Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 55, no. 1417: May 11, 1895

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May 11,1895 Record and Guide. 773 Dev&teD io Rej^l Estate , Bin Loif/o A^.c^hecturP ^{ausEilou) OEOCitpa^ Btrsi^ESs Affo Themes of GeiJer^I liftt«^1. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Pjiblished every Saturday. Telephone,......Cortiandt 1870 Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager. BsooKLyN Office, -276-282 Washington Street, Off. Post Office. " Entered at ihe Post-office al New Tork, N. T„ as second-ciass matter." Vol. LV. MAY 11. 1895. No. 1,417 For Brooklyn matter, see BrooMyn Departinent immediately following New Jersey records (page 806). THE buying movement on the stoek market has got into the speculatiye stage, and there is no telling how long it -will continue, or how soon it will stnp. Its ^yant of discrimiuatiou makes cautious ppople shake their heads, hut no oue ventures an opinion on its limits. Such n movement bas never been seen before, because the depression in busiuess has never beeu so great as it has been since the panic oi: .July, 1893, and there have never been such accumulations ot idle luoueys as have gathered into all tbe great centers ol' speculation in the last two years. People whose rectilleetions extend back to 1879 and 1885 can remember something like this movement, but nothing like it in the way of maintained strength andvolmne. Our world bas grown larger since those times, and comparisons will not tit. One of the best features of the situation from the opti¬ mistic staodpoiut, is tho decline in exchange, wbich not only puts shipments of gold out of the questiou at a pei-iod of the year when they are usual, but makes tlte promise of a westward movemeut of gold in the early fall highly probable. Should this become the case, it will have a very beneficial eft'ect on the position of the public toward the Treasury, aud thereby diminish the embarrassments of that department. Of business in general it is hardly necessary to spc'ak, with prices of raw materials ris¬ ing iu every direction aud a cheerfulness showu by merchants and manufactorersEast, which has heen absent from their cono- teuances for mauy a loug day. The West, with good weather and fair crop prospecis, should soou come iuto line, though it cannot be said to bave given auy positive signs of doing so yet. T ONDON confidently expects to be shipping gold to the -^ Uuited States between uow and August on legitimate market movements. France and Germany arc large buyers of South African gold miniug shares and of Americau securities. Reports from every direction iodicate a contiuued improvement in the trade outlook, aud it is, therefore, not surprising that buyers have hecome veutui-esome, extraordinary as their pur¬ chases in some directions may appear to be. The Prussian Government is sa'd to meditate tbe foundation of a great paper mauufaetoi-y in West Prussia to supply military requirements. The mthdrawal of tbe Austrian Government's scheme to pur¬ chase a number of the great railways caused a set-back on the Vienna Bourse, hut the injury doue appears to be limited iu its influence. The report of the foreign trade of China and Japan for 189.'3, the Litest available, shows the delicate position Great Britaiu held during the recent uiipleasautuess iu the far E.ist, From this report it appears that about 60 per cent of the export and import trade of China is iu her hands, and 65.50 per cent of the total tonnage entered aud cleared iu treaty ports wa^ also hers. Her exports to Japan amounted to ahout 50 per cent of the total for that country, and her imports therefrom to 30 per cent of the total, Accordiug to Japauesu returns the values of all exports and imports shipped iu mei-chaut vessels clearing from or entering into Japanese ports to or from foreign coun¬ tries in 1893 were, in Briti.sh ves.se]s, $100,762,143; in Ger¬ man, $24,040,899 ; iu Freuch, $21,570,546 ; in Japanese, $14,- 427,144, and iu United States vessels, $10,057,223. The United States takes a little more than Great Britain of Japanese exports, though supplying but a small fnietion of, her imports ; these figures even show a falling oft' from the /previous yeai. The United States has larger iuterests in China,i though these are proportionately small set in comparison witli|those of Great Britaiu. Of imports valued at l,51,:-{62,800 Haikwan taels, this tael being worth for exchange about 76 cents, 7,852,100 taels came fi-om the Uuited Sfates, and of 116,G.S2,000 exports it re¬ ceived 9,338.000 taels. This is sufacieut. however, to justify a close attentiou to the progress of affairs ou the farther shores of the Pacific. GOVERNOR MORTON has signed the Tenement House Building Act, and whether good or bad law, builders of the classof architecture it .applies to must conform to it. On^ point that deserves immediate attention is the time when the aet shall go into force. That time is not fixed by the act itself; consequeutly, according to the law governing such a case, it wiU become of effect in tweuty days from the date of the affixture of the Governor's signature. This has raised tbe interesting point whether plaus maybe filed with the Department of Buildings uuder the oldlaw np to the close of tho tweuty days. We under¬ stand that tbe Superiuteudent of the Departmentat this moment does not so construe the law, hut iutimates that he wiVl require that all plane designed to secure to the filers the benefits of the old law must be filed within a reasonable time withiu the tweuty days to permit the Departmeut to examine and pass upou them. This is an unusual coustrucriou, especially iu view of the art-ears of work in the Department, aud one that is likely to be contested in the courts if insisted upou. The Anthracite Situation. THE contest, if contest there be, iu the anthracite trade is heiug carried on with much courtesy and mutual regard amougtbe eonte.stants. Purveyors of Wall Street gossip have announced a good many times, iu the last sixty days, that a general engagement was about to begin and have had each time to frame an excuse for the failure of theirpredictious. So far as the situation cau be gauged at all, it is no douht uusatisfactory, both as to output aud prices, but \vith no inclination on the part of the managers to make it more so, eveu as a temporary and strategic move to better tbeir iudividual positions. Tbose who are most dissatisfied are the coal dealers wbo have been making no money for some time aud who see auother very barren year before them, unless the aiTaugemeut mnde last week will fix prices ou abasis of profitable business and give them some degree of permanence. Buyers iiave beeu holdiug oft'iu the hope that a slashing of rates would begin, so that theycould buy at war prices, but they will probably either from disappoint¬ ment or necessity soou put iu their orders. AVheu they have doue this, the chances of making auy money in anthracite iu the coming year will be very small, depending entirely ou a develop¬ ment of extraordinary demand, or tne raising rf rates. The reason why uo fight has beeu inaugurated is that the anthracite iuterests have taken on more of an iuvestmeut char¬ acter thau the.v had twenty years ago at tho time of the great coal war, and these changed iuterests are decidedly averse to anytbing like recklessness aud, therefore, hold the managers of the companies to a conservative course. The reason why output has not been restricted and prices raised is that no way has been found to do either. Anything in the shape of a combination is out of tbe question siuce the rulina of the courts dissolving the Jersey Central lease to the Reading, aud agreements amoug agents, managers aud presidents have proved to be utterly use¬ less iu the ahseuce of any penalties that could be enforced agaiust violators. Events have proved tbat the railroad ofScial has no official word of lionor, and, of course, no reliance is placed ou his mere official word. The problem then is, how, without violating the law, ati arrangement can be effected that will hind the compauies iu a way that canuot be dodged by the parties theieto to restrict output and maintain prices. The solution of the problem is made more difficult by the fact that the conservative elements do uot dominate the trade in such a way that tbey could insure auy agreement they made. There are numerous independent producers who could not be bound, and the cost of produciug the coal varies according to the nature aud lay of the miue, so that a price that would iiay oue producer would not another. With all these difficulties it is not surpris¬ ing that iu a time of poor demand and when the developmeut of coal lauds has been canied to au extreme uuwarranted by the requirements of the public, that there is disorganization in the anthracite trade ; but on the eontraryj it is rather surprising at first view that the tactics pursued to push busiuess have not beeu of a more aggressive character, but this is due to the increase of investment represoutatiou previously referred to. The position takeu by the Reading receivers that in any agreement to restrict output Reading should have a percentage more proportionate to ils holding ot coal lands and its ability to produce than has hitherto beeu the case is oue that has the ludoriement of the Street at least, and would uo doubt also find support iu tbe c( urt which has caro of the property. It has always beeu felt that tlie ol-her producers have takeu advantage of Reading's poor standing aud credit to treat it unjustly in the matter of the distribution of: percentages, bub with burdeusome interest charges aud want of workiug capital Eeading has hitherto been unable to stand upou its rights. The other great compauies, L.ickawanua, Delaware & Hudson, Penusylvauia aud the Erie have nrofited by this and annually increased their