Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 51, no. 1307: April 1, 1893

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April 1,1898 Record and Guide. 481 ESTABLISHED^ NWpH Sl"^ 1859.,^ "^^ TO Rf*J. Estate . BuiLOIf/o A^Ct(!TECT>Jt^ >(cillS£TftilB DEOQR^TWJfe Bt/SJ*[E5SAlfelKEHESCfGESE'^ij*'^^^5 PRICE, PER TEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TBUiPHOETB' .... COBTLANDT 1370. CommnnicatJonB shoold be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14 & i6 Vesey St. J. 1. LINDSEY, Btisiness Manager, '^Entered at the Post-office at Seu> Tork, N. F., as second-class matter.'^ Vol. li. APRIL 1. 189S. No, 1,807 AS has not been unusual of late years on the eve of a holiday, the stock market closed very strong. In this instance it is remarkable, because the rates for money ou the [laat day indi¬ cated scarcity, and with a certainty of serious curtailment of home and foreign business for some dajs prices might naturally be expected to sag. But there are evidently strong hands on the reins, and while the success of their efforts has not been very great, still a market showing such strength under such conditions prom¬ ises well for the near future. A week haa made serious declines in the prices of some few securities, but the advances, notwithstand¬ ing that weakness prevailed during most of the week, have been in a very large majority, and in not a few instances substantial. Tne talk recommences aboui tne benefit the roads entering Chicago and the Eastern trunk lines are to receive from the World's Fair, whose opening is now so near, and this has encouraged the buy¬ ing of Erie and the Chicago Grangers. It has been alway& in people's minds that the Fair must work advantageously to Ameri¬ can securities, and with its advent so near at hand and with pow¬ erful forces in control this advantage may be discounted in the coming month. If it w^i-re not that the unfavorable features that caused the weakness and dullness of a month past still exist thisjnference might very confidently be turned into a prediction. ONE of the favorable conditions of the commercial outlook is that, for the first time in ten years, we are entering upon a Spring with Labor on the defensive. After a bitter experience, the manufacturers have learned the lesson of combination, and it now looks aa though for some time to come they will act on the offensive if forced to. The present strike or lock-out on the part of the clothing manufacturers shows the employers united, and the men or unions fighting one another. But, with plenty of money behind the manufacturers, they are morally certain to achieve suc¬ cess. It really means a great deal that at last a check has been called to tha steadily increasing demands of Labor, which, slowly but surely, from year to year have been sapping the profits of capi¬ tal. Fighting, of course, is to be deplored, for in the end nobody gains by strikes or lock-outs, but if there must be fighting, it is well that ifc should not be a one-sided affair as it has been in the past. Capital has its just rights the same as Labor has and, for some years past. Labor bas had everything its own way. Some of its demands have not been for the best interests of the country. For instance, the passing and enforcing of the Contract Labor Law was a mistake. That dema¬ gogic measure has been detrimental to the general welfare, by keeping much-needed skilled labor out of the country. It was passed solely in the interests of the unions and should be repealed. We fear, however, that tbere is little hope for tbat. Secretary Carlisle is already truckling to Labor, as is shown by his recent decision about artists. ONE does not care to pronounce very positively upon the plan of the New City Hall, which the Building Commissioners and the Advisory Committee have determined upon. The value of the plan will depend so much upon the architectural skill applied to the design. Certainly, great opportunities are given to the architect in the ample dimensions of the site; but the retention of the Court House must surely prove puziiling. Is this monstrosity to be a permanent fixture among our municipal curiosities? If so, what architect of repute will jeopard his reputation by designing tbe new structure in harmony with it, and if he does not, what an incongruous result will affront us on Chambers street! Mr. Eidlitz's addition will be nothing to it. rriHE tax bill providing that a tax of half; of 1 per cent shall be -L levied on all mortgages, is a measure that belongs to the class of legislation attempted from time to time for purposes that cannot be honest. It is, of course, well for the Eeal Estale Exchange to keep an eye on the bill and even, a demonstration against it may not be without value; but on the other hand there is' no reason to' fear it will pass. It is fairly stuffed with provisions distasteful to cor¬ porations, and their influence may be relied upon to defeat it.JTh i is the way bills are made and unmade nowadays. Public opposition in most cases is a farce. Legislation is purely a matter of com¬ merce. The Real Estate Exchange need not bother about agitating for immunities which other interested people will indirectly pur chase for them. ----------■-------— Exit Oompetition, IT is not many years ago that a famous English statesman oppose a motion in the House of Commons because " the reign of nuim- bers, if it endangered nothing else, endangered political economy. Nobody can survey the economic and social changes of the pas twenty-flve years without finding this cry again and again on the lips of people. The last protest of the reactionary againat reform has always been '' What is to become of us if this old institution or that old practice or these old ideas are overthrown?" The English M. P. could not conceive the world as a fit place to live in if hi political economy were endangered. The trouble with him an with those who plaft themselves in his position is that they opine that ro^reia Tiust and always does carry forward into the future tje conditions of the present; whereas the chief business of Progress—the evidence and justification of itself—is to create new conditions conformable to the new order. For example, it was urged .against Democracy tbat for its own interests it could not safely use the large freedom which it demanded. The Aristocrat could not perceive that Democracy was more than a demand for actual power, it was a demaud for possibilities. We see now what the Arisrocratcould not possibly see; how the dissem¬ ination of education, the creation of the Press,[the extension of the use of steam power and electricity {all if not the direct outcome of Democracy, greatly developed by it) have aided the People in over¬ coming the very difficulties which seemed so threatening at one time. The instincts of Mankind have been safer guides than the intelligence, and people have felt better than they have thought. During tbe past few years " political economy " has been sadly "endangered" in this country. The " reign of numbers" has been arbitrarily ordering affairs iu direct con tra ven tion j of its laws. Moved almost by the primary instincts, by crude desires, by the unscientific promptings of the counting house and workshop, many vigorcus attempts have been made in more than one direction to oust Competition from its tyrannical position in human affairs. This, indeed, is " endangering Political Economy." Competition was one of the dreadest but we were told, most beneficent of the divinities which the old political economists created to rule over the affairs of men in the sort of factory Olympus they set up in lbe first half of the present century. Competition was the Jupiter, the great regulator, the abaser of the proud and haughty in their prosy mythology. The world was instructed to give Competition full swing. As a consequence, the weak might go to the wall, to the poor-house, to the pauper's grave, to any of the numerous perditions of the unfortunate, but for the rest all would be well. With the Wage-fund theory before and Competition be¬ hind, did Mankind ever find themselves in such ahopelesdposition? Laissez-faire became the new gospel for the regeneration of the world Protection or governmtntal interference in any direction was decried. Trades unionism was denounced, and the Law be¬ came active in dealing with all manner of combinations in restraint of trade. Nothing could be tolerated that interfered with the working of Competition. It is well for many fco remember where the world stood not so very many years ago. But the instincts of Man again saved him from his intelligence. When he could not argue against the Wage-fund theory, he rebelled against it. He revolted against Competition, when it commenced to demonstrate its existence upon his back and within his vitals; and even snug, comfcitable Capital arose, at last, against the tyrant when he decreed eitber the closing of factories or their profitless operation. The outcome, in the case of Labor, was the aggressive trade union; in tbe case of Capital, the trust—each, in its way, was a firm planting of the feet in a stand against Competition, The reactionaries were soon heard from. The cry went up, "if it endangers nothing else, this endangers political economy." The agitation that arose against the Trusts has subsided. Scores of new mercantile combinations and consolidations are now formed annually, but we hear nothing any more of the evils that we were once assured must arise trom the repression of Competition. The dire predictions that did prevail about the freedom with which irre¬ sponsible corporations would plunder the public bave not been fulfilled, and prices, removed largely from tbe regulation of com¬ petition, are still, contrary to expectation, not wiihout regulation. Corporations have discovered that the highest prices are not pro¬ ductive of the greatest returns—the^dearer articles become, the less people buy, and the increase in price is more than offset by the diminution of consumption. The world has changed also^quite as much in its attitude toward •