August II, 1906
RECOHD AND GUIDE
251
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Dd^teD 10 f^L EsTHx.BuiLDifJb %ci<rrE(mjnE,KaiisEHou)DE(3ciF(jnotJ,
Bt/sii/Ess Atfo Themes ofCEfJEi^L If/TCftEsi.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS
Published eVerp Saturday
Communications should be addrosaed to
C. W. SWEET
Downtown Olfice: 14-16 Vesey Street, New York
Telophonu, Cortlandt 3157
Uptown Office: 11-13 East 24Eh Street, New York
Totephonc. Madison Square 1006
"'Entered at the Fast Office at Neic York. N. Y„ as second-ctass viaUer."
Vol. LXXVIIl.
AUGUST 11, 190r,.
No. 2004
INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS.
Advertising Section.
Page. Page.
Cement ....................xxllt Law.........................xl
Consulting Engineers ..........x Lumber..................xxvlll
Clay Products ................xxll Machinery ...................Iv
Contractors and Builders ......v Metal Work ................xvll
Electrical Interests ..........vliJ Qul;k Job Directory ........xxvil
Flreprooflng .................II Real Estate .................xiv
Granite ....................xxlv Roofers & Rooflng Materials.xxvl
Heating ....................xx Stone .....................xxlv
Iron and Steel ..............xvlll Wood Products ...........xxviii
THERE is not miicli to be said of the stock market tbis
week, beyond the conclusions readied and commented
upon in tbese columns Eor two weelvS past. There is no ex¬
tended speculation, except what is going on in half a dozen
stocks, such as the Harriman issues, Pennsylvania, Reading and
Amalgamated Copper. Outside of these issues, the market is
dull and lifeless, but with a very strong undertone. For the
want of a better reason for the abstention of tbe public, politics
is the commonly assigned cause of the dullness and Inertia.
Of course, money at this season of the year is always a bugaboo,
and the recollection of rates ranging from fifty to one hundred
per cent, last November and December is still too fresh in the
minds of people who were the victims of tbese exacting rates
not.to act as a deterrent against running in debt just at this
time. A section of the banking interest is inclined to hope that
Secretary Shaw's plans for preventing such another disgraceful
exhibition of inordinate rates at this center will be successful,
but until the money situation is clearer the bulls may have
uphill work, and their present successful operations may be due
to a larger short interest than was supposed. This short interest
may remain uncovered pending the development of the autumn
money conditions, in which case, if money should not become
stringent, the removal of fear from the bulls and the necessities
of the bears coming together might result in a startling advance
in prices, particularly for those" issues which have been selected
for sliort sales. The buying of Pennsylvania this weelc for tbe
first time in a long period has been both aggressive and con¬
fident. It would not therefore be surprising if Pennsylvania
should prove to be the leader in next week's speculation. Two
weelvs ago we said of the Russian situation and its influence on
the financial world that it was bound to improve througli the
mere exhaustion of the people, who were beginning to give
evidence that they were tired of dancing to the tune played by
the extremists of the several parties. Notwithstanding the
many disquieting events in that unhappy country, it is apparent
that all but the professional agitators are growing weary of the
strife and strain, and the view taken in this column is borne
out by the latest news. Still the end is not yet, and the unex¬
pected may happen, as the monotonous record of acts of violence
are scarcely reassuring.
THE purchase of the present site of the Union Dime Savings
Bank, on Greeley Square, by the City Investing Company
is a very interesting transaction. It is interesting not only
because of the high price which has been paid, but because it
shows how peculiarly valuable these irregular plots, with front¬
ages on three streets, have become. It is a great pity that the
layout of New York does not provide for more of them. The
commission who planned the city early in the century would
have entirely dispensed with such irregular plots if it had been
possible to do so, but, as it happened, the diagonal course of
Broadway could not very well be altered, even at that early
date, and the consequence was that wherever Broadway crossed
a longitudinal avenue in their new rectangular plan. It was
necessary to introduce irregularities in the plan. These irregu¬
larities, which were regarded at the time .as necessary evils,
have proved to be great boons for the contemporary exploiter of
real estate, because they afford him unusually good sites for
tall buildings. The big rectangular blocks are very bad in that
i;espect, because, unless the whole block frontage is purchased,
the light and air on two sides of the skyscraper is placed in a
precarious position; and when a skyscraper is erected on such a
plot, it is generally necessary to purchase and reserve adjoining
properly in order to afford the offices in the building a sufficient
supply of sun light. But a small plot, facing on three streets,
like tbe one just purchased by the City Investing Company, has
no such drawback. A building erected on such a plot will have
good light and air secured to it in perpetuity, and that is the
reason why the two tallest buildings erected in Manhattan north
of the financial district are the Fuller and the "Times" buildings.
Doubtless a similar structure will eventually be erected on the
present site of tbe Union Dime Savings Bank, and the securing
of this property by the City Investing Company ia an evidence
of wise and far-seeing management.. Greeley Square will un¬
doubtedly be the most important business center uptown, and
well-lighted offices on the square will command higher rents
than they will in any other part of the middle section of Man¬
hattan. Within flve years the square will be enclosed by sky¬
scrapers, and tbe only possible threat to its future prosperity
consists in its bad plan. It is not properly laid out to accom¬
modate conveniently all the business which will eventually be
concentrated at that point, and it is probable that tbe demand
for more space and the tunnels which will run under the square
will result before many years in the building of a new square a/
that point below the surface.
IS the art of the sculptor and stone-carver to become a dead
letter, or will it receive an additional impetus? This ques¬
tion is suggested by the exhibition of a sculpturing machine, the
invention of Augusto Bontempi, of Italy. It was shown in
operation at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Manufacturing Com¬
pany's building, 316 Hudson street, on Tuesday morning last,
August 7. It is truly a marvelous device, and is calculated to
exercise a great influence on sculpture and carving in marble,
stone and wood and in the reproduction of the art treasures of
statuary. The work that the machine accomplished in the
presence of members of the press, architects, builders and men
in the marble business was remarkable. The exhibition was by
no means experimental, as the machine was invented about four
years ago, and is in practical operation in several countries—
on the continent of Europe and in Great Britain, in which
latter country It was introduced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of
"Sherlock Holmes" renown. This Bontempi machine should
ultimately effect something in the nature of a revolution in the
carving of stone, marble or in sculpturing. It executes busts
in seven hours which would require six weeks' work by hand.
Replicas of art treasures of statuary are produced by the Bon¬
tempi machine perfect in every way as the originals. Special
adaptations of the device will carve ivory, jasper, porphyry,
mother-o'-pearl, silver, bronze and other materials. The possi¬
bilities of the machine are practically imlimited. A great
ancient or modern worii of the sculptor's art can now be repro¬
duced so that what is equal to the original may become familiar
to everybody throughout the civilized world. The Sculptrix was
Mr. Bontempi calls it, will prove a large factor in the beautifica-
tion of cities, as it will make the very best stone or marble
artistic, ornamental and decorative work procurable at a com¬
paratively small cost.
FATHER KNICKERBOCKER has his own system of finance,
which, if in some respects a little old-fashioned, is in all
respects conservative. It provides that bondholders should be
preferred creditors, though none of them need ever have the
slightest reason to doubt the fullness of the security which
Father Kniclierbocker has to offer. Certain revenues of the city
are applied to its ordinary expenses, and so diminish taxation.
These amount in a year to about 18,000,000, and include fees,
franchises, licenses, interest, commissions and penalties. The
other items of city revenue, exclusive of taxes, are set aside, as
for the sinking fund, to be held for the benefit of bond owners
and be applied to paying off the bonds as they become due. The
city is getting this year $700,000 from the sale of real estate,
1300,000 from market rents and fees, $3,200,000 from docks,
$200,000 from licenses, $250,000 from street vault privileges,
$25,000 from gas franchises, $325,000 from railroad franchises and
$140,000 as interest on city deposits in banks or trust companies,
the official theory being that as such interest comes from prop¬
erty on which the city bondholders have a lien, the interest
should be safeguarded for the bondholders, or, rather, should
be held for their beneflt under the same condltiQaa a? the pay-