Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 75, no. 1937: April 29, 1905

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April 29, 1905 RECORD AND GUIDE 927 "eX " ESTABUSHED ^ i^CH ai.>4 DeV&TED id RfJ^L EISTATE . BUILDI/JC A^RCKlTECTURE .l^OUSDiOlL DESORUTdH, Busiitess Alb Themes Of GEiiER^I IKter^st, PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS fabUsfied eVers Satardap Coramunlcatlons should be addroaaed to C. W, SWEET. 14-16 Vesey Street, New York Toiephone, Cortlandt 3157 "Entered at ttie Post Office-at Wew York, Jf. Y.. as second-cla.'^s matter." Copyrighl by the Real Estaie Record and Builders' Guide Company, Vol. LXXV. APRIL 29, 1905. Important Notice To Our Subscribers As previously announced in these columns, the sub¬ scription price of the "Record and Guide" will he Eight Dollars (?8.00) on and after the first of May. All subscriptions standing paid on our books on the flrst day of May will, of course, be delivered without extra charge, that is. at the old- rate, until the ex¬ piration of the period for which the subacriber has actually paid. Single copies will be sold at the rate of twenty (20) cents -apiece. This new schedule has been absolutely necessitated by the immensely increased service which the "Record and Guide" has been called upon, and in a measure forced, to provide for its readers. We have previously pointed out that the sudden and enormous increase in the number of legal papers printed in the "Record and Guide" has altered entirely the rela¬ tion between what the "Record and Guide" supplies to its subscribers, and what its subscribers pay for the service. It is enough to repeat here that this service has MORE THAN DOUBLED in amount and increased in cost to the publishers more than ONE HUNDRED PER CENT. It is in no sense an ex¬ aggeration to say that at Eight Dollars ($8,00) a year, the "Record and Guide" provides a very much greater and more expensive service than any other trade paper whatsoever. No Real Estate Broker could more than double his services and his expenses for a client and not somewhat increase his charges on account of the same. No Builder could erect a twenty-story bnilding for the same price as a ten-story one. No Building Material Firm could suddenly increase its deliveries one hundred per cent, without increasing its bills to its customers also. The "Record and Guide" is in precisely an analogous position. We are sure every fair-minded subscriber will appreciate that in charging Eight Dollars {?8,00) for the "Record and Guide." the management is only asking for a small proportion of the greater expense incurred on account of the enlarged service now rendered. DURING the week sentiment in Wall St. has been altered by the evident liquidation which was going cn. The bull¬ ish feeling which was absolutely dominant a few weeks ago, and which was not very much impaired by the declines of the week before last, has been succeeded by a feeling wholly op¬ posite in kind. The professionals have turned bears, and pre¬ fer to sell on the rallies, rather than buy on the breaks. The operators on this side are having it very much their own way at present; but it is difficult to understand why they should continue to do so. The recent liquidation has talten much of the wind out of the level of prices formerly established, and there is no change in the business situation and prospect to warrant any pronounced fall in security values. The liquidation has been brought about chiefly by technical reasons. Prices had been pushed higher than existing prospects warranted, and down they came. But the demand will be much greater at a lower level, and over confident operations on the short side may well be dangerous. The one threatening aspect of the existing situation is the possibility that the "gentlemens' " agree- . ments, on which harmony in the realm of railway finance de¬ pends, may be succeeded by certain ungentlemanly quarrels. This personal element is a constant factor in the market, which remains dubious, and which undermines confldence, just be¬ cause there is no possible way of estimating its importance. Un¬ der such circumstances it is still a good market to let alone; but if prices should go much lower, there ought to be money in conservative purchases. In relation to general business, a slightly^ decreasing activity may be noted in the steel and iron trades; 'but this should be a good thing—unless it goes too far. A '-boom" accompanied by extortionate prices could have no sta¬ bility to it. T^HE volume of the recorded real estate transactions con- -*■ tinues to be unprecedented. Last week we pointed out that the number of conveyances recorded during the first two weeks of 1905 was 90 per cent. larger than the number recorded during the two corresponding weeks of 1904. The third week In April did not maintain this percentage of increase; but the number both of conveyances and mortgages recorded was not far from 50 per cent. larger than the flgures for the correspond¬ ing week of last year. In Brooklyn the increase is not so large as it is in Manhattan and the Bronx, but the number of transac¬ tions is on the average about 25 per cent larger than it was last year. It is improbable, of course, that the percentages of in- quoted above will be maintained unimpaired throughout the rest of the spring. They were the result of the excited speculation in vacant land which characterized the real estate market in March; and this speculation has subsided. But its partia! disappearance has not deprived the market of any of its genuine vitality. A very large volume of genera! business is being transacted: and it is being transacted on a thoroughly wholesome basis. We cannot recall any time for many years in which so many different kinds of property appeared to be in Fuch excellent demand. Even vacant land on Washington Heights and in the Dyckman tract, sells fairly well, when it is pressed for sale. The prices obtained by Mr. Morgenthau at auction for lots on upper Ninth av and Broadway, while noth¬ ing remarliable, fairly represented the value of vacant land In the vicinity for Improvement. That is, improvments would be encouraged by these prices, instead of being discouraged as on Washington Heights, In respect to the latter section, building plans are coming out much more freely than they were a few weeks ago; and it looks as if somew'here between $15,000,000 and 520,000,000 would be invested in tenements and apartments in that neighborhood during the current year. But apparently there is less chance than ever that the erection of cheap private dwellings will obtain anything like the proportions that it ob¬ tained on the West Side. WHILE it is not to be supposed that perpetual peace has been established between the mechanics in the New Yorlv building trades and their employers, the revised arbitra¬ tion agreement certainly starts on its career under fairer auspices than did the agreement in its original form. The first arbitra¬ tion treaty was forced upon the unions by the Employers' Asso¬ ciation, who believed that it was an essentially fair arrangement, and would gradually commend itself to the unions by the stable conditions and fair wages which it attempted to perpetuate. Such, however, did not prove to 'be the ease. The unions never get over the impression that it was a one-sided agreement, which worked against their interests; and some of them at any rate were eager to break it at the flrst opportunity. Such an oppor¬ tunity soon occurred, and again the building trades were tied up. After a long fight, the unions have again submitted, and sub¬ scribed to an arbitration treaty, wbich has at least a better chance of being faithfully observed. It is true that this treaty, also, has been forced upon some of the unions; but the pill haa been sweetened by certain concessions as to the forms of the agi-eement. wbich gives it more the appearance of a treaty be¬ tween two contracting powers of equal standing. As we have said, one with any knowledge of existing conditions can be de¬ ceived into the belief that the oil of the agreement will prevent friction in the building trades for a period indefinitely long. There is no magic about an arbitration treaty, which enables it to go on of its own accord. It presupposes loyal co-operation on the part of the contracting parties, and a recognition on each side that there is more to be gained by peace than by war. We believe that there is a strong minority in the unions, who hold that there is more to be gained by war than by peace; and it is always possible that this minority will again se¬ cure the control. On th© other hand the unions are inclined to be better satisfled with the new than with the old agreement, and the chance of a serious dispute is more remote. Tbe great advantage of the events of the past few years is that they had helped both the employ¬ ers and the employees to recognize certain fundamental condi¬ tions governing their joint relations. The employers bave defin¬ itely acquiesced in the principle of unionism, and the employees have had to recognize bow powerful an employer's association