Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 57, no. 1474: June 13, 1896

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Juue 1*3, 1890 Record and Guide. 1013 ^ f'<;TiRTi<;Hm' # P0,\ ESTABUSHED'^ 4\HRP H 21".^ 1868. OEI%0 P RP^L EsTATT . BuiLDIf/c A;Fi.CrflTECTdl\E ,KobSE:HOLD DEGQI^ATlOtf. Busii/ess AifoThemes of GEfto\4l 1Ktei\es7. PRICE, PER YEAR, IN ADVANC*=', SIX DOLLARS. Published ererg Sntiirday. TKLEriioNE, .---.. Cortlandt 1370 Communications sliould be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-lG Vesey Street. J. T. LINDSET. Business Manager. "Entered at the Post-offlce at N'ew York, A\ r., as second-class matter." Vol. LVII. JUNE 13, 1890. No. 1,474 The Record and Gvidv will furnish you with daily detailed reports of all building operations, compiled to suit your business specifically, foi 14 cents a day. You are thus kept informed of the entire market for your goods. N^o guess work. Every fact verified. .Ibundanl capital and the thirty years' rxprrienre of The Kkcouii anu tJuimc (;«(ir«H/fP Ihe com¬ pleteness and authenticity of this service. Send to 14 and 10 Vesey street for information. ALL eyes are upon St. Louis. From the way the stock nuir¬ ket has acted this week it may be taken that the outcome ot the Republican Convention is expectetl to be favorable to prices by those who have the fate of Ihat iustiiution in their hands. The refusal of holders of securities to be feared by the break of last Wednesday aud the rapiil recovery of (luofatioiis aie good signs. But tlie political sitiuition, as iiuw portrayed to public view, does not make the success of the souiiil t ui rciicy men the easy thing that it was thought fo be a moiitli ago, and the nomination of an acceptable Republican on a gold currency plank is likely to be discounted for the time being by a inoiler- ate advauce in the prices of securities anil a small increase in general business activity. Still such a nomination will be oue great point gained aud au augury of ultimate success. THE trouble in Crete is depressing prices upon tlie Vienna and Berlin bourses. It is claiuied, as, of course, it always is claimed in sucli cases, that the uprising against Turkish rule re-opens the Eastern question, which was closed after llie Sultan had killed off as many Armenians as he wanted to. When the insurrection broke out the Powers rushed war vessels to the Island, not to protect the unfortunate Christians from Ihe barbarities of Moslem soldiery, but each fo prevent its rivals from gaining any political or trading advantage from the uew situation. Russia, it is said, has warned the I'orte that a massacre of Cretan Christians would combine the rest of Eurojie against it; St. Petersburg is talking very much as London talked nearly two years ago when the Kurds were officially let loo.se in Armenia. Constantinople is not likely to be more iutluenced by this last representation than it v,as by the fiisf. As the object of the jealousy of all the Powers it is incalculably stronger than .as the favorite ot any one or tsvo .and will play its own evil game, encouraged by the eiiually evil selfishness of the great Powers. Meantime the Cretans seem to be gettiug along very well; as they are, unlike the Armenians, fighters by heredity more is to be hoped for them. Another matter, thougli au entirely different one, which is liaving an adverse effect upon bourse operations iu Europe, is tho proposal of the French Government to tax rentes. These securities have until now been exempt, by implication if not by law, from taxation, and tlieir selection as a nieans of raisiug revenue is another illustration of tho straits to which finance ministers arc put to to meet enormous and growing national expenditures. One of the drains upon the French exchequer is the cost of colonial ex¬ pansion. Wherever France has extended her doniinions abroad it has brought a direct charge upon her. Not only is this the case with such recent additions as 'i'onquiu, Madagascar aud Cambodia, but Algeria, founded sixty years ago, makes an auniial demand of $1.^,000,000 upou her. The busiuess out¬ look in Europe is much more cheerful than the piditic.al, though, for the reasons previously given, the latter creates no alarm ; the policy which has finally determined the fate of the Boer's prisoners removes the greatest cause for fearing a break in the world's peace. Trade in most, if not in all, departments reports a satisfactory activity and the crop outlook is as good as can be expected at this tine of the year. TX7HEN the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company formally ^^ presented its plan to the Rapid Tran.sit Railioad Com¬ mission for increasing its service to the public, it iiroved to be as iujidequate as it was feared it would be. In effectthe Company is ready to take all the down-town privileges it can get and avoid as much as possible its responsibilities toward loug distance travel. Thisispioof of its bad faith aud issilly besides, if the plan is presented with the idea that the publiccan be cajoled into accejitiug it. Will not the Company ever understand that it is not the down-town but the up town service that is wanted. If ill order to induce it to build the northern extensions to its lines, it is 'necessary that its piivileges down-town should be eularged, no objection will bo offered to the bestowal of such favors upon it, but the tirst must always be a condition of the second. It is gratifying to notice, in this connection, that there is a decided recovery from the disappoint¬ ment cre.ited by the recent decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on thia matter. The Rapid Transit Railioad Commission is being urged to niaini- taiu its organization until the field can be mjre thoroughly reviewed to decide whether new plans can be prepared for an underground railroad which will meet the objections made to the old ones. It is not genc'ally known, but it is a matter of fact nevertheless that some of fhe engiueers whose testimony in opposition to iMr. Par.son's plan may be said to have brought about its defeat, bt lieve that a plan can be devised for building an uudergrouud road within the prescribed cost aud to do all that ean be reqiuied of it uuder existing laws. It should be borne iu mind that it was not the principle of underground railroad¬ ing that was attacked by these eugiueering experts, but the methods by which the Rapid Transit Commission and its chief engineer pioposed to give effect to it. (^ OVERNOR MORTON'S appointments to the Greater New ^ York Commission have given general satisfaction. The Commissiou as created has all the elements of respectability and ability that could be desired for it, so that if we are to take into the muuicipality some two hundred square miles of arable land and pasture wifh one huudred square miles of city proper, we have good reason to suppose that these elements will be blended as carefully as possible. There having to be a Commission, a better one could hardly be imagined ; the names of the gentle¬ men composing it will be fouud on auother page. The Commis¬ sion has to prepare its report by February 1, 1897, and will expire on March 1, 1897, AVe have pointed out before the extreme impridiability of its being able to do its work withiu the time named and the consequent necessity that will arise for extending its life. Another matter that may delay its hudiiig is the talk of litigation to test the constitutionality ot the Consoli¬ dation Act, though as yet this has not gone beyoud talk. There is more tliiiu oue group of property-owners who would be will¬ ing to cany the tight begun last spiing into the courts if they could lind a way f o do so. As the matter .stands to-day it would be ditHcult for them to get a hearing before the judges. It is rumored, however, that when the time comes for supplying the money to cany on the work of the Commission, the matter may be got iuto such shape that all the questions involved will be reviewed by the courts. Presumably, if this course is followed, it will further dela.y actual cousolidation, aud it may be that it will defeat it altogether until it can be carried out uuder jirovis- ions of law that will not work injustice to any one of the cities it is proposed fo unite. We are told, too, that the Joint Legisla¬ tive Coinmittee, of which Mr. Lexow was chairman, is to resume its meetings in New York as soou as fhe St. Louis con¬ vention is over. What thisis for it is hard to understand, unless it be to furnish themselves with the information they ought to have obtained before drafting their bill. WHEN the new East River Bridge Commissiou flnally locates the New York appioach to its bridge, it is to be hoped that they will not overlook the tinancial considera¬ tions, uor be carried away by the technical considerations which always occupy too much space in the professional mind. Of the two plans before them th(! oue that is physically and pecii- ni.aily most attractive to the lay mind, is that which makes the approach run south of Delancey street to Willett or Pitt street and by a curve connect with both Division and Grand streets at their junction with Pitt street. This will secure all convenient courses of travel from the biidge, across and downtown. The secoud plau carries the approach along Delancey to Clinton street where a plaza is to be formed aud whence, presumably, new arteries are to be cut to reach the Bowery and perhaps Broadway. The adoption of this latter plan will probably gratify professional ambition, but it will be vastly more expensive to the tax-payers. It is out of question that the bridge .approach should land in a tenement section, aud uo attempt be afterward made to secure wide out¬ lets to the maiu channels of traffic. Recent events have demonstrated that the city cannot afford the expense of such a work and, at the same time, carry ou fhe other and equally necessary improvements that it has in hand, or in prospect. The longer apjiroach would give easier grades and avoid the curve .at the outlet, but fhe grades on the shorter one are not diffi¬ cult by any means—three per cent., we believe, the engineers cal¬ culate them at—and taking this iuto accouut, with all the other