Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 62, no. 1582: July 9, 1898

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July 9, 1898. Record and Guide 49 DDMllDRE^LEsTAjE.BmLDi^fe AppfrrEcTiiFiE>{ou3nfai)DEWiijnDK Busn/ESs Alfa Themes of GEjjEHfl lKrcfl.E»i., P^IICE PER TEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday Telbphohk, Cobtlandt 1370- Comiuanlcatlaus Ehould be addressed to C. "W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J. 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager. ••Entered at ihe Post Offi^a at jVcio York, ^'. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. LXIL JULY 9, 1898. 1,582 On the 2'.id of July we irlll issue the Index to Volume LA'L of the liecord and Guide, covering the period between January 1st and June 3Wh, IbOS. rrice $1.00. This Index hi its cnlarf/cd form i8 now reeognised an indispensable io every one engaged or interested in real estate and building operations. H coi'ers all trnnsacHons — deeds, mortgages, leases, auction sales, buiidiug plans .filed, etc. Orders for the Jndex should be sent at once io Ihe office o,f publication, li and 16 Vesey iSlrcef. THE victory at Santiago, when the Spaniard ofEered himself as a victim to our naval pride, caused a rally in the stocic mariiet, whioh was very promptly used by large interests to enable them to unload. Last week we warned our readers that there were interests anxious to sell, aod events have justified our remarks. Of course the rally was slight under the circumstances, and since Monday, while an appearance of activity has been kept up in the quotations, business has been quite dull. Just now it is not a cinestion of victories by land or sea that will move the stock market, but one of the public having had enough for the time heing, and of tlie necessity of waiting until they are in the mood to buy again. Appearances of activity in particular direc¬ tions are deceitful, and if not exactly desperately wicked, judged by tbe easy morality of Wall Street, are desperate attempts of serae individuals to cajole other individuals to carry stocks that the first individuals are convinced hav.e reached the top swing of values for the time being. The outcome of the war is so cer¬ tain, and has been so so long, that it has already been discounted. If it is to have any effect at all, it is likely to be unfavorable—bar¬ ring little exhibitions of enthusiasm like that of last Monday— through complications which make our task look harder than it dees now. But the consequences of our dealing with Spain alone have ail been consumed in the market reckoning. If Germany has any inimical intentions towards us their appearance among the present conditions would have an adverse effect on prices, and that there may be some such development is a suspicion that persists in the public mind and may have something to do with the stagnation that has fallen upon the stock commission business. Congress, by passing the Hawaiian annexation act, and the President, by signing it, evidently believe public opinion favors a much larger policy of territorial expansion as a result of ■the war, and the moneyed public, aware that this will be the .n- terpretation put upon the act-abroad, are apparently inclined to await developments. MONEY ceems to be booked for a considerable period of cheapness, and, as the Governor of the Bank of England recently lold the London bankers, for the next few months the prctits of the banks will be small, a fact that-ought to keep pay¬ ing securities strong, though it suggests that speculation is ended for the period mentioned. Natal, Holland and the Transvaal Republic are recent borrowers in the London market, Brazil's bankruptcy and proposals for a readjustment of its debt, and the recent panic in Chili on the large exportations of gold and the closing of the banks, are drawing unfavorable attention to South American securities. The foreign correspondents in Argentina do not describe the comniercial or the treasury situation there in cheerful terms, and the liability of the boundary dispute with Chili to develop ugly phases aggravate the situation. The British iron and coa! companies have recently issued their re¬ ports, which, tBken as indicative of the general business situa¬ tion, are Always interesting. The record is curiously variable in character, coinpariics engaged in'the same class nf business in different parts of the counliy having in some cases improved on previous results, while others show a falling off, Generally, how¬ ever, it may be observed that the coal trade was more active la-it year than perhaps at any period since the great coal strike, and the benefit to the limited companies was in some few instances sufficiently pronounced to enable them to increase previous divi¬ dends or to resume them where there had been a cessation. Com¬ panies with colleries and ironworks combined did rather better as a rule than in the previous year, while, as regards steel-pro¬ ducing companies, the record would probably have been uni¬ formly favorable but for the engineering strike, which caused a partial paralysis in the demand for certain classes of the product in the later months of 1897. A volume of statistical tables, wii:h diagrams, has been issued by the French Customs Department, giving the movement of trade and prices during the ten years 1887 to 1896, with the object of showing that tbe protective tariff of January, 1892, has not produced tbe disastrous effects on French trade alleged by its adversaries. For that purpose a com¬ parison is made between the annual averages of imports and ex¬ ports in tbe period of five years, 18S7 to 1S91, preceding the new tariff, and that in the five years, 1S92 to 1896, following it. The result is to show that if there is an apparent decline in trade it is due to the fall in prices, whereas if the quantities in the two pei'iods are compared, there has been an increase since 1S92, es¬ pecially in the French exports. The following is a recent opinion on the state of the security market at Berlin: The state of the market begins at last to show the effects of past extravagances and of certain Epprehensions concerning the future, which all spring from the obvious and generally admitted fact that the level of quotations is too high and cannot be sustained. Were it not for the buoyant business in the coal market, and partly in the iron and steel trades, all this speculation would have come to grief long ago. One of the dangerous features of the European business situation is the uncertain fiscal and political position of the chief countries of Southern Europe, Spain, Italy and Aus¬ tria having each their peculiar and threatening features, which must be at least allayed, if not removed, before confidence can return to these enormous territories. "SLFP APPLrCATIONS" FOR ALTERATfONS TO BUILDINGS. MUCH dissatisfaction is expressed in building circles that the use of simple blanks, known as "Slip Applications," for unimportant alterations to buildings has been abolished in the Department of Buildings. Where slight alterations were de¬ sired to be made, not affecting the constructional parts of a building, such, for instance, as putting in new front windows and door entrance to a store, or an additional skylight, the use of a "Slip" proved a great convenience to builders, as it obviated the filling out of an elaborate blank requiring answers to a muUi- tude of questions covering depth and thickness of foundation walls, thickness of upper walls, size of floor beams, materials of roof, and a lot of other things that were not affected by the work proposed to be done, and correct answers to which were difficult if not impossible to make unless much trouble and expense were incurred in obtaining information that was really unnecessary to give. Many trifling alterations are not ordinary repairs such as the building law says can be made without notice to the Building Department; nor can they be defined as material changes to a building, and yet a builder knows that he must make an appli¬ cation to the department if he would avoid the service of violation papers and consequent trouble: For such cases "Slip" blanks were provided. Slip Applications were instituted by Mr. Brady when he was Superintendent of Buildings some five or six years ago. The blanks simply required a statement of location, owner and builder's names, a brief description of the proposed work, and the cost of the work was limited to five hundred dollars. An ex¬ amination by an inspector of buildings followed, and upon the inspector's favorable report the application was approved. When Mr. Brady's successor took office he found that abuses had grown up under the use of Slips, and so he added a new feature; the ap¬ plicant was required to make oath that he had stated all the alterations or repairs he proposed to make, and a stipulation that all provisions of the building law would be complied with in carrying out the work. No cath is required to the statement contained in an ordinary application for repairs, but only in Slip Applications; still no grumbling followed the requirement that a slip statement must be sworn to. Now, suddenly and without notice to the pub'ic, the Derartment abolishes all Slip Applica¬ tions, because it was found about a month ago that abuses had grown up in the way of applicants filing slips for constructional features and misrepresenting the cost of the alterations. The building public has grown accustomed to the use of Slip Applications: these blanks were appreciated from the start for Iheir simplicity a.nd convenience, and their, abolishment is fla- iilored. If certain applicants have exceeded the amount of work to which they swore they would cgafinc themselves, then e^cli