei.................xi Wood Products ........' ......xw
THE Parker building flre disclosed a state of affairs in
connection with the flre department and the water
supply not pleasant to contemplate, and which it is hoped,
in behalf ot the safety of property, will be corrected at the
earliest moment. AH other questions raised by the fire are
overshadowed by the startling revelation that the fire-flght-
ing forces of the borough are not equipped to cope with
emergencies like this. The water pressure was insufficient
and the hose like a staff which breaks when one leans upon
it for support. Little more than the walls of the building
are left in consequence, and criticisms of the huilding as a
type of construction based upon the manner in which it
withstood unaided the flerce flames that raged unchecked
on all the floors in the upper half need some qnaliflcation,
except as to deductions that may be drawn therefrom i.n
favor of more recent building practise and the necessity
ot improving on old methods,—in respect to protecting open¬
ings by which fire may communicate from one floor to an¬
other, for example. The building was erected in accordance
with the law in force at the time, whicli did not give as much
consideration to some things as is customary now; but the
general strength of the building seems to be proved. Tbe
kind of structure which could withstand the burning of such
great quantities of goods all at one time in large areas, and
not collapse, was not being built in the last decade. One
subdivided into smaller areas by fire walls or reliable cut¬
offs, and with windows impregnable and interior vertical
openings impassable to flames, might have resisted, and this
would he one of the lessons taught by the conflagration if
the shortcomings of the flre department's apparatus could
be overlooked. But with these to complicate the case, it
is not easy, if not impossible, to pass judgment solely upon
the character of the building, especially as the flrenien are
understood to claim that their defeat was owing to tem¬
porarily defective facilities for flghting the fire, A more
decisive defeat has never been-sustained by the department,
and possibly it signalizes the advent of an era in which
there must be a radical improvement in means and methods
if the department is to protect the city successfully. New
York has depended too long solely upon portable engines,
and without knowing it has become antiquated in some
flremanic essentials, as will be better realized when the new
high-pressure service goes into action.
THE Association of Bronx Real Estate Brokers, at whose
call the representatives of nineteen taxpayers' socie¬
ties assembled on Tuesday evening, is opposed to changing
the Elsberg law so as to extend the term of subway leases
beyond twenty years with a twenty-year renewal. It stands
upon the resolution of the Board of Aldermen last April,
that the City should "reject ail propositions save those
made for construction alone," so the City may lease the
subways after their completion or operate them itself. To
the Bronx mind the City would have no difficulty in pro¬
curing a bidder under the City's terms for au entirely in¬
dependent line through the East Side and into the Bronx,
either via Lexington Ave, or First Ave,, and thence by two
branches, one on Jerome Ave. and the other by way of
ISSth St., Southern Boulevard, Westchester Ave,, etc., to
Pelham Bay Park. Moreover, it is argued that with the
$23,000^000 which Chairman Willcox says is available for
the F,ourth Ave, tube in Brooklyn, added to other possible
resources, there would be abundant funds with which under
a fair distribution between the three boroughs to start and
carry forward the construction of a tri-borough system until
a constitutional amendment cotvld be obtained permitting
the enlargement of the City's borrowing capacity—by ex¬
cluding from .the calculation the cost of subways, for exam¬
ple. No money has yet actually been appropriated for the
Brooklyn subway, and the Bronx interests pray that none
shall be for this purpose alone, hut for subway construction
in all three boroughs at the same time. On some points the
position of the Bronx brokers and their colleagues may
not be approved, especially by those who hold different
views in regard to the Elsberg law; but there will be no
dissent from the main contention that public utilities should
be fairly distributed aud the City funds not used to benefit
merely one borough and work havoc for another. The
issue rises above all others at the present time, and the
people of Manhattan should be more alive to it than they
are. With one subway to the heart of old Brooklyn nearly
finished and a third bridge in course of erection, it is felt
that Brooklyn has had her fair allotment of transportation
facilities under the present dispensation, and that in the
next one Manhattan and the Bronx should share 'equally
with her.
THE fate ot the Belmont tunnel to Long Island City
still remains in doubt, but the City authorities can¬
not be urged too strongly to consummate its purchase. In
its present condition, even if it were in operation, the Bel¬
mont tunnel would be of very little use to its owners or to
the public, whereas if it were owned by the City, aud con¬
nected with the Subway, it would be both a profitable prop¬
erty and a great convenience to the residents of Queens.
Mr. Belmont has every reason to sell, and the City has
every reason to buy; and such being the case it should
be easy to strike a fair bargain. Neither is the City, in
the event of consummating the purchase, merely pulling
Mr. Belmont's chestnuts out of the fire. No doubt the
tunnel cannot be profitably operated with its existing Man¬
hattan terminal, aud no doubt in case the City does not buy,
the Interborough Company will have a white elephant on
its hands. But if the city took advantage of this condition
to force Mr. Belmont to sell at bargain prices, it would
indefinitely delay the purchase, and at the same time in-
delinitely postpone the advantages which its own citizens
may reap, therefrom. It seems scarcely worth while for
the City to do an anjury to a portion of its own popula¬
tion for the purpose of making Mr. Belmont lose some
money. The City should-pay a fair price; that is, approxi¬
mately what the tunnel has cost, and it should lease its
purchase to the Interborough Company for the interest on
the purchase price, plus a sinking fund of one per cent.
There may be some difficulty in arranging the length of the
lease, but under the circumstances the Belmont Company
should be satisfied with a concession of twenty years with
the option of a similar term at a higher rental. Of course
the lease would be conditioned on a connection of the tun¬
nel with the existway Subway at Park Ave. and 42d St.
Such a connection would have to be carefully arranged, so
as to avoid a conflict with the future Lexington Ave. and
3d Ave. Subways, but such arrangements should not be a
difficult engineering problem. It is particularly important
that the Belraont tunnel should be connected with Times
Square, so that the residents of Queens will have immediate
access to the theatres and the restaurants in that neighbor¬
hood. We presume that for the present the trains in the
tunnel would have to be operated as shuttles, but eventually
it should be possible, to put on at regular intervals trains
which would run as expresses from the Bridge to 42d St,
and would then take their passengers under the River to
Long Island City. Whenever such an arrangement is con¬
summated it will mean millions oi! dollars to the owners of
real estate in Queens,