Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 61, no. 1570: April 16, 1898

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April i6, 189S. Record and Guide IGS9 mm. ESTABUSHm^ftfcBPH £111^1368. DWOTED p f^LEsTMT.BtnLDlKG ApOfrTECTURE.KcaJSEHOlnDEGCHJlIcm Biisit/Ess Alto Themes OF GeHeriiI Ikto^esi. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Pubtislied every Saturday Telephone, . . _ . Cortlandt 1370- Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-lG Vesey Street, J. 1. LCNDSEY, Business Manager. "Entered at the Posl Otflce at New Tork. N. P., as sccond-rlans mailer.-" Vol, LXI. APRIL 16, 1898. No, 1,570 T^ ULLNjilSS is reported from almost all branches of busi- -^—^ ness. This is not surprising, because no one is willing to take risks until it can be definitely ascertained whether business is to be done on a war or peace basis. The stock market is only- kept alive by the operations of professionals, but in spite of the wretchedly small business and the fondness of the professional for the short side, prices remain strong. Holders show a re¬ markable confldence in securities, considering the hullabaloo that is kept up by the press and the confident predictions of war from many quarters. This strength is due to one of two things: Either holders do not believe war will be declared, or they do not think a declaration of war would have a materially un¬ favorable effect upon values. The probabilities point to the "no war" idea being the controlling one. It is admitted that the situation is a very dangerous one, but as some chances have always to be taken iu Wall Street, the preference is now given to the chance that the sanguinary enthusiasts who are now shouting for war will be overborne by judgment and reason, and that President McKinley will be allowed full discretion to complete a policy, already eminently successful in making Spain take one backward step after another, that will end the disorder and des'titution in Cuba by peaceful means. So soon as the matter is out of the hands of Congress and again in those o£ the President, we expect to see Uoth publics interested calm down somewhat. JUDGED by the public receipts, British trade continues in n prosperous condition. The Chancellor of the Excheiiuer"s budget statement shows that the receipts for the governmental fiscal year, which closed March 25, exceeded the estimates in all but one inconsiderable branch, the net total of excess being £3,570,000; expenditures failed to reach the estimates, so that there was a surplus of £3,679,000. The amount of new capital applications in the first quarter of this year was £48,054,000, and was exceeded by no corresponding quarter since 1893, and only by two others in that period. Very large sums went into what we should (on this side of the Atlantic) call "industrials," if we could include in that term breweries, mercantile organizations, such as the Lipton business, for whose stock there was such a rush, hotels, theatres, building estates, etc., showing that the British investor is in a very confiding mood, which in turn shows that his business is prosperous. The difference between the French Government and the Municipality of Paris in regard to the gauge of the proposed city railways has been settled in favor of the former as regards the Metropolitan, the most im¬ portant of the proposed lines, and the gauge is to conform to that of the great lines running out of the city. Tbe substitution of mechanical for horse traction on the vehicles of the Paris Omnibus Company has enabled the latter to substantially in¬ crease its dividends. American goods are now disturbing the German iron trade. A firm in Hamburg offers American gas tubes at prices considerably lower, in spite of freight and duty, than the prices of the German conventions of makers of tubes. The latter have already reduced their prices to meet the Ameri¬ can competition. In Holland, American bar iron competes strongly against the German product. A firm in Rotterdam has obtained an agency for an American mill, and sells the Ameri¬ can article at the same price as the German. In Austria the matter that is affecting men's minds most is the improbability that the agreement witb Hungary can be got through before May 1st, Though the chief point of discord, the quota to be fur¬ nisher' by each country towards the common expenses, has passed into the hands of the Emperor, who is expected to favor Hungary in his decision, there are eighteen bills which mu.?t be passed before the work is done and the treaty renewed. The ■ESehangeB all through Europe feel the unfavorable effects of the tension that exists In the relations of this country and Spain, and our demand for gold is not only putting up the rates ftir money, but is creating anxiety regarding its probable duration. T^^OST of the amendments to the building laws of New York iXi. proposed in the Legislature this year failed to pass. The bill to supersede the Board of Examiners, that to extend the uses 'of cement fireproofing, that to require a certain specified form of fire-stop between beams and partitions, that to prohibit the hoisting of building materials on the outside of buildings of more than five stories during construction, and that lo limit the height of dwelling houses, were all remorselessly smothered in committee. To the few and comparatively unim¬ portant bills that did pass, the Mayor has apparently bestowed a quietus by the announcement of his policy not to sanction Al¬ bany rule where home rule will suffice. The smothering pro¬ cess seems also to have been successfully applied to all the bills meddling with the relations of employers and employed, as well as to bills relating to building construction and methods of pro¬ cedure. A number of bills amending the Mechanic's Lien Law are now before the Governor, according to the report of our Al¬ bany correspondent, which will be found in another column. These, as far as we are able to ascertain, are unobjectionable iu tbeir nature, and should receive Governor Black's approval. THE "TICKER" AND PEACE. -^ HERE are seme commercial interests that may derive a *■ momentary or a speculative profit from War, but Real Estate is not one of them. The manufacturer of military sup¬ plies may grow wealthy, the dealer in provisions or a hundred other coramcdities may realize handsomely from an advance in prices following an outbreak of hostilities, but the owner, of real estate cannot share even to the slightest degree in these blood proflts. The crazy notion that War can promote prosperity because it temporally favors a few at the expense of the many is an illu¬ sion which no real estate owner, as such, can entertain for a second. The first result of War (indeed, it precedes the actual breach of peace), is the withdrawal of large bodies of men from the occupation of their homes and other places of resort. The barrack and the camp are populated at the expense of the house aud the store, and thereby real estate begins at the outset of con¬ flict to pay its share of the enormous unrecorded tribute which War exacts from all property and all peaceful pursuits. It par¬ takes, also, of course, in every other direct and indirect expense of War. We are not surprised, therefore, to flnd that the war-at-any- price sentiment has very little hold upon the real estate men of this city, and those whose commercial interests are closely allied to theirs. The architect, the builder, the material-man, fully realize how complete will be the paralysis of industry in their occupations the moment the first shot is fired. Stagnation has already set in, and it is no secret that the noisy events of the last two or three weeks have thrown everything back almost into the condition existing prior to the recent revival of trade. A lengthy continuation cf the Cuban question will complete the reversal, and actual hostilities will produce a very much acuter state of affairs, lamentable to contemplate. No man lays himself open to the charge of being unpatriotic because he deplores this result, and ardently hopes it may be averted by an honorable and peaceful solution of our difficul¬ ties with Spain. The Apache notion, current in places just now, that War Is so supreme a form of human activity, and passion and hatred such exalted expressions of manly vigor that no other interests may be rightly calculated against them, is not a notion that any reasonable man is called upon to controvert. Civilization would not exist to-day had not the material inter¬ ests of mankind supported its nobler aspirations. Order, Justice and the love of Peace are the idealizations of personal benefits— the large expressions of a multitude of small calculations. The Senator who fervently thanked Heaven that he did not take bis morality from the ticker, would be surprised were he some day seriously questioned as to whence he did get his particular form of that virtue. Man has evolved his virtues from his necessities, Just as he has other parts of his equipment. Cleanliness, honesty, liberty and many other good things have been forced upon him by cir^ cumstances. He has slowly found out that they pay. He has calculated and adopted. Civilization is very largely a product of this arithmetic. The important matter is not whether Sena¬ tors and other people get their morality from the ticker, but whether tbey get it at all. When we undertake to civilize the Indian, the first step in the process is to teach him a peaceful pursuit. Our purpose is to add a new set of factors to his habitual calculations. In other words, we endeavor to make