Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: no. 56, no. 1437: September 28, 1895

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September 28,1895 Record and Guide. 395 ^f^ -% ESTABLISHED^^ WARPHZlu."^ 1868. Dt^teDtoR,E^LEsTHE.BuiLDi^fc AR,cKrrEenn^E,HousEifoii>DEaB(^ii^ SifsiiiESs Atfo Themes ofGejJsviI Irftraf*"!., PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. Tblephonb,......Coktlandt 1S70 CommunloationB should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J, 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 WAaHiNQTON Street, Opp. Post Offiob. "Entered at the Post-office at Neic Tork. JV", Y., as seeond-cletss matter." Vol. LVI. SEPTEMBER 28, 1895. No. 1,437 The Rkcorh and Qmov:. will fnrnish yoxi with daily detailed rep07'ts of all building operations, compiled to suit your business specifically, for 14 ce-ft(s «. day. You are thus kept informed of the entire market for -your goods. No guess work. Every .fact verified. Abundant capital and the thirty years' experience of The Record and Guide guarantee the com¬ pleteness and authenticity of this service. Send to 14 andlQ Vesey street for information. INDICATIONS i)oiut to :i period of lower prices in Wall street. This position is best supported by tbe fact tiat the bull market has uow existed for six months, au unprecedentedly long pei'iod for auy market movement, aud it is natural to sup¬ pose that the speculative spii'it ou tbe buyers' side gave out iu tbat time. Tbe wonder is tbat it lasted so long, though the reasons for tbi.'i are a.seertaiii.il)Ie as they bave been given more than once here. The fact tliat the prices of -securities bave fallen oft' somewhat aud will in all probability decline still further does DOt siguil'ythat the general bnsiuesa situation is not as good as it was. Taking a broad view it basnot fallen away at all, but it should uot be surprisiug if there is a little lull in activity as the cold sea.son approaches aud as Congress is about to be convened, which may also be called a cold season though in another sense. Business bas beeu so dull in Wall street that the eschauge situation has had an opportuuity to be discussed agaiu, especially in the light of the latest shipment of gold which goes out uominally at cost if uot at a loss. Tbis trans¬ action particularly makes it appear as if the exchange business is changing bauds. For some years it was done wholly by a comparatively few baukiug houses, whicb issued their drafts rather as a conveuieuce to their customers and as an advertise¬ ment of their businesses tbau for the money there w.as iu it. Now some large New York mercantile bouses aud shippers are making their own settlements, and incidentally those of the smaller merchants who will buy tbeir bills, witb a prospect of excbauge becomiug a regular department of the foreign com¬ mission busiuess in supplementation if not in substitution of the baukiug bouses. It canuot be regarded as otherwise than remarkable that the special shipments of this weet aud the commissions pertaiuing thereto escaped the bankers. TDRITISH trade retiu'DS for August, while satisfactory to the -*-^ British eye as evidencing an improvement in the trade with foreign nations, are not satisfactory to the American eye iu one very iuiporl aut particular whicb is very evident of the fact that we are beingundersold in the Liverpool wheat market. During tbe first eight moutlis of this year the imports of wheat iuto Great Britain increased about 20 per cent, the amount received from the United States increased less thau 3 per cent, the diff"er- ence beiug made up by larger contributions from llussia, the ^ Argentine Kepuhlic, India and Australasia. In tbo month of August there wa.s actually a considerable falling oft'io the re¬ ceipts from the Uuited States aud Canada aud the Argentines . also, while Russia and India took tbe market. The comparisons here made are with correspondin,g times in 1894, but they might be carried farther back aud ouly produce results unfavor¬ able to our wheat growers. This is a matter that ought to obtain attention uow aud which will compel it hiter on. The magnitude of the speculation in Kaffirs is strongly brought out by .some figures ,just published, showing the issued capitali- ■ zation and recent market values of such of the shares only that penult some investigation into their character. Summarized aud rounded these figures are: Dividend nayers, cajiital .'}t32,7.^0,- 000 ; market value, $103,000,000. Non-dividend mines, capi- tal .t;l3S,045,000; market value, !^.=>00,000,000. Land explo- > ration, etc., companies, capital .'^70,000,000; market value, $317,R.55,000. Total issued capital, .$250,405,000; total mar¬ ket value, $1,076,855. This quadnipling of values is not so ^ striking as the euoruious increase in the non-dividend or * ■ speculative shares, which accounts fortbe fears of a collapse entertained by the conservative elements in tinance and the press. At the same time it may be remarked that the gold fields on which this mass of securities has been issued have made a record of producing over $4,000,000 of gold in one month. France having made money in these gold shares, the baying is now extending to Berlin and to Vienna. A sign of the im¬ provement in the world's business appears in the form of reports from shipping centres of freer offerings of cargoes and the possibilities of better rates for space in the near future. The Feud with the Building Department. rpHE unfi-ieudliness that has existed between the architects and -*- the building trades of this city on one side and the Depart¬ ment of Buildings on the otber ever since the present adminis¬ tration assumed control has reached a highly tenuous if not actually an explosive stage. Prevalent ill-feelingis so decidedly strong that probably there has not been at any time before ao much hostility between a department of the municipal govern¬ ment aud those citizens immediately concerned m its activities as we find to-day in the strained relations of tbe Building Departmeut with architects and the building trades generally. Itisuunecessary to point out that a condition of affairs like this is not ouly deplorable but ridiculous. Conflict, indeed, may arise between tbe head of an admistrative departmeut and the public, but that a difference should endure between them beyond a space of time sufficient for a clear statemeut of the points at issue and the formluation of public judgment is pre¬ posterous. For montbs the Building Department and our archi¬ tects aud builders have been at feud with one another and to¬ day the controversy has reached the crisis of rebellion—if it be true as many asseit that buildings are in process of construction without a legal permit, the owners preferring to assume the great risks attending such indiscretion to the losses they would be forced to incur were they to await the required authorization. The friction aud discontent we are speaking of have not .sprung up overnight uor are they the result of an isolated mis¬ understanding. They have existed almost from the very first day the preseut head of the Building Department took control. In the beginning The Record and Guide was urged to denounce certain alleged deficiencies in the new administration which were unhesitatingly regarded as evidence of inherent incompetence and of a certain bumptious disregard of public convenience. Tbe new chief, it was said, had added to his well-detiued duties the unnecessary task of scbool-masteiing the architects and builders of tbe city—"getting them into line outside his office door," was the pbi-ase. " If the Department isn't done with your plans you must wait 'till it is. Your reasonable necessities are uothing to us. Get outside the door and wait 'till you're called for"—tbis was supposed to represent tbe atiitudeof the new regime towards taxpayers wbo desired to have dealings with it. At tbis early slage The Record and Guide refused to join with the critics or meddle in any way in what promised to be a momentary agitation. In the flrst place, Mr. Constable Jiad undoubtedly fallen heir to a chaotic arrearage of work, bequeathed by his predecessor, aud, at the same time, he was placed iu command of a defective and deficient organizatiou. Fairness required that tbe public should be reasonably patient and we were ready to view mach discontent, iriitability and soreness as perhaps inevitable, but certainly misplaced under tbe circumstances. We were ready to believe (or suspend judg¬ ment until the contrary was evident) tbat within a short time Mr. Constable would succeed in straightening out the tangled aft'airs of his department, that every day would bring the public and him.self into more satisfactory relationship, and that the rapproehment would naturally reduce to proper proportions any exaggerated estimate {if such really existed) in tbe head of an inexperienced official of the part which the chief of the Building Departmeut occupies in the scheme of city government. That was months ago. Unfortunately time has uot removed iniblic discontent aud friction, even though it may be shown upon investigatiou that Mr. Constable has removed some of the early causes for complaiut. Dissatisfaction is more general and clamant to-day than ever, and in all quarters there is extremely bitter feeling against the Department because—this is the prin¬ cipal complaint—its inexcusable tardiness iu pronouncing upon plans submitted for its approval is causing great financial loss aud aunoyauce to one of the greatest industries in the city, and because—this is a secondary charge—the Department is indif¬ ferent and contemptuous in the face of personal criticism from the sufferers. The saying is abroad that a builder now has no rights which the Buildiug Departmeut is inclined to respect. We frankly confess it isn't easy to get at tbe "rights" of the trouble. The friction and dissatisfaction is evident enough, but even those who criticise loudest refuse to put their com¬ plaints into specific shape—for publication. They assert that they have trouble enough with a Department whicb, on number¬ less specious excuses, can harass and delay an obnoxious critic who happens to have a building operation in progress. It is even said, and Mr. Constable has hinted once at least in the