Dcccmber 21, 1907





RECORD  AND  GUIDl





999







^          ESTABUSHEI>-^ííWPH21ií**ie68,

Dréití) p Rp^LEswjE.BuiLDifJb *5píiTEeTUflÉ,h{cíUSEiioLDDEaaFiAnorí.
Bi/sn/ESS AtfoTHEMES bf CEitolíl llíĩtR^si.

PRICE   PER YEAR   IN  ADVANCE   EIGHT   DOLLARS

Cominunicatĩons  shauld be  addressed to

C. W. SWEET

Vabíisheã EVer^ Salurday

By THE RECORD AND GUĨDB CO.

Presldent,  CLINTON  W.   SWEET                        Treasurer, F.  W. DODGE

Vice-Pres,  & GenL  Mgr., H. W,  DESMOND         Secretary, F. T. MILLER

Nos,  II  to  15 East 34tli  Strccf,  New  York  Clty

(Telephooe,   MadÍSũu   Square,  4430  to  4433.)







"Entered ai the Post Office at Nev>




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. Copyrlghted,




1907,   by




The




Record




&




Gui3e




Co.










Vol.




LXXX.




DECEMEER

-------.--------■____.,. L.____-




:^1,




xno7.














No.   2075.





INDEX   TO   DEPARTMENTS.
Advertlslng Section.

Page.                                                    Page.

Cement   .......................xvl Lumber   .....................xvii

Ciay Producta   ................xili Machinery   ..................xiv

ConBulting  Engineers   .........xv Metal  Worlt   ...................xil

Contractora   and    BuUdera.....iv Qulcit   Job   Dlrectory...........ix

Electrical   Interests   ...........xv Real   Estate    ..................vii

Fireprooflng   ...................II Robrers & Rooflng Materlals.xvili

Granite....................xlx Stone    .....................xviii

Iron   and   Steel................vi Wood  Products   ..............xvil

ALL the leading banlîing authorities concur in think-
ing that money will be very cheap after the begĩn-
ning of the year. The information or assurance is con-
veyed fco the Record and Giiíde by one,wlio is recognized
as a foremost authority on monetary affairs in their bear-
ing on real esLate interests. This is really all that the
industries should care to know in order to be confident of
a full resumption of. business in the course of the coniiug
year. Confidence seems to be the thing most ueeded at
this time, as it is in every crisis that confronts meu. Our
most dangerous enemy is our fears. When it is consid-
ered that there have been few iraportant bank failures, and
few in other ĩines, and that the wealth of the interior is
unimpaired, there is strong ground for optimism. This is
the feeling íhat shonld prevail among builders and brqkers,
for it is the only kind that wins out. Tlie flrst of January
will not only distribute vast sums of money in dividends,
hut will also, as supposed, marlĩ the end of tlie period oí
partial suspension of cash payments by the banlîs with the
resultant disorganization of ĩocal business. In spite of
the present discouragements retail trade is generally ve-
ported brisk, though manufacturing lines cbntinue to sI.ow
down, and jobbers and retailers to hold back. All that is
disjointed in general trade we fully believe will be straight-
ened ont by the restoration of the íĩow of funds and their
investment in those secuTities which best promote local
business, namely real estate and building. Leaving Itían-
hattan and the Bronx momentarily out of the question, the
status of building industries in the rest of the metropolitan
district during the year h.as_ oji tlie__ayerage been fairly
good. In Richmond the controlling aircumstances have
been favorable and prosperous, as we have it by authorita-
tive special reports. In Queens, fausiness has been at least
normal, notwithstanding that several large construction
companies stopped operations, and the same is true of
Brooklyn, Westchester and New Jersey. In the Upper West
Side of New York there has been a wonderful growth of
apartments of good description, with fair prospects of a
continuation in the spring, besides which there has been
in the aggregate, and still continuing, a vast amount of
work for public and ..lemi-pubîic bnildings, such as schools,
railroad terminals, tunnels and bridge. Under all the cir-
cumstances we are disposed to agree with one of the leaâ-
ing union delegates of the city, who wi-ites us saying: "We
may properly take the bptimist's point of vîew and be
thankful for what we have received in 1907 and look for-
ward  to brighter  days  in   1908."

——------•----------.

ACORRESPONDENT calis attention to an apparent
inconsistency between the offlcial statements of the
Publlc Service Commlssion and the unofficial assuraiices
creditcd to its individual members. Officiaiĩy, the Com-
mission has not deeided to build a new subway gn jthe so-
called  Tri-Borough  route,   while   unofficially .the  anxiety   of





property interests in the Bronx and in Manhattan is calmed
by occasional assurances that simultaneously with the con-
struction of the new Brooklyn underground road a subway
wíU be built into the Bronx. It might well be that interRsts
favorable to Brooklyn have without authority caused reports
to go out that would serve to disarm the opposition of the
people of the East Side and of the Bi-onx, but we prefer to
believe that the reports of the good intentious of the Com-
missioners are well founded, and that while they have not
in their official capacity decided to build the IVĩanhattan and
Bronx sections of the Tri-Borough route, beginning pro-
ceedings eaijy,. in the year, they have privately so determined
as individuals, believing that the state of the municipal
flnances early in the comîng year will warrant the under-
taking. StiII, as the Record and Guide has counseled, sonie-
thing inore than an unofficial assurance is due from the
Public Service Commission, that such serious harm as the
buĩlding of the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn might
work upon property values at the other extremity of the
city will not follow írom any mismanagement or wrong-
doing on the part of the Board; for if it should be fully
nnderstood that there is not to be for a long period of years
any' road-building to the northward, to offset and compen-
sate for ihe improvements and influences in the opposite
direction, the peopie would be prepared to take such steps
as would protect their interests from such consequences.
Personally, the Record and Guide cannot conceive, as it
has heretofore'remarked, of the Pnblic Service Board work-
ing such an injustice, but it would be an evîdence of even-
handed policy if the Manhattan and Bronx sections of the
system should be advanced to the same stage as the Fourth
Aveuu'e project in Brookiyn before any construction contract
at all is signed.





WITH SMALL PROBABILITIES that the Board of Alder-
men will take decisive action upon the Revised Build-
ing Code that has been reported out of committee, interest
in the measure has considerably relaxed, and the case seems
to be closed for the time being. Those who did not before
have an accurate idea of the diffieulties in the way of pro-
ducing a set of regulations for the construetion of buildinga
tha't would be consideved eminently fair by each one of the
various interests affiected, may be better iuformed at the
present time, in view of the feeliugs which the new code
has excited. It is not.difficult to satisfy the claims of a
single industry or profession, it îs not impossible to frame
a code in which there will be full recognition of the rights
of property, nor one in which only the public safety would
be considered as fully as the insurance companies think the
public should be safeguarded; but the intricate problem is
to-render exact justice aud satisfy all. That the board of
revisers did not succeed in doing this can be saîd without in
any wise impeaching the ability and fine ĩntentions of the
individual members. Their work has won the ofiîcial com-
mendation of the architectural profession, but has at the
same time called forth protests from other authorities that
have a right to be heard as well, and the division of senti-
ment gives a reason and an opportunity for the political
powers to delay the ratification of the whole worlt, presum-
ably until the political necessities of the case have been
agreeably amended. lu many respects the report is admir-
able, and it is to be regretted that the defects are serious in
the opiniori of important interests. Perhaps the fanlt most
fundameutal was in trying to do too mnch—striving for the
ideal forni of construction, rather than being content with
what is reasonably practicable. Legitimate industries which
impose no burden or wrong upon the community, and ma-
terials which have been considered faîrly good and efiĩcient,
should not be ruthlessly debarred from fields which they
have long occupied. Organic law and public necessity de-
mand that buildings shall b^! safely and well constructed
but the highest factor of safety, and the best possible con-
struction, are not reguired by the law, nor is it heresy to
say that neither are they required by public welfare. Be-
yond the point of safety and reasonable regulatiou revision
commissions ean not expect to proceed very far without
formidable opposition. Building costs can be made too high
evén for New York.





—The duestlon whether real estate is going to suffer a
substantlal decline în vaĩues is very much in people's minds at
the present time. A great deal, probably, depends upoii the
course of business In mercantile aud manufact-uring lines dur-
mgthe next year. The weight of opinion seems to be that while
there_may be some distress and there will c&rtainly be coíitract-