crown CU Home > Libraries Home
[x] Close window

Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Use your browser's Print function to print these pages.

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 69, no. 1778: April 12, 1902

Real Estate Record page image for page ldpd_7031148_029_00000767

Text version:

Please note: this text may be incomplete. For more information about this OCR, view About OCR text.
April 12, 1902, RECORD AND GUIDE. 647 ESTABLISHED^/ tf^P&aal^^ IS6& DE/oiEDTDRfALEsTHt,Building ARf^iTECTuiiEjjausEiioiLDBBaijiiral, Btisii/Ess Alio Themes OF GEtJEB^.IjflEllfsT- ^RICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS Pablisfted every Saturday Communications should be addresBed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorH * I, LINDSEY, Busfneaa Manaeer Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 ■■ Entered al the Post Office at New York, N. Y.. as stecond-class mailer.' Vol. LXIX. APRIL 12, 1902. No, 1,778 T X yiTH daily transactions on the Stock Exchange crossing J^ * the million-share mark, and the hond market cor¬ respondingly active, it would seem that the manipulation of the past six or seven months had succeeded in enticing the puhlic Ijack into the field of stock speculation, if it were not that ao large a contribution to the total of stock business was made by the Southwestern stocks. There is undoubtedly more business doing in the commission houses, but uot enough to account for the increase of exchange business. Endless rumors are afloat to account for the rise in Louisville & Nashville and the buying of Southern Railway, not one of which is satisfactory. Both Louisville and Southern are doing well enough to attract specu¬ lative buying on earning returns alone, but purchases of any considerable amount would put quotations up sharply and the popular imagination could easily he relied upon to do the rest. The strength of prices generally is due as much as anything to the impossibility of organizing a bear movement because of the scarcity of floating stocks, and "shorting" must certainly be followed hy swift punishment. When men get over the sensa¬ tion of the moment and turn their attention to basic conditions they will flnd the crop situation, as displayed by the Government report, one to create caution at least, although it is early in the year and there has heen some improvement since the data for the report could have been collected. Money has advanced in tne week, and we may now expect an increased demand from the agricultural sections and possibly also from abroad. NOTHING- shows better the caution the Boers have taught the British than the failure of the latter to act upon the reports of approaching peace, notwithstanding the inferences that may be fairly drawn from the fact that the Boer leaders are meeting under safe-conducts granted at their own request. "What this really means seems now to be breaking in on the minds of people in Europe, because yesterday the markets there became active and, as was natural. Consols became the most prominent feature and advanced sharply. With the war ter¬ minated and the Government given the chance of issuing a guaranteed Transvaal loan instead of more Consols to meet the cost yet requiring to be funded, or even with an issue of Con¬ sols which could be considered the last likely to be required for a long time, there would be a substantial rally in the latter security and in other Government issues sympathetically. The Government officials decline to be caught predicting again, but it is evident that they expect a satisfactory outcome of the Boer conference from the way they are holding back the budget and other financial matters. Preparations have indeed gone far ahead for a movement in South African mines, as we note that of a total of £4,400.000 of new capital applied for in London in the past quarter for mining companies £3,589,500 was for South Africa—£2,987,000 being for the Transvaal and £602,500 for Rhodesia. Altogether, with peace in South Africa assured, we can look for a very large increase in the gold production of the coming twelve months, a fact that cannot tail to have a favor¬ able effect upon the values of investment securities in all parts of the world. The London Economist's special commissioner is again warning the puhlic of the mining traps and pitfalls that are being set for them, and says despondently; "If there are, say, five hundred more mines going to be floated shortly in the outside districts of the Transvaal, I suppose about five of these, or just one per cent., may eventually reach a profit-earning stage. But what does it matter? The public is going to have a huge gamble on sentiment, and the value of the mines is really a secondary point. Someone may say: "But how will it be pos¬ sible to float five hundred mines; where are there only just so many reefs?' To this I reply that there are hundreds of miles of reefs in the De Kaap, Lydenburg, Murchison, Heidelberg and Klerksdorp districts. There will be no trouble on that head." The Transvaal gold output for March waa 104,127 ozs., an in¬ crease over February of about 23,000 ozs. The first of the cur¬ rent monthly reports was 39,095 ozs. for last November. The Municipal Departments. —^ HE Board of Estimate and Apportionment by its action -*■ during the past week in reducing salaries, and in estab¬ lishing a classification of departmental subordinates, has taken an important step toward the introduction of some economy and organization into the departmental service. By so doing the administration has shown that it proposes to stand by its pledges, and that it will do its best to cut down salaries and expenses whenever consistent with the good of the service. The statement is explicitly made that the work of reorganizing the departments, which is now only begun, will be continued throughout the whole term of the administration, and that no effort will be spared to stimulate into efficient activity the members, as well as the body of the municipal service. The reform administration is confronted by rhany' difficult problems; but surely none of them is more difficult than that of securing a collection of competent and trustworthy depart¬ mental employees. Many circumstances combine to increase the difficulty of the problem. The standards of municipal ad¬ ministration have in the past been lax. The departments have been iilled with clerks who have been taken on for every reason in the world except those of expert knowledge and tested ability. The employees knew that they were appointed to office and re¬ tained there for other reasons than those of special competence and energetic work. They have been habituated to taking their task easily and considering that a good day's work could be done in four or five hours of leisurely employment, and there is a well-founded suspicion that in some cases they made personal profit out of the evasion of the laws which it was their duty to execute. Many of these employees would doubtless, under a better system, make useful and energetic public servants; hut under existing circumstances they can see in effort to reor¬ ganize and invigorate their work only an obnoxious disturbance of a pleasant and leisurely life. They know that the term of the present administration will last only two years, and they do not forget that it may be superseded by another, which will consider itself in duty hound to undo all that a reform adminis¬ tration has done. Consequently they feel encouraged to offer a stubborn and passive resistance to these attempts to reorganize the departments into economy and efficiency, knowing full well thai if they can only hang on for a couple of years the good old times may return of advancing salaries, abundant leisure, and, for some of them, an occasional "rake-off." If such is even a fairly just description of the present situa¬ tion the difficulty of reorganizing the service along better lines will be immediately appreciated. The present administration must in some way combine the tasks of introducing economy and efficiency, and at the same time of winning the confidence and support of the departmental subordinates; and it has started in the right way to accomplish these apparently contradictory jobs. The most necessary preliminary step is undoubtedly a proper system of classification, so that a man's salary wil! de¬ pend upon the kind of work he does and not upon arbitrary pref¬ erences or "pulls" of any kind. The next step will be to provide some recognized and established method of advancing employees from a lower to a higher grade—according as they became quali¬ fied to do more difficult and remunerative work. If such a proper system of promotion and reward for good service is introduced it will do more to increase the support which the employees will give to the administration than any other single step in the re¬ organization. It will rally to the policy of the Mayor all the more energetic and ambitious employees, and will provide them with a motive for doing their best. This motive will not, un¬ fortunately, be very strong, because the Legislature of 1901, in its wisdom, cut down the term of the iVIayor from four to two years; but it should be strong enough to get them started in the right direction—a direction in which the succeeding administra¬ tion may at least keep them moving. Such measures are in the way of a good heginning. but the goal is still remote. In the end there is one necessary condi¬ tion to securing the best possible service from a set of govern¬ ment employees, and that is the presence throughout the whole body of a pervasive and effective "esprit de corps." They must take pride in their service, just as a soldier takes pride in his fiag. In a private business such an "esprit de corps" ia not necessary, because as a rule under such circumstances the