February 29, 1908





RECORD  AND  GUIDE





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Vol,   LXXXl.





FEBRUARY 20. 1908.





No, 2085.





INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising  Section.

Page.                                                      Page,

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

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

Consulting    E'ogineers    .......xii   Quick   Job   Directory..........vii

Contractors   and   Builders......ii   Real EsLale   ...................v

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

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

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

Iron   and Steel...............xiii





A REAL SERVICE to the eommunity could be rendered
by the commissioners now engaged in revising the
Building Code through formulating vegu'lations to insure
for the tenants of houses averred to be steam-heated the
warmth which is paid for and which the landlords impliedly
agree to furnish during cold weather. Though no book
of registry is anywhere provided in which complaints can
be entered, general report is to the effect* that this winter
there has been a greater saving of coal than even a com¬
paratively mild season has Justified. Each passing year
the evil becomes more prevalent, the owner's conscience
more dulled, until it cannot be said any longer to consist
merely of isolated cases, and something in the nature of
official legislation is necessary. In an action decided this
week the court held substantially that the failure of a land¬
lord to supply adequate heat constitutes a constructive evic¬
tion if the tenant leaves: "the tenant need not have paid
rent and could have removed from the premises," and "a
specific agreement in the lease on tbe part of the landlord
to supply adequate heat would have enabled the plaintiff
to recover any damages which resulted to him by reason
of the breach of this duty." But it is poor satisfaction for
a tenant either to move in miiS-winter or to prosecute a
suit successfully; his rights should be safe-guarded without
his having to go to extremities. Some houses are cold be¬
cause the furnaces or boilers with which they have been
equipped are not capable of raising the temperature to a
comfortable degree. In other cases it is because sufiicient
coal is not supplied. Both deficiencies couM be remedied
by law and departmental inspection, and according to public
opinion the time seems to have arrived when move effective
rules should be promulgated. If there should be a migra¬
tion from Manhattan of serious magnitude this year land¬
lords may with reason attribute a part of it to the feeling
of resentment which has been generated among tenants by
their having to pay for what is not provided. Real estate
agents in some very good sections have long reporte(i[ a de¬
cided preference for' non-heated apartments not to be ac¬
counted for by the difference in rent; for of the two classes
of houses the latter is oftentimes the more expensive for
tenants. But here they get all that rightfully belongs to
them.





MEASURES more definitely and certainly protective of
the boating interests of the vicinity will ultimately
have to be taken in order to preserve their landing places
from the encroachments of more powerful forces. Last year
it reauired the Governor's veto to keep the Hudson River
towing lines from being excluded from piers where they have
always been accustomed'to land. The protests of the build¬
ing material trades and even tbe veto of the Mayor were
unavailing with the Legislature. A few years previously
the-Board .of Estimate-had to interfere to protect a number





of Hudson River steamboat lines against being turded away
from wharves which they have occupied since early times.
Ocean lines coveted their piers and were willing to pay a
higher rent than the river lines cou'ld afford. At the present
time there is a bill in the Assembly to amend the charter
of tbe city in relation to the territory for the accommoda¬
tion and use of canal boats and barges.which would close"
the water front from Clinton Street to the Battery on the
East River and from the Battery to Ninth Street on the Hud¬
son River. Not a ton of coal could come into the financial
district of the city without being trucked for miles, nor a load
of building material, such as brick, cement, lime, stone, or
any of tbe domestic supplies which are brought to the city by
canal boats and barges, provided tbe point of departure for
these freight carriers is south of a village named Castleton
on the Hudson River. In practice this would" give the
Northern and Erie canal boats exclusive rights to three
piers and bulkheads in the East River which they now
share in common with the Hudson River towing lines. No
other wharves in the quarter being available, the firms
dealing in building materials and other supplies coming to
New York on barges from the river towns would be leftj
without landing places in the lower part of the city. Hence,
the dealers in masons' materials and other building interests
have a sound reason for the protests they are making, but un¬
less the moral conscience of the Legislature is awakened to
the injustice that is being done, the city will have to rely lipon
the Governor again for protection. The struggle for supremacy
on the New York water front has only begun, and it promises
to be waged without any consideration of equity or regard
for the interests of the city until a better plan for the
collection and distribution of freight can be provided.





NOTHING in the law prevents the City from contracting
for a subway with flve builders instead of one. or with
as many as it chooses. It may give the whole work ta one, or
divide it among several. We understand that the existing
subway system has had five builders thus far. Also there
is nothing in the law prohibiting the building of a rapid-
transit system in sections, one section at a time, or several
concurrently, when the whole cannot be put under construc¬
tion at once. Hence, providing that the means are available
—and the Manhattan-Bronx real estate interests have not
been convinced that they are not—there is nothing to hinder
the Board of Estimate exhibiting a disposition to be impar¬
tial by making a beginning on the Lexington-Broadway
route concurrently with work on Fourth avenue in Brooklyn.
These were the fundamental remarks at the several meetings
of civic bodies in the Bronx this week, and further stated
at the hearing before the Board of Estimate, Added to
these opinions is a very general feeling that unless definite
action is taken at this crisis to give the two boroughs relief,
none will be forthcoming for another decade. One of the
orators of the week counted eighty-four million dollars
that is being spent for Brooklyn-Queens—and not a nickel
for additional facilities in Manhattan-Bronx, except for a
change in the subway trackage at Ninety-sixth street. With
the Bisberg law, un(3er the terms of which new subway,
construction In the Bronx Is absolutely prohibited, still on
the statute books, and the McAdoo and Battery tunnels
already beginning to draw population in other directions,
they have reason for apprehension and for pleading with
the Board of Estimate, for consideration. Comptroller Metz
reiterates tha.t there is no money, and that relief can only
follow the amending of the Elsberg law; but even President
Coler of Brooklyn says there are or will be soon more means
than the Comptroller has taken account of, and so supports
tlie contention of the Municipal Art CiDmiuission aud other
civic bodies that have spoken to this question. Under the
trying circumstances in which all concerned are placed, wis¬
dom and fairness seem now to counsel suspension of further
action for the Fourth avenue, Brooklyn, subway until the
Elsberg amendments are enacted, if no way can be found
before then of tintting the proposed Manhattan-Bronx; lines
on the same footing; for the fact remains that the Fourth ■
avenue Brooklyn tunnel can be put under contract In'part, .
if the Board.of Estimate is so disposed; -and the Manhattan
line In part, and the Bronx branches in part, with the moneys.,
that are now available for Brooklyn and other rapid transit .
work divided equally. No requirement exists that" cannot-
be reconsidered for setting aside at one time all 'the money,
needed to build arid complete the whole length of the Brook¬
lyn extension, or to ^ive out the- whole .wprk at one ti^'e,.'