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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 77, no. 1978: February 10, 1906

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February lo, 1906 RECORD AND GUIDE F ■.-TU 229 ESTABUSHED-^ iWpH Slti^ 1868, Dev&teD p Rfn,L Estate .BuiLDii/c ^^rcKitectui^e .^ousnlou) DEQaf?Aiio.-l. BiIsiWeSS AlbTHEL*.ZS OfGEf^R^l iKlEt^ESl. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Published every Salurdaif Communications should bo adcirossed to C. W. SWEET. 14-16 Vesey Street. New York Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 "Eidered at the Post Cffice al New York. N. Y.. as second-class mailer." Vol. LXXVII. FEBRUARY 10. lOOG. No. 1978 INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. Advertising Section. Page. Page. Cement......................xxiii Law.........................xi Clay Products.................xxii Lumber ...................xxviii Consulting Engineers.........vii Machinery .....................Iv Contractors and Builders......vi Metal Work ..................xix Electrical Intereata...........viii Quick Job Directory.........xxvii Fireproofing ..................iii Real Estate ..................xiii Granite .....................xxiv Roofers & RooQng Materials... .x Heating .......................xx Stone ......................xxiv Iron and steel...............xviii Wood Products...............xxix MUNICIPAL ownership is apparently making more prog¬ ress on water than on iand. Tiie city has already ac¬ quired and is operating the Staten Island Ferry. It owns the Whitehall Street Terminal, and now the Sinlcing Fund Commis¬ sion has agreed to acquire under condemnation proceedings the South Brooklyn Terminal. The city is to build new boats, and the new municipal ferry will be put in operation as quickly as possible. This extension of municipal ownership should re¬ ceive the approval of everyone, even of those who are most strongly opposed to the paternal administration of tlie city's affairs. For many years there has been a great deal of talk about the advantages and disadvantages to be derived from the city's participation in what hitherto have been the functions of private enterprise. Any amonnt of talk, however, no matter how logical it may be, lacks much of the cogency of actual dem¬ onstration. No doubt there is a deal to be said on both sides as to the efficiency of municipal ownership in this community, for it does not follow necessarily that because municipal owner¬ ship is a proved success in Glasgow, or Oshkosh, or Kalamazoo, it will prove equally desirable here in Manhattan. There is only one way in which the problem can be really settled, and that is to try it. If the city can run two or three of our ferries to the real advantage aud profit of the community, there would be a presumption in favor of the principle warranting its rapid exten¬ sion into other spheres of action. It is, indeed, just as well that smaller matters shall be experimented with flrst. Even failure (should failure be the result) will be worth the cost of the demonstration. There is no blinking the fact that a very large number of our citizens, perhaps even the majority, are in favor of municipal ownership. This favor, no doubt, is based upon certain yet untested assumptions. Many persons, indeed, favor the new principle merely as a reaction against the very great abuses of private ownership. But we are all apparently settling down to the opinion that monopolies are inevitable, and the question is in the air—If monopolies are inevitable, sliould not the management of them be lodged in the hands of the city itself? But it is natural for those who are attracted by munic¬ ipal ownership to overlook in the present theoretical stage of their opinions the unknown defects of municipal ownership, which can only be discovered by the actual operation of the principle. In other words, the education of experience is needed all around. The only way to experiment is to experiment. The ferries offer an admirable field for demonstration. From suc¬ cess or failure we shall learn much. APROPOS of this subject, we trust that the larger matter of the City Light Plant will not be allowed to lag. We do not believe that the Mayor will consent to any unnecessary postponement of the enterprise. The city has already acquired . for its light plants a large amount of real estate admirably ■situated and at a reasonable cost, and the mere purchase of this property with the clear intent of proceeding with construction has already secured for the city a considerable reduction in the bids of the electric lighting companies. Some people perhaps think the city should be satisfied with this achievement. It is satisfactory so far as it goes, but who can say it goes far enough? Does it put the city permanently in the position it ought to occupy in making its contracts. It is not to be ex¬ pected that the lighting companies have foregone to the fullest extent all their monopolistic advantages. They have yielded anything so grudgingly that it is almost incredible they have at last yielded all. This, however, is a temporary aspect of the matter. The reach of municipal ownership goes very much further than "clubbing" successfully recalcitrant corporations. If municipal ownership is merely a protective or punitive measure, it is far from being all that its advocates claim. At any rate, the city has already gone too far with its light plant project to recede. Public opinion, we judge, is very strongly against any retrocession. THE interest rate upon corporate stock of the city of New York should certainly not be increased from Zy^ to 4 per cent, until such an increase has been proved to be absolutely necessary. The Finance Department, under its former head, was entirely justified in using every expedient to avoid the issue of 4 per cent, bonds, and inasmuch as conditions at the present time are more favorable than they were a few months ago, it should be possible to avoid raising the rate of interest for the present. Whether such an increase will eventually be neces¬ sary, we cannot pretend to say. Very possibly it will. The prices which the city stock brings has steadily declined since 1900, because the city has been selling its obligations in quan¬ tities which were larger than the normal demaud for such secu¬ rities. The decline has been constant, and has not been essen¬ tially affected by the fluctuations of the money market. More¬ over, similar conditions will prevail hereafter. For an indefi¬ nite period the city of New Tork will have to sell many millions of dollars' worth of stock each year. Nevertheless, the bonds of the largest and wealthiest city in the country are such an excellent investment wlieu they yield SVe per cent, interest that it is inconceivable that they will go much lower, and at any moment something may happen to check the decline, at least for a while. The change to a 4 per cent, security should not be made until all resources for avoiding it have been ex¬ hausted. THE announcement has been made recently that a fifteen- story business building would be built on a lot which has been leased by Mr. Henry Corn on Fifth avenue immediately opposite the Waldorf-Astoria. The news Is worthy of note be¬ cause this will be the first commercial building to be carried up fifteen stories on any site within the limits of the retail part of Fifth avenue. In the part of Fifth avenue devoted to the wholesale trade, south of 23d street, almost all the loft build¬ ings now being constructed are fifteen stories high, but hitherto such tall buildings have not been considered desirable in the retail district, in spite of the much higher valuation which is placed on land in the shopping section. Indeed, it is only dur¬ ing the past few years that commercial buildings as high as eleven or twelve stories have been constructed on this part of the avenue, the reason being that owners were doubtful as to their ability to rent space on the upper floors. Space on the upper fioors of a five-story buikling were, indeed, easily rentable, because the tenants could display signs which were conspicu¬ ously visible to passers-by; but office space in a skyscraper had no such advantage. Nevertheless, the Fifth avenue corners fin¬ ally became so very valuable that taller buildings were tried, and these buildings have been conspicuously successful. They are, moreover, occupied as offices and stores rather than as lofts, and their tenants doubtless feel that a location in an ofiice building on the avenue is as advantageous as one upon a side street off the avenue. The consequence is that, little by little. Fifth aveitue, like Broadway, will be lined with tall buildings. At present such buildings are the exception rather than tbe rule, and the majority of tbem are hotels and restau¬ rants rather than business buildings; but an avenue on which it is profitable to erect fifteen-story skyscrapers is doomed. The success of one of these buildings immediately starts otlier owners into figuring out the profit which they might make by a similar operation, and hereafter several buildings of this kind will during each year be constructed on Fifth avenue between 27th and 48th streets. THE attention of our readers Is directed to the city adver¬ tisements which will appear hereafter regularly in the Record and Guide. These announcements have an especial value for real estate owners mi contractors, and should be read carefully and regularly.