Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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October ii, 1902. RECORD AND CTTTDE. S17 —now the Sub-Treasury—was eight years under construction. There is danger that the one now under way will be longer. The enabling act was passed four or five years ago, and title to the site acquired more than three years ago, to be precise, on July 26, 1899. Since then it has been a matter of little spells of work interrupted by long spells of delay, and now after nearly three years have passed since actual physical work began, there is very little to show and no sign of preparations for taking the undertaking in band in a business-like way. At this rate the last custom house will beat the record of the flrst for slow con¬ struction way out of sight, the public and custom service will continue, meanwhile to he inconvenienced and the National City Bank kept off their site on Wall st., and presumably, thereby restrained indefinitely from joining the ranks of cor¬ porations that have made monumental improvements. A GREAT and wealthy English family—that of a Duke or a Marquis—might well have several magnificent country places, as well as a sumptuous and imposing town-house, but it looks as if some of the American families, in which wealth has been resident for several generations would far surpass in the number and magnificence of their private dwellings any but the monarchs of the most important European States. This com¬ ment is suggested by the announcement that W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., proposes to erect a New York residence on land recently acquired opposite the Catholic Cathedral. This gentleman be¬ longs to the fourth generation of his family—since it has become prominent. Each of these earlier generations, except the first, has proved to be great builders. W. H. Vanderbilt erected the old brownstone houses on 5th ave., which are now being altered, and not long after dwellings for two of his sons were built on 52d St. and 57th st. The late Cornelius Vanderbilt added ex¬ tensively to the 57th st. house, and had the "Breakers" put up at Newport. GeorgeVanderbiltisresponsible for "Biltmore," and for two dwellings now being erected noxt tc the new Union Club. Fred. Vanderbilt, besides his house on 5th ave., owns a modern country residence at Hyde Park, N. Y. Other members of the family have built houses of their own in Vermont, at Madison, N. J., at Scarsborougb. N. Y.. and on Long Island. And now the fourth generation is beginning its career of construction, with the result that eventually there may be almost as many Vander¬ bilt residences as there are Carnegie libraries. No other wealthy family can as yet compare in this respect with the Vanderbilts; but it may be remarked that the Goulds are showing something of the same tendency. Of course, the reason is that in American families the wealth is in some measure distributed among sev¬ eral children, who, each of them is able and willing to have his or her own particular establishment. The result is a multi¬ plication of town and country houses, which in the aggregate makes a most imposing showing. If other rich families have done half as well by the time the fourth generation is reached the handsome American residence will become perhaps the most distinctive, and certainly one of the most numerous, types of local building. —■------------------------------------~*------------------------------------------------------------- THIS city happens at the moment—though temporarily only we hope—to be very much interested in the subject of a lecture delivered before the Congress of the Sanitary Institute (British) by W. N. Shaw, M. A., Sc. D.,F. R. S.,on the Treatment of Smoke, in which he asked if they were justified in asking prac¬ tical men of science, whether the treatment of smoky air, on a plan similar to the treatment of sewage, is mechanically possible within reasonable limits of original outlay and current expense. Of course an inquiry of this sort arises much more naturally in Great Britain than here, for there a foggy climate intensifies the Inconveniences arising from the universal use of soft coal, and if these could be obviated it would warrant the incurring of con¬ siderably more expense than would he justifiable here. Still the inquiry is one in which we. must be more or less interested, and there are many cities in this country which could benefit by a practical and satisfactory outcome, if such can possibly he ob¬ tained, Mr. Shaw seems to believe that there is at least a theoret¬ ical basis for the hope that the problem can be satisfactorily solved. He bases his calculations upon the amount of air to be treated. He estimates that five millions of tons of smoky air are sent up by the household chimneys of London's 600,000 dwell¬ ings each day and two millions of tons by its fourteen thousand flve hundred factories, so that seven millions of tons of air are used daily in carrying off London's smoke, as compared with a million of tons of water to carry off its sewage. The cost of deal¬ ing with the sewage is about $3,000 a day. What the cost of deal¬ ing with smoky air would be there were no means of estimating. But supposing a ton of dirty air could he treated for the same cost as a ton of sewage, the cost of clearing the air of London might be set down at about $20,000 a day, or $7,310,000 per an¬ num, which would he equivalent to a rate of $4 per $100. The offsets are very large, the expense attending a heavy fog being considerable and the constant injury done by the smoke to prop¬ erty, from wearing apparel to buildings, would if calculated run up into colossal figures; but, the mere mention of the suggested rate, shows that unless the estimate of cost of treating smoke can be very much modified, there is little to hope from the in¬ vestigation from the practical point of view. The public do not weigh indirect benefits or charges against direct ones, and they would certainly oppose so large an increase of taxes for any pur¬ pose. Still the imagination likes to dwell upon the prospect of a smokeless city, and scientific investigators are not likely to let the matter drop. The employment of electrically driven fans which in mines are made to deliver vast quantities of air per day has suggested the possibility of the application of mechanical means to deal with the befouled air of cities. Investigators of the problem will be encouraged when they remember that the solution of the sewage problem was doubtless obstructed by a popular belief in the insuperability of its difficulties, and they will thus be armed in advance against some opposition. "T~ HE franchise for the Pennsylvania tunnel now goes to the ^ aldermen sgain. If they reject it, after the convincing proof offered that the rejection will mean an abandonment of the project for the present, they will simply testify to the grow¬ ing impression that they are not fit to be entrusted with any grave responsibility. Their policy in the case of all desirable public improvements, from the Rapid Transit Subway to the removal of the Hall of Records, has merely been obstructive. It is true that since their power of interference with important public business is limited to the veto, the only way the Board of Aldermen can assert itself at all is by a policy of obstruction; but if they continue to misuse that power, it will in the end in¬ evitably be taken away from them. Public interest cannot suffer the application of such a constant break to the machinery 01 city affairs. In the present instance it has been shown con¬ clusively that the interests of the laboring men will not suffer from the adoption of the franchise, as it stands. They are as¬ sured of fair wages and an eight-hour day. All that they will lose is the attempt to make a great corporation recognize a principle—a principle which, whatever its value, they have no no right to press at a sacrifice, as in the present case, of manifest and vita! public interest. Tax Valuations. JAMES L. WELLS SPEAKS TO THE WEST END ASSOCIATION. President of the Tax Department James L. Wells delivered an able address upon the administration's tax valuation policy, be¬ fore the West End Association, on Monday evening last, and received a vote of thanks from the Association. Since the meet¬ ing the ability of the address has been the subject of current conversation among those who heard it or have had an oppor¬ tunity of reading it. Mr. Wells elaborated the principles that he had previously laid down in reports and interviews: That the law requires that real estate should be assessed for pur¬ poses of taxation at full market value; that instead of being inequitable, this is equitable, inasmuch as personalty is so as¬ sessed and rea! estate at 01% of value; that It would not in¬ juriously affect the city in its relation to the State, because the State Board of Equalization exists for the purpose of preventing that; that while the debt limit will be increased by the increased valuations, it did not follow that extravagance would result, and, that the taxes on the high valuation would be the same as on a low one, the only difference being that the rate would be lower. The subject of Mr. Wells' discourse was referred to the Committee on Taxation with instructions to report at the next monthly meeting, their report to be a special order for discussion on that occasion. There was no discussion on Monday. Last Monday's meeting of the Association was the flrst follow¬ ing the vacations, and was presided over by Cyrus Clark, Presi¬ dent. J. Milton Doremus, No. 320 W. SOth st; Henry M. Toch, No. 10 We.=!t 94th st, and Max Vogel, No. 315 W. TOth st, were elected to membership. The Committee cm Legislation. Law and Schools reported that the matter of special flre alarms was the subject of negotiations between the city authorities and the fire alarm company which raised the question; therefore required no further action. The matter of the Amsterdam av tracks was now pending In the courts, the question being as to the right of the Borough Presi¬ dent to order their removal because of disuse. Geo. B. Sheppard, secretary, reported that under resolution of May meeting, 6,000 postal cards were sent to voters of the 21st Aldermanic District, to ascertain their views in the matter of regulating the speed of automobiles. Over L250 replies were