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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 75, no. 1938: May 6, 1905

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May 6, 1905 RECORD AND GUTDE 985 Dp6te» p f^EA.L Estate . BuILol^'G Aftcifitecture .Household DiflonjTiorf. Bi/sii/ess Afio Themes of CEflEi^L IKtei^esi ., PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS published every Saturday Communications should be nddroBsod to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New York Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 "Entered at the Post Office al New York 2Y. Y., as second-cZass matler." Copyriekt by tbe Reai Est.ite Record a id Builders Gr ids Company. Vol. LXXV. MAT 6, 1905. No. 1938. Th6 real estate transactions offered for record during the past week have again assumed an unprecedented volume. The percentage of increase is not any greater than It has heen recently, but inasmuch aa this is the flrat week in May—the most active week for recording fn the whole year—the numher of payers, which the Record and Guide is obliged to publish has assumed a prodigious total—a total which completely alters the re¬ lation that has hitherto existed between what the Record and Guide offers its subscribers and what they pay for the service. During the flrst week in IMay, 1904, for instance, the Record and Guide published an issue containing 88 pages—and this issue compared to an average of about 72 during previous years. The current issue of the Manhattan edition of the Record and Guide contains 96 pages, and if to this we add the pages of legal records published in the Brooklyn edition (thus making the terms of the comparison the same in both years), we obtain a total of 136 pages. It is perfectly obvious that under such circumstances the Record and Guide cannot continue to publish the accustomed amount of printed matter at the same price as hereto¬ fore; and in altering the relation between the price and the matter we are only following the example of other publications that attempt to handle the same material. One of the most important daily journals in the city has abandoned entirely the publication of tbe records, while none of them is able to publish the conveyances and mortgages in full. The subscription price of the Manhattan edition of the Record and Guide is now $8 a year, and at that price its subscribers are obtain¬ ing one of the cheapest services in the world. THE prices of securities have for the most part sagged dur¬ ing the past week; but it cannot be said that the position of the bearish speculators has been thereby very much im¬ proved. On the contrary it can be fairly inferred from the events of the week that there is very little money to be made at pres¬ ent prides by selling stocks. The liquidation is over, and dull¬ ness has temporarily supervened; but bearish raids always meet with substantial resistance below a certain point. It is evident that in case they carried too far, the covering of the short con¬ tracts which would follow might carry stocks up to pretty near their former level. The news of the weeli; all tended in the di¬ rection of higher prices. Railway earnings were uniformly and in some cases surprisingly good. The crop prospects have on the whole improved in spite of the fact that cold weather delays planting. There are signs that the pace is moderating in the iron and steel trades; but there is good business in sight for months to come. It is distinctly a good thing that a boom has been avoided, for there is at least a chance now that a fair and profitable volume of business will continue to be offered for an Indefinite period. THE real estate market remains in a partly suspended con¬ dition awaiting action on the mortgage tax hill. The effect of the suspense has been shown not only in the lack of sales of vacant land, but also in the diminution of the plans filed for new tenements and apartment-houses. It is not to be supposed that this decrease will be permanent. As soon as the mortgage tax bill is either signed or vetoed, the building market will soon re¬ adjust itself to the possibly changed conditions. But until the BUBpense is over, the existing hesitations will continue. Because of the hesitation on the part of speculators new real estate trans¬ actions are not very considerable in volume, but the tone is very strong. Buying continues in speculative districts, and the amount of new construction of a high class, which is foreshadowed be¬ comes larger'and larger. The Record and Guide predicted over a mouth ago that builders requiring structural steel who did not cover their requirements early, would probably suffer from delayed deliveries, and according to the "Iron Age" such a con¬ tingency is now more than probable. April was one of the best months which the American Bridge Co. has ever had. and May promises to be better still. In any event there will be plenty of building; and not even the most determined effort of the Leg¬ islature to discourage it will make more than a few weeks delay. "We believe that on the whole this delay will be rather useful than the reverse; because it will force certain weak op¬ erators to quit. It will make no change at all in the under¬ lying situations. Even vacant property is readily sold when offered under fair conditions. In spite of the diminution in cur¬ rent trading there is no reason to anticipate any noticeable re¬ action. The Board of Aldermen vs. the Board of Estimate. ■jVyr AYOR McCLELLAN in the message which accompanied ■*-'-*■ his veto on the Elsberg franchise bill skillfully endeavored to conceal the weakness of his position by appealing to the pub¬ lic dislike of corporate interference with legislation. Whether or not the Pennsylvania Railroad was instrumental in pushing the bil! depriving the Board of Aldermen of its existing control over franchises \% irrelevant to the main question. The main question concerns the expediency of lodging ia the Board of Aldermen the authority over franchises which it now possesses; and if public opinion did not believe that the Aldermen had exercised that power in a dangerous and dilatory manner, the Pennsylvania Railroad would have been powerless to have deprived them of their au¬ thority. The Mayor was simply making out the best case that he could, and a very poor case it was. His attempt to show tbat the Board of Aldermen is as representative and as safe a body as the Board of Estimate is falsified by the whole history of muni¬ cipal government in this city. The Board of Aldermen has not for many years represented anything but local and corrupt inter¬ ests, while the Board of Estimate has been the one conspicu¬ ously successful and trustworthy agency of local government, which has resulted from New York's endless process of charter- tinkering. The Mayor's plea that, if tbe people are dissatisfied with the Board of Aldermen, they should elect a better class of men to the Board, ignores the facts and complications of our municipal government. It would be justifled, in case the Board of Alder¬ men were at the present time an effective and responsible local government agency; but, as we all know, it is nothing of the sort. The functions which it originally possessed have gradually been taken over by the Mayor and the Board of Estimate; and at the present time it occupies the anomalous position of pos¬ sessing power without responsibility. It occupies, that is, the peculiarly advantageous position of heing able to hold up im¬ provements, while at the same time it cannot either originate im¬ provements or authorize them without the assistance of theBoard of Estimate. It has not enough power to make its possession absolutely necessary for good government, while it has more than enough to prevent the smooth working of the administra¬ tion machine. The revisers of the charter should have made the Board of Aldermen either more or less powerful. We can understand a charter in which the Board of Aldermen was really responsible for the government of the city, and we can understand a charter in which the Aldermen were practically abolished; but a charter in which the Board of Aldermen has large opportunities for evil and but meagre opportunities for good is the kind of charter which lacks both logic and efficiency. In continental and English cities government by common councils have proved to be houest and competent. Under this ar¬ rangement the common council is the whole thing. It des¬ ignates the mayor and other executive officials, and determines all the important questions of. city policy. Its efficient agencies are various sub-committees, who deal with finance, transit and other questions, and whose recommendations are generally adopted by the whole couucil. Its functions are precisely those of the Board of Directors of a large private corporation. The only difference is that the members are elected from localities instead of by a general vote. The common councils of the cities in this country started with similar functions, except that, the mayors of American cities have always been independent of the