February 15, 1908





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Vol. LXXXl.





FEBRUARY  15,  1908.





No. 2083.





INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.

Page                                                Page

Cement    .......................xiv   Lumber    .....................xv

Clay   Products   ..........;.....xvi   Metal    Work    ..................xi

Consulting Engineers   .........xii   Quick   Job   Directory...........vii

Contractors   and   Builders......ii   Real   Estate   ....................v

Electrical   Interests   ...........xii   Roofers & Roofing Materials.,xiv

Fireproofing   ..................x  Stone   .......................xvii

Granite    ....................xvii  Wood  Products   ..............xv

Iron   aud  Steel................xiii

WHEN THE SPRING shall turn men's thoughts again to
building, the dwelling-house rather than the tenement
will probably under the reasons that will then prevail re¬
ceive the first attention, and for a period be the subject of
the most business activity. This will be naturally in those
parts of the Bronx and Brooklyn where frame construction is
lawfully and financially possible, and in Queens, Richmond,
Westchester and the Jerseys. As a general prophecy this is
accepted as probably true among architects and builders, but
the determination of the precise localities to be most favored
for operations awaits a better understanding of the subway
situation, and especially the directions which the next exten¬
sions will take. Very important to the building trades and
all depending on them is an early and favorable decision by
the Public Service Commissioners and the Board of Estimate
of the great transit question now before them. One hundred
and eighty-four thousand men are now idle in this city; not
all structural mechanics, but all affected by the suspension of
building operations. No one thing which the administration
could do for the sake of the general good at this crisis would
be more effective than to begin the construction immediately,
or cause to be started by others, of a tri-borough subway.
The financiering details apart, it is the signal for which the
local business interests are waiting, to give direction to their
powers and inspiration for their planning. It ought to be
sufficiently plain that business interests at large will not
submit to seeing all their hopes for transit relief buried in a
remote suburb of Brooklyn when ordinary business sagacity
unites with civic equity in advising the apportioning of the
available fund between Manhattan and the Bronx as well.
Under existing circumstances the time for a general revival
of building for multi-family houses here in Manhattan can¬
not be set, but with the opening of new routes to the towns
in Queens and Kings, there is every probability of a great
number of dwellings being erected iu those directions, and
for other reasons in the northern suburbs aud on the Jersey
shore also.





ARCHITECTS see evidence that there will be more in¬
dividual building this year than has been customary
of late. Master mechanics looking for contracts rather than
for. building loans, and laymen inquiring In regard to plans
and probable costs, are cases in point. Moreover, these private
builders will have ways of financing their undertakings in¬
dependently of local lending institutions. Notwithstanding
the stringency In the worn channels of finance a large ag¬
gregate of means is available for home-building in private ac¬
counts, accumulated for no other purpose than home-build¬
ing, and waiting only for a favorable opportunity. A visiting
builder from another city, who was here this week looking
for a field of operations, decided to return later when transit
circumstances are more certain. He will arrange for finances
elsewhere. An architect who has designed a number of our
finest city buildings expects to give his principal attention
this year to suburban work.    The present dullness in many





lines is a reason why other doors of opportunity should open;
and while so many mechanics are idle this winter, it must
not be Inferred that they are Impoverished. The self-sus¬
taining power of the average family in America is very great.
The real estate market is steadily regaining buoyancy, with
money becoming more plentiful and cheaper. A significant
feature of general business is the presence iu the city of an
unprecedented number of buyers. They want to buy cheaply,
it is true, but it is none the less a sign of a restoration of
public confidence and the imminence of normal conditions.
In metropolitan building works a considerable period of time
is required for gathering full headway. The height of activ¬
ity is approached by successive stages, usually beginning with
small work on the edges of the city, which now ordinarily
amounts to a large aggregate, and keeps occupied large forces
of men until better engagements offer in more central sec¬
tions. Of the larger aud louger contracts a good number
have been scheduled, and iu general dealers in building ma¬
terials predict that conservative hopes will not be disap¬
pointed in the amount of business that will be offered during
the current year.





A BILL Intended to meet a very real difficulty in the ad¬
ministration of the tax department provides for dis¬
closing the actual consideration whenever a transfer of real
estate is made. The bill is also intended to meet a difficulty
which confronts the city government when obliged to acquire
private property for public purposes by purchase or con¬
demnation. Whether or not the measure furnishes a saEisfac-
tory solution, it will be considered seriously by all those in¬
terested in real estate transactions and in the welfare of the
city. It is contended by some that ignorance of the true con¬
sideration, and the consequent difference of opinion on the
part of expert appraisers as to values, deter many from in¬
vesting ill real estate, and on the opposite side there may be
a fear that the knowledge of the consideration for actual
transfers would reduce the opportunity for speculative profits.
There are those who object to the requirement that the price
of real estate shall be disclosed, but it is undoubtedly the fact
that the daily quotation of staple products helps to make an
active market. It helps the market because a prospective
buyer knows that he is not paying more than others under
similar circumstances, and anyone may buy at the market
price when he thinks prices are likely to rise. Even retail
prices can be ascertained readily by anyone who cares to
ask, and it is practically impossible for any dealer in com¬
modities to conceal his prices, even if he so desires. Real
estate is almost the sole subject of purchase and sale the
prices for which are extensively concealed. It is possible that
the fashion of inserting a nominal consideration in deeds
grew up in this city because real estate was assessed at only
a small fraction of its value, and the law gave no relief to
those who were overassessed, unless the assessment exceeded
the market value; and it may be that the custom also arose
in part through the desire of operators to resell at a higher
price. The usage is by no means universal, even where an
active real estate market obtains, and in some places it never
seems to occur to anybody to either omit the consideration
or to have it falsely stated, Umler such circumstances ex¬
perience teaches that a larger profit can be obtained by first
hanrls than by any subsequent purchaser, and one effect
of this bill would be to encourage building operations. The
present bill does not, absolutely require the. selling, price to-
be put into tbe deed, for, from our reading, anyone by paying
two hundred dollars as a penalty may evade the requirement.
In a small transaction it might be worth that much to some
not to have the price disclosed even to the tax commissioners,
but in the case of a large one the expressed penalty wouid
be no object. Analyzed, what the bill seems to require is only
a private statement to the tax commissioners, the effect of
the compliance with which would, of course, practically in¬
dicate iu due time on the tax rolls, if not what was paid, then
the sum which the department thought ought to have been.





THE PURPOSE of the Senate bill introduced by Mr.
Travis is not, as is explained by Comptroller Metz, to
enlarge the power of the City of New York to incur actual
indebtedness represented by obligation which must be met
by taxation, but rather to enable it to invest its credit in the
purchase of valuable assets and self-sustaining properties ab¬
solutely necessary to tbe public welfare. Exemption is asked
for the debts hitherto and to be incurred for dock and rail¬
road properties that earn interest and sinking fund charges,
the determination of fact to be made by the Supreme Court,
Appellate Division, on application. The proposed constitu¬
tional amendment will have to be approved by the present