Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 62, no. 1599: November 5, 1898

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November 5, 1S98 Record and Guide ^i" ESTABUSHID-Kj/i BiisDftss AJtoThemes of GEjteR^ iKitufsi,, PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Published every /Saturday, TSLEPHONE, LCOBTLAimT 1370. CommuDlcatloiis should be addreaeed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Str««t /. 1. LrjfDSEY, Business Manager. •' Enfernd at the Post- O^ii'e at Nrw York, jV Y., as second-class mailer." Vol. LXII. NOVEMBER 5, 1898. 1,599 THERE must tie confidence in the minds of the men who con¬ trol our railroads, that they can obtain relief from Con¬ gress froin the unpleasant situation created l)y the recent Joint Traffic decision. Otherwise it would be impossible to account for the strength of railroad securities since the Supreme Coui-t held that the Joint TrafBc agreement was illegal. Those who remember the discussion that preceded the passage of the Inter- State Commerce law, which was presumed to sanction rate agree¬ ments, will recall the fact that its necessity was insisted upon, because rates were disorganized and railroad properties were threatened with disaster as a consequence. By the passage of the act it was thought that equitable ari'angements could be made that would satisfy the railroads and be just to shippers. That has not been the case, however. The railroads have not held to their agreements, because the law was weak in that it afforded no means for enforcing them. Rates were cut and dis¬ aster finally overtoofe: the railroad world so Ihat at one time the mileage operated by receivers was appallingly large. Whatever good it may have done in other directions, and it may be sup¬ posed to have done some, the Inter-State Commerce Act has to¬ tally failed to benefit railroad investments, so that the investing public have a right to ask Congress to give tliem some assistance, especially in view of the sacrifices made by them in the past five years. What form this assistance should take has not been sug¬ gested, but it ought certainly be such as will allow agreements on rates to be made, and also provide that when once made they shall be maintained. The shipper's interest in this matter will have to be protected, which can be done by creating a commis¬ sion to whom he can appeal for readjustments of rates when such operate to his disadvantage, and who will have the power to en¬ force their orders. A year ago it was thought likely that Con¬ gress would pass a railroad pooling bill as a result of the Trans- Missouri decision, but it did not. Evidently there is a stronger ground for hope of relief now, otherwise it would be natural to suppose that a break in prices of railroad securities, similar to that that immediately followed the Trans-Missouri decision, would have occurred on the announcement of the later and more important ruling against agreements. As it is, prices are not only strong, but there are signs of extensive new buying of rail¬ road bonds, in spite of quotations that at one time, especially in the cases of the new bonds, would have been thought much too high. '^WO years of industrial activity in Great Britain, with a con- A. sequent and continuous increase in the demand for money, have brought about a substantial reduction in the prices of the very best securities. Consols have in this time declined sis points and guaranteed Canadian and Indian loans nine points. Prices of other gilt-edged issues show corresponding declines, and the end of this movement has probably not been reached be¬ cause there is no sign that lower prices are attracting new buy¬ ing. Certainly, with military and naval preparations now di¬ rected against Russia instead of France, if not against Rus¬ sia and France combined, there is little likelihood of a change in sentiment toward these issues. That there is no doubt of the industrial activity previously mentioned is shown by the report of the Labor Department of the Board of Trade for September, which states that, in 117 trade unions making returns, with an aggregate membership of 467,075, 12,027, or 2.6%, were re¬ ported as unemployed at the end of the month, as compared with 2.8% at the end of August and 4.4% of 113 unions, with an aggre¬ gate membership of 462,292, reporting In September, 1897. While we have no similar returns from labor in other countries. In view of the reports that have been current for the past year or two, the same cause, trade demand, supplemented in Bome cases by over-Bpeculatlon, \b operating to create stringency In money and to restrict operations on the bourses. It is the fall demands that are the severest, so that putting aside extraordinary agen¬ cies In the Inflation of rates such as war, relief ought soon to appear; otherwise accepted theories of the sufficiency of available money to sustain a growth of trade that has been unprecedented will be very thoroughly tested. In a period of over a quarter of a century, in which wars have been of short duration and carried on in very restricted fields; in which new markets have been opened up, and resources, quite revolutionary in character, as, for instance, electricity, have been extensively developed, trade has grown so enormously tbat, failing tbe uprising of some unnatural check to that growth, a situation of intense interest will arise. In a year the aggregate gold holdings of the great European national banks have decreased by about $100,000,000 (a sum, by tbe way, that corresponds somewhat to the gold gains by importations of the United States in the same period). As these banks are the channels through which flows the gold pro¬ duction of the worJd, outside of that of the United States, and which ought to replace the gold drawn away on exchange, this loss reveals a very large dispersion of basic funds among de¬ pendencies in the provincial districts. The readiness and extent of the return tide ought to indicate whether the present strin¬ gency is simply an aggravation of an old symptom or a new one whose precise nature has yet to be diagnosed. On the solution of this question will depend whether European Industrial devel¬ opment can continue. The situation in the United States is very different, as we show in another column. THE adoption of a budget for 1899 cf $93,520,082 must make the propertyowner desirous of knowingwhere the money is to come from. The amount to be raised by taxation will be reduced to an extent, estimated at $7,000,000, by returns from the general fund, but this still leaves $86,500,000, roundly, to be provided directly out of the ratepayers' pockets. This is about $14,000,000 more than the budget of the current year, after deducting the income from the general lund. It is stated, and we fear with only too much truth, that the whole of this increase will be put upon realty in Manhattan and the Bronx. Going into details, report has it that the real estate valuations of these two boroughs are being increased in the total between $500,000,000 and $600,000,000, mostly by raising the assessments on the commercial and better class of residential properties, especially in the middle sections of Manhattan, from twenty to forty per cent. The tenement sec¬ tions on the extreme East and West sides are not touched. Ordinarily such reports as these would not be worth repeating, but at the moment they have credit and importance because it is impossible to imagine where the increase in the city's pecu¬ niary needs is to come from, unless it be from real estate in the old city. That this is so is not surprising; it is one of the results aimed at by consolidation, and which the provision in the charter requiring an equalization of valuations throughout the consoli¬ dated city was intended to produce. It is expected that the per¬ sonal assessments will be increased in Kings and Queens, as they were in Manhattan and the Bronx last year, but that will not off¬ set the results of equalization against the boroughs or the in¬ crease in the cost of running the larger city. The final result must be to increase the burdens in Manhattan and the Bronx and correspondingly relieve the other boroughs. X PPLICATIONS for paving streets and avenues are now met *^ by the city authorities with the statement that this year's appropriation for such work is exhausted, and such applications can only he placed upon the list for consideration when next year's appropriation becomes available. This is not a pleasant prospect for owners of property abutting on streets needing re¬ pair, but it is one that will have to be borne with such philosophy as has been vouchsafed to them. The fact of the exhaustion of this appropriation probably accounts for the suspension of work on Elm street, which has occurred in spite of the protests of the owners of land and buildings along the route and of other repre¬ sentations made to the authorities. In our report of the Munici¬ pal Assembly will be found the announcement of the postpone¬ ment of other paving work in different parts of the city for the same reason. THERE are indications that red brick is returning to favor. Except that fashion is as arbitrary and extreme in archi¬ tecture as In millinery,there never was any reason why the archi¬ tects and builders of New York City should have so completely banished this warm-iooking material from the exteriors of their work as they have for ten years past. They deprived themselves thereby of a valuable resource for contrast and color, and the general appearance of the city has suffered. Light bricks were a valuable addition to the architect's palette, but much of the gain was lOBt when one form of monotony waa substituted for anoth4r.