Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 44, no. 1130: November 9, 1889

Text version:

November 9. 188» Record and Guide. 1499 ESTABLISHED^ (AftRpH 21 ti> 1868.'^ De/otS) to f^E^vL Estme , BuiLdiKc Aji.c}^iTECTa[^E ,HouseHou) DfCOR^Tiort. Btfsii/Ess AtloThemes of GErJER^L 1/(t£i\es7 PRIDE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS PubUshed every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - . JOHN 370. Conamun Ications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. L T. LINDSEY, Bii»iness Manager. Vol. XLIV. NOVEMBER 9, 18S9. No. 1,ISO- Headquarters of Oommittee of tbe Arts and Industries of Building Trades. No. 191 Broadiray, New York, Nov. 9,1889. At a meeting of representatives of the Arts and Industries con¬ nected with the Building Trades, held October 31s/, the undersigned committee was appointed to call a piihlic Mass Meeting in the Real Estate Exchange, 59 Liherty street, on Tuesday, November 12ih, at id'clocJa P. M., to consider tke advisability of concentrating the infiuence of the Architectural a^id Real Estate Professions and Building Trades, in order to procure a systematized, collected AND PERMANENT BUILDING EXHIBIT in the forthcoming EXPOSITION, and to take such other action as may be deemed advisable to assist His Honor the Mayor and the several committees now in charge of matters relative to the proposed World's Fair. Your presence and co-operation is respectfully and earnestly requested, as the subject is of vital ini.portdnce to all engaged in the Building Arts and Industries. If unable to attend, a reply stating your views on the subject would receive respectful consideration. (Signed) E. A. Cruikshank, Thos. Graham, Chas. Buek, Richard V. Harnett, A. J. Bloor, Henry M, Keasbey, R. C. Fisher, F. W. Seagrist, Jr. Hiram Snyder. Francis Crawford, President of Meeting held October dist. H. W. Desmond, Secretary, 191 Broadivay. The call wbich is to be issued to-day by the Committee of Nine for a mass meeting of all who are interested in the arts and iadiis- tries connected with building is given above. The meeting should be, and there is very little doubt that it will be, the largest and most euthusiastic gathering that has ever been held, of what, for lack of a better jihrase, may be called the " Building Trades." In a sense their reputation as good citizens is now at stake; for curiously it happens that they form the only interest that has yet been pub¬ licly charged \vith " backwardness" in connection with the effort to secui'e the Exposition of 1892 for New York, Mr. John Claflin said in his complaint to Secretary Wilson, " it is a difficult matter to persuade men who will not be benefited by the Exposition to subscribe to tbe fund when those who will reap gi'eat advantages from it are unwilling to come to tbe front." Had Mr. Claflin known that, at the very moment be was writing his letter the men he accused of looking on while others were sowing for the harvest they expected to assist in reaping were effecting an organization of which tbe meeting nest Tu^-sday will be the outcome he would have particularized some other industry in his charge. It would be strauge if the only industry that has been publicly stigmatized as niggardly should be the one to give new vigor to the Exposition movement. It is not unlikely that this will be tlie case. The organization of the building trades to secure for them¬ selves a thoroughly representative exhibit in a suitable and perma¬ nent building, would surely be followed by the organization of other trades. If tbis were to liappen, the Exhibition wou'd not only be assured, but Edward Atkinson's idea of what the Exposition should be (and it is the best that has yet been advanced) could easily be carried out. Tlie Exposition then, instead of being a chaotic dis¬ play of merchandise, chiefly for advertising purposes, scattered in weai'isome barnlike buildings, telling the visitor httle and teaching him nothing, could be historical, wlierein the past and present of all the important arts and industries of man could be portrayed and the different departments of each industry showu in their relation to one another. The jewelry, iron, cotton, leather, paper, book- uiaking, electrical apparatus and ship-tuiiding^lrades, iu bhort all trades should organize to support tlie Exposition, and see that their exhibit is the best that can be made, and is properly siystematized and displayed. This cannot be accomplished by one general com¬ mittee in charge of the Exposition. It needs special knowledge which is to be obtained only in the different trades. At the meeting next Tuesday the BuUding trades should put their shoulder to the Exposition wheel -nhich, from some cause or another, is not rooving quite as rapidly as it should. Perhaps it is that individuals, as individuals, have done as much as can well be expected, and the time has now amved for organization, which is essential to make effective the great strength of the mass of the people. We see tbat so long as the movement has been one claim¬ ing tbe support of the public as individuals, it has appealed chiefly to ttie very rich. The movement now needs to pass into another phase, and througli organization appeal to the multitude. It will be found a much easier enterprise to build the Exposition with the dollars of the masses tban tbe thousand dollar subscriptions of our millionaires. Tf, however, the chief trades of New ^ork vrill organize, the Exposition will be a certainty. Let tbe Building trade show the way. Every member of tbe Building trades bas, m a sense, a personal interest in the meeting to be held on Tuesday. A permanent Building exhibition, wherein eveiything from the designing to the completion of the construction of the several kinds of build¬ ings could be shown, has long been talked of and wished for. Here is the opportunity to obtain such a building. It would be one of the most interesting and instructive of all in the Esposition. We believe that a very handsome building could be erected from con¬ tributions made by manufacturers and material men in kind. Offers have already been made by several leading firms to donate for such a building all the material necessary of the kind they manufacture. Business men will not be slow to see the benefits tliat would be obtained from doing so, and exhibitors will realize at a glance how much more advantageous tbeir exhibits would be to them if displayed in a building that would attract to it all the visit¬ ing architects, builders, and that part of tbe public that is interested in the cousti'uction, decoration or furnishing of houses. Now tbat the Bloomingdale Asylum site, with its twenty-eight acres, can be obtained for the Exposition, and the Central Park has practically been thrown out, the World's Fair, for the first time, may be regarded as assured. The stock market, with some exceptions, has stiffened perceptibly dm-ing tbe past week, and tbere seems to be a possibility that before long we may have a taste of the often deferred rise whicii the Wall street scribes bave been so long predicting. It is true that a rise does not, as a general thing, set in just previous to the holidays ; but the circumstances are exceptional and an advance may be expected as well on the 1st of December as on the 1st of January. The conditions favoring it continue as manifest as ever. Business is good, both generally and specifically, for the railroads. The estimate of the English wheat shortage is increasing, the latest calculation putting it at some 158,000,000 bushels. There seems to be no probability of any rate distui'bances in the West. And last, but not least, the price of silver in London is steadily advancing, the latest quotation being about 43^ pence. Unfor¬ tunately tbe proflts in business have not incrtased in the same proportion as the "volume, but they may he expected to become larger in time. Altogether, there seems to be no reason to with¬ draw the confidence we have felt that better prices were bound to result in time. It is noticeable that tbe Prohibition vote has played a part of absolutely no importance in the election of tbis year, |Formerly, although tbe poll has never been large, it had always been increas¬ ing, and politicians regarded it as a factor of some importance in, tbe making of tbe result; but in the future, fortunately or unfor¬ tunately, they can afford to disregard it. The movement may not, however, be without a pohtical result. All the new party men, whether single tax or ijrohibitionist, have laid great stress on the fact that there is, at bottom, little to distinguish the two parties one from another, either in the consistency of their policy or in the character of their leaders. The faith of these reformers in their nostrums may grow cold, but their discontent with the present party divisions will remain—a discontent that may well make itself felt when the occasion arises. In any case, the number of voters who have renounced their allegiance to the two parties as consti¬ tuted at present is as large, if not larger than ever; and future elections will be the more uncertain because of this fact. Another result of the election has been to increase the uumber of doubtful States, It may be premature because of Foraker's defeat to place Ohio ou that list, for it is not tbe first time tbat the Democrats have won a victory in the contest for GQvernor wittt-"