Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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July 19, 1919 REC 6 RD AND G U-I D E Licenses for Brokers The Real Estate Board has under consideration the question of submitting to the legislature a bill requiring the licensing of real estate brokers and agents. It is understood that the measure will be framed along the lines of the Cahfornia law, which provides for a license fee of $10 for brokers and $2 for each employe acting as salesman. Candidates must qualify as to character and repute, violations of the law are punishable by fine or imprisonment, and licenses may be suspended or re¬ voked for misconduct. Under the California statute the real estate business has become established on a high basis and general sat¬ isfaction is expressed over the working of the law. Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin have recently passed similar laws, and in Louisiana and Virginia real estate men have been included among those liable for voca¬ tional taxes. The National Association of Real Estate Boards, recently in session at Atlantic City, provided for the inauguration of a nation-wide campaign for the en¬ actment of laws giving the realty profession the same protection as other industries and for the establishment of license fees in order to give the Government a line on realtors within city or State jurisdiction. The proposal is in line with recent undertakings in the commercial and financial fields to ehminate from au¬ thoritative recognition those who conduct their opera¬ tions in such a way as to bring disrepute on the reputa¬ ble members in the same business. Recently it has been proposed by the New York Stock Exchange to regulate the curb brokers; physicians, lawyers, arch¬ itects, auctioneers, and many others have subscribed to regulatory measures to their own advantage and the protection of the general pubhc. There can be no reasonable objection to law which will not curb individual activity nor prevent by pro¬ hibitory fees the entrance into the real estate field of any man of good repute. Proposals to restrict the num¬ ber of licenses and to require highly technical examina- ^ tions should be carefully considered before adoption. Over regulation and an attempt to make a close corpor¬ ation of those engaged in realty operations might prove as undesirable as the present non-regulatory conditions. All that seems to be necessary is that the civic author¬ ities shall be provided with such slight supervisory powers as to enable them to safeguard real estate in¬ vestors from those sharp practices that react upon the whole body of men interested in the development of real estate and building. Coal Basing its conclusions on figures of coal production printed in an authoritative publication in that trade the Record and Guide last week was led to minimize the scare over a possible coal shortage during the com¬ ing winter. A typographical error in the news columns of the coal trade paper gave the production of anthra¬ cite since January 1 as only ten thousand tons instead of ten million tons less than the preceding year. The facts are that up to July 5, the Governmental sta¬ tistics give the production as 40,204,000 net toijs as against 50,812,000 net tons in the same period last year, and 61,617,000 net tons in 1913. This falling off in the output of the mines is due to several causes. There was considerable coal carried over from last year, ow¬ ing to the mild weather; following the armistice manu¬ facturing diminished and the demand for steam coal became less urgent and the use of bituminous coal, which before the war was prohibited in many localities, was continued after the armistice because inunicipal authorities failed to enforce ordinances against it. Forty per cent, of anthracite mined is marketed as steam coal, under the names of buckwheat, rice and barley sizes. These small sizes are the screenings from the breakers which reduce the lumps from the mine to the domestic sizes known as egg, stove, chestnut and pea. Unless the steam coal is sold production at the mines must be curtailed because without advancing the prices of domestic sizes to prohibitive figures the opera¬ tion of the mines would be unremunerative. Storage space at the mines is also insufficient for the large amount of steam coal that would be left on the mine operators' hands if only domestic sizes were sold, even if the financial side of the problem did not prohibit the piling up of large stocks of steam sizes. Railroad shipments for this year are twenty per cent. less than last year, and with the crop movement just beginning and the movement of troops still large, the railroads may have some difficulty in handling the large amount of coal that will have to be carried between now and the beginning of winter if something like normal conditions are to be obtained before the cold weather sets in. It must be remembered, however, that this time last year conditions were similar to those existing today, al¬ though the causes were not the same, but that in the months following there was great improvement. In the next four or five months it is possible for the mine owners and railroad administration to effect a consider¬ able betterment of the situation. For one thing the de¬ mand for steam sizes is already stronger, owing to the great revival in all lines of manufacturing, and with this handicap removed mining operations have been renewed and domestic sizes, for which there are more orders than it has been possible to fill," will be in greater supply. The bituminous production, with which New Yorkers are less concerned, is about 26 per cent, under last year, or 70,000,000 net tons. Mining, however, has been for several weeks at a rate equal to consumption. This will have to be materially increased if reserve stocks are to be built up. Labor shortage, largely due to emigration, and small supplies of cars, are responsible for condi¬ tions in this field. Those who have their storage bins filled will have