Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 68, no. 1750: September 28, 1901

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37' #- ^ nr/oTFO TO Real Estaie . BuiLotKg *;Rci(nTCTURE .Kousiuou) DEGOHKntaL PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS Vttblisfied every Saturday Comamnloatlons shoiUd be addreaaed to C. W. SWEET, 14=16 Vesey Street, New YorK J. T. IjINDSET. Business Manager Telephons, Cortlandt 1370 "Entered al the Post Office al New Tork, JV". Y.. os second-class m.atter." Vol. LXVIII. SEPTEMBER 2S, 1901. No. 1750. THERE seems to be approaching in the Stock Market a period corresponrling in character to that that followed the Resumption boom when, as it later transpired, the big men were carrying the burden of large amounts of stock and inef¬ fectually endeavoring to hold prices, against the liquidation of the crowd, for the purpose of transferring their loads to other shoulders. So far as the. public are concerned they are sailers, or realizers, but commission business of any kind is small, the great bulk of the trading being by professionals whose variations of temper make the market for the time being. What is par¬ ticularly to be noted is that the rally from any declining move¬ ment rarely or never carries prices back to the point from whiclj they started. At the moment there is .a disposition to advance prices somewhat, but this wil! disappear the momejit the selling of long stock is suspected. Railroad issues are still the strong¬ est of any class of securities; whether they will maintain their strength will depend on the course of earnings, which from now on should be watched closely for changes. As to the Industrials the buying public seems determined to hold them at arm's length until tliey have demonstrated tlieir staying qualities. This is not remarkable, in view of the ridiculous statements put out to in¬ duce them to buy, notably, that to the effect that the U. S. Steel Co. had lost nothing by the strike. Well-informed people put (he actual loss at a large figure, and say also that it is gone with no way of recovering it. The iron trade is by all accounts in gootl shape now, and has work in sight sufficient to keep all the mills busy until next spring. As is usual in good times tha railroads are generous buyers, and the demand from other sources is also considerable, but the Steel Co. has yet to make the showing that wil! assure investors of a certain and regul.ar return on their money with stability in quotations. The application of these ar¬ guments can be extended all along the Industrial line, and the logical deduction as to their ultimate influence on quotations is as patent as the writing on the wall. i t taxpayers of Manhattan and the Bronx lies in increasing the taxable values of land in Brooklyn and Queens." This sounds disastrous for the taxpayers of Manhattan and the Bronx, because an increase in taxable values in Brooklyn and Queens at all proportional to the prospective increase in taxes appears to be hopeless for many years to come. After the Pike Street Bridge and the East River tunnel are completed, it is possible that the increase in values across the river may do a little something to relieve the continual pressure of increased munic¬ ipal expenses upon the taxpayers in Manhattan and the Bronx, but considering that in the meantime the city proposes spending about ?40,000,000 upon bridges and a tunnel., the additional bur¬ den is much more imminent than any perceptible relief. The re¬ mark indicates only too plainly that the present administra¬ tion is in the matter of constant increase of expenditures and taxes drifting helplessly. Property-owners in this city are not suffering from excessive tax burdens, because, as the Mayor's remark would imply, there is any deficiency of t?.xable real es¬ tate values. On the contrary, the real estate values of Manhat¬ tan are upon an extraordinary high level, aud are assessed for the most part for the full two-thirds of their value. In Man¬ hattan and the Bronx, for instance, the books contain $1,156 of taxable property for every singel inhabitant, whereas in Phil¬ adelphia, although real estate is supposed to be assessed at its full value instead of at two-thirds thereof, the books show a realty valuation of $690 per inhabitant. Yet in Philadelphia, which cannot be called aa economically governed city, the tax rate is 1.85, while in Manhattan and the Bronx it is 2,30 or thereabouts. Neither is there any deficiency of taxable real es¬ tate values in Brooklyn, such as the Mayor's remark would im¬ ply, for the Brooklyn books show a taxable real estate value of about $500 for each inhabitant. When the difference between the rate at whieh property is supposed to be assesstd in the two cities is taken into account, this makes the Brooklyn figure about equal to that of Fhiladeiphia. in spite of the fact that so many Brooklyn citizens carry on their business outs.de the Boi'ongh limits. The hope for the taxpayers of Manhattan and the Bronx does not consist in a larger taxable value for real es¬ tate, because, compared with other cities, there is an abundance of such value now. It consists in getting something like five dollais' woi'th of value for every flve dollars that is spent. IN the European financial markets there is talk of other gov¬ ernmental loana besides those already announced. Germany is lepoi-ted to be about to come on L.ie market for funds, and it is only a matter of arithmetic to decide when Great Britain must ask tlie public for new advances witii which to carry on the Boer war, if that undertaking is to last much longer. It has, undoubt¬ edly, degenerated into a guerilla war, but there niver w^s a war of that character before that cost so much to the stronger .party. These expected government loans explaii^ the heaviness of Con¬ sols and other governmental issues, and also the maintenance of,comparatively high discount rates by the banks in the face oE large reserves and the return of money fiOm industrial use in large volume. The cable report, appearing this week, of the scarcity of employment and the number of idle men in al! indus¬ trial lines in Germany, only confirms what we have said of the condition of business in that country for some time pist. The state of affairs in Germany can easily find duplicates in other European countries; indeed, in both Great Britain and on the Continent matters have been tending toward depression for a good while past, as readers of this journal have often been told. What we are interested in at the moment is whether our ability to withdrawgoldEromEurope is superior to her ability to retain it. So far a westward flow of large proportions has been checked by the raising of discount rates and the return of securities to our market, but it is apparent from what gold dribbles in and the ex¬ ertions put forth to prevent more coming, that if our need should increase materially it would not be difficult to divert the current this way. So far there has been no need to take unusual meas¬ ures to obtain this, the falling off in the demand for money for speculation, or its forcible curtailment by loaners, with the prompt and judicious measures taken by Secretary Gage to re¬ lieve the situation have been sufficient to meet the requirements of the situation and keep rates reasonably low and the market fairly easy considering the circumstances of the hour. THE nomination of James L. Wells for the office of President of the Borough of the Bronx by his party was the most natural and appropriate In the world, inasmuch as Mr. Wells has been long identified with the territory now known as the Bor¬ ough of the Bronx, and one of the foremost agents in its devel¬ opment. Moreover, as Mr. Wells was one of the revisers of the charter which endows the borough presidents with such impor¬ tant powers affecting the progress of their boroughs, and knows by his experience as a real estate man what is wanted, his claim.i to recognition by his political friends must have been as con¬ vincing on the theoretical as on the practical side. Besides this, his popularity in the Bronx has always been great, and it has recently been increased by his services to the Borough, both in aiding legislation and advocating public expenditures, under which it has become the important section that it is. HE platform adopted by the Republican County Convention will be received with mixed feelings by the people inter¬ ested exclusively in economic and efficient government in New York. To have the Republicans go unequivocally on record in favor of a non-partisan administration of municipal affairs is undoubtedly a great achievement for the cause of sound munic- pal administration, but one's disposition to rejoice is somewhat dualifled by the explanation ^hich the plank received from the speakers. Republicanism, it was declared, is unimportant in municipal, but extremely important in state affairs. That is, the Republicans are to be non-partizan in New York, but parti- riafi at Albany. We must say that non-partisanship, so re¬ stricted, is very much like the young woman who was reasona¬ bly chaste. Considering that New York City is in truth governed from Albany, while it is only administered from the City Hall, it is not reassuring to be informed that the Republicans are not pledged to the non-partisan administration of municipal affairs beyond the Bronx line, for at Albany all municipal become state questions. But while in this respect the Republican pledges are to say the least, a little frayed at the edges, still it sliould be re¬ membered how much more acceptation proper principles of municipal government obtain than they did, say, five years ago. The principle of single-headed departments, for instance, has