Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 79, no. 2037: March 30, 1907

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March 30, 1907 RECORD AND GTJIDE 623 ^ ESTABUSHE33^M,AR.CHai^l368. Dev&TED to f^EA.LEsTAJE,@mLDl^fc A^R.CiflTECTUI^E.HoUSEHOlIiDEGCiS^nOll.i Busii/ess At^Themes of Gej^r,aI IKterest., PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Published eVere Saturday Communications should bo addressed to C. W. SWEET Downtown Ofiice: 14-16 Vesey Street. Nevi' York Tijlephono, Cortlandt 3157 Uptown Office: 11-13 East 24th Street, New York Tolephono. 4430 Madison Squaro "Entered al He Fost Office at Neio Tork, N. Y,. as second-class mailer." Copyrigbted, 1907. by C. W. Sweet. Vol. LXXIX. MARCH 30, 1907. No. 20S7. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. Advertising Section. Page Page Cement ....................xvH Lumber.....................xx Consulting Engineers ...........v Machinery...................vi Clay Products ................viii Metal Work ....................ix Contractors and Builders......iii Quick Job Directory.........xxiii Electrical Interests ...........vii Real Estate ...................xl Fireprooflng ...................ii Roofers & Rooflng Materials.xxii Granite ...................xviii Stone....................xviii Iron and Steel ................x Wood Products...............xx THERE has heen a bett&r. feeling iu the stock market this week, althtjugli on Monday aud Tuesday many operators got a scare again. Business has been active, dull and irregular. In tbe mornings there was strengtli only to be succeeded by weakness in the afternoons and at the close. Those financiers whose opinions have weight say that tlie flurry is over for the present and that an understanding has been reached in the struggle and differences between the Federal Government and the corporations. These individ¬ uals tell us that stocks are dirt cheap and say that they should be bought. This is well. Let it be borne in mind, iiowever, that this advice is not for the margin trader. The latter at present should give Wall Street a wide berth un¬ less he plays for a gamble. Big people with large means may purchase stocks with comparative safety, as they can buy outright as an investment with no fortune or great advance iu the immediate future. As has been well said, Wall Street at the moment is the gambler's para¬ dise, consequently whoever buys stocks on margin should now realize that he is gambling and not investing. For a time at least there ■will be declines and rallies and it may be months before there will be normal conditions in the street. The cotirse of particular stocks, whether industrials or railroads, is not important in the light of the disastrous ups aud downs all along the line in which the downs were in the large majority, but undoubtedly the decision of the Supreme Court of Minnesota in the Great Northern Railway stock issue case exercised a favorable effect on the market. The decision is in lavor of the company on all important points. The company proposes to proceed with the issuing of the $60,000,000 additional stock upon the terms as orig¬ inally announced. A part of the proceeds of the new issue will be usecl to pay for extensive construction work, some of which is completed. On the announcement of the de¬ cision Great Northern rights on the curb sold off over four points because it was said that the company would reriuire the payment of the first four instalments, ?24,000,000, on April 9th. Another fact that merits notice is that Toledo, St. Louis & Western preferred stock (Clover Leaf) has, as was predicted in this column months ago, declared a half- yearly dividend of 2 per cent. The stock at its present price (about 50) thus returns 8 per cent, a year. It is said a pool has beeu formed to advance the stock. The money market both for time and call loans has been easy. THE real estate interests of New York will breathe a sigli of relief at the prospect that the contracts for the new Seventh and Lexington Avenue subways will be let be¬ fore the existing Rapid Transit Commission is superseded. The city administration is to be commended for acting vig¬ orously and efficiently in this matter. The routes which are about to be opened for public competition are the result of almost three years' careful and thorough work on the part of the Transit Commission and the Board of Estimate. They embody the findings of the best expert opinion in the city as to those subway extensions, which are most likely to be immediately practicable, serviceable and profitable; antl there is not the slightest reason to believe that a new commission could in any way improve on these plans. But if the contracts were not let before the existing commission is superseded, the new State Board would undoubtedly con¬ sider it_ necessary to review the whole situation and to make up its own mind independently as to the number and kind of subways which the city needs, and such a .review could not consume less than a year and might easily stretch over a longer period. The present administration is right in seeking to avoid such a delay. Additional subways are as immediately necessary now as the first subway was in 1S99, and the delay of a year or more would cause immense pub¬ lic inconvenience and loss. It is very much to be hoped conseciuently that the contracts both for construction and operation will be let under the existing law and New York assured of the completion within four years of two new subways, besides the subway connecting the bridges. One could, indeed, consider this result as certain, were it not for existing disturbances in the financial machinery of Wall Street. The condition of the municipal finances is such that the bidders lor the new subways will probably have to raise a large part of the cost of construction on their own credit, and the present is a very bad time for any large scheme of corporate finance. Even a railroad in such an im¬ pregnable financial condition as the New Haven is obliged to retrench, and a corporation, whose credit is as bad as that of the Interborough-Metropolitan Go., would, of course, have a hard time in raising many millions of dollars for new construction. It remains to be seen whether this ob¬ stacle will prevent the appearance of bidders, aud in this way lose for New York the result of the last three years of preliminary work. THE sale at auction of the properties included iu the Doherty estate was attended by surprising and grati¬ fying success. The properties fetched an aggregate of some twenty per cent, more than the figures at which they were appraised—a fact which was all the more astonishing, inas¬ much as the most of the parcels were not situated in tbe most active speculative neighborhoods. On the other hand the parcels on Eighth Avenue in the forties, were on the margin of the best speculative region, and the high prices- which they brought was an evidence of excellent judgment on the part of their purchasers. There is probably more money to be made in buying corners which carry themselves ou Seventh, Eighth, Fourth and Lexington avenues, than in any other single class of Manhattan property. During the next ten years it is these centrally situated aveuues which will obtain the greatest advantage, not only from the growth of the city, but from the readjustments, which will take place as a result of the shifting of population and busiuess.- Between Twenty-third and Fifty-ninth Streets business will be obliged to spread farther east and west than it has done south of Twenty-third Street, and the aveuues named above will receive the chief beneflt from this lateral expansion. There can be no doubt, also, that of late the general invest¬ ment value of real estate has improved enormously com¬ pared to tbe investment value of railroad stocks and bonds. Ten years ago real estate was in bad repute among invest¬ ors, because of the uncertainties which attended its own¬ ership. But now the uncertainties attending the ownership of railroad shares are far greater; and real estate will reap the beneflt of the attacks which are now being made upon railroad properties. The demand on the part of investors will, in the future, be persistent; and it should mean a ready market for all real estate owners, who are willing to sell their property at a fair price. AT THE public hearings in Albany during the past week some very telling points were made against Gover¬ nor Hughes' '/Public Utility" bills, so-called. Mayor Mc¬ Clellan was quite right in objecting to the appointment by the Governor of the local commission; and he was quite right also in objecting to the payment by the city of all the expenses of the local commission and a large share of the expenses of the State commission as well. If the local commission is, as the Governor claims, necessarily a State Board, let its expenses be paid by the State. As a matter of fact there is no reason why the functions, which are to be conferred upon the Public Utility Commission of the first district, should not be conferred upon the Rapid Transit Commission. The Rapid Transit Commission is responsible for its work to the Mayor and people of New York City, instead of to a Governor elected by the votes of people liv-