Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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August 29,1891 Record and Guide. 263 wall to the front wall. The ends of floor beams only rest 4 inches on a wall. The rear wall could not be swayed to the extent that the front wall could, for another building stood against it for about half its height. Did the swaying finally release the beams from their bearings 'on that rear wall, or from their bearings on the front wall, thus allowing the floor to drop, carry¬ ing death and destruction in its downward flight and throwing the front wall out into the street ? No column of support gave way, for in that event the collapse would have been toward the centre and the street wall would have been dragged inwardly instead of being pushed outwardly. ^Or did an explosion of naphtha or benzine in the basement of the paint store or the drug store, in this structurally weak and overloaded building, throw out the front wall and bring down the upper floors? It is said that the flames shot through the fallen mass with rapidity and burned intensely, and apparently showed the presence of some gaseous explosive. An intricate network of broken gas pipes were con¬ tributing, however, to that very same appearance. There was no boiler on tbe premises, steam being supplied from an outside source. At the time of the accident only three, or at most four, of tbe print¬ ing presses were in motion. Were these running at an accelerated rate of speed for the very reason that the others were not consum¬ ing power ? Or did a belt catch and cause an unusual or sudden jar ? And was one of the floors in some one place unusually over¬ weighted? Generally when a building gives from overloading, some premonition is given by the creaking of timbers and noise of materials tearing asunder. If there was no explosion, what caused the ignition—was it the friction of the falling material that started the flames or the range in the basement ? What happened inside the building at the moment of collapse will never be accurately known, as death has sealed the lips of tbose who could have told. It isa silDgular omission in the present building law, as in all the previous ones, that while the thicknesses for bearing walls are minutelv specified for given heights, yet there is no restriction as to the number or size of openings for windows or doors that may be placed in such walls, and thereby more or less weakening chem. In the last revision of the law which unfortunately failed to get through the Legislature, this defect was to be remedied by the following requirement: "If any horizontal section through any part of any bearing wall in any building shows more than 25 per cent area of flues and openings, the said wall shall be increased 4 inches in thickness for every 10 per cent, or fraction thereof, of fine or opening area in excess bf 25 per cent." The thickness of walls in the fallen building were 16 inches above the level ot tbe second story floor beams, up to the roof beams, except that the front wall was 20 inches in thickness on account of being faced with pressed brick, laid in running bond, but this 4 inches of the thickness is not counted in under the law as the face brick has next to no bonding in with the brick-work back of it. The front wall was a bearing wall, with the usual number of window openings, and it would have had to be the thickness that it was even if it was not a bearing wall, which unfortunately it was as it carried the ends of tbe floor beams of the several upper stories. The humane work of recovering the bodies from tbe ruins of the fallen building has been done at tbe expense of the city under a section of the building law wbich says: " In case ot the falling of any building or part of any building in the city of New York, if persons are known or believed to be buried under the ruins thereof, it shall be the duty of the fire department to cause an examination of tho premises to be made for tho recovery ot the bodies of the killed and injured, and for that purpose said department shall employ laborers and materials, as may be necessary, to perform said work as speedily as po.ssl- ble, and the comptroUerJof the city of Nejs' York is authorized and directed to provide the funds to prosecute said work until completed. And for the purpose of providing the money for said work the board of estimate and apportionment are hereby authorized to transfer to the order of the comp¬ troller such sums as may be necessary, from any unexpended or excessive appropriation ot the thon current, or ot any previous year, or to issue revenue bonds payable out ot the taxes ot the next ensuing year," Prior to the passage of the 1885 law, or what was known as the Esterbrook law, as prepared by a Committee from the several building trade organizations, no provision existed in any law for tbe rescue of injured persons or the recovery of bodies from the ruins of a building. It required five 3-ears to get the Esterbrook law through tbe Legislature. That law made it incumbent on the owner of the building, when required so to do by a notice from tbe Chief of the Fire Department, to immediately have the debris removed and an examination made; and in case of the owner's fail¬ ure to commence the work within five hours after tbe notice had been served, the Chief could then employ laborers, and the expense should be a valid claim on the owner of the land. When the next revision was made, in tbe lt87 law, which is the one at present in force, the Committee took into consideration the possible difficulty in finding an owner, and of the delay that would ensue any¬ way, and the leisurely way in which an owner might possibly piosecute the search, To secure prompt action aud because it is a matter of public concern far beyond the interests of an owner, the Committee decided to put the duty and the expense on the city, and the section which we have quoted above was drafted. Certain persons whom it would be useless now to recall by name, holding official positions and speaking for the city, opposed the change and the saddling of such possible expense on the city, inooked as though the proposed alteration had to be abandoned when an appeal was made to Richard Croker, who was at that time one of j the fire commissioners. Promptly and decisively Mr. Croker said " Certainly, the committee are right ; let the section stand as they have prepared it." It is to the credit of Mr. Croker'c head and heart at that time that the search of the Park place ruins could now be made with the vigor and effectiveness that it finally was. The search was fiist commenced by the Chief of Police, in ignorance of the fact that the law made it incumbent on the Fire Department to take the work iu hand. It was nearly two days after the accident occurred before the officials of the Fire Department woke up to what was their duty. The scandal of a similar delay should never occur again. Investments—Good and Bad. Cats and Dogs.—If to buy, then what to buy ? With this question repeated over und over again In his mind, his finger on his lips, his eye upon the tape which is reeling out quotations as fast as he can read them, the would-be buyer stands tbe picture of steadfast contemplation and in fact lost in the possibilities of his query. It is a position ot considerable danger, not to his person but to his purse. There are times when a prick of a pin, as children tell their fortunes, will with certainty indicate a profitable purchase; or to be more correct there are times when a backward look will tell that had a pin been stuck on a particular day at any part of the list it would have indicated a profitable purchase, because every¬ thing moved up. But, uotwithstanding a rare precedent or two, sensible people do not decide upon their purchases in tbis way, luckily for them. It is a good rule to look for merit whatever tbe times. There are people, however, who in a manner allow the list to be pricked tor them. They are tbe people who are deceived into purchasing worthless stocks or bonds by artful manipulation of quotations, and it is to them that a few words ot advice are offered. With the means and a desire to purchase, it is very hard to resist the wiles of the manipulator. A man goes into the Street when tbe market is well advanced with the hope of buying something wbich bas been still, but wbich will show him a profit. He cannot see any attraction in a stock that has gone up 10 or 12 points, and ordinarily he is rii;bt, but in tbis exceptional case he is wrong, consequently he looks around for a stock that has not moved, or has risen sUghtly if at all. He soon fiads what he is seeking in, say, X Y Z, which has been held nominally at 20 for a long time and now moves up by a quarter, and sometitnes a half per cent at a time, 2 or S points. If be buys it is ten chances to less than one tbat some years later he tells a friend confidentially that he has carried X Y Z for so many years, and has never bad a chance to get his money back. In times of activity the temptation to the insider to secure a market for the rattletrap he has had no option, but to carry is too great to be resisted. A few wash sales may help to dispose ot some of his superfluous stock, and generally the proceeds of every bundred shares sold is so,much profit. It is, it must be admitted, one ot the indispensable features ot tbe situation that things wbich have been for so long a time unsalable are now being brought into trading. It the situation was not a very good one, their owners would not pay commissions for the washes, knowing that it would be only so much money thrown away. But with all things looking rosy and the prospects ot a great speculation in the near future what are known as cats and dogs are esposed tor sale in tbe market place. Notbing can be done without the public, so it is tbe fault of the public that these wares are brought out. It is the public who take the venture. The promoter who has paid little or nothing tor tbe goods is always ready to take the cash, so tbat be can create some more cats and dogs for the next great rise, whenever it may be. The buying is conducted on the principle that the times are so good and the prospects for a large supply and rapid circulation of money so certain, that anything and everything must go up. It Is in the expectations ot, or with the view of inducing such a principle into being, that the stock market has recently seen a shower of, if it has not rained, cats and dogs. Rapid quotations have sent out and up South Caroliua, with its ennrmous floating debt, aud Laclede Glas Common in the face ot growing obligations to the preferred stock under the cumulative dividend clause. Atlantic aud Pacific, with its enormous bonded debt ahead, Des Moines and Fort Dodge, witb nothing to warrant it at all, the East Teunessee and kindred issues, to say nothing ot coal and other mining issues. Any one interested in learning bow people are induced to buy rubbish can do so by followiog tbe sales from day to day. It will be seen that they commence with a few hundred shares, all wash, that they grow to a, thousand or two, partly wash and partly genuine, and if they grow further, it can generally be taken that the public is in it aild then prayers for the safety of buyers are in order. It has been some years since tbe cats and dogs have had any show, not since the fall of 18WC certainly. A comparison of prices then and now, or of a few weeks b3ck, will be au instructive lesson as to what will happen to the man who deals too long in them and has them just before they begin to go down under the influence of a chau;^e io tbe times. Tbat is a good way off, though. A mariner commences bis voyage pro¬ vided witb all the information he can get of the rocks and shoals he may encounter; he does uot refuse the voyage but provides against its dangers, Low as well as high-priced stocks will in tbe spepulatjve roovg'