Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 66, no. 1698: September 29, 1900

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-r September 29, 1900. KECOHD AND GUIDE. 38r ESTABUSHIir^!^WpHeK"Aie68. tkAiOiTi'fif^Zs^tjz.Qaitiqk *^tTZCT^}{wsn^ ' B\liotE&t AtfolHEMEs OF CeHovL iKtcitF^I^ . PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS, PubUetted evert/ Baturday. TELEPHONE, COETLAtTDT 1370. CommunlcatloDB should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. "Entered at the Poat-Ofttce at New Tork, N. Y., aa second-class matter." Vol, LXVI. SEPTEMBER 29, 1900. 1698. T X TITH cliaracteristic suddenness Wall Street turns froni * ^ gloominess to brightness. Whereas a day or two ago the market seemed inclined to discount the possible worst of the near ,,,.,future, it may now be about to discount the possible best. As the coal strike was the signal for the decline, the report of its set¬ tlement was the signal for the advance. It is among the curiosi¬ ties of recent gossip that both the strike and settlement are said to have been brought about by political agencies, though from adverse sources. So prone are people to believe that some one thing while It is prominent in their minds is responsible for , everything that occurs. Those who look at the matter fairly will refuse to believe that the managers of any party could or would bring about anything that would inflict suffering upon half a k, ..million of men, women and children. They will certainly see [ that it was to the interest of the party In power to do all they I could from humanitarian as well as Interested motives to ter¬ minates the struggle between the operators and miners as soon as possible. Had the strike been protracted it would certainly have detracted from claim of the party in power that their ad¬ ministration has been one of great prosperity. But, however that may be, if they were instrumental in bringing the contest¬ ants to resort to the civilized method of adjusting their differ¬ ences by arbitration instead of by starvation versus pecuniary loss through suspension of business, they did a very creditable thing. Only the poor in spirit could make the malign accusa- I tion against one party or look for discreditable motive in the other. The change in sentiment that a day or two has pro¬ duced is all the more satisfactory and reflective of the soundness of conditions thi'oughout the country, in that our market must look to be self sustaining. We have no prospect of help from Europe owing to the condition of the money mar¬ ket there. Whatever buying comes from that direction will be speculative, and be offset by realizations to secure funds to meet the stringency tbat they have every reason to expect before the close of the year. We cannot, either, expect much from the fall in exchange, because Europe needs the gold itself too sharply to ', allow much to come this way. Europe has more often been on balance a seller than a buyer of late years, on advances in our market, and the ability we have shown to take back our securi¬ ties on demand has revealed more than anything else, not even "excepting recent subscriptions to foreign loans, the growth of bur flnancial strength in recent years. The more securities we buy back, the less liable we are to be hurt by such upheavals abroad as that of 1890. This may seem to be travelling away from the consideration of the immediate future of the stock mar¬ ket and of general business in this country, but the two things are closely connected by our increased foreign trade and show the process by which we are evolving from a debtor to a creditor nation. As we secure and retain the flnancing of onr own enter- 'prises while continuing to enlarge our foreign trade we must be¬ come more and more buyers of foreign securities and more and more interested in the fortunes of other trading nations. ON Saturday last the 22d inst., title to the land required for the Riverside Drive Extension from Claremont to Boule¬ vard Lafayette became vested in the city, which baa now pre¬ sumably the right to all rents arising from its use and occupa¬ tion. Valuations are to be fixed as of that date and the city will have to pay interest on the awards therefrom at the legal rate of six per cent. The Commission of Estimate and Assessment for this improvement have determined to make a record in the proceeding if possible. They have held weekly meetings all through the summer, a very unusual and praiseworthy evidence of attention to duty that other Commission may hereafter very well follow. Besides the ordinary work the Commission, in or- h'i'SL^f,,^^^®^^^* ™^*'*'®^^' ^^^^ made up a list of unrepresented owners and the counsel for the city has had a marshal go round and serve these parties with notice to appear and prove their titles, etc. This is also a thing previously unknown in condem¬ nation proceedings. Property owners who have not already done so should without delay appear, either in person or by counsel, before the Commission who meet every Thursday at 10 a. m. in the offices of the Bureau for Street Openings. Nos. 90 aud 92 West Broadway. In this connection it is appropriate to again call at¬ tention to the recent action of the Park District Protective League, an association of owners of property along the Hudson River from Spuyten Duyvil to the city limits. At a meeting of this association held recently a plan for extending the riverside driveway from the northern end of Boulevard Lafayette through Inwood across the Harlem Ship Canal and along Palisade avenue to the city limits was approved. If this is carried out it will make the Riverside Drive a continuous line of thoroughfare from 72d street to Yonkers. It will require the building of two viaducts or bridges, one across the Inwood Valley at Dyckman street and the other at Spuyten Duyvi! over the ship canal, Messrs. Geo. D. Perkins, Cleveland H. Dodge, Thomas N. Cuthbert and John Jay McKelvey are a committee to take up the subject with the local authorities and to obtain any legislation that may be necessary to protect the interest of the section they represent. The idea in¬ volved in this scheme has the cordial approval of the men inter¬ ested in the lower West Side and will have their assistance later on, if the details are as acceptable as the general proposition. The old project of establishing a park at Spuyten Duyvi! is also to be revived. These movements will draw attention to the most northerly section of Manhattan, and, as land there is held in large tracts, they mean also, in dne time, dispersion and devel¬ opment under the encouragement of enlarged transit facilities. The Policy of the United States in China. X X THILE our policy in China has been cons'ervative*'ahd dis- ^ * interested, yet at the same time it has been sufiiciently definite, consistent and vigorous to win almost unanimous ap¬ plause from the intelligent and unbiassed public opinion of the country. Never before in the handling of a question of general international interest has our government been so really influ¬ ential; and probably most Americans have been gratified at the position which its lack of interested motives has permitted our government to assume. Throughout the whole of the war and the negotiations, which will follow it, ought to be possible for the United States to play a part at once dignified and useful; and the end of it should find us with a considerable enhanced national prestige. It is in China particularly that the govern¬ ment has the opportunity of making American infiuence effect¬ ive. It is the one international problem that has nothing to do with our own territorial Interests, in which we have a, policy to pursue; and as it is the great problem of the future, the policy shculd be at once energetic, dignified, disinterested and elastic. Just at present, perhaps, it is more important to insist upon its elasticity than upon anything else; and if any fault is to be found with Secretary Hay's conduct of the negotiations it is that he has adopted too definite a line. The difflculty is that the future is so extremely uncertain. No one knows how long the present war will last, how far it will be possible to re-establish a stable and well-intentioned central government, to what extent it will be necessary for the Powers to maintain armed forces in China, and how fixed some part of the Chinese people are in their desire to resist any kind of foreign encroachment. Up to the present time our policy has taken the proper direction. If possible some sort of an Imperial Chinese government must be re-established, and while the Chinese must pay damages for the past, and give guarantees for the future, they should be pro¬ tected as much as possible from any further territorial dismem¬ berment. The European Powers have no one but themselves to thank for the current crisis. In their desire to obtain a foot¬ hold for future expansion they have been tearing China to pieces, and they need not be surprised that the Chinese people have been aroused to resist the forcible disintegration of their vast Empire, It is still possible that the process of dismemberment may be stopped, and that the Powers, like England, the United States and Japan, whose interests demand a comparatively strong central Imperial government, and the restoration of former trade conditions, may be able to set one up and main¬ tain it. It is possible, that is to say, that China may like Japan, only more gradually, adopt some modification of western civil¬ ization, and retain indefinitely, as Turkey does, her political In¬ tegrity. So long as such an outcome is possible, both our com¬ mercial interests in China and our sense of fair play demand that we should work to bring it about. ,, . Yet, considering that this Is only one contingency among