Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 47, no. 1199: March 7, 1891

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taxoh 7,1891 Record and Guide. 339 -^ \ EST*BUSHED-^MARPH21'>-1859.;;^ De/otcO to Rf*.L Estate - SuiLoiiic AiticHitectji^e .KousdIold DEeoR^noit Bi/sit/E5S Atfo Themes of CeNeraI 1;jte[\esj PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS, Published e:very Saturday. Telephone, - ■ - Cobtlandt 1370, Commimications should be addressed to C.W. SWEET. 191 Broadway J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Vol. XLYII. MARCH 7, 1891. No. 1,199 TP the stock market has beeu weak during the past few dafi -^ the cause is to be found in London rather than in this country. Appntentiy the same conditions which depressed prices previous to the panic have not yet run their course. The affairs of the large speculators, Neugass & Co., who were tided over their diflBculties in the autumn by having a large block of atocks takeu off their hands, have not yet been straightened out; and either they or their helpers are apparently lightening their load. Certain it is that underlyiog first mortgage bonds, the pick of our railway securities, wbich have not been seen in this market for years, have now turned up and are changing from English to American bands. Ostensibly there is no lack of money in London, for the Bank of England's rate of discount remains at 3 per cent; but some exten¬ sive realizing is going on. It is this selling of our securities which keeps the rates of exchange so near the gold shipping point, and some one must be deeply involved thus to go to the bottom of tlie bag to obtain money. If we keep on exporting gold we may get into the state in which France was in 1860. Al that time tbe Bank of Prance lost a lai-ge quantity of the yellow metal, and became so pressed for this kind of cash that she very much appreciated a loan of £2,000,000 from the Bank of England against; the deposit of an equal amount of silver. This fact is worth remembering, in view of the hub-bub caused by the late loan of the French institution to the English one. Hence the Bank of France I simply returned a favor which had been extended to them thirty'years before, at a time when £3,000,- 000 meant more than £3,(j00,(]0u does at the present day. Stocks are cheap enough for their earnings and prospects ; money is cheap enough ; and no great fault can be found with trade ; but these facts are not sufficient to lift the market out of the rut. Uneasiness prevails, and it takes but small buying or selling to turn prices either one way or tlie other. The railroads, whose main business comes from the transportation of grain, are begin¬ ning to feel severtly the effects of tbe bad crop of last year. The heavy shipments of livestock partially make up for tbe loss, but thegi'oss returns are less. Other lines have nothing to complain about as regards earnings, and some of them are able to make reductions in operating expenses; but it ia scarcely possible that there will be auy revival in activity until the crucial ques¬ tion of the coming crops has been settled. Another such an one as that of last year would create and justify extended demoralization. The large government expenditures wbich the defunct Congi-ess has authorized, while it will do away with the surplus very effec¬ tively, will make themselves felt immediately, in all probability, by the slow but certain withdrawal of the government deposits in the national banks. Neither will this money be quick to return, for at least $15,000,000 of it (the Direct Tax Refund) will get into State treasuries;, and the pension disbursements will be scaitered in such a way that it may take the money some time to get back to its normal channels. The price of silver has fallen to nearly as low a point as it ever has been—a fact, from which we may expect two effects at any rate. The mines, which recommenced production, because of tbe rise will be again shut down, and railroads like the Denver & Itio tfrande and the Colorado Midland, whose increase in earnings was due largely to the transportation of the ore, will not be so prosperous. On the other hand the decrease in production, coupled with the heavy government purchases, will tend, after the lapse of a certain time, to restore the price of the metal to somewhere near its former value. THERE has been a perceptible hardening of the discount rate in London, as in New York, due, in the former case, to the large revenue collections, which give the Bank of England the control of the market. Contrary, however, to expectation, the governors of that institution have not found it necessary to advance their rate, and their action (or the lack of it) has had a strengthen¬ ing effect on pricea in London. This, together with the fact that there are good prospects of a satisfactory settlement of the Argentine debt, has helped to create a better feeling both there and in BerUn, It has scarcely, however, sufficed to shake that lethargy out of the market which has been its prominent character¬ istic since December last. English railway securities are firm and advancing in some cases, for most of the companies are making good tra&c returns for the new year, and this in spite of the fact that trade reports do not come in very strong. In France, also, altliough operations on the Bourse have been fairly satisfactory, trade has not been active. Both imports and exports during Jan¬ uaiy show decreases from the aame month last year, and the railway traffic returns have not been altogether satisfactory. In Berlin the issue of the new loan has monopolized public attention for the time, leaving other securities even more neglected than has been the ctistom of late, The bears, however, have not been able to make very much impression on the market, either in the home or in the foreign department. A good deal of feeling continues to exist about tlie stiff prices at which the convention of German rolling mills still hold their rails, and to show their disap¬ proval of the policy it is stated that the government has recently given a large order of rails to an English firm. In Vienna the end of the railway tariff dispute between Austria and Hungary, and the cordial reception accorded in St, Petersburg and Moscow to the Archduke Francis Ferdinand have had a very good effect on quo¬ tations. A good many complaints are heard, however, as to the state of trade, and the indisposition of banks to lend aid to new undertakings. Considerable depression exists in Vienna owing to the pronounced tendency on the part of manufacturers to leave tbat city for tbe provinces. This has led, of course, to inactivity in the building trades; and a circular city railroad, similar to that in Berlin, is being talked about. ----------•---------- PROPERTY-OWNERS on tbe West Side are to be congratulated upon the defeat, for the time being at any rate, of the North River bridge project, which if carried out according to the plans published would have converted the neighborhood of 72d street into a sort of railroad yard, defaced the water front below River¬ side Drive, making it even more of an eyesore than it is; and played havoc generally with millions of dollars' worth of first-class property. In our tstimation, very little chance existed that the project would ever pass beyond paper; but on paper it was a very unjust and noxious scheme, and not even the glamor it shed over the public imagination as a great and no doubt valuable engineer¬ ing achievement could conceal the unnecessary loss it would inflict upon property-owners. As we pointed out in these columns some time ago, and as the committee from the West End Association reiterated before the Senate Committee of Commerce, the scheme had the effect of virtually withdrawing from tbe market all the property on the line of the proposed structure and its connections and all property adjacent thereto. Against thia tyrannical pro¬ ceeding what redress had property-owners? Their posses¬ sions were locked up, or the value of them materially dimin¬ ished, just as long as the scheme existed legally. There are, of course, larger interests than those of property-owners to be considered in connection with improvements of a public or quasi-public nature ; but this is no reason for giving legislative sanction to "wild*cat" schemes concerning which there is only a remote probability of ever being carried out. Corporations or individuals seeking to obtain by legislation extraordinary priviiegea affecting the property of other people should be compelled to state definitely the lots they require, and give bonds that the work contemplated will be com¬ menced and completedjwithin a stated, reasonable time. It can surely be no hardship to ask that the plan for a new undertaking' be definitely formulated, and its feasibility, from a financial and engineei-ing point of view, determined, before the Legislature is asked to grant the right to interfere with other people's property. ---------~»---------- THE Committee ou Finance of the Senate at Albany, Senator Sloan, chairman, gave a hearing on Tuesday afternoon last to the advocates of the proposed act to authorize the appointment of a commission to draft grades of building laws applicable to all cities in this State, excepting New York and Brooklyn, which two are the only two cities in this State that have building laws. The committee seemed to be unanimous in recognizing the necessity for such laws and the appointment of skilled men to draft them for presentation to the Legislature at its next session. The dame stumbling block is before the Finance Committee this year that proved insurmountable for the Judiciary Committee last year—tbe number of commissioners, the method of their appoint¬ ment, and the amount of money to be appropriated for their services and expenses. Hazarding a guess, the hill will probably soon be reported confining the number of commissioners to three, and allowing a total sum of §10,000, which shall include salaries, counsel fees, printing, clerk hire, and any and all other expenses. There seems to be an erroneous impression prevailing quite generally that this bill is making provision for a permanent building commission to enforce building laws through the State. The commission is to exist only one year, and its duties consist