Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 55, no. 1413: April 13, 1895

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Apin 18,1895 Record and Guide. 539 first step toward the acquisition "by the State of all the railroadB in tlie country. ESTABUSHED'^J . _ Devoted TO RfA,L Estate.Buildij/g ApprfrTECTUR^>(ousn{ou)DEoa(fnn(( .Bifsiifcss Aii> Themes ofGEifeRiil IiftEn;EST.^ PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370 CDmmunloatlons should he addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veeey Street. J. 2. LINDSEY. Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Street, Opp. Post Officb. " Entered at the Poai-offlee at New Tork,2f. Y., as second-class Tnatter." Vol. LV. APRIL 13, 1895. No. 1,413 For Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department iminediatela followtna New Jeraey records {page 610), CONFIDENCE in better timea aliead is veiy apparent uow. The best evidence is the stoical way in which bad news is received. The Supreme Court makes hash oi: the income tax law, the coal presidents fail to make an agreement on limita¬ tions of mining, etc., the silverites are girding up their loins for a renewal of currency agitation, finaucial reports of the railroads in the Northwest are bad, yet no one seems inclined to abaudou enterprises he has undertaken aud prices ou the stoek market refuse to budge at the bidding of bears, though urged by con¬ siderable effort frora that quarter to do so, but, ou the contrary, move with surprising quickness the other way under the slight¬ est induceineuts. On the face of things there is uoi eason why some securities which have beeu conspicuously active on rfeiug prices should do as they have done, but people Icnow by long experience that tbe depreciation has been carried beyond reason, and that when once a recovery does set iu its iufluence is likely to be veiy extensive and to move rapidly. They kuow, too, that trade conditions are the real causes of advauces and declines, aud that with tho prospect of those con¬ ditions being good in the yeara "now coming the bogies which have f tightened everybody for some time past may wave theix arms io tlie wind and look their dolefullest, but will receive little attention. People have now something better to do thau watch these things aud while they are so actively and so rauch better employed all the scares in the world canuot weaken them a bit. Later tbere may be a diversion when themeetingof Congress becomes nearer aud the prospect of along fight over tariff, currency aud federal taxation which will extend into the Presidential contest o£ nest year, is made prominent to the point of unpleasantness. Happily, however, a better sun is shining ju-st now and most people have all their energies emijloyed in makiug hay. ----------m---------- "VTONEY is iu somewhat better demand at the great European ■^'J- capitals, though not enough to give anything more than a temporary sfifTening to rates. In spite of the warnings of the English financial press, France and Germany have been large buyers of gold mining shares, Australian as well as African. The best obtainable opinion of these shares is that prices are entirely imwaiTantable upon auy consideration of intrinsic merit. This being the case it is easy to imagine what wiU be the results of these operatious at some future day. Statistical proof of improvemeut in European trade, it is claimed, is en¬ tirely wanting. Yet it will be found that prices give some en¬ couraging indications. In a return for the ye.ar of the quotatioua for the most important staples it appears that nearly all are above tbe lowest aud a uiajoiity higher tban they were at the commencement of tho year. Taking cotton and wool for instanceitishardly possible that prices could go up unless an increased demaud from manufacturers offset the enormous sup¬ plies on the market. The speculation that accompanied the iiu- position of a duty on wheat imported into Fmnce has resulted in the passing of the dividend on the shares of the greatest mill¬ ing company in the country. This aiibrds another illustration of the difficulty of securing what is wanted by legislation. The farmers clamored for an import duty; speculators clamored with them andat the same time imported immen.se quantities of wheat to get the advantage of higher piices which were ex¬ pected wheu the law imposing the duty should come iuto force. The results have not answered expectations, aud in the long run neither farmer, miller nor -speculator bave made anytbing. Re¬ ports oa ths German foreign trade for February are unsatis¬ factory, but due i;: part at least to the storms that prevailed that month. The BohC^'^" ^^S^^ industry is still in a bad i^ay. Renewed life is given" ^^^'^^^'^^^^^^^''^'s ^^ Vienna by a aiove on the part ot the Govei'M?''^"* whSch is taken to be tlie ArcMteDts, OWropodists & Oo. AMONG- the devices to reslrict competition not tbe least obvious is the legislative. Indeed, every session of the Legislature witnesses somo appeal from some quarterfor a trade protective measure which, of course, is demanded tinder the dis¬ guise of public benefit. It is easy, naturallj', to iinderstand wliy the members of auy particular trade should desire to form them¬ selves into a species of close corporation by the aid of the law, and thus check competition lor their own advantage. It is a notewoi-thy fact about all these appeals for restrictions that they are never made, and very seldom are in any degree supported by the public, iu whose especial iuterest they are invariably sought. Pawnbrokers, vendors, junk-shop keepers, proprietors of intelli¬ gence offices, plumbers, druggists, steam engineers, hack- men, chiropodists, land a great many others, bave all suc¬ ceeded iu bedging their particular fields of commercial activity with legal fences more or less difficult for the outsider to get over. We regret to see th.at the latest applicants for a fence are tbe architects. They are seeking to obtain for themselves a little iuclosure such as the chiiopodists have and the junk shop keepers and the proprietors of intelligence ofiices. If these worthy tradesmen circumscribe their callings, why, iu the name of Ictiuus, should not the ancient, dignified profession of archi¬ tecture do likewise? What puts mouey into the chiropodists' pockets will undoubtedly profit the professors of architecture. Regarding it strictly as a ti'ade-protective device, we have uothing to say against the measure now in Albany dubbed euphemistically a bill "to regulate architectjire." We must con¬ fess, however, to a sense of nausea at the sight of men who profess to be artists making a public exhibition of their trade instincts under a hypocritical plea of tbe public good. If arcbi- tccts envy the happier lot of the chiropodist, let them be frank enough to say so. Unquestionably, a great deal of the so-called architecture of tbe day needs regulation, or to speak to the letter, cries for total suppression ; but we cannot see how any improvement is to be brought about by tlie little bit of legal machinery which the architects' bill, if made law, will set up iu this State. It is pro¬ posed that before a man can anuounee himself as a licensed .architect, he must pasa au examiuation. This examination in the nature of the case cauuotbe much more than an elementary scholastic ordeal iu which the applicant will show that he is acquainted with "his orders," aud perhaps dimly sees an his- toi ical outline of his art. How thia is going to better evil con- ditious—^the root of which is an inartistic public sense—wo cannot see. But it may be said this examination will also develop whether the would-be licensed architect is acquainted with the rules aod principles of good constructiou. If an exam¬ iuatiou on this score really is necessary, the question naturally suggests itself, what is the use of our Buikling Departments? If State machinery is inefficient wheu it examines each particular piece of construction, of what service will it be when it endeavors merely to ascertain a mau's general knowledge of safe building. Surely one of two things is unnecessary; either the Buildiug Departments or the proposed examination. The weakness of the arcliitects' case at Albany is clearly revealed by the emphasis which advocates of the bill place upon the matter of " construction." But the State already pretends to supervise this afl:air, at least iu Now York, Brooklyn aud other cities (aud a bill is before the Legislature this year to extend the State supervision to the smaller towns), and we can¬ not see the common sense of setting up two pieces of niachiueiy, eaeh for the same pm-pose. As to thepropositiontobettertheartisticstandard of architect¬ ure by regulation, the plau so far proposed will not stand the test of analysis. No one will say, for instance, that " regula¬ tion" will give us better designs for dur large office buildiogs, or for any of our buildings of the finer class. The architects who do these things presumably kuow "their orders," or at all cveuts could creditably pass such an examination as it is pro¬ posed to inatitute. The untrained architect seldom gets a chance to put his "fine hand" upon work of this class. His field is providentially restricted to the creation of tenement fronts and showy facades for contract builders. The public will not pay for art, indeed does not know what art is in these mat¬ ters. It demands a stunning impression of cost on the fi'ont of the buildings it resides iu. "Examination " of tlie hacks whicb necessarily do this work will, we submit, scarcely elevate archi¬ tecture. What would architects say of a proposal to make the poor ink-staiued devils of Grub street pass a State examlnatiotf in order to improve the coudition of literature? As a fine art avchiteclure is not lo be elevated by any State- made test; as a technical craft the public interest caube suffi¬ ciently looked after by wise buildiug laws. But, if a certain coterie of architects persists in demanding that the State should "busy itself to prbcme better'designs than wo 'have for 6nf i^e*