Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1645: September 23, 1899

Text version:

RECORD AND GUTDË!^ 433 ESTABLISHED^/AAHPH ?1U^ 1868, De^TED to FlE^L E.i.JMl. Gl;iLOI;.'c î^UCrflTEieTJaE .KoUSEHOLD DEGOÎÎATlOtJ. Bi;si(i£ssA!bfeE:MEsoFGEf4Eri,f.l IMtei^esi. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Fublishcd every Fahmlay. TELEPHONE, COKTLANDT 1370. Communications should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. J. 1. LJNBSEY, Business Manager. "E'iler.d %t the Post'Oûioe at l^ew York, N. T., assecond-ela»s matter." Vol. LXIV. SEPTEMBER 23, 1S90. No. 1Q4Ô TBE DBWEY HOLWAYS. In conséquence of the Dewey Holidays Friday and Saturday next weelc, and ike closimg ofthe eity offices, the Record a/nd Guide will be issued on Thu) silay morning. NOW tliat the Stock Market has had îts bi-eak and the heaiing rise has come to prevent panic, the question to be consid¬ ered is what is the outlook for the near future? The break itself and its peculiarities wil! be found fully treated in another col¬ umn. Generally, a smashîug of prices in any direction is followed by a rapid reactiouary rise, and it in tui'u by a slow décline which is sometimes racre severe in its efEect than was the flrst break. At the moment ihe excellent condition of the country's business and the probability that it has not yet developed itself to its fuli- est estent may make the after effects of this break less severe than that of others has been. Certainly the events of the past week or two will discourage spéculation for some time to come, As money will, in all probability, be fairly dear for the balance of this year that wiil be another obstacle to activity in the Stock Market. By far the best feature in the situation is found in the many instances in which securities are now'giving returns to their holders which a couple of years ago were .among the non- producing class. This gives the market as a whole an extent of sustaining power that it has not possessed for a good many years. Still the great sustainer is money, and unless that is readily forthcoming values are sure to shrink. In this counecticn it is pleasing to note that this couutry has renewed its ability to draw supplies from Europe, and that Europe reeognizes this fact and is prepared to see it operate. That exchange brokers make light of the small shipment that has already been arranged for is easily explained on the theory that no man wants to lay bare his own business. It is not so much what we are about to immediately re¬ ceive as what we apparently can obtain in an emergency that is significant. DREYFUS has been relieved of the conséquences of a crime all the world, less a small fraction, believes he did not com¬ mit, and General Gallifet has officially "ciosed the incident." This may do for the French army, but the world at large will give the injured man the chance to prove his innocence that his country refused him. For all his Podsnappian vigor, Gen. Gallifet and the French army will hâve to hear a good deal of Dreyfus yet, Still, the gnns refuse to go off iu SouLh Afriea, ând latest reports suggest that Prerident Krug.?r is demonstrating to his people their complète isolation from outside help in an endeavor to bring them to see the necessity of a yielding compromise. From the confusion of statement regarding the Transvaal contention it has been almost impossible to discover an ethical side to the British position, but looking through the dust raised by the con- tentients it appears to be this; That in the Boer attitude there is an obstacle to the merging and intercommunication of the peo¬ ple of South Afriea that is absolutely necessary to the progress of the country as a whole, and which if not removed must iuevitably produee trouble and the shedding of blood. From that point of view it as much as if Mormonism, leaving out its polygamy, had been allowed to maintain Utah as territory exclusive to the .populations pressing around it. Whatever exception may be Yken to the justice of the British case, as thus stated, it is cer- w.nly held by the best minds that support the demands on the Transvaal. Turning to European business, the impression is ob¬ taining t^rency that it is now at high-water mark, and spécula¬ tion is engas^ jj, determining when the turn of the tide wiU ■come. The retui^ j British government revenue for the year a generous scale of abatements in several classes, produced near¬ ly a million sterling more than it did in the previous year. A number of other interesting flgures are available, but for which, however, we cannot find space in a summary review like this. Agitations for increase of pay among workpeople are as notice¬ able abroad as they are hère; shipping interests in England and coa! mining in France are particularly affected by thèse. The prospects for money in Germany are creating as much anxiety as they did at this time last year, with the hope of aid from this side of the Atlantic, which existed for good reasons then, now absent. To relieve the acuteness of the demand for manufactur¬ ing iron and steel a temporary suspension of the duties thereon has been suggested by the protectionist "Kolner Volks Zeitung." It is stated that the tmion of manufacturers of half-finished iron and steel hâve been able to promise only 38% of the amount of meta! required by customers for the first half of 1900. In Aus¬ tria a good harvest has brought about a change iu favor of the textile industries of the country. The Argentine proposa! in relation to the eurrency is to couvert paper into goid af a rate équivalent to a premium of 127^^ on the latter. If adopted, the date of conversion is to be fixed by deeree. Australian affairs hâve been improved by needed rains in New South Wales and the Melbourne (Victoria) Exchange reports an increase iu business on the bull side, '1898-9 were most satio. Hory; incoçae tax alone, notwithstanding WHAT CAUSES THE N0ISE7 -T-HERE are a great many people in this city to whom a bnild- ■^ ing iaw is not a new thing, and there are a great many peo¬ ple to whom it is. The former class are rather puzzled to know why the latter are making such an extraordinary uproar about the,uew code. They can't quite make out why this particular doc¬ ument has excited the pious, the sentimental, the partisan and the offieious to walk the streets waving their hands and getting up a gênerai uproar, The experienced ask one another, "What has happened? What new and dreadfiU thing has been thrust upon us?" They then turn to the new code itself and flnd that it is pretty much the same !aw that has governed building opérations in New York City for many years past. There is no change in it tbat is at all radical, no dynamite that will bring all our houses down on our heads, neither are there any new burdens proposed by its régulations that wi!! be found onerous by au honest builder who has to deal with practical and not theoretic conditions. It does not vary from the law it is intended to replace any more than that law varied from the Iaw preceding it. Our building laws hâve all beeu compromise measures, in which a sort of av¬ erage has been struck between conflicting interests that must be dealt with, and between the theoretic and the practical conditions under which building is carried on in a big city like New York. Everyone knows a compromise measure can never be "perfect," but it can be even better—it can be workable, and the Experi¬ enced are ready to affirra, without hésitation, that any attempt to make a building law from the point of view held by nine-tenths of those who are now criticising the proposed code, will be either futile or disastrous. The prohability is, we should hâve a law that wouid be largeiy disregarded in practice. When people clamor for a buiiding iaw which shall not confer discretionary power upon officiais, aud shall, at the same time,- not favor any particular set of material men, they are demandine the impossible. A building Iaw must either specify materials and deflne methods, or it must leave thèse matter to the discrétion of some officiai—having, of course, formulated a standard for him to adhère to. Both courses hâve their evil. One course produces an inflexible code which does not admit the use of new diseov¬ eries and improvements, and the other course puts great power for extortion or tyranny in the hands of dishonest ofBcials. Hith¬ erto our building laws bave steered a middle course between thèse two rocks. The noise regarding the présent code springs from obvious causes, First of all, our building laws hâve hitherto been passed in Albany, uot in New York, and distance perhaps has deterred the public and the press from giving much attention to them. One extraordinary thing about the présent agitation is that it aims to throw back the making of our building îaws to Albany, In other words, the first use we make of home rule is to strive to abolish it, The buildiug Iaw is a very important home meas¬ ure, and the charter very properly considered it a matter that could be better attended to in New York City than up in Albany; yet, the opponents of the présent code don't hesîtate to say that they are now "flghting for time," in order to relegate the subject to the State législature when it convenes next January, Those who base their opposition to tbe code on a belief that there are "politics" in it, must see that this is a very admirable way to purge the code! In Albany there are no "politics." Another source of trouble is the tenement houae sentlmental- ista. We hâve often referred to this impractlcable crowd, mo»t