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May 12, 1906
RECORD AND GUIDE
879
ESTABUSHED^ iV^RCHeiV.^ 1968.
DE^TEBpRfA.LErSTAJI.BuiLDIf/G AFtC^lTECTifflp.hfoUSnJOluDESaRJTKMi.
Bl/SIt^ESSA!foT;iE>.'ESorCE:JERM l^/^ERES^,
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
fublisftad eVcrg Saturday
Communlcatlona sliould bo addrOHSod to
C. W. SWEET. K-IO Vesey Street, New York
I Tclophonp, Cortlandt 3157
"Entered al lhe
J'ost Office
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Vol. LXXVII,
MAY
12,
190G.
No. 1991
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Adverlisiog Section,
* Page, Page.
Cement .....................xxiii Law ..........................xi
Consulting Engineers ..........x Lunibi^r .................xxviii
Clay Products ...............xxii Machinery ..................iv
Contractors and Builders ......v Metai Work ................xvii
Electrical Interests..........viii Quick Joh Directory ........xxvi
Fireproofing.................iii Real Estate ................xiii
Granite ....................xxiv Roofers Sc Roofing Materials, .vii
Heating .....................xx Stone .....................xxiv
Iron and Steel .............xviii Wood Products ............xxix
FROM last week's crash in prices there has been a sharp re¬
action upward on the New York Stock Exchange. It may
be fairly said that the sudden advance has surprised Wall Street,
and has caught many shrewd operators short of the market at
the lowest figures. The talent was in agreement that a pro¬
tracted decline was ahead of us, that the goose that lays the
golden eggs—the public—had heen killed, and that it would be a
long time before a bull speculation could be inaugurated. Within
a week of these confident conclusions a rise of from five to
twenty points—the latter in Reading—has taken place, stocks
lilie Brooklyn Rapid Transit, Union Pacific, Amalgamated Cop¬
per, and many otlier of the leaders having advanced ten points
each. The goose had not been killed, and never is. Only some
goslings die. Such a sharp right-about-face of the market is not
unusual. It may be always counted upon as the sequel of a col¬
lapse important enough to become bL^itoric. Wall Street had a
like upward movement, and indeed a sustained advance, after
the Northern Pacific corner panic of 1901, when the wisest be¬
lieved that the theretofore bull market was over for good.
Again, when the New York Stock Exchange reopened after
being closed for about ten days in the panic of 1873, an advance
began, to everybody's astonishment, which ended only with a
bear panic—the whole street having espoused the short side.
If the popular notion that the fundamentals underlying the pres¬
ent widespread prosperity continue sound aud healthy, then it
may well be that the long-looked-for rise in railroad stocks
will be had this summer, following the adjournment of Con¬
gress.
SUCH a heartbreaking smash in prices as that of the late
crash undoubtedly cripples and puts iut of business a host
of speculators. On the other hand, the advertisement of tbe bar¬
gains to be obtained brings in new buyers from everywhere, a
percentage of whom remain to speculate. A panic in Wail
Street has very much the effect of a special offering of print
goods on a given day by a big house like the H, B. Clafiin
Company. Buyers appear from all over the country to secure
some of the bargains. The entire dry-goods trade is stimulated
by general purchases, and better prices than before result. Al¬
ready this week several stocks have sold higher than before, and
this may continue. The low-priced railroad issues seem the most
promising purchases. They may be said to constitute the only
form of improved real estate which can be bought for less than
the prices of five to seven years ago. An easy money market is
assured for the summer. The Klondike gold, amounting to
twenty million dollars, will shortly begin to arrive on the Pacific
coast, and will help to bring about the large return-fiow of
money from San Francisco that is expected. The San Fran¬
cisco banks are now said to hold in cash seventy-five per cent,
of their deposits. There will be no such percentage of with¬
drawals as this, and new and large local deposits will undoubt¬
edly begin to be made as soon as the banks open for business.
Other things being equal, the adjournment of Congress and
State legislatures throughout the country should have a bene¬
ficial effect on the market. When the lawmakers are in session
there is often great anxiety on the part of corporations as to
hostile legislation, locally and nationally, and this anxiety is
reflected in acute sensitiveness in Wall Street. With the ad¬
journment of legislatures a fruitful source of disquietude is thus,
for the time being, removed. As for the railroad rate bill, there
are those who maintain that, should it become a law, tbe proflts
of the railroads will be largely increased.
/^NLY a question of time it was when New York would have
^—' an all-night bank, and now it is here, and will probably
beconie a regular institution. For many decades New York
lagged behind other great cities in the conveniences of a
metropolis, and there are still some things lacking, among
them a cheap cab service. But, wlien New York awakens to its
shortcomings, it institutes very thorough reforms. In New
York, for instance, one can travel at any hour of the night on
the surface, subway or elevated railroads. In London one can¬
not. The belated citizen has to fall back on cabs after mid¬
night, for all underground railroad stations are ciosed at that,
hour. Neither can one get anything to eat in a restaurant
in the mighty British metropolis after midnight, which is a
distinct hardship for the tens of thousands of foreigners who
make London an objective point. To enter your hotel either in
London or the provinces late at night, one almost has to resort
to burglar's methods. A sleepy night porter will let a guest in
unwillingly. It does not seem to enter the cranium of the British
inn or hotel keeper that a suest should be as free to come and
go at any hour of the day or night as if in his own house-
Nothing of this sort to complain of in New York. As hotels
and many restaurants are open all uighl, and money has thus
to be actively in circulation, an all-night bank became a neces¬
sity. Its aim and purpose are to consult the wishes and ac¬
commodate the convenience of the public. Personal necessities
anci conveniences'call for banking facilities as urgently in other
hours of the day or night as the heretofore rigidly conventional
hours of between ten and three. As the Night and Day Bank
very properly says: "Hours and requirements of business have
been extended, household and individual needs for money move¬
ment have multiplied regardless of clock time, yet the hours
of banking have remained the same,"
MR. FRANK VANDERLIF'S recent address on the credit
of New York Cits' should be printed in pamphlet form
and circulated by the Finance Department of this city. Many
of the newspapers have been arguing that the city must stop
its policy of liberal expenditures for improvements, because of
the increasingly high percentage at which its obligations are
being sold; but any curtailment of these improvements for
such a reason would in the long run cost the city a much
larger sum than the additional millions which it will be
obliged to pay in interest. The policy of liberal improve¬
ments for public purposes must be continued, because it is
essential to the economic growth of the city; but these improve¬
ments should be paid for, as Mr. Vanderlip suggests, by bonds
which have only a few years to run. That is the course which
railway companies pursue when they cannot sell to advantage
comparatively permanent obligations, and New York City
should pursue a similar policy. There can be no doubt that
in the course of time tlie city will again be able to borrow
on much better terms. Practically ever since 1901 money has
been so scarce that high-grade securities bearing a low rate of
interest have been sold at a disadvantage. There was; of
course, a period of cheap money in 1903-4, but it dirt not
last long enough really to affect the situation. During all
this era of business expansion, when capital could be
so advantageously employed in general trade, New York has
been obliged to borrow largely, and she has undoubtedly
been selling more of her stock than the immediate
demand warranted. The time will soon be coming, bow-
ever, when money will again be cheap, and when general
business will be less active. Then New York will be able to
sell her securities on much better terms, and she should so
far as possible postpone the sale of permanent obligations until
that time comes.
SO FAR as can be judged from the fragmentary reports
which appear in the daily papers, San Francisco is taking
up tbe problem of reconstruction in a sufficiently serious and
responsible spirit, Tbe leaders among its citizens appreciate
the fact that to I'ebuild the city according to ordinary methods
would be merely to invite calamity and to undermine the
confldence in the city's future without which it cannot retain
its existing position. Extraordinary precautions must be taken
hereafter against tbe possibility of severe earthquakes, and
of subsequent conflagrations; and the city must take care both
that an unusually good quality of building is erected, and
that in case any similar disaster should occur in the future
its effect will be localjze'3, To this entj it is proposed in the