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December 25, igog
RECORD AISD GUIDE
1157
Dr^iri) p RpJ4. Estate, Building A^RcKnEeruRE ,l{ouaEaou» DEOflpDi^
Busii/ess AifeThemes OF Gb|Ier,4 IrfrEBfM.^
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET
Tubfished Every Satarday
By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO.
President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE
Vlce-Pres. ft Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLER
Nos. 11 to 15 East 24tli Street, New Yorli City
(Telephone. Madison Square, 4430 to 4433.)
"Entered at the Post Office at New Tork, A. Y., as second-class matter."
Copyrighted, 1909, by The Record & Guide Co.
Vol. LXXXIV.
DECEMBER 25, 1909.
No. 2ISO
IT is not too much to say tbat the new municipal adminis¬
tration starts with a fairer chance ol being useful to
the city than any administration of recent years. Although
its members were elected on (jifferent tickets, they are all ot-
tbem disinterested and public-spirited men, and they have
exhibited a commendable disposition to ignore past differ¬
ences aud to unite upon a common platform of devotion to
the interests of tbe whole city. They bave a difflcult and
a complicated tasli ahead of them—-more dilBcult and com¬
plicated than that which faced any of their predecessors.
They are committed to a policy of subway construction at
tbe earliest possible moment, and, if uecessary, at the public
expense. They will be obliged to continue the policy of
undertaking those public improvements wbicb are an in¬
separable adjunct to tbe increase of the city in population
and business. At the same time, they are also committed
to a policy of iu some way economizing both the city's reg¬
ular appropriations and its extraordinary expenditures on tbe
capital account. Such a policy is forced upon tbem, not
merely by their ante-election pledges, but by tbe actual finan¬
cial condition of the city. The tax-rate has beeu increasing
steadily of late, and it cannot keep on increasing without
seriously injuring the business growth of New York. The
increase in the assessed valuation of real estate will not
average during the next few years more than $300,000,000
a year, which will mean an increased income at the exist¬
ing tax-rate of about $5,000,000. In one way or another
the increase in the budget will have to be kept down to that
figure, aud considering the growing needs of tbe city in cer¬
tain important respects, it may be doubted whether tbe in¬
crease in the annua! appropriations can be confined to the
limits mentioned without the saving of some of the existing
sources of waste. A similar condition will confront the new
Board of Estimate in relation to the prob,lem of capital ex¬
penditures. Leaving subways out of consideration, tbey
will be obliged to keep the increase in the net debt down to
about $30,000,000 a year, and they will not be able to do
this without rigid economy. But their task, although diffi¬
cult, is far from being impossible, and the new Board of
Estimate will have oue advantage in managing tbe finances.
Tbe new borough presidents are men of unusually superior
quality, who have been elected ou reform tickets, and have
every reason to redeem their pledges. There is a good
chance, that they will be willing to co-operate with the rest
of the board in the attempt which must be made to secure
for tbe city five dollars worth of value for every flve dollars
expended.
OP all tbe flnancial and administrative questions whicii
will be pressed upon tbe attention of the new Board of
Estimate that of subway construction is most important.
Every member of the board is explicitly and emphatically
pledged to improve tbe existing means of communication, and
yet rapid transit is precisely that aspect of the city's business
affairs, over which the Board of Estimate has least control.
In this region its Jurisdiction is shared witb the Public Ser¬
vice Commission, and hitherto these two bodies have sys¬
tematically adopted different opinions as to the proper policy
of the city in respect to. subway construction. How, then,
is the new board going to redeem its pledges in this all-
important matter? There is only one way in which such
a result can be accomplished. They must seek to reach
some preliminary agreement with the Public Service Com¬
mission as to the routes to be constructed, aud the terms by
which their construction and subsequent operation shall be
determined. Tbe two boards must in some way "get to¬
gether," and the way in which this act or process of get¬
ting together caa best be accomplished, has already beeu
outlined by the new president of tbe Board of Aldermen, Mr.
iVlitcbel. He has recently suggested in a public speech that
a standing sub-committee be appointed by the Board of Esti¬
mate, whose especial function it should be to confer with
tbe Public Service Commission to discuss possible points of
difference, aud to reach the main planks of a platform of
subway constructiou, upon which the two commissions can
stand. This is an admirable proposal, and it is very much
to be hoped that the Board of Estimate will act upon it.
There is no assurance, of course, tliat even such a sensible
way of anticipating possible disagreements will prove to be
successful. Tbe distinguishing characteristic of tbe Public
Service Commission hitherto has been a jealous insistence
upon every scrap of authority which could possibly be ex¬
torted from the law, and an equally stubborn disposition to
attribute any opposition to its policy to the worst of motions
or to the height of unintelligence aud misinformation. If
tbe Public Service Commission continues to behave in its
accustomed manner, no sub-committee of tbe Board of Esti¬
mate will be able to prevent a continuation of tbe cross-
purposes and disagreements which have done so much in the
past to hinder subway construction. But it is certainly up
to tbe Board of Estimate to make an attempt to reach an
agreement, and if the attempt fails their hands will at least
be washed free of responsibility. The jurisdiction of the
two Boards in the matter of subway contracts is co-ordinate,
and they should do their best to unite on a commou policy,
and so avoid the delays that would inevitably result from
the lack of some initial understanding.
ANOTHER suggestion made by the new President of
the Board of Aldermen, Mr. Mitchell, in the same
speech, is also well worthy of adoption. He recommends
tbat a comprehensive system of subway and elevated routes
be prepared for the whole city, and tbat no contracts for
new subways should be let unless the new subway has its
proper place in sucli a comprehensive plan. It is very much
to be hoped that the other members of the new Board of
Estimate will agree with Mr. Mitchell in this respect, and
will urge upon the Public Service Commission the importance
T)f preparing such a comprehensive scheme. Over seven
years ago ex-Mayor Low pointed out clearly and emphatic¬
ally its necessity, and tbe old Rapid Transit Commission did
a great deal of preliminary work towards its preparation.
The Public Service Commission has, on the other, hand, never
shown any interest in laying out a complete system of rapid
transit routes. When it assumed offlce it committed itself
immediately to tbe construction of the Broadwaj^-Lexington
avenue route in Manhattan, and the Fourth avenue route in
Brooklyn, and both of these subways violated the'idea upon
which systematic subway construction should be based. In
the case of the Manhattan route it merely duplicated the
existing subway for a large part of its course; and in the
case of the Brooklyn route it subordinated immediate and
pressing to more remote and less essential needs. The pre¬
paration of a systematic plan of rapid transit construction,
coupled with the classification of the several routes as more
or less immediately necessary, will make the commission of
similar errors more difficult in tbe future.
IF THE existing real estate market continues throughout
the winter and spring, there is no doubt that during the
course of its activity a great many records will be broken.
It appears certain that the chief characteristic of the genera!
situation will continue to be the permanent appropriation of
peculiarly desirable sites for business firms or corporations,
which need the advantages of such a location. This process,
which long ago had been carried very far in the financial
district, has of late years been conspicuous along upper Pifth
avenue and Broadway, and the high prices which had come
to prevail on those thoroughfares tempted one to forget that
when corners on Pifth aveuue are worth $200 a square foot,
corners in the Financial District must be worth correspond¬
ingly more. The recent sale of the Giilender Building, at the
corner of Nassau and Wall streets, indicates that the Finan¬
cial district is as far as possible from losing its pre-eminence
as tbe locality in which the value of real estate soars to Its
highest point. If the figures given out are approximately