August 27, 1910





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





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Communications should be addressed t»

a W. SWEET

Published EVerg Satardag

By THE KECORD AND GUIDE CO.

President. CLINTON W. SWEET                     Treasurer, F. W. DODGH

Vice-pres. fi Genl. Mgr.. H. W. DESMOND        Secretary, F. T. MILLBE

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Copyrighted.   1910.   by   The   Record   &   Guide   Co.





Vol.  LXXXVL





AUGUST 27,  1910.





No. 22I0





THE building plans filed at the Manhattan Bureau last
week called for an expenditure of over $2,000,000;
and of this sum over one half is to he spent upon apartment-
houses situated on the West Side, This fact is very signifi¬
cant. At a time when the construction of apartment houses
on Washington Heights has almost ceased, owing to the difii¬
culty of procuring loans in that region, and at a time when
almost none but cooperative apartment houses are being
erected on the East Side, the speculative building of such
structures has remained comparatively active on the West
Side, It is the most active spot in a borough which iu every
other region is exceedingly dull, aud there is every reason to
believe that this activity will continue at an even pace for
many years to come. Of course conditions will prevent any
very large amount of building at any one time. There is
comparatively little vacant land left on the West Side; and
the work of buying adjoining dwellings on the side streets
for the purpose of obtaining a site for an eight-story apart¬
ment-house necessarily proceeds slowly. Nevertheless, it
will proceed steadily. The price of land, improved with priv¬
ate dwellings, has not mounted so high on the West Side that
a plot of sufficient size cannot be pieced out at an expense
which leaves a fair profit in a building operation. In this
respect the West Side offers a much better opportunity to
the speculative builder than does the East Side. East of
Central Park land ou desirable streets is so expensive that
eight-story buildings cannot be erected with profit—almost
every street contains a number of houses that have heen re¬
constructed into American basement dwellings, and the cost
of such houses would be prohibitive. The consequence is
that even after a Madison or a Lexington avenue subway has
been built there "will be comparatively few opportunities ou
the East Side for building apartment houses without an ave¬
nue frontage. The section given over to this class of recon¬
struction will necessarily be the West Side, which eventually
will be covered almost solidly with apartment-houses and
flats. It is desirable in the interest of low rents that this
tendency should be encouraged; and there is no reason why
the tenement-house law should not be modified permitting
the erection of houses 100 feet in height on sixty foot
streets. Such a change would greatly encourage and ac¬
celerate the movement.





that he will not allow himself to be diverted from his pres¬
ent work. There are many local politicians who would
dearly like to get rid of him as Mayor by kicking him upstairs
into the Governor's chair at Albany; but if he should accede
to their wishes, he would make a grave mistake. A large
part of his popularity is due to the conviction he has inspired
in the people that he is not playing any political game; and
this conviction would be shaken in case he allowed himself
to be turned aside from his present work. He has, of course,
repeatedly stated that he will not accept a nomination for
Governor and he is undoubtedly sincere in making this asser¬
tion. But his refusal may not prevent the politicians from
attempting to stampede the convention in his favor and then
seeking to break down his decision to remain where he is.
There is no reason to suppose they will succeed, but if the at¬
tempt is likely to be made public opinion in New York City
should proclaim with no uncertain voice that New York is
not willing to give him up. The Mayor of this city is in a
position to do much more effective public service than the
Governor of the state, and a man who has been elected to
the former position and deserts it would he confessing that
he preferred personal advancement to the public service.





EVERY good citizen of New York must heave a sign of
relief and thanksgiving at Mayor Gaynor's prompt
and prosperous recovery. During the nine months of his
ofiicial term he has earned quite as much from his former op¬
ponents as from his former supporters, complete and loyal
confidence. He has put an amount of energy, intelligence
and good faith into the task of governing the city well which
has not been shown by any Mayor of the City, within the
memory of any man now living; and if he had died the cause
of municipal reform in New Yorli City would have received a
grievous set-back. At the time he was elected he had not
convinced a great many good citizens of New York that he
would make a wise, disinterested and efficient Mayor; but,
we know of no case in American politics of a man, who after
he was elected to offlce, succeeded in so completely convert¬
ing his former adversaries. There is every reason to believe
that he has won the respect and confidence of a large ma¬
jority of the voters, as well as that of the minority of re¬
formers and that, consequently, he will be in a position to
control the local political situation at the expiration of his
present term.     It is very much to be hoped  consequently,





THE new proposition made by the New York, Westches¬
ter and Boston Railroad to the Public Service Com¬
mission adds a new and curious complication to the already
exceedingly complicated transit situation in this city. The
Record and Guide has always imagined (and has frequently
expressed its suspicion) that the Broadway-Lexington avenue
route was intended specially for the benefit of the New
Haven Railroad. The president of that corporation has on
three separate occasions announced in public that it proposed
to seek an entrance into iVIanhattan by means of a subway;
and from every point of view, the route preferred by the
Public Service Commission seemed adapted to its n^eds. It
has been planned to accommodate cars as large as those
now used by steam railroads in their suburban service. It
is essentially an independent route, and it is connected by
means of tlie Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn with that
part of South Brooklyu which is to be developed by means
of the construction of the connecting Railway by the Penn¬
sylvania and New Haven companies. Certain contractors
have promised to construct this route; but obviously no
firm of mere contractors could raise the money needed with¬
out the assistance of some corporation of unimpeachable
financial standing. All these considerations make the theory
that the New Haven Company will build and lease the
Broadway-Lexington avenue route look plausible; but ap¬
parently they count for nothing in case the management of
the New Haven Railroad proposes to transfer the passengers
from the new Westchester and Bronx lines to the Interbor¬
ough system. What it all means we cannot pretend to guess;
but outwardly the proposed arrangement does not seem ad¬
vantageous either to the New Haven Company, the Interbor¬
ough Company or to the public. It gives the passenger on
the new Bronx and Westchester lines a comparatively slow
and inadequate connection with the southern part of Man¬
hattan. It makes the primary duty of the Interborough Com¬
pany, that of meeting the needs of the population necessarily
and immediately tributary to its lines, increasingly difficult.
Finally, it means tbe further congestion of an already con¬
gested system, at least until relief comes with the completion
of the Broadway-Lexington system. But one of its good
local effects would undoubtedly be the development of large
sections of the East Bronx and the Annexed District, which
have long needed rapid transit.





THE one redeeming aspect of the present situation is that
its existing uncertainties cannot last very much longer.
After a delay of three months the Public Service Commission
has finally reached the point of being able to advertise for
bids on tbe Broadway-Lexington avenue route; and on the
results of this buildiug everything will depend. If the
Gaffney-Steers Contracting syndicate can make its promise
good of furnishing the money to build the route as well as
a' responsible operating company, the City will be just so
much to the good and will be free to devote to other lines
the money applicable to rapid transit construction. In case
no private bidder is forthcoming, and in case the city will
have to use its own money to construct the Broadway-Lex¬
ington avenue route without any assurance of securing a re¬
sponsible lessee, it will be a grave tiuestion whether its credit
could not be better spent in extending the existing subway.
In either event, negotiations will have to be resumed with
the Interborough Company, and presumably they will in the
end come to something.    For the next few months we can