July 25, 1908





RECORD  AND  GUIDE





173







ESTABUSHED^W M-ARPH 21""







•1868.





Dev&TEO to flE^L ESTWE. BuiLDIN'g i\R.a(lTECTJnE .HoiISEllOlD DECORATlOrf,

Birsit/Ess AffoThemes of GEfteryil Ii^terest..

PRICE    PER   YEAR    IN   ADVANCE    EIGHT    DOLLARS

Communications   should  be   addressed  to

C. W. SWEET

"Publisfied Every Saturday

By THE RECORD AND GUIDE  CO.

Prei'ident.  CLINTON W.   SWEET                         Treasurer, F. W. DODGE

Vice-Pres. Sr. Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND         Secretary. F. T. MILLER

Nos.   11   to   15  East  24th   Street.  New   York  City

(Telephone,   Mndison   Square,  4430  to  4433.)







"Entered at the




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Copj'rightcd,




ISOS.   by




The




Record




&




Guide




Co.















Vol.




LXXXII.









JULT 25,




1908.



















No.




2106





THE tax rate in Manhattan for the current year.will be
1.61 against a rate of 1.-18 for the preceding year—-
which means that the property-owners of New York will find
their tax bills next fall almost ten per cent, larger than they
were last fall. Inasmuch as prevailing conditions do not
favor an Increase in rents, this money will have to be paid
by property-owners out of their own pockets; and it is no
■wonder that they are oi'gauizing and are asking for a hear¬
ing on the Budget next fall. The prospect by which they
are confronted is unquestionably very serious. Not only will
the tax bills paid next fall be subject to an increase of almost
ten per cent., but in all probability further increases will
follow. The expenses of the city are expanding at an ap-
paling rate, and in spite of the opposition of the most im¬
portant members of the Board of Estimate and Apportion¬
ment. Both Mayor McClellan and Comptrollsr Metz are sin¬
cerely desirous of economy. They realize that an increase
iu the tax rate makes the municipal government responsible
therefor extremely unpopular, and they have always done
their best to keep down the expenses of the city. But con¬
ditions have been too strong for them. Most of the increases
In expenditures which have caused the larger tax rate were
mandatory, and the remainder were necessitated by the in¬
creased cost of the various municipal services. In a rapidly
growing city like New York the various public dep^-tments
are bound to rec[uire more money for the efficient perform¬
ance of their tasks; and there is no single department thei
head of which does not claim that his work is miserably
hampered by lack of funds. The question is then: what is
to be done? What will the representatives of the tax-payers'
associations propose, when they obtain their hearing from
the Board of Estimate? Of course, they will propose econ¬
omy; but in what specific way will economy be effected under
existing laws and consistent with the maintenance of the
various branches of the public service? We do not believe
that any specific measures of economy can be proposed which
the Board of Estimate has not already considered and re¬
jected on grounds connected with the public interest. The
situation is, unfortunately, much more complicated and dif¬
ficult than appears at first sight. In order to protect their
interests the taxpayers will have to take more energetic and
decisive action than any which is yet proposed.





EXTRAVAGANCE undoubtedly exists in the spending of
the city's revenues. Enormous sums of money could
unciuestionably be saved to the taxpayers by a more economi¬
cal administration and without any deterioration of public
service. But unfortunately nobody, not even the Mayor or
the comptroller, is in a position to trace this extravagance
to its source and to provide a remedy. The method of keep¬
ing the city's books is such that the head of a department
can waste his appropriation almost without detection; and
the laws under which the municipal servants hold their offlces
are such that nobody has an object in being efficient and
economical. It is extremely fortunate, consequently, that a
legislative committee will soon begin an investigation into
the financial condition of the city. Such an investigation,
provided it is ably and resolutely conducted, should be of
enormous assistance in discovering the defects in the exist¬
ing muncipal organization in its relation to finance; and it
should, also, help to uncover just what the future resources
and responsibilities of New York are.    The information so





obtained will be of the utmost benefit to the Charter Revision
Commission, and may result in some more radical change
even than a better system of municipal bookkeeping. In the
opinion of the Record and Guide the organization responsi¬
ble for the spending of the city's revenues is itself at fault.
The Board of Estimate, which makes the municipal appro¬
priations, has no control over their expenditure, and the heads
of departments who spend the money, have no responsibility
for its appropriation. What we need is a Board of Estimate
composed of the most important heads of departments, so
that the money will be spent under the supervision of those
-by whom it is appropriated. Every man on the Board would
then have his share of the general responsibility for the eco¬
nomical conduct of the city's affairs, as well as his special
responsibility to his colleagues for the efficient administra¬
tions of his own department. Such a system as this would
certainly enable the taxpayers to fix the responsibility for
extravagance*much better than is possible at present,





SOME WEEKS ago the Record and Guide predicted that
other property-owners in the financial district would
follow the example of the Equitable Life Assurance Society,
aud this prediction is already being fulfilled. It is ad¬
mitted that plans are seriously being considered for a tower
about 1,000 feet high, to be erected over part of the enlarged
Mills Building in Broad Street. Such plans have, indeed,
been drawn, and may soon be filed—although- apparently
there is still some doubt whether they will ever be carried
out. It is probable, however, that they will not be thrown
away, because, as in the case of the new Equitable Building,
the. present is an advantageous moment for this kind of
enterprise. Fireproof buildings can be built cheaper than for
any time in many years; and it may be several more years
before they cau be again be built at prevailing figures. In
the meantime, it is very probable that certain restrictions
will be imposed upon the erecting right of a property-owner
to build as high as he pleases, so that if he has a piece of
property peculiarly adapted to a very tall building, the sooner
he uses his opportunity the better. The Equitable block was
a conspicuous example of such a piece of property. The
Mills Building, particularly, if improved in conjunction with
the Drexel-Morgan property on the Wall Street corner, would
constitute a still better example, while the southwest corner
of Wall and Broad may be mentioned .as a third. Many more
pieces of property, whose locations would be adapted to
such improvements, and whose existing buildings are not too
valuable to be torn down, could be mentioned, but obviously
the list would be restricted by economic reasons. The erec¬
tion of many such buildings all at the sarae time would be
disastrous to everybody concerned. Even the financial growth
of New York would not be sufficient to fill more than two
sixty-story towers every two or three years. The new Equit¬
able Building alone would accommodate about five times the
number of tenants now resident on the site, and would supply
as much rentable floor space as has ever been furnished in
the most active building year the financial district has evel
seen. In the same way a new Mills building, with a tower
seventy stories high and 80x100 feet in size, would contain as
many tenants as six or seven ordinary skyscrapers. It is
improbable, consequently, that many more property-owners
will seek to anticipate a change in the building laws by pre¬
paring for the immediate erection of towers 900 or more feet
in height.





NEW YORK is gradually getting to be a cleaner, healthier,
and a better governed city, hut with all the improve¬
ments that are being made in these and other respects
there are certain essential matters in which no improvement
at all can be remarked. The municipal government is spend¬
ing many millions annually upon public conveniences, such as
bridges and the like, yet New York remains as inconvenient
a place in which to live as it was fifteen years ago. New
York also remains an unattractive looking city in spite of the
steady improvement in the standard of architectural design,
and of the millions of dollars that are spent every year in
erecting handsome and imposing buildings. The trouble is,
of course, that the city increases in population even more
rapidly than do the conveniences provided for its inhabitants,
and that it seems impossible to undertake those great works
of street improvement, without which New York cannot be¬
come a much more convenient or better-looking city. So far
as Manhattan is concerned, the whole future of the borough,
as an economical place in which to transact business, and as
the most metropolitan part of the American business and
social metropolis, depends upon a better system of streets.