Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 50, no. 1271: July 23, 1892

Text version:

JTily:SS, 1893 ĸecora ana íjuide. 107 ^'. ESTMUSHED ^ iWW^H íl'-i^ I BSB.i^ Orí>TED |0 ReJ^L EsWE . BuiLDlf/G AjîCííITECTJfíE .^OUSEmoiIl DEGOfîAnOIi BUSÍiJE5S AIÍdThEMES Of GejJeI^I 1íIT£I\ESĨ FRICK, PER TEAR lĩf ADrAlVCE, SIX DOLLARS. Pu.bUshed every Saturda'y, TKLKPHOHS^ . . , . COBTLAĩTDT 1370. CommuuícatĩoDS shoulâ be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & i6 Vesey St. J, ĩ, LINDSEY, Bmsíîĩæss Matiager. "Bntered at the Fost-offlce at Neio YorJe, N. Y., as second-clasa matter.^'' VOL. L. JULY 23, 1892. NO. 1,371 IN the escessive dullness that continues to iDark the business of Wall Street, ifc is very difHcult for any one to say what the next posîtive moveraent will be, especially when it is remembered that stock market prices are likely at any moment to be subject to inãucuces which can onjy be seen as tbey arise. The trading is ao largely professional, asmall amoimt only having been induced t® come in from the outsîde by the glowing reports of earnings, that movements either way are iikely to be sraall. An event Jias, how- ever, occurred which makes it unlíkely tbat any long sustained upward moveraent is possible; tbat event is tlie intended wíth- "drawal of ibe Burlington & Quincy from tbe Western Traffic Asso- ciatîon. Between tbe delivery of the notîce of withdrawal and the actual withdrawal ninety days must elapse during wnich, as the Borlington officials say, they are boimd by the mles o£ the associatîon. Outside of the company it is not 'thought tbat a minor violation or two of those rules would sit very heavily on the corscience of its officials meantime. As a matter of "fact there bas been consíderable dísorganization of rates and con- sequent violation of association rules for eome time, which îs press- ing witb particular beaviness on smalĩ properties, whose operating expenses cannot be very mucb, if at all, lessened. If the big roads are preparing for a fîght witb a view toa reapportĩonment of busi- ness and a rearrangement of rates tbey too will suffer as long as tbe íîght lastg, and, as a consequence, their securities will deciine. In the opinion oC good judges since 18b4-5 there has been no tirae when raĩlroad busîness was so disorganîzed as at the present moment, and the Interstate Commerce Act, whicb waa passed to prevent the recuiTence of th" particular state cf affairs that esisted in 1884r-5, seeras to have becomo almost a dead letter and to afford another ĩnstance of the futility of legislative effort to force any business into particular lines, There is a slender bope tbat the railroad managers will, îf not see the error of tbeir ways, see wis- dom ín raore paciflc measures; but experience does not estiraate tbat bope as worth mucb, and only the most sanguine wíll value it aboveabare possibiĩity. Tbis state of things naturally does not encourage buying, and while at the moment there is no pressure to aell it will appear on further sigua of aggressive activity on the part of the râĩlroad managers, resultĩtig in lower prices all 'round. ĩarge concems ate beîng incorporated and, their capĩtaUzation dis- tributed at a time when fchey are probably afc the very beight oî their prosperity. But as the country grows, its industriea develop, and tbe rate of interest commanded by capital decreases, it is very doubtful whether these corporations wiil be able to keep on paying the large returns whicb are now being guaranteed or promised. New capital will force itself in and demand a sLare of the 10 and 15 per cent. This, however, js no cause for îmmedĩate alarra. What the puicbasers of tbese securities have to fear in the neár future is a series of bad years, or a cbange in the conditíons of sorae trade tbat wiU hnrt industrĩes situated in particular localities. Many American businesses wbich bave been sold Ín England bave been injured by these circumstances; and our own investors will, of course, be liable to the same casualties. \ S the raany newly-formed " industrial " corporaticns continue :^^ to march through the advertisĩng columns of our newspapers, one is inclined to be somewbat surprised afc tbe uniformity which characterizes their methods and terms of organizatiou. Ifc is very seldora tbat tbese corporations represent what has been in the pasfc a single business concern. Mucb more f requently the new corpora- tion is tbe result of ^he combination of several corapeting concems; and am'oûg tbe induceraents ofEered to the public is the probability that the eamings of the consolidated corporation wiU be larger tban the earnings of the separate firras, because tbe competition willberemoved,andexpense3con3equentIy reduced. Anotber interesting characterisfcic is the uniformity witb which the issue of securÍtĩeB is classífied into preferred and coramon stock—the former bearing 8 per cent cumulative ĩnteresfc and the latter baving a promise of anywhere from 10 to 15 per cent. Tbese are very higb returns, and ifc is no wonder that the invesfcing pubJic take kindly to such enterprises wben fcbey are as successful as tbey have been hitberto in making their eamings equal tbeii* prom- ises. It is a raatter for co:igratuIation, also, that tbe facility witb wbich these securities are floated has not led to tbe advcrtise- ment and atterapted sale of less desirable properties. So far it Í3 apparently the raosfc stãble and áesirable businesses in the counfcry that bave been comĩng on the market. In tbe face of thîs prosperity it is well to keep in mind a few general cautions, In tbe first place the earnings of wanufacturÍDg and rûercantileestablísbments aremuch more liable to wide fluctua- tions than aro tbe eamings of raiJroadfl, In íhe second place thegô IT is asserted sometimes tbat the public bave taken little more than a theorefcical or, at most, a political interest in the silver agitation of recent years. There can be no harm done, ít is saĩd, if our worthy Senafcors and enJightened Representatives at Washing- ■tôn do play footbaJl with tbe questíon; the fînanciaJ world paya very Jittle heed to their antics, As a raatter of fact, bowever, politicaJ pJay with matters of vital concern to people, is not th« innocenfc, harmless sport some may tbink it is. lĩeaders who have been closely following our records of mortgages iu ĩlew York City, for tbe past two or tliree years, must have noticed hon muchraore frequently the gold clause appears in the transacfcions of the last eigbteen montbs than ever before. In our records, published last ■week, omitting tbe 23dand 24fch Wards, tbe details of 236 mort- gages were priated, and in twenty-one of tbese, payment in gold was stipulated. Araong tbe mortgagees are several tmstees, incJuding tbose of the Lenox Library, andtheGermaniaLifelosur- ance Co. In the corresponding week, a year ago, 271 raortgagea were recorded and, of tbese, only fourteen contained the gold clause. In the same week, of 1887, the number of mortgages was 267, and in but three of tbese was payment in gold demanded. These dates bave been taken positively afc xandom, and witbout the sligbtest intentof forcingfchecoraparison. Week by week, for raore than a year past, the same story—the increasing deraand for the more stable metal—has been told iu our columns. No one can doubttbat this is directly the outcome of the siJver agifcation. It proves clearly that the public regard the matter as sometbing more fcban theory, or polifcics. Disturbing questions nafcuraJIy wiJI arise frora time to time in national affairs for debate, and of course tbey are not to be shirked or avoided because tbey wiIJ oceasion timidity or some disturbance in one quarter or anofcber. Bufc, obvîousĩy, there is a duty of reticence which Con- gressmen owe the country, Tbey sbould not do aĩl their tbinking aioud, nor use tbe Legislature as a nursery for iramature econ- omic ideas or tentative experiraents. Indeed, tbe raajority of our " statesraen " acquire tbe greater number of the few ideas, good and bad, whicb they possese, tbrough childish experiments and ĩn tbe couxse of politícal borseplay with the vital interests of the people, THE passage in the House of Kepresenfcatives of Éb'é bîll giving tbe Secretary of the Tieasury dĩscretionary power to obtaîa designs for government buildingsby public competition isalongde- Jayed step distiuctly in the interest of the national reputation. In- deed, when we remember the nuraerous abiding esamples of archi- tectural insensibility which the f ederal authorities bave scattered, in the name of Appropriation, all over the land, fche act assumes the bigher attributes of delicate mercy. No one, of course, would expect to fînd the consummate flower of Architecture vigorously flourisbing in the fetid poHticaJ atmospbere of Washington, but with very few exceptions the work " tumed out" {tbe processmustbemechanical) frora the office of the Supervising Arcbitect has been of a particu- JarJy dead, comraonplace, idealess character. Tme, it bas not been vulgar. But even tbat is a fauJt here. Vulgarity denotes apirifc, vitalĩty witbout due restraint, andnothing soinstinct with tbe doll process of a laboring mind aa our State-manufactured archi- tecture could be really vulgar. Somewhere over the office of the Supervising Architect there must be the sad legend of tbe poor dressmaker in extremîs, "old materials worked up." In other countries, Arcbítecture i8 regarded officially as somewhat a matter of 'talent; there is some ambition and effort to obtain diuably creditabJe State buildings. In ocher words, the governraent acts aa tbough the nation had some artistic reputatîon to lose, and itself Boine sharae. With us, Arcbitecture, as related to government, national, State and local, is always and everywhere a matter of "politics." The Supervising Arcbitect bas always been a dull msdiocrity endowed wifch a *'pull,"and his subordinates—well, probably tbey are adequately described as his subordinates, The atmosphere of his office is about aa fayorable to artistic work as tbat of a brick factory, Needless to say, any atep tending to better this condition of affairs is wbolesome and weicome. But, the measuréasit.standsis, wo are afraid, very inadequate,, and.wiU ^ringaboutlittleradicalreformation. In tbe fîret piftce,tiw bill ^