Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 59, no. 1509: February 13, 1897

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Record and Guide 249 ,_J^ \ ESTABUSi1ED^fAftR.CH21M>-ia68, De/oTED to REA-L EsTOE . BuiLDIffc %cKiTECTUI^E .HoUSEHOlD DEGCSiATlOll^ Biisit^Ess AfiD Themes or GeKeiV"V M^ei^est. PBICe, PtH YEAH, IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TBLfiPHONB,......COaTLANDT 1370 Communications should be addreased to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J T. LINDSEY, Brm7te8a Manager. lufractiou of Eiirnpcan ponce. The frenernl husinoss sittiaUon has preseiitetl uo feature c.illius I'or remark; on the whole It is good with slgus of reactionary tendency from the extreme ac¬ tivity of the past two yeara. An estimate of the amonnt of new loans issued at Berlin last year gives an itlca of the treml of financial operations at that centre. The total was ahout $4G4.- 000,000, of which 25 per cent was foreign horrowings, 20 per cent for industrial enterprise aud 12 per cent increase to bank capitalization. There is a strong probability that the French Chamber of Deputies will increase the export bounty ou sugar to meet the increase in the Gerinaa export-bounty ou the eame article made iu the last session of the Iteichstag. "Enured at ttie Fosl-offiee at New Tork. Jf. T.. aa seeond-ctass matter." Vol. LIX. FEBRUARY 13, 1897. No. 1,509 ■Hiil T.exow Trust Investigation Committee has caused a scare and some short selling of the industrial stocks, but th^ decline iiithe price of the stocli of the only industry so far Investigated must be a sunn-ise to anyone who believes arith¬ metic has a relevancy to values. So far as the American Sugar Refining Company is coucerued, all the investigation has so far l)ri.)ved is that financially it is one of the strongest institutions iu tlie eountrv. The facts brought out are briefly these: The com¬ pany t^aru^ and pays seven per ceut, on its preferred stock and earns twenty per cent and pays twelve per cent on its common stock. It has eiglily per cent of the business of supplying au article in, it may be .lald, hourly consumption throughout the country: a few years ago au extra dividend of teu per cent was paid and in the Interval since a surplus of $13,000,000 has been accumulated, of which only about $5,000,000 have beeu put into improvements; that the company has an almost unlimited credit and keeps ready and in a state of efHeieucy an extensive and complete reflning plant, which can be put into operation upon an hour's notice should any of the large refineries now In use be disabled by fire or other accident. How anyone has the cour¬ age to sell stock short ou such a showing is a marvel. Adverse legislation is darkly hinted at. But as there are no trusts now, all having been abandoned and regular incorporations taken their places, it is hard to see what legislation will hurt the so-called trusts that will not also hurt every other corporatiou in the State and whose suggestion would not place before the Legis¬ lature the fear of driving a great deal of busiuess out of the State. We know it is hard to say what absurdity a legislature will not commit, but we may be allowed to hope that our rep¬ resentatives would pause before doing anything calculated to Injure the business interests of this city aud the state and drive capital aud population across the Hudsou. This very modest hope we may surely bo allowed to indulge in. Anything short of eompoUing the industrial companies to do their business else¬ where than here would have very little effect upon the market value of the securities of the great and strong ones, especially as these securities always sell subject to pi-obable injury by leg- islntiou. This inveHtigation like others, aud like the talk of de¬ cline in prices on war abroad and busiuess complications at home, is only creating excellent opportuojties for the purchase of cheap securities. ------------------■ ■ —- SOME surprise is expressed at the moderation of M. Hano- liLUx" response to Sir Michael Hicks-Beac-h's outburst on Framv aud the British oc-cupation of Egypt. The most reason¬ able explanation of thi.s is that the French minister was pre¬ pared for what the English one would say and what .seema to the outside world strange and dangerous was really the execu¬ tion of a programme tacitly agreeable to the governments ou liofh sides of the channel. If this was an experiment to test imbiii- opinion in Frnnee on the question of permanence of oc- (■upaiion of Egypt iiy Great Britain, with a view to an open agreement to that effect in due course, it was most successful, because, apparently, the French people generally do not care a rap wlielhor the British stay or go aud those of them who hold Kgyiitian funds undoubtedly prefer the status quo to any <-hiiiig(.', because none could be made that would ncit. tempor¬ arily at least, imperil the value of their investment. The mod¬ erate influence of reports of troubles in Crete and elsewhere is natural for the reason that all the world was prepared for a good crop of warlike rumors when spring was approaching. The reports that come over the wire from London, Paris, Berlin. Vien¬ na, and elsewliere say the markets arc dull because of the trouble in the East, but the markets were dull before for other reasons, so that it is fair to assume that tlie Cretan outbreak is prac¬ tically without influence nn prices aud also, for the same reason, that uo one in authority apprehends that [t will lead to a serious AN important decision was rendered this week by Justice Audrews in the Supreme Court relating to Ihe much vexed, but important question of vault rights. The facts lead¬ iug up to this decision were that the owner of Kos. GO, G2 and G4 Liberty street, desiring to replace the present roof and pavo- mout over his vaults, which extend beyond the curb line, ap¬ plied to the Commissioner of Public Works for a permit to make a temporary opening in the surface of the street to enable him to do so. The Commisslouer, or his representative, declined to issue the permit, to uncover the vaults, so far as they wore un¬ der the sidewalk except that the space was paid for at (he pre¬ vailing rate for vault space of $2 per foot; and, so far as they extended under the carriageway, under any circumstances. The Court held, on proof that the vaults under the sidewalks had existed for twenty years, it must he presumed that they were constructed with the consent of Ihe city authorities and upon payment of such fees as were required at the time of tlieir con¬ struction and that it was therefore the duty of the Department to issue a permit to allow of their repair witliout demanding Ihe payment of fees. Regarding vaults extending beyond tbe liue of the curb, the Court held, that as the ordinances of tho Com¬ mon Council had made it illegal since 1840 to construct vaults under the carriageway, such vaults were illegal and tbe Commis¬ slouer could uot issue a permit for opening the carriageway to repair such vaults. In rendering this opinion Justice Andrews took occasion to point out that he was not passing upou the question; "Whether the Common Council, or (he Commissioner of Public Works, acting under an ordiuauco of tho Comraon Council, cannot, wholly or in part, revoke wliat is at most, a mere license to the owners of property abutting on public streets to construct vaults under sidewalks, nor expressing au opinion as to the terms or manner in whicli sucli power can be exercised." It would, the Court .said, be time enough to deal with these questions when they were properly before it. This decision forms but a moderate victory for the property owner, and its extent is still furtlier diminished by the fact that Jus¬ tice Andrews referred pointedly to the absence of any evidence before him of an ordinance requiring the payment of ?2 a foot or any other sum for the privilege of taking the sidewalk from over a vault and replacing tbe same. What tbe Court's opin¬ ion would have been had that evidence been present and had the omitted questions been submitted to it, we have no rigiit to infer, but this case, as well as others arising in recent yrars, accentuates the need of judicial explanation of the several riglits of the city and the property owners in tbe matter of vault spaces, the matter now being in a chaotic and consequently very unsatisfactory state. APPAP.ENTLY there is au unnecessary divergence of feel¬ ing as well as of opinion between the advocates and op¬ ponents of the bills now nnder discussion at Albany relating to sti-eet obstructions. This is always the case where custom has sanctioned a departure from the strict letter of the law which custom it is found difhcult. if not impossible to remove. An observance of the happier amenities of public discussion and a conference of the parties in difference with a view to tbe find¬ ing out clearly by each what the other wants would be likely to produce satisfactory and pleasant results. Of course the truck storage bill of Assemblyman Leonard is in every sense ohjec- tionablo aud indefensible in the interest of property owners, or from the point of view of proper regulation of the streets. It is an attempt to reimposc a nuisance which bore heavily on the city for many years aud was removed with dilEculty. Its only supporters are probably wealthy iuterests which can well afford to provide proper housing of their draught wagons, though they would naturally prefex- to avoid that expense hy encumbering tliG streets with them. The bill introduced by Assemblyman Finn, to allow stands on tlie sidewalks for the sale of goods in certain situations cannot be dismissed so easily as utterly merit- less. Tt is true that the streets were intended for the free pas¬ sage of the public and the erection of stalls or stands on any part of them seems a direct violation of this Intention. But