August 24, 1907





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Vol.  LXXX.





AUGUST 24, 1907.





INDEX TO DBPARTMBNTS.
Advertising Section.

Page.                                                     Page.

Cemeĩit   ......................xiii   Lumber    ...................xviii

Clay   Products   ................xv   Machinery    ....................vi

Cousultiug   Bngineers..........v   Metal Work  ................xiv

Contractors   aud   Builders. ,■.. .iii   Quick Job Direclory.........xvlii

Electrical Interests   ..........vii   Real  Estate   ..................ix

Fireproofing    ...................ii   Roofers & Rooflcg Materials. -vii

Grauite    ......................xvi   Stone   ........................xvi

Iron   and   Steel..............viii   Wood Producta   ..............xix

THE way in which general bwsiness manages to main-
taiQ its volume, in spite of the scarcity of money
and the decline in securifcy values, is extraordinary. If
there is one^ department of busiuess whieh ought to feel
most severely the efEect of tlght money it is that of build-
iiig; but tbe figtires for July, 1907, sbow a comparatively
small decrease froin the large flgures of last year. Tbe
decrease amounts only to $6,000,000, of wbicb $4.500,000
is attributable to New YorJî;. Tbroughout tbe middle West,
particularly in tbe larger cities, building is more active
than it was a year ago. Chicago, Cleveland, ^Detroit, Kan-
sas City, Milwaulîee and St, Paul all report substantial in-
creases in tbe amount of new construction projected. Ou
tbe otber hand, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and the majority of
tbe eastern cities bave not succeeded in doing so well. On
the whole, however, tbe showing is remarkably good, and
it looks as iE the building industry could count upon an-
other year of snbstantial prosperity, So it is in otber liues.
Many manufacturers report that not only tbat they are
working overtime to fiií existing orders, but tbat new or-
ders are coming in in a larger volume than ever. It is
probable that Ihe farmers will suffer no abatement of the
good times of recent years, for the higher prices they wĩll
receive, will constitute more than a compensation for any
diminution in the yield. In short, it seems entirely possi-
ble that the course of business during the coming year will
be that which the best friends of the American business
publie could desire. There will be 'a slowing up in certain
lines, which will, in the course of time, Iiavc tlie effect of
easing the money market; but the volume of business will
be well maĩutained and there will be uo sudden contraction
either of creûit or of activity.





We have no doubfc thafc the location of tbe Peunsylvania and
McAdoo terniinals wiU Lend to heĩp theatres, restanrants
and shops, as íar soufch aa possiijle uutil new subways have
beeu built. On tbe whole, however, the location of the
new Natioual theatre is as good a one as could be found.
The projectors of tbe enterprise needed a site whicii was
large, which was capable of effective arebitecturaĩ treat-
ment, which was sufficiently accessible, and wbieh, at the
same time, was not too expeusive. It îs difflcult to see
what other locatiou would have mefc with greater sufficiency
these various needs. The site includes a whole block front,
facing on a park, aod in a loeatîon which is tolerably acces-
sible at present, aud wiU constantly become more so. The
neighborhood of Columbus Circle may, indeed, eventually
be the busiest and most ĩmportant place in upper Manbat-
tan. When Washington Heights, the Bronx and Westches-
ter are more densely populated than they are at present,
the tendency wiU naturally be to push the ceuter further
north, but it cannot fcravel any further north than Columbus
Circle and Fifty-ninth street. Some day fche Metropoiifcan
Opera Hoúse will be moved into that neighborhood, and the
whole of Fiíty-ninth street fronting on the park wiU be
converted  into  theatres,  restaurants and  stores.





No, 2058,





THE plans for the new National Theatre in Central Park
West and Sixty-second street have been íiled, and its
construction will be awaited with interest. No private
manager would have dared to invest several mîĩlion dolĩars
in a theatre in fchis partieular neigbborbood, beeause thé
location is too remote from that in which the other high-
class theatres are assembled; but for the purposes of this
particiilar enterprise the site has been admirably selected.
It is easily accessible from those large areas on the West
Side aud in Harlem where live the majority of the theafcre-
goers, while it is also suíliciently accessible from the more
fashionable districts to the south and east of the park. The
only regions from which it wiU be comparatively inaccessi-
ble are the suburbs. It will be diE&cuIt to reach either
from Jersey or Long Island, even after all the bridges and
tunneĩs are in fuU operation, and this will undoubtedly be
a somewhat serious drawback, because an încreasing pro-
portion of prosperous New Yorkers will hereaffcer find
homes on the other side of the waters. The drawback will
be partly reniedied by the completion of the Blackwell's
Island bridge, but the remedy will  be very partial, indeed.





SBCRETARY TAPT was quite right in protesting against
the attacks which have been made upon President
Roosevelt in connection with the receut break in the stock
markefc. Tbat break has been due more than anything eĩse
to worid-wide conditions whieh have made loanable capital
extraordinarily scarce and which has consequently resulted
in tbe sale of all kiuds of securities. The responsibility for
a condition which has depressed the price of English con-
sols and New York Cíty bonds so as to make them cheaper
than tbey have been for a generation cannot well be iin-
puted to President Roosevelt or to the policy upon which,
under his influence, the Federal government has embarked.
If railroad securities have declined in priee more in pro-
portion than other securities, the reason is chiefly that they
were more weakly held and that they have, during the past
year, been subject to radical legislative action on the part
of the State governments. Doubtless the fine împosed upon
the Standard Oil Company by Judge Landis did somefching
to unsettle confidence, because it seemed to be dictated
more by a purpose of doing an injury to the Staudard Oil
Company fchan by a wish to exact a reasonable and sufficient
penalty under fche statute. But if Judge Landis exhibited
an unjudicia! disposition to tag revenge on the mosfc con-
spîcu'ous oE the "Trusts," the President cannot be held re-
spoESible. He has never encouraged such a disposition. AU
that the executive department of the Federal government
has doue was to seek the enforcement of a law against re-
bates, which was passed with the full approval of all shades
of public opinion, and if the peualty exceeds the crime the
fault lies wifch the stafcute, In any event the Standard Oil
Co. has been notoriously an unscrupulous offender in the
matter of rebates, and it can searcely be denied that even
if something more than j'ustice has been done in this one
instance, the fine has been Imposd on the people who have
most deserved it. ĩf President Roosevelt's polícy has been
inimieal to the value of railroad securities, why fche reason
must be that the vaUie of railroad securities is dependent
upon violatious of the law. He has done nothing for a
year except to seek the enforcement of laws. Some of these
laws may not be wise, but their unwisclom cannot be
charged to his aeeotmt. No act of the Interstate Commerce
Commissiqn under the rate bill has as yet been díctated by
the intention o£ inj'uring the railroads, and it is the rate
bill for which the President is peculiarly responsible. The
railroads would be far safer under the exclusive supervision
of a Federal government committed to President Roose-
velt's policies than they are under the existing system of
mixed Federal and State control.





I





THE FOREGOING considerations seem so obvious that
the abusive and unscrupuĩous attempts to make the
Presldeut responsible for the decline in the price of stocks
wears the appearance of a conspiracy. Either the enemies
of his policy of Federal regulation are merely taking ad-
vantage of a necessary decline in the price of securities
for the purpose of an attempfc to make the President an-
popular, or else a decline in the price of securities beyond
a certain level has beeu deliberately brought about in order
to provide ammunition for an anti-Roosevelt campaign. In
eitber event it is impossible to see what the perpetrators
of these atfcacks  expect to gaîn.    President Roosevelt has