Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view About OCR text.

March 9, 1918 RECORD AND GUIDE 291 borne in mind, too, is the fact that the estimate has been made on a basis which assumes the use of electric energy and gas for lighting is spread evenly over the country, whereas as a matter of fact fifty-seven million electric lights out of a total of seventy-six million in the country are in New England, Middle Atlantic and Northern Central States, where the advantages of daylight saving will be most striking. The saving of coal through substitu¬ tion of a morning hour of moderate illumination for an evening hour of maximum use of electricity and gas illustrates ways in which important sav¬ ings in coal would be obtained. Supporting the daylight saving meas¬ ure are the President of the United States, Herbert C. Hoover, the United States Food Administrator; Dr. Harry A. Garfield, the United States Fuel Ad¬ ministrator; E. N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board; the Council of National Defense, literally scores of State and municipal civic bodies and the more than one thousand chambers of commerce and commercial organiza¬ tions comprising the membership of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. Fixing Building Responsibility. Editor of the Record and Guide: A review of the building accidents and collapses that have occurred in New York calls to mind the insistent cry following each, that responsibility be fixed and some one be held accountable. Almost without exception, however, the process of what is technically known as "passing the buck" has completely frustrated such attempts—no one is to blame. It seems high time therefore that some method should be devised whereby it may be possible to hold some definite person criminally responsible for loss of life and limb. It is quite evident that the lack of this has encouraged slip¬ shod construction and careless superin¬ tendence or no superintendence at all in the very buildings where greatest danger exists. The first requisite of any provision to this end must be applica¬ bility to any and all kinds of building construction. Now there are two distinct stages in any building operation. First, the preparation and filing of the plans, and, second, the actual work of construction. There can hardly be any question that responsibility for the adequacy of the plans should be fixed upon the author of such plans, be he architect, engineer, builder or owner. Present laws provide for this so that practically in every case the responsibility can be definitely located and fixed upon a single person. In the execution of the work, how¬ ever, it would seem that there are three likely to be connected with the opera¬ tion, upon one or more of whom the responsibility might rest. In case the architect (meaning by "architect" the one who makes and files the plans) superintends the execution of the build¬ ing, there is opportunity to fix upon him the responsibility, but in many cases the architect is not so concerned. The builder is another who might be held to accountability, but in many cases there is no single builder; often there are a number of subcontractors engaged to do the work, or frequently the work is executed largely by individual workmen employed by the owner. It would then seem that the owner is practically the only one connected with building oper¬ ations that surely must be concerned in all building work. A difficulty here arises, however, in attempting to place responsibility on the owner. He is usually a man of no tech¬ nical knowledge or building experience, and if it were mandatory that he should bear criminal responsibility for any or all accidents that might occur in con¬ nection with his operation, many "owners" would prefer to invest their money in some less hazardous enter¬ prise. Of the three possible interests men¬ tioned—the architect, the builder, the owner—it would seem that as the owner is the only one of necessity connected with every building operation that re¬ sponsibility must in some way be fixed on him or through him. In case he employs the architect or the author of the plans as superintendent for the execution of the work, which assuredly is the best procedure, the owner should be allowed to name such architect who would bear the responsibility for the safety of the construction. If the archi¬ tect is not so employed and there is a general builder, the owner could well nominate him the responsible party. In case the architect is not employed to supervise, nor yet is there a general con¬ tractor or builder, it would seem that the owner should have means of employ¬ ing some one competent to supervise and take the responsibility. In case he himself wishes to assume the responsi¬ bility, to avoid the necessity of an architect or builder or a supervisor, he might have the right to make himself the party of record. Haying thus located the supervising function on a single designated party, it would be important that such party should be registered with the Building Department, after having shown that he has sufficient ability and sufficient ex¬ perience to warrant his assuming such a function. It would hardly seem neces¬ sary to create a special Board to deter¬ mine the fitness of such persons, for this could be taken care of by the Building Department, which could without diffi¬ culty pass upon the facts relative to the availability of the candidate. It would be wise to exempt from the above pro¬ visions any work which did not involve structural changes. The owner would then have the option of nominating his architect or his builder (if a single builder is employed) or a competent supervisor, as the super¬ intendent or supervisor of record, with the object of fixing a definite source to whom the authorities may look in case of building accident. The other alterna¬ tive would be for him to register with the Building Department and declare that he would himself assume all responsibilitv. 'WILLIAM O. LUDLOW. QUERY DEPARTMENT State Supervision of Cities. Editor of the Record and Guide: We have in this city become so accustomed to a popular clamor for home rule as against any interference by the State in our municipal affairs that the recent action by the Provincial Government of Quebec relative to the municipalities within that province comes with something of a shock to us. Into the Legislature of that province a bill has been introduced, and has every prospect of becoming a law, under which a department, to be known as the Department of Municipal Affairs, is being created, with a wide field of operations. The plan and scope of the new department is well stated in the Monetary Times of Canada (March 1, 1918) : "As the new system of controlling munici¬ palities is found to meet with success the ulti¬ mate result, according to what has been said in the Quebec Legislative Assembly, will mean that it will no longer be possible for a munici¬ pality, civic or scholastic, to commit acts that affect it badly in the money market. An almost complete control of civic finance is provided in the new bill, or rather series of bills on the same subject, that were taken up in the course of a protracted sitting. The manner in which municipalities are to issue their loans, obliga¬ tions on the municipalities to provide sinking funds each year, and a number of other matters very directly affecting all matters of municipal finance, even to the control of the bookkeeping, are included in the new legislation. "It will be tbe aim of the Government to see that the municipalities issue serial bonds for obligations. Each year the coupons, when paid, will pay not only the interest, but also the year's proportion of the capital, so that at the end of the term on which the bonds are issued the principal and interest will both be extinguished." The general purpose of the new legis¬ lation is to prevent municipalities from entering into adventures which will harm their credit in the money markets of the world. The power of the "Minister of Munici¬ pal Affairs" seems to be limited to an approval or disapproval of proposed municipal activities that involve the financial credit of the localities in ques- This department is intended to be of serv¬ ice to all interested in the real estate market, whether as broker, agent or property owner. The readers of the Record and Guide are in¬ vited to send in questions on matters per¬ taining to real estate, building and builaing management, though legal questions will not be answered in this column. Questions should be stated as fully but as briefly as possible so as to allow intelligent answers. Arrange¬ ments have been made through which the questions will be answered by a Committee of the Real Estate Board, including I'ae following E. A. Tredwell, real estate broker. Frederick D. Kalley, real estate broker, Robert R. Rainey, real estate broker. B. E. Martin. WiUiam Douglas Kilpatrick, builder, H. H. Murdock, architect. Question No. oOG.—.-1 places in B's hands, the latter being a real estate broker^ a piece of pT'Operty, and fixes a price at which the prop¬ erty is to be sold. B sells the property, and A refuses to pay the commission, alleging that he had negotiated with the buyer ten years before, but was finable to close with him. The buyer made affidavit that it was through the per¬ sistency of B that he was finally induced to buy. Can B legally compel A to pay him his com¬ mission? F. K. Answer No. 306.—Yes. Question No. 307.—A lease was made some time ago which called for the lessee paying all taxes, etc., imposed by the city, county, state or natiojial authorities. It was the intention of the lessor that he receive a stipulated amount net. At that tiine there was no thought of the tax on excess profits. Who should pay this tax? Is the lessee obligated to pay the surtaxes as tcell as the iiormaX taxes? A. B. Answer No. 307.—Very hard to answer without reading the lease, but respond¬ ing duly to the inquiry just as it is: Lessee should pay. tion. He will possess largely the power to veto any matter that involves an expansion of the municipal credit, and he may dictate the terms as to sinking funds, etc., necessarily to be created as a condition precedent to the operation. He will act substantially as a check upon the ambitions of municipal admin¬ istrations who seek favor with the multi¬ tude as distinguished from those who pay the bills. Such a check seems to be essential in communities where there is a dominating desire on the part of many to spend the money of others. A department with the powers of that now being created in Quebec would have been a saving grace in this State so far as this city is concerned. WILLIAM B. ELLISON. American Business to Confer. Business readjustment to war will be the dominant note of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the United States Chamber of Commerce, it was announced at the conclusion of the meeting of the Board of Directors of that body. The four critical questions of the day —■financing the war, railroads, central¬ ized control of industry, and shipping- will be considered from the twofold point of view of filling the Government's requirements, but with the minimum dis¬ turbance to private industry. More than 500,000 business men will be represented at the meeting in Chi¬ cago, April 10, 11 and 12. Delegations will be there from every State in the Union, from large cities and from small. There are more than one thousand local chambers of commerce and commercial organizations comprising the member¬ ship of the National Chamber of Com¬ merce, which includes even such distant bodies as the American Chambers of Commerce at Shanghai, the Philippines, Alaska, Hawaii, Buenos Ayres, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris and some half- dozen other cities abroad, and each of the 1,000 local members will be repre¬ sented at Chicago by duly authorized delegates. The resolutions of the meet¬ ing may truly be said to be an accurate and authoritative expression from American business, and the fullest pos¬ sible measure of cooperation between business and the Government may be expected to result. As in the past, the speakers will be men of National prominence. RECORD AND GUIDE IS IN ITS FIFTIETH YEAR OP CONTINUOUS PUBLICATION.