Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 66, no. 1710: December 22, 1900

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Decerriber 22, 1900. RECORD AND GUIDE. ESTABUSHED-^ iWPH 2l«> 1668. 'Wil. tofrlEB TO REA^EsTAJI.BuiLDlffe A,RCrirTECTURE,HoiJSEH0LDDEfl(StlUlDl4 Busi[/Ess AftoThemes of GETto^l lf/iEilfsi,. FBICE PEB YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLABS. Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, CORTLANDT I370. 'Commun I cations should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. ■"Entered at the Post-Offics at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. LXVL DECEMBER, 22, 1900. No. 1710. DURING this week buyers on tbe stock market seem to have lost sigbt of merit. It was not property tbey sought for. "but the potentiality of early profit; in other words, tbey were ■gambling. There is not enough in tbe situation to warrant the extent to which prices have been forced, nor can there be truth in all the stories set afloat of deals and combinations in the railroad world, which, it is alleged, are to glYe every¬ thing in tbe form of negotiable security a value that it never had before. It is undoubtedly the case that tbe railroads are in an exceptionally good position for doing a profitable business. There is, too, an obvious tendency towards consolidation of rail¬ road interests with a view, not merely to control the carrying business of large sections of tbe country, but also to secure more economical operation. Tbat seems the only way in which a saving can be effected now, freight and passenger rates having declined so much while the cost of labor and supplies have risen. Even considering all this, it may be not unreasonably asked, ■where is the business to come from to produce returns upon ■e\en the hundreds of millions of dollars of new values created in the past seven weeks, to say nothing of those that were un¬ productive at tbe commencement of tbat period? Notwithstand¬ ing those that have been seen there are still many who predict further rises in prices, and none can gainsay them in tbe light •of the immediate past, though the probability is that they are wrong. Another five point advance would be but little more foolish than the last one, and when the buying fever is on, who stands upon whether an advance is foolish or sensible? The vast majority of buyers know nothing whatever of the securities into which they put tbeir money; all they want is to believe that the price of the security is going to advance. They do not expect to hold it very long, only long enough to secure a profit, hut they do not hy any means always get that. A day comes when the market is bought to a standstill and the late buyer finds himself with a high-priced security on his hands and the market declining. Such a point is looked for now by the coolest heads, who know that when this point arrives intrinsic ■worth becomes a factor and that there is money to be made in assisting stock and bond prices and values in reaching a parity. NEWS frora the European iron trade accentuates the change that has taken place in the condition of business and modifies the impression that the success of American iron and steel abroad was due mainly to the inability of the home makers to take new orders. The placing of large Clyde orders for plates in the United States is now followed by the announcement of the practical collapse of the Scotch iron and steel trade. The lessened demand has also brought about a big drop in prices of all forms of manufactured iron in Germany. Another evidence of declining business is afforded by the profit and loss accounts for the year of twenty-two British cycle companies, which are summarized by a London financial paper. From these it appears that, while only four worked at a loss this year as compared with five last year, the proflts of the remainder were smaller, beiug about $520,000 as compared with $670,000 in the previous year. The rise in French rentes apparent of late is explained by the notice given by the Government that the surplus of sav¬ ings bank deposits exceeding 1,500 francs would be compulsorily invested in rentes, at the price prevailing that day, on Decem¬ ber Slst. Depositors have in consequence made large withdrawals either to invest in rentes in anticipation of an advance or to place their money in more profitable ways. It is not surprising that the failures of the German mortgage banks have created distrust and suspicion, or that there are fears of further trouble as a consequence of those disasters. The official investigation of one of those institutions, the Grundschuld Bank, reveals the facts that the obligations of the concern are very imperfectly secured by mortgages. Of the $25,000,000, using round figures, obligations of the bank, it was found that only $13,400,000 was adequately guaranteed by mortgages; but of these mortgages only $5,500,000 were found to be first-class. It is shown that many of the portions of real estate upon which the bank made loans were in the possession of subsidiary companies of the bank itself. Even Barnum & Bailey's circus, whose $3,000,000 of stock was subscribed so eagerly in London some years ago, seems to feel the pressure of bad times, because the last report to the stockholders, which appears in our exchanges, make much of the bad weather of the year having interfered with the suc¬ cess of the performances and is apologetic regarding the amount of the dividend declared. It is not to catalogue the woes of our friends across the Atlantic that these facts are given, but simply to emphasize what we have already said of the collapse of busi¬ ness abroad and its relation to our own affairs. Our export trade will have to contend with the cuts on European manu¬ factured goods and the lessened demand. A transfer of atten¬ tion to American issues is not inconsistent with the foregoings, but, for the reasons given last week, quite the contrary. XT EWSPAPER reporters have been busily engaged during XiL the past week in running the. tunnel uuder tbe Grand Central Station to Forty-sixth or Forty-seventh street, and then through to Broadway, but their efforts have not met with any considerable encouragement from the Rapid Transit Com¬ mission. On the contrary, it has been explicitly stated at the office of the Commission that the original Forty-second street route would be retained. No doubt the Commissioners would be glad enough if possible to give the tunnel a more gradual curve under the Grand Central Station, but considering the fact that the Central Railroad will obviously need for additional faciiities all the space it can control, both on the surface and in the air and under the surface, it is simply incredible that they could permit the burrowing of the tunnel under the station. At the same time there seems to be this much truth behind the very doubtful reports which have been current. Negotiations will be entered into looking to some special underground con¬ nection between the Grand Central Station and Forty-second street underground station. Such a connection is so obviously necessary for the convenience of the passengers on both roads that the actual negotiation of some definite plan ha? only been a question of time. What the connection amounts to will de¬ pend upon the extent to which the negotiators are disposed to be mutually accommodating. It may be only a foot-subway which will enable passengers to transfer from one station to the other without crossing the surface of Forty-second street. It may come to some, arrangement whereby iocal trains of the Central Road can get to the City Hall. It is to be hoped that the arrangement will be as complete as possible, and that the special problem of some adequate connection between the two roads will be merged into the more general and important ques¬ tion of proper terminal facilities at the Grand Central Station. If the connection is made really complete, and certain local trains are carried to the City Hall without any transfer of pas¬ sengers It will make an immense difference to many thousands of people in Bronx and Westchester county. In the end, it is probable that the municipal underground rapid transit system will have to have tracks of its own on the East Side parallel to the Central tracks, which can be used for all the suburban traffic seeking a really direct southerly outlet on the East Side. That would be the solution, which would at once relieve the tracks of the Central Road and give the residents of the Bronx the service they require; but until such a solution becomes financially possible the next best thing is some really intimate and direct connection between the tracks upon Fourth avenue north and south of Forty-second street. y. T OTHING more distinguishes the American of the present 1 il time from his ancestor of the beginning of the century than the former's languid interest in constitutional and legal questions. The early Araerican delighted above all things in discussing fundamental problems of legal right and constitu¬ tional law, and it was because he was so much interested in the statutory basis and issues of his political rights that he was so successful in constitution-making. But the American of the present prefers to leave the disposal of such little problems to non-partisan commissions and party "bosses." The proposed re¬ vision of the charter has aroused practically no discussion at all. When it was first given out the newspapers more or less doubt¬ fully approved it, and then, in spite of the fact that it was of the utmost importance, summarily dropped it. The various reform organizations were satisfied to pass resolutions putting upon the revision the stamp of their approbation. 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