Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 44, no. 1117: August 10, 1889

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August 10, 1889 Record and Guide. 1099 "^ ^ ESTWUSHED'-^'w^RpHai'-i'^IBea.^ De/oteD 10 f\^l Estme . BuiLDif/o AFtcriiTECTai\E .Household DegoratoH. BUsirJESs Mio Themes of GeHeraI I;>Jt€[\est PRICE, PER VEAR LV ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published evei-y Saturday. TELEPHONE, - . JOHN 370. Communications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. /..T. LINDSEY, Bu^ness Manager. Vol. XLIV. AUGUST 10. 18S9. No. 1,117 The movement of prices in Wall street only makes all the more probable the predictions made in these columns as to the future. A bull movement cannot be said to be thoroughly under way, yet the natural tendency of values ia upward. Bear pressure always fails of its purpose ; quotations go steadily upward. It is seldom there has been such a consensus of bull arguments as tbere are found at present. They need scarcely be repeated. The main one, of course, is the surety of good wheat, oats and hay crops, the surety of poor crops abroad, and the prospect of a good corn crop. All this following, as it does, a good corn crop of last year, and accompanied by a heavy cotton product, cannot fail to make stocks more valuable. A dealer cau feel sure in buying as long as he is independent of the daily fluctuations of the market, for his stock will be intrinsically worth more. As for the rate situation, it is not all that it might be; but it is better than it was, and it is con¬ stantly improving. Wars take place only when there is not enough business for all the competing lines. It is not likely this fall that any railroad in tbe Northwest need fear a lack of business. Prosperity is a great harmonizer. Tliere is talk also of a combina¬ tion of Ohio roads, similar to the Interstate Eailway Association further West; aud St. Paul & Northwest will, in the futui-e, be practically operated under one management. Dealers should have one eye fastened on the money market and the other on Jack Frost. If from any, clouds will come from those directions, Mayor Grant is a man of many opportunities, aud of gi-eat sagacity in taking advantage of them. Although he owes alle¬ giance and his election to an unscrupulous political organization, and in consequence some of his appointments have been none of the best, yet to all appearances hie administration is popular. The reason for this is, that so far aa he could, under his present political restrictions, he has acted so as to please the newspaper press and to ax>peal to that sentiment in the popular bosom which likes the Mayor to be something more than a clerk, by taking the lead in all movements involving municipal pride. Thus he has had the chance to come out in opposition to unpopular corporations, such as the Manhattan Company, to prove a good figure-head in the Centennial celebration of Washington's inauguration, to act ener¬ getically and successful in a great and necessary charitable under¬ taking, and, finally, he will have a chance to please the business men of the city by a judicious selection of the committees for the World's Fair, Next winter, doubtless, he will start in again to pass his rapid transit bill, and very likely he will be successful. In case he is he will have a good platform whereon to base his claims for re-election—claims fchat at the present showing are very certain to be presented. Two years more will be needed to com¬ plete Ilia scheme, and it is ouly right, he will argue, that he should have it, considering that it was not his fault that the undertaking was delayed. If he is re-elected; if he is fairly successful in his second term, and if Tammany is satisfied in the meantime with only its legitimate spoils, there is no telling to what position Hugh J. Grant may not ultimately attain. The universal attention and comment which the Eiffel Tower has attracted at the Paris Exposition will tend to lead to some attempts afc copying that phenomenon of engineering skill. The tower has undoubtedly been the distinctive feature of the Paris Exposition. But not only from the very fact that it has been the feature of another Exposition, but also on grounds of desirability. Even if the idea were original, it is extremely doubtful whether the erec¬ tion of so stupendous a structure would be advisable. An Exposi¬ tion is intended to exhibit the i>rogreas whicli a nation has made in workmanship and machinery. Does such a structure as the Eiffel Tower represent truly and completely such progress in any single direction? In the sphere of house construction it certainly indi¬ cates nothing of what progress has been made ; neither is it repre¬ sentative of any improvement in the methods of iron work. But it will be said the Eiffel Tower is a triumph of engineering skill. Yes; but only iu the sense that any big machine or mechanical phen omenon is a triumph of engineering skill. Why not dig holes in the ground twice aa deep as the tower is high ; why not shoot enormous columns of water up in the air ; why not construct a machine that will hurl single rocks immense distances? All these things could be doue iu a way that would make them wonderful; but they couJd not he done in a way that would not make them useless. Elaborate adaptation of means for the purpose of making- people open their eyes in amazement is not worthy of any serious- minded people. It is simply an ingenious waste of time and material. It is a relief, after reading the exaggerated stories published in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the wretched water which the inhabi¬ tants of that serene city are obliged to drink, to turn to the more moderate and sensible conclusions of the Bulletin. That paper, while admitting that the water supply is not pure, holds that it is "not the polluted and pestilential fluid which it is represented to be by the exaggerators and by the promoters of siieculative schemes," It seems that there ia a corporation, called the South Mountain Water Company, wMch wishes to contract with the city authorities for a new supply from the upper Delaware. This they offer to the city free, and to all other consumers at 10 per cent, less than the present rates. The water derived from this source is said to be the best within the reach of the city. The Bulletin, however, thinks that the city should retain ownership and control over its water-works wherever they may be, that no private company should haye any interest, direct or indirect, in them ; and that the tax rate should be raised in order to makeabeginningof the work." Of course it would be folly unspeakable to put the water supply of so great a city as Philadelphia into fche hands of a private company. Yet an inquiry ought to be made why it is a corporation can fur¬ nish water brought from a greater distance than the present water is brought from at 10 per cent, less than the present rates. In another column will be found an account of a somewhat peculiar phase of the building association movement—a phase which has aroused the thorough antipathy of the members of regular local building associations all over the country. Some years ago, it appears, certain capitalists conceived the idea of tm-ning the good name which the buildmg associations had to thttr own advan¬ tage by starting an organization under the same name and upon the same plan as the ordinary associations, excr-pfc that the sphere of operations of the new association should not be limited, and that fche managers of fche company should obtain some reward for their services in receiving and handling the money. The enterprise turned out to be very profitable, and these associations have grown apace during the last two or tbree years. Members of the local associations, however, think the moi;emenfc hurt by these national associations, for the following reasons: (1) The latter are close cor¬ porations. The individual shareholders have no voice in the election of officers or the jnanagement of the company. Consequently the organ¬ ization is not a co-operative one in spirit, for co-operation means, if it means anytliing, the equal rights of all tiie partners in the enter¬ prise to a share in its management. Indeed, it can be said that it is the almost perfect democracy which we find exemplified in the local associations which has led to theii" success, for, unlike ordinary business ventures, the details of the work they do are so simple that the domineeriug infiuence of a single mind is not necessary. (3) The national associations are wasteful of poor people's money, They charge twenty cents for handling every dollar paid in and requii'e a membership fee of a dollar ou every share—all of which goes to the management fund. It follows from this that a national association would need over 16 per cent, more money than a local association to do fchesame amount of work. The former benefit the managers primarily and the shareholders incidentally ; the latter benefit only the shareholders. Therein lies tbe difl'erence. Very possibly there is another side to this story. If there is, it will doubtless soon be heard, for the Metropolitan League is going to bring the matter before the attention of the Legislature of this State, An investigation will doubtless ensue; with what result remains to be seen. If the national organizations are as successful as they are said fco be, there is very likely some reason for it outside the fact that they are managed by enterprising people. The real standing of these companies, what they have done and what they are doing compared to what the local associations have done Srud are doing, needs first of all to be ascertained. On this question, as on many others connected with the buildingassociation movement, a person is hampered in getting a clear view of tho sub,iect by a lack of available data of a complete character, A priori, however, it must be admitted that the case against the national associations seems to be very sti-ong. The Chicago Tribune emjihasizes an objection against New York as a site for the World's Fair of 1892. It says: "The heat is the fatal fault, however, and that also bars out New York, which, though farther north, is as murderously hot during the midsummer months as Washington." And then it goes ou to explain that the