December i, igo6
RECORD AND GUIDE
899
^......
ESTABUSHED"^ J^CHSiyN 1368.
DeAtiI) id REA.L ElSTAJE.BuiLDlflG ^HcKlTEeTin^E.KoUSQlOLD DEGORATlotJ,
Bifsn/Ess Af4) Themes of GeiJer^V IKterjsi .
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Published eVery Saturday
Communications ahould bo addresaod to
C. W, SWEET
Downtown Oilice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York
Teleiihoiie, Cortlandt 31,57
Uptown Olfice: 1 1-13 East 24lh Street, New York,
Telephone, 4430 Mndlson Sijuaro
"Entered at the Tost Offl-e. al Nrir Tor'.'. X. Y., n.i second-class mattei:"
Vol. LXXVIIl
DECEMBER 1, 1906.
No. 2020
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
AdvertlBing Section.
Pag© Page
Cement ..................xxiii Law .........................xl
Consulting Engineera .........x Lumber..................xxvil
Clay Products..............xxll Machinerr ..................Iv
Contractora and Builders ......v Metal Work...............xvlil
Electrical Interests ..........vlit Quick Job Directory ........xxvil
Fireproofing ..................It Real Estate ................xiii
Granite ...................xxlv Roofers & Rooflng Mater'Is.,,xxvi
Heating...................xvll Slone .....................xxiv
Iron and Steel ................xx Wood Products ...........xxviii
THERE has been little or no change in the character of
action of the stock market this week as compared with
last week. The fundamentals continue overwhelmingly
bnllish, hut there is no speculation and insignificant activity.
Prices continue to sway to and fro within a small radius, un¬
satisfactory alike to hull and bear. Money still dominates
the situation by the uncertainty and the fear of what it may
do or what may be done with it next, A somewhat favorable
feature is the Bank of England statement, issued on Thurs¬
day, which shows a large increase of reserve and bullion.
The proportion of the Bank's reserve to liability is now up¬
wards of forty-four per cent., as compared with forty per
cent. last week, though the rate of discount remains un¬
changed at 6 per cent. It is estimated that the dividend and
interest payments to be disbursed by the principal railroad
industrial and mining companies In the country during De¬
cember wil] be over seventy-eight million dollars, as com¬
pared with fifty-five millions in the corresponding month of
last year, or an increase of twenty-three millions. Mining
companies especially show a large increase, the total of divi¬
dends and payments being $7,700,000 against $2,300,000 in
the corresponding month of last year. Among heavy indus¬
trial payments are dividends of nearly ten millions to stock¬
holders by the Standard Oil Co. and four millions by the
American Tobacco Co. Railroad dividends are two millions,
and luterest payments four millions larger. The State of
New York, judging by the computation of the Census Bureau,
Is in no danger of going Into liquidation. Its wealth, com¬
prising farms and other real estate, factories, railroads, etc.,
is 515,000,000,000, which, per capita, wouid give to every
man, woman and child $2,000, as compared with the national
average of $1,S20. The Empire State is thus certainly living
up to its designation.
THANKSGIVING in the reai estate market was on the
whole both interesting and normal, interesting in that
almost every section of the borough was represented in the
trading, and normal in the number of transactions. An un¬
usual number of old buildings in the twenties were bought
with the intention of altering them for business purposes, the
Fifth avenue section contributed its quota to the business of
the week, and Thirty-fourth street continued active, thorgh
the centre of trading has moved to the west side of Broad¬
way, where there is some evidence of a skilful campaign of
concentration. It would be strange indeed if the activity
which has distinguished this street, but which has been most¬
ly confined to the east side of Broadway, should not extend
to the west side, as circumstances are combining to make
West Thirty-fourth street one of the most popular shopping
centers of the city. Not only will tlie Pennsylvania shopping
crowds come that way, hut the shopping traffic from the West
â– Shore Railroad, the Ontario & Western, and the growing
.north Bergen towns, all pour via the Forty-second street fer-
jies and the connecting surface lines, into West Thirty-
fourth street. In a word, the first point at which most of
the trade from the Jersey shore and the Hudson River Val¬
ley will strike Broadway will be at West Thirty-fourth
street. Staten Island property was noticeably prominent
in the business of the week, and it is now only a question
of cheaper transportation ere the world will hear of a
Staten Island boom. In building operations the intense cold
of the midweek signalized the natural end of the out-door
building season, and from henceforth masonry and work de¬
pendent upon it wili be carried on only by special dispensa¬
tion of the weather. Thanksgiving week finds the building
material market in a condition very favorable to contractors,
so far, as most supplies are concerned. A matter of high im¬
portance in building trades is the consolidation of six of the
largest companies manufacturing Portland cement, inasmuch
as the new corporation will be well-nigh able to control the
business. The eighty-eight plants in existence are owned by
seventy-eight companies, fifteen of which produce over two-
thirds of the whole American Portland cement output, and
seven of these produced over half. While there can be no
monopoly of raw material, It can be pointed out with this
illustration before the country that the concentration of in¬
terests in the Industry will probably become more marked
from year to year.
â– p IVB gigantic office buildings are now in course of con-
-'â– struction in the district to the west of Broadway and
south of Vesey street—the Coal and Iron Building in West
street; the building of the United States Express Co.; the
Broadway-Cortlandt Building, in Cortlandt street, and the
two new ofiiee buildings over the trolley terminal in Church
street. This list, moreover, does not include the new struc¬
tures which are being erected on the west side of Broadway,
in the same district, or a minor improvement, such as the
new offices of the Evening Post on Vesey street. This is a
tremendous amount of new construction for a district which,
only a few years ago, was being almost completely neglected.
It is noticeable also that the new buildings are both more
than usually high and more than usually big. None of them
is less than twenty stories high, and several run consider¬
ably over that very respectable number of stories. Then, too,
they have been planned with more than usual care for the
purpose of offering convenient accommodations and good
light to their tenants. The floor space of every one of them
is larger than that of any but the largest buildings which
have been erected to the east of Broadway, and this fact
adapts them particularly to the needs of big corporations.
The building of the express company faces on Trinity Church,
and obtains on that side unusually good light. The buildiug
in West street has, of course, as much light as there is, and
it Is not surrounded by any other tall structures. The Broad'
way-Cortlandt Building is erected on comparatively narrow
streets; but its light Is protected by these streets on two
sides, and by the ownership of the Broadway corner on part
of a third side; while the light of its upper stories will be
perfectly guarded, because tbese stories will be placed in a
tower. These towers are the best device as yet invented to
obtain good light, and an economical plan for the upper floors
of a lofty office building, Tbe success of these various struc¬
tures will be watched with the utmost Interest, for they all
of them represent the application of the best contemporary
real estate and building knowledge to the problem of the
economy of the sky-scraper.
â– pROTESTS against the Increase of municipal salaries are
â– I- frequent, but the present standard of compensation
for expert services of any kind is very much higher in private
than in public employment, A judge, an engineer, a certified
accountant, a skilful bookkeeper, an auditor or a superin¬
tendent, can get more from a private employer than in any
public office. The highest standard of efficiency is not to be
attained either in corporations or municipalities, any more
than In private lines of business, by the payment of small
salaries, and usually it is fovind that those cities which make
the most liberal provision for their employees are the best
served, whereas those which make small or inadequate pro¬
vision do not attract capable employees. Buffalo, for in¬
stance, with a population of 350,000, expends in salaries
53,500,000 a year, while New Orleans, with almost the same
population, expends in salaries only ?1,800,000, and Buffalo
gets the best return. Denver, Detroit, and Cleveland make
liberal allowances for those in their municipal employ. Mem¬
phis, Tenn., expends in a year for salaries less than $600,000;
Paterson, ,N. J., less than $700,000; while Lowell, Mass., a
smaller «lty than either, expends $900,000. The volume of