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November 9, 1896
Record and Guide.
631
,y - ESTABUSHED'^fiWS'H2l»i''Iot.o.
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Vol. LVI.
NOVEMBEK 9, 1895.
No. 1,443
The Record and Gv'ityY. will fnrnisii yon wilh daily detailed reports
of all building operations, compiled to suit Yotjit business specifically, for
14 cents a day. You arc thus kept informed of the entire market for your
goods. No guessiDork. Every faet verified. Abundant capital and the
tliirty years'e-xperiencc of TiiK Recoud and Gvwe guarantee the com¬
pleteness and authenticity of t.his'_8erviee. Seud^to 14 and 16 Vesey street
for information.
THE weakness in the New York Stock Market is now almost
wholly of (he kind that ia known as sympathetic, wheu
prices decliue for well-known reasons, though working uuder
the surface. Local liquidation was carried out probably a mouth
ago, leaviug the conditious souud here apparently; hut since
that time the New York market has beeu used as a selliug place
for securities forced on the market because London aud Paris
over-speculated iu Kaflii-s; aud because the political rel.atious
of the European powers seemed for the moment more
than usually disagreeable aud foolish; and because Bostou
tried to cany more copper than its strength warranted; and,
finally, because Philadelphia has had au undue apprecia¬
tion of the value of electric light aud power stocks.
Whenever these causes failed to operate, for the time being New
York started an upward movement in prices, and is still impa¬
tient of the low quotatious now ruling, for railroad stocks
especially, regarding which, as a rule, the cuircut information
is good. With the exception of the roads iu the Southwest,
earnings are increasing. It stands to reason, for instance,
that the weakness in the stocks of the Northwestern roads can
ouly be due to forced liquidation at a time wheu the roads them¬
selves are making such excellent operating showings. It is
impossible to say when extraneous influences will bo spent, but
it is sure that so soon as they are our market will advance, aud
the meantime is the buyers' opportunity to make judicious
purchases.
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FOREIGN polities and the movements of prices on the ex¬
changes have taken up so much attention that little room
haa beeu found in the di-spatches for the doings of trade and
commerce. As a matter of fact, we seem eveiywhcic to have
reached a reactive period in the improvement that followed the
extreme depression of 1893-'4. There is not much recession tn
the prices of materials and supplies, but wauts of consumers
seem to be satisfied for the time being. The shako-up in Kafliis
will reach farther than is now seen, because while the insiders
have stepped iu to prevent a general collapse and smash, they
are not likely to try to prevent a further lowering of quotatious
if it can be gi'adnally made. Panic prices are never the lowest
of a declining movement, but the after-fall is more slowly
brought abont. The weak let go first, then the moderately
strong, and finally those who are not as long of patience ae they
are of money, sell and produce the final liquidation. There is
still to be ended another chapter in the perennially troublesome
Eastern question, uow unusually acute because aifecting spots
from Turkey in Emope to the easternmost point of Southeni
Asia. It is no donbt the wish of every mau in power to settle
those differences peaceably, and that will go a long way toward
making such a settlement possible, but while they remain un¬
settled anxiety as to the outcome will continne, and this anxiety
caunot fail to have a deterrent effect on trade aud commerce.
The hardening of tho rates for money which is everywhere
apparent would be a good thing if it were not more the result of
suspicion of the strength of the speculation iu securities which
has been going on for some time, than of an increased demaud
fiom merchants and manufacturers.
meut to be arrived at. " Fireproof" in connection with building
is not an absolute term. At best it is relative. An indestructible
building is a theoretical conception. In practice we ought to
speak of "slow burning " buildings instead of " fireproof build¬
iugs." There are degrees in the combustibility of so-called
fireproof structures, aud the Manhattan Savings Bank Buildiug
was not constructed in a m.tnner that made its consumption by
fire the tardiest possible. It was, indeed, a fireproof building,
but itwas not, by any means, the most recent of its class, and
its architect employed many methods which are not only far be¬
low the standard of to-day but which would not be peiiaitted by
the existing Building Law. Thus, it happens, that the destruc¬
tion of the edifice exemplifies what a good thing areallymodern
fireproof building is, for it may be confidently asserted
that no great offiee bnilding of to-day would be consumed so
speedily as the Manhattan Saviugs Bank Building was. But,
though the disaster easts no such lurid reflection upon the
highest methods of nioderu construction as the sensational
press endeavors to make out, it certainly does indicate inherent
â– weak spots iu even our be.st fire-proof structures. They contain
entirely too much inflammable material. The immense amount
of trim used is a danger, so are the wooden floors. Even the
window framing is an unnecessary weakness. If we are to have,
not slow bniniug buildings, but the slowest burning buildings,
we must construct our floors of concrete or asphalt, and onr
trim must be replaced by stone, plasterer some similar material.
Any timber that unavoidably has to be employed should be firc-
pioofed by any one of the many admirable methods now at the
builder's command. Had this course been adopted in the Man¬
hattan Savings Bauk Building, its destruction might uot have
been averted, hut it would surely h.ive been saved from severe
wreck. A little additional security from the materials used iu
the construction would have giveu the fire department an
immense assistance.
"OEOPLE are asking what is the lesson to be learnt from the
-*- conflagration of the Manhattan Savings Bank Building']
It seems to us that the lesson is thi.s—a fireproof building is a
very good thing. Tn view of tho result of Tnesd.iy's disaster
this may i ol stem Lo be the most obvious conclusion to be
drawn, but paradoxical as it may seem this is really the judg-
The Manhattan Savings' Bank Building Fire.
THE damage done to the Manhattan Savings' Bank building
on Tuesday last has created a very general discussion on
the merits of our fire-proof constructions, most of the discussion
being of the sensational and igndrant kind. The facts of the
catastrophe briefly are that a fire broke out in an old building
used for light manufacturing purposes, and altogether very in¬
flammable, on the southeast corner of Bleecker street and Broad¬
way, was communicated across the narrow width of Bleecker
street to the Savings Bauk building on the opposite comer, and
did a large amount of damage to that building. The suscepti¬
bility of this building, which was publicly, though improperly,
accepted as a fire-proof Imilding, to injury from fire has created
a great outcry and thrown doubts in the untechnical mind on the
value of fire-proof constraetion. We think, however, wheu all
the facts of this fire are brought out and carefully sifted that
they will strengthen rather thau weaken the theories that un-
deily the new construction.
In this case as in most others on which the public opinion is
expressed ott-hand, thei e is a jiunping at the meaning of terms.
Apparently the prevalent idea is that a building by being con¬
structed in a certain way will be given absolute immunity from
fire no matter what quantities of goods are stored in it or what
may be their degree of combustibility. No architect or builder
has auy such conception of the term. Fire-proofing can uever
do more thau give the largest protection in any conceivable cir¬
cumstances at the time of building; it cannot take into account
the circumstances that may occurthereafter, except in the gen¬
eral way suggested by esperience. Por instance, the architect of
the Manhattan Savings Building, Stephen D. Hatch, a man
prominent in the profession in his day, conld not have
imagined what has actually occun-ed, that his bnilding
would be partially destroyed by a fire originating across the
street. He no doubt had in mind the danger of fire occurring
within the buildiug itself or in one of its adjoining neighbors
and took what to him appeared to be the best precautions
against it. The Fire Department is, from the nature of its
oflice, the severest critic of construction in this city and its posi¬
tion toward fire-proof construction, that is, buildiag with metal
and briek and stone, is not one of antagonism. This positiou, as
obtained from the Chief of the Department by us in personal
conversation, is that the Department canuot cope with fires
originating in buildiugs .ibove twelve stories; that the greatest
dan-'er to the modern buildiugs is fiom the outside rather than
the inside. Fires originating in buildings partitioned off by
fire-proof material are practically inoffensive except to the
apartment in which they occur. Consequently one oflice
â– fcuilding oifera uo menace to another, but that as soon as
any ono ia altered for niercautilo purposes it is a danger to the
others. But this only refers to the dauger that exists at all
times in great cities, where a multiplicity of causes may be at
work unseen to produce catastrophes and does not for a moment
indicate that the minimum of such danger is not further reduced
]a' [Jc liie-proof conatmction. There are amnerous inetances