Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 76, no. 1957: September 16, 1905

Text version:

September i6, 1905 RECORD AND GUTDE 425 ,^ ESTAEUSHH) "^ i^lWpH 21*^^ IQ68. DEi&TED TO Ra.L EISTAJE. BuiLoiffc AjiodTECTUw .KousnioiD De«(HJ1m^, BiisnJEss A(to Themes of GEjtoi^l littti^si^ PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT COLLARS PublUfied etierg Saturdag Communloatlons BhouM do addreaaei to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New York Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 "Entered at the Past Offi.ce at New Tork. N. Y., as second-clasa mutter." Copyrisht by tho Real Estate Record and Bnildera' Gnld« CompaiLT. Vol, LXXVI, SEPTEMBER 16, 1005. No. 1957. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. (Advertising Section,) Page Page Oemert ............... xxvii Law ................. x Clay Products ......... xxvi Mactinery ............ T Contia-tors and Builders. vH Metal Work .......... xslv Fir'proofing ........... ii Stone ................ xxv Graui'e ............... xvi Quick J b Directory .... xxii Hea ing ............... xxii Real Estate ........... xi Iron and Steel ......... xx Wood Products ........ xxviii IT may he doubted whether there will be very much mooey made by the advancing prices of stocks during tbe next six weeks or two months. Such advances cannot take place ex¬ cept by the large use of borrowed money; and considering the heavy demands which will he made upon the money market throughout the fall, it is probable that the banks will dis¬ courage the engagement of much money for speculative pur¬ poses. Such a condition as this might not avail, in case good securities were cheap, but as a matter of fact they are toler¬ ably high. They may not be so high that another year of very prosperous business would not warrant a still higher level; but they are so high that any general public participa¬ tion in a bullish speculation can hardly be expected. It is surely better to wait until the pending borrowing is over, and until it is possible to estimate the benefit which the country will obtain from the sale of its large, crops at very high prices. Those benefits may be very large indeed, and may justify a number of railroad companies in increasing their rate of dis¬ tribution to their share holders. It may also mean so much business to the larger industrial corporations that their pre¬ ferred stocks will become good six or even five per cent, in¬ vestments. In this case there will be an abundant justification for advancing prices throughout the winter. But a prema¬ ture speculation might well deprive the American business community of at least some of these benefits. THB legislative investigation of the big life insurance com¬ panies is undoubtedly convincing the disinterested pub¬ lic opinion of the country that these companies should be con¬ ducted under very different laws. What the investigation shows is that the assets of the companies are practically at the disposal of certain large banking houses, who use them as a vehicle for disposing of their securities. That the connec¬ tions of the companies with the banking houses is for the most part profitable, is irrelevant. A trust fund, such as the assets of one of these companies, should not be used under any cir¬ cumstances as an aid to doubtful speculative operations; and it would not be necessary to use them in this way were it not that the new business of the companies is written at such a large cost. At present the companies need to get from iYi to 5 per cent, on their assets, because they ar,e obliged to pay such large commissions to their agents, and so long as they pay these commissions, stricter regulalions as to investments would undoubtedly mean a diminished return to policy-holders. But if the life insurance business were conducted under much the same laws as savings banks, the decreased return on their assets would be counter-balanced by decreased expenses. Of course, such a change could not be made without the adoption of a few standard policies; and the insurance companiea would have to mantain bureaus of publicity, which would necessarily cost a good deal of money; but the advantages and the neces¬ sity of life insurauce are so well underst..od now that a gen¬ eral reduction of their agency expenses on the part of the big companies might well b© achieved without, any large loss In the total number of policies written. The companies would recommend themselves to public approval, not by speechful, energetic and expensive canvassing, but by the returns they could offer to a policy-holder upon his investment. It will be strange in case some such outcome as this, whether under State or Federal regulation, is not the result of the current In¬ vestigation. TV yf ASONS and bricklayers are complaining that the In- iV± creasing popularity- of various methods of reinforced concrete construction is depriving them of a great deal of work, such is undoubtedly the case, and inasmuch as the use of rein¬ forced concrete is only beginning, and will assuredly increase still more rapidly in the future, the brick-layers will doubt¬ less have additional cause for complaint. But if so it will be, at least to a certain extent, their own fault. No doubt rein¬ forced concrete construction is bound, on its own merits, to come into large and varied use, but its use will certainly be accelerated in the vicinity of New York by the unnecessarily high cost of brick-laying. Little by little the briclc-layers have been able, by the strength of their organization, to force up their wages, until they are now paid at the rate of 70 cents an hour for an eight-hour day. If the brick-layers themselves actually profited by these high wages they might be considered as justified, but as a matter of fact the enlarged cost of brick¬ laying which results therefrom does not increase the income of the brick-layer. The high average wages attracts to New York more brick-layers than are needed; and the consequence is that the mechanics lose, by Jack of employment, what they gain by high wages. Of course, they do not have to work aa much for the same amount of money, but as long as they are not overworked that is a very doubtful advantage. In any case the net result is that brick-laying in New York costs much more than it need; and this fact wil! count aganist brick construction, now that it is confronted by the completion of a new and excellent method of building. Of course, the mechanics will not voluntarily reduce their own wages, and in the course of time this fact will have a consid¬ erable effect upon the amount of brick bought and laid in New York City. A N interesting item that has lately been drifting home- -^*- lessly through the papers reports that Charles M, Schwab destines the home which he is building on Riverside Drive for a public, museum, when he can no longer dwell there. The item seems not to have been contradicted, and it is inter¬ esting in its reminder that hardly a splendid private house has been bequeathed to the American people. There is a new idea for our philanthropy! With the increased appearance of very elaborate, costly and beautiful houses filled with artistic treasures, which are not allowed to stock it like a muselim, but which are severally fitted to .their immediate surroundings —so that they become a part of its essential furniture—or, as in the case of a chimneyplece or stairway, of the house itself —the problem of what to do with it when the owner has gonj Is bound to be more and more pressing. Adequately to main¬ tain such a homo makes very heavy demands, not onl^ on the purse, but on the love of art—a demand that not many heirs can satisfy. There may, also, be no heirs; while to separate the house and its treasures, willing^ the latter to a public mu¬ seum"; is to rob them of their setting and so to destroy a good part of their value. If we have not had this kind of philan¬ thropy before, it is because we have only lately, with the rise of vast fortunes, commenced to build this sort of houses. In Europe many a private palace has become by such means pub¬ lic property; and to name over the most famous museums is to recite the names of families and homes—as Pitti, Uffizzi, Luxembourg, and Chantilly, That in the possibility of such a future for his work, the architect must find vastly increased incentive and inspiration, scarcely needs a saying; nor need one explain that the citizen who leaves to the public the product of his artistic taste and judgment in collection and ar¬ rangement leaves much more of his personality than he who bequeaths to it only stocks and bonds. IT appears certain that a demand for a moderate revision of the tariff is increasing, rather than diminishing, with¬ in the ranks of the Republican party. So far it has been suc¬ cessfully resisted by that large section of the. party which is afraid to raise the issue, but it is improbable that this re¬ sistance can be successfully continued. The new Congressmen did not have the courage to tackle the question of revision, but unless ws are very much mistaken, the Republicans of tbe nejft Congress will, in case they control that body, find It