Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 44, no. 1126: October 12, 1889

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October 18, 1889 Record and Guide. 1361 De/oJEI) to f^L EsrWE . BuiLDIf/o Ap,C>^ITECTJ[^E ,HoUSEHOU> DEGOf^ATOt*. , Bi/sit/ESs AfJo Themes op GtHEfiA^ I;Jt£i\es-i PRICE, PER YEAR IK ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. PubUshed every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - • JOHN 370. Communlcatnons should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Bn A T, LINDSJBY, Business Manager. Vol, XLIV. OCTOBER 12, 18S9. No. 1,136 The stock market for the past week has been wholly under the influence of temporary shifting conditions. There has been no change in the general business prospects. Ii'on is still strong ; rail¬ road returns aro still increasing ; we shall apparently get good prices for our large wheat crop, and the enormous cotton and corn crops aro 'well harvested. Yet such is the public shyness, that prices for stocks are wholly in the hands of traders, and a trader's market is as uncertain and two-faced as the wayward sea itself. The selling of Atchison—that bete noir of Wall streei—and the Trust stocks generally has depressed the whole list. Neither is there any immediate prospect that these "fancies" will be put upon such a basis and that they will cease to threaten the more fortunate [line of securities. The sudden increase in Atchison's eai'nings puts the company on a better footing ; but uutil some scheme of reorganization is devised that will at once reduce the fixed charges and gain the approval of the bondholders, tlie stock will doubtless keep on making small gains aud large losses until the bottom is reached, wherever that will be. The same is true of sugar and cotton oil. Just eo long as the affairs of these combinations are surrounded in obscurity, so that an investor or speculator cannot be sure whether he is buying a valuable or value¬ less security, just so long will these wild and meaningless fluctua¬ tions take place. These combinations ought to be compelled to list their securities ou the penalty of a withdrawal of the present facil¬ ities for deahng in them. As too many people are aware there are enough dangers to be overcome in WaU street speculation, every effort ought to be made to lessen them, so that judgment might count for something. As it is what is not known about the Sugar Trust would make a large and interesting volume, while what is known is limited to the two flgures representing the market value of the certificate?. It is a pity that this first movement towards dealing in industrial securities should tend to discredit them. Evidently, they are in the market to stay; but their place cannot be said to have been made secure until the confidence of investors is secured by the removal of the preseut thimble-rigging of the cer¬ tificates, ----------■---------- We have already received several communications suggesting amendments to the law governing the erection of buildings in this city, as invited in om- columns of last week's issue. The revision now in progress wiU probably be the last one for many years to come, and as the gentlemen who have this matter in hand desue that New York shall have the model building law of tbe world, as liberal and as fair in its provisions as the public safety will admit, all persons whose esperience or observation enables them to suggest beneficial changes should send to The Record and Guide their confa-ibution of ideas for the general good. The subject is well worth the immediate attention of arcliitects, builders and all others interested iu real estate improvements. The interviews with Mr, Edison concerning the Paris Exposition emphasize what has been said many times in these columns as to the folly of the P, T, Barnum " gi-eatest-show-on-earth" idea of a World's Fair which prevails just now as to om- own. Exposition; and, incidentally, what the inventor said makes the proposition to scatter the buildings in different parts of the city, instead of concen¬ trating them on one spot, worthier of careful consideration. In substance Mr. Edison said that the Paris Exposition is too large to be as instructive to visitors as it might be, and the buildings being grouped, too great a crush results for comfort. Both are serious objections to any arrangement, and both, especially the latter, could be obviated by placing the several chief buildings in different parts of Ihe city. The idea may clash with preconceived ideas of what a Fair should be, but, nevertheless, a little consideration will sliow that such an arrangement would possess many material advantages. ----------a---------- , The discontent shown by the public because the Finance Com¬ mittee of the Exposition did not at their meeting this week report a complete plan for raising the necessary funds is not well formded, 2^0 possible ^oo4 can come froai forjialatiag a plan mjrely, for the sake ttf having some plan. What is needed is the plau; an intelligent plan that will receive the approval of citizens and meet and adequately meet the necessities of the Exposition, Before this can he done it is absolutely essential, as we have more than once pointed out, that the question of site should be completely settled,'- and the exact character of the Exposition, the size of the build¬ ings and the natm-e of their surroundings determined. In other words, a clear idea of what has to be provided for must be reached before the Finance Committee can act in a business-like way. It must be plain to everyone, that unless the Finance Committee do act in a business-like way the money requu-ed, wherever else it may come from, will not come from the public. It is not necessary to point out to anyone who is well informed on the situation that the question as to site is not completely settled and the exact character of the Exposition and the size of the build¬ ings has not been determined. The Site Committee, so far, have merely named a site ; it is not even prospectively in their possession. Without the Bloomingdale land the site they have "named "is admittedly valueless, and the trustees of Bloomingdale say they cannot relinquish the land they occupy in time for the Fair, More¬ over, there are the property-owners on the site to be dealt with. Because a few of the wealthier have already come forward and lent their property for tbe pm-poses of the Fair, it is not to be inferred tbat all will do so. There are many property-holders who could not, even if they would, donate then- land. What proportion do the&e bear to the whole? Tiiis question cannot be answered too quickly, .---------*———. All this is not to say that the site cannot be obtained. But it is merely describing the situation adequately to say that the site has not yet been obtained though it has been "named." Obviously, until it is with some degree of certainty, prospectively at least, in the possession of the Site Committee, the Finance Committee can¬ not intelligently approach the problem before them, Tbe same remark applies to the character of the Exposition and the size of the buildings. It would be simply absurd for tbe Finance Com¬ mittee to make public any statement tantamount to this: "We have become possessed of a vague idea that some sum between fifteen and twenty millions may perhaps be needed. Exactly for what we do not know, nor whether for buildings only or for a land speculation, and on this basis we ask the enthusiastic public to send in as large subscriptions as possible," Tiie demand of the public should be: " Settle the site question, determine what the character aud the extent of the Exposition are to be. If this be done wisely the money will be forthcoming." Let the first thing be decided first. Thomas A. Edison, in an interview published in the Sun, passed two criticisms upon the Pai-is Exposition, which merit considera¬ tion from the management of the Fair of 1893, He thought that the machinery was scattered about too much, and one who wished to see it all had to do a good deal of needless walking ; secondly, he regretted the lack of such a thing as a "live industrial process," Provided the facts ai-e true, these criticisms are certainly well taken. It does not admit of any doubt that so far ay possible all the machinery in the Exposition ought to be seen actually at work. Its utility is increased a thousandfold thereby. The objections to thus forcibly presenting to the observer the actual Hfe of an indus- ti-ial process would ai'ise, first, from the large expense whicli it would entail, and, secondly, from the deafening noise it might create, pro¬ vided all the machinery is to be located in one hall. The first criti¬ cism opens a far wider questioa—the question, viz,: Whether it would be the more effective to locate, as has been the custom, all the machinery in one enormous room, or to make the exhibits by trades, and have the macliiuery appertaining to each trade con¬ tiguous to the trade exhibit, so that one conld throw Hght upon the other. ---------•---------- In this connection it is worth while once more to recur to the formula whicii Edward Atkinson suggested to guide the committee hi the preparation and the arrangement of the exhibits. It is safe to say that it would be impossible satisfactorily to show the progress made throughout the last four hundi-ed years in indusb-ial work unless the exhibits are grouped by trades, irrespective of the indi¬ vidual exhibitor, the State from which he comes, and liis peculiar wishes in reference *o his exhibit. Nobody outside the committee will have any direct interest in the preparation of the machinery showing past and superseded methods in manufacnuring aud work¬ manship, and as all these preparations will have to be made there is nobody but a trade committee to make them. Moreover, to render them useful, the exhibits of lu'esent methods should be arranged and selected so as to include only tbat whicb is instructive. Why should the shoemaking exbibit of Missouri be separated from that of Massachusetts, or even that of foreign countries, proyidfid, of course, the object of the Exposition is contained in Mr, Atkin¬ son's formula. It is probable that the trades are uot sufficiently rganized to carry out any such schsms ; but it certainly seerq^ 1