Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: no. 56, no. 1442: November 2, 1895

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November 2, 1H96 Record and Guide. 591 m^^ OpbTEDToRf^LEsTAJT-BmLDif/o %a(iTEeTU!^itousnKiii)DEoci(fiiMfc Business /dio Themes of Gtito*?^ ll/reRfsi. PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday. TBL^FHONH,......OOKTU.HDT 1S70 OoinmunlcatlonB should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. 1. LINDSET. Business Manager. Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Street, Opp. Post Offioh. "Entered al the Post-ofiice at Netv York, N. T., as second-class matter." Vol. LVT. NOVEMBER 2. 1895. No. 1,442 The Record and Guid'R will furnish you with daily detailed reports of all bnilding operations, compiled to suit your business specifically, for 14 cents a day. Yon are thus kejH informed of the entire market for yonr goods. No guesswork. Every fact verified. Abundant capital and the thirty years' experience of The Record and Guide gua/rantee the com¬ pleteness and authenticity of this'service. Send to 14 and 16 Vesey sfreet for information. ON the whole what is happening: abroad is having r very limited influence upou prices of securities in NewYork If Loudon or Berlin dumps a big load of our securilies, prices will, of course, show the fact, but as the activity .tud loss in values has been so very largely in the industrials, which are not held abroad at all, it caunot be said that cither the liquidation in Kaffirs, or the political news of the week, whether from Turkey 01' from China, has beeu the prime mover in bi-in^ing abotit the fall of prices here. That was broujrht about by operators who fouud they could not end the state of stagnation that had existed for sixty days, in any other way. The result has been that some timid aod weak holders have beeu induced to sell, and the process of working on the fears of the one andthe poverty of the other, may be continued further, resulting in still lower quotations. But the feeling among the herd is so generally bearish and current gossip and news of the day is all "^sodirectedtoward the gh»omy sidethat a change cannot be far oH; it ustially is near when tbe pnblichave heen converted to any particular side. If New York is to sympathize with Loudon and Berlin whenever they get a war scare, this market will be a good thing for oue who is only a buyer to keep out of until the news from abroad is more favorable. At the moment the aft'airs of both Turkey and China and the attitudes of the great powers toward them are such that serious trouble may arise at any moment, which would cause a panic on thoEuropean exchanges. In this condition of things the long indifference of foreigners to our securities is after all uot such a great evil as has hitherto beeu thought, IE onr market cannot be depressed by the unload¬ ing of foreign biddings upou it, as, for instance, was the ease in ,1890, there is no rea.son why the influence of financial or polit¬ ical troubles abroad on prices here should not ouly be short lived butof moderate extent also. Only a danger that imperils the gain we have made in trade and commerce since the troubles of 1893, ought to be regarded as serions and of a u.itnre to bring about a big and sudden slump in stock market quotations. i^ RADUALLY tbe natiu'c of Russia's position toward China ^J^ will come out. It is clear now that it is not that of the philanthropic bill discounter some people were obliging enough to believe sis months ago. What the actual agreement betweeii the two countries is will not be publicly known for some time. No doubt it is known in the foreign offices of all the powers inter¬ ested aud will be let out bit by bit to prevent, if possible, its consummation. The fonii in which the story of Russia's intended occupation of Chinese ports appeared and its appeai- ance at the time when the first;part of theindemnity to Japan was to be paid, and wheu the latter power had been as good as notified to speedily evacuate the territory she now holds on the Chinese mainland, .suggests that it was probably i)inposely put out in a form th.at could be denied, but would, at the same tijne, so awaken public attention to the state of affairs in the far East as to .justify Japan's holding tbe important strategical positions she is in now nntil she gets a.ssni:anees that Russian troops and war vessels will not orcupy them as soon as her own get out. The great public is, of course, astonished whenever any of (hese moves in t,he game are openly niad<', bnt the whole facts are known to the ministers of th.-, great ])owers who are playing this beautiful game of .snprcmiicy in the western Pacifii-. The lei-iii.s of any agreement m;id(-by (!hina could be, aud no doubt were obtained by the ju'd;, :,k ■ pplication of money. The fact of this knowleilgowouUriiiK-^uarded as zealously by England or Japan as by Russia until the proper time comes for maid ug it known. The game to be played by England and Japan is to keep Russia out of actual occupation of China. So long as the control is a paper one there is not much danger. Powers like China and Turkey accept favors whenever offered and often agree to conditions because they know other interested powers will not allow them to bo fulfilled. Russia had it her own way with Turkey iip to the treaty of Sau Slephano, but'rhe treaty of Berlin finally closed the episode. To-day Russia seems to be getting everything she wants in China, but tbe final disposition of the mattei-s i u volved will have idtiniately to become the subject of a more geueral agreemeut from participation in which neither Great Biitain nor Japan will permit themselves to be excluded, and let whatever else may be said a combination of Great Britain and Japan in the farther Pacific would to-day be invincible. Constructural Activity in 1895. THE latest obtainable inform.ition confirms the view, and does something more thau confirm the view presented in these columns two weeks ago, that the building year of 189.5 in New York City is proving a most satisfactoiy one. We showed that up to September SOth work had begun on Gl buildings, costing $100,000 or more each, and on whicb the total estimated cost actually figured up to the enormous .amount of 9i20,000,000 or more, for which the plans were filed since December 81st last. We have since been informed that the number of buildings erec¬ ted this year to October 23d, costing $100,000 or more, was 86. The difference in time would not, of course, account for the dis¬ crepancy between 61 and SO, nnd we presume, as is no doubt the case, that the Latter number incbules sufilicieut for whicli the plans were filedprevionsto January 1st last year, to reconcile the two. In our review of the building work of the year no account was taken of that carried over from last year, th-^- conclusions beiug based wholly ou the tigures of plaus tiled since January 1st, and the valnable information collected since that date by our Bnilding News Bureau, We have, however, obtained some re¬ liable figures showing the number of buildinga that were being erected or altered on October 1st last, as wel I as the unmber erec¬ ted or altered during the year up to a week ago, which cannot f.ail tobe of interest to the trade, and whieh are here immediately subjoined: Buildings toeing erected and altered Oct. 1.1895 : New......"..................................................1.983 Additiou................................................... (ill 2,593 Tenements erected .lud luiildiug Jan. 1 to Oot. 23. 1895 ....l,i)17 Dormant iieriuits on iilans died prior to May '29. 1805........ 150 Totid teneuients applied for or erected this year.............. 2,0G7 Buildiugs erected or altered t'roni Jan. 1 to Oet. 23, lSi)5.... 5,254 No. of tUesp bnildiuKS custiutr $100,000 or more.............. SO Besides the point previously referred to, it will be a matter of pleasurable surprise to notice tbe number oE tenements that have gone up, or are going up, and the sm.all proportion for wliich permits have not been taken out. Wheu the rush of plans came upou the De])artnient as a result of tlie amendment of the law relating to the building of tenements, it was thought, and the belief has stiil maintained, that only a small portion were intended for prompt use, and that (he majority were simply put on tile to Secure to the (twners ol: lots, then present or prospect¬ ive, the advantages of building uuder the old law. According to the official ligures given above, this does not appear to bethe case, or not to tlie extent that was tirst supposed. The 1,017 tenements erected and bnilding mentioned, in the above table include, presnm.ably, some hundreds for which the plans were filed prior to Ja.nnaiy 1st last, and apparently itis assumed, with reasou toe, though not of necessity correctly in eveiy-case, that the taking out of permits means immediate operations ou the ground. Still the numberof tenement-house plaus lying dor¬ mant is, in view of earlier impressions, surprisingly small, and the fact must he taken to indicate a larger number of tenen)ents built this year than the earlier figures and facts obtainable sug¬ gested ----------■---------- THE preseut canvass in the sister city across the East River is being made almost entirely upon the question of consolidation. It is unfortunately characteristic of Brook¬ lyn that this discussion is about two years late, and that most oi the excitenu^nt is du"! to the exertions ina.d<^ by the party that wants lo undo tbe work done at tliti polls last fall. The Consolidation League has ]Hit forward an address showing the advantage to the taxpayers of consolidalion with NewYork, and say besides : " Consolidaticm moans more bridges, more facilities for travel, more improvements in our streets and avenues, more schools, more investments in real estate for rental pnrpo.'^es, and U'ss shifting and llll(^ertaill rental'^, more activity in all kinds <>i business, ami more civic jiritle in wltatis destined tobetht^ great meti'opolis of tlie world with all Ihe attendant advantages." Jlenci^ the League is in i'avoi-of the ]ia..-isage of a, bill to eftect consolidation, and opposes the referendum which the Leagnie of Legal Citizens advocate with a view ot' giving the