Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 44, no. 1131: November 16, 1889

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NoTember 16, 1880 Record and Guide. 1531 ^S^,__________ Dev&teD to He\L Estme.SuiLDif/c AjicHitectji^e.HouseholdDEGOfiATiort. Bi/sifJEss Alio Themes of Ce^ei^L I;>(tei\est PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS Published every Saturday. TELEPHONE, - - . JOHN 370. Cormmmicafaloiis should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway. /. T. LINDSEY, BtisiTiess Manager. Vol. XLIV. NOVEMBER 16, 1889. No. 1,131. Accompanying this number of The Record Am> Guide will be found a sixteen page supplement, giving an illustrated and descrip¬ tive account of the progress and present condition of the west side. Every purchaser of the paper should see that he is suppUed loit-i tive same. Just as the average operator haO firmly made up his mind that it was impossible for the stock mariiet to turn—and, by the way, the market always waits for tlie average oi>erator to reach this conclusion—it surprised everybody by doing the very thing which everybody had been predicting it would not do—it did turn. The next problem is, will this strength continue ? The first intimation of a turn of affairs came from the Southern stocks and, curiously enough, Richmond Terminal furnished tlie lever. There is no reason why the Southern stocks should not continue to bw in the lead at advancing prices. The greatest crop of cotton for years is being gathered and sold at extremely satisfactory figuers. Not only this, but theSouth has raised more corn this year than'ever before, so that the South will keep her money to an extent not ordinarily the case. Moreover, sucli is the general prosperity of this section of the country, so,rapidly are its manufactures increasing and its mines being developed, fchat it is doubtful whether there could be a better region iu which to make investments. And this is particularly the case with railroad securities, because the railway building has not been so much overdone in that region as elsewhere. It would not be surprising if in the future tho Southern securities would lead what advance there is in the market. The advance, however, has not been and will not be confined to Southern securities. Lake Shore promises a 7 per cent, dividend on its common stock and has earned 12 per cent, on both preferred and common. If the divi¬ dend is declared it wQl make a pretty little Cliristmas present for the inarket—oue which, perhaps, will find a parallel in kindred actions by the other Vanderbilt companies. This much is certain, "we have had an advance aud should have a still larger one. Busi¬ ness in some directions is not all that it might be, but there is notliing to justify a decline. The Committee on Revising fclie Building Law, consisting of the members of the Board of Examiners, including Superinteudent Brady of the Bureau of Buildings iu the Fire Department, assisted by Mr. Fiudley the attorney to the department, and Chief Clerk Shields, the latter acting as secretary to the committee, are hold¬ ing tri-weekly meetings, Monday, Wednesday aud Friday after¬ noons,in the rooms of the.Fu'e Underwriters, in the Mutual Life Insurance Company's building on Nassau sti'eet. A public invita¬ tion has been extended to all persons who have suggestions to make to submit the same in writing, or to appear in person and be heard betweeu tlie Jio'U's of three aud four o'clock on tlie days stated, during the present moii*h of November. Special invitations have also been extended to es-Superinteudeuts Esterbrook and D'Oench, and to a mimber of architects and builders whose experience and knowledge qualify them to make valuable suggestions. The Archi- ■tectural League aud some other societies have appointed certain of tbeii' members to appear before the commifctee. Thus far only a few amendments have been agreed upon, and these not important ones, although quite important ones have beeu under consideration. -The-committee-ltas-deemed-it tlie wiser plan to firsfc hear as far,as possible the wislies of the public before adopting ideas of their own. We need hardly repeat what we have said before in these . columns, that it is the duty of all persons interested in bnilding operations to aid the committee with all the suggestions that can be offered towards making the law complete, clear, and free from ■■*equh-ements that may work hardships to individuals or classes of men. Tiie committee are not paid for the arduous labor involved in the work of revision, and tliey deserve all the help that an aiijn-e- ciative public "can extend. ber trade for subscriptions for the guarantee fund. Until this week he has mefc with good success, but it seems that lately he has been hampered by a " so-called Committee of the Arts and Indus¬ tries of the Building Trades." Mr. Godfrey is evidently a mild- tempered man, but he became annoyed at tlie way his movements have been sliackled by this so-called committee. Hence he writes to the Mayor and accuses these gentlemen of cooking tbeir fish before digging the bait to catch them. We very much fear that iMr. God¬ frey has been v little hasty. Could he not have done this so-called committee the justice to communicate with them and learn their intentions, instead of writing an unnecessary and unjust letter to the Mayor? Did Mr. Godfrey find anything in the temper or in the resolutions of the meeting which appointed this so-called com¬ mittee antagonistic to the general committee? Was not that meet¬ ing addressed by Roswell P. Flower, who certainly does not lack zeal in furthering the interests of the Fair? Did nofc the resolution that was passed explicitly state that the committee of nine and the sub-committees of three were to confer with the Finance and Site Committees of the World's Fair in respect to the adoption of measures best calculated to give us a good Esposition and a good building exbibit ? We think if Mr. Godfrey had looked into these matters as seriously as he would have solicited a subscription, he would have addressed himself to the commifctee instead of to tbe Mayor, and learned from them how unjust were his accusations. As a matter of fact the " so-called committee" has no fund, and as yet has been soliciting no subscriptions. It exists for the pui'- * pose of co-operating with every true friend of the Fair and of hin¬ dering nobody. That real estate men and builders are still subscrib¬ ing is sufficiently proved by the fact that up to the closing hour yesterday $37,060 was contributed, inclusive of §35,000 by W. W. Astor. But enough of Mr. Godfrey. Tlie brewing industry is the first to follow the example of the builders and organize. By the munifi¬ cence of their subscription they have practically assured the com¬ pletion of the guarantee fund. In time other trades will see the advantage of doing the sarae, for it h in this way, and in this way only, that the General Committee can be efCectively aided, and the various special industries can see that their money is expended in the way that will best make the Exhibition at once profitable and instructive. Among these special interests there is none more important aid more to be benefited by the Fair than the building trade. There is none that should subscribe more liberally or work more energetically for the success of the project. The meeting held last week gave every evidence of widespread interest, both in the Fair iu general and in the particular exhibit of the building trade. _ During ttie past week a letter was written totbeMayorby Wilson Godfrey, wbo, as be hiinself declares, has bp.en canvassing thelum- The subscription of the brewers came very opportunely, for most people were beginning to be discouraged at the feeble striving the fund was inaking to reach the necessary ^3,000,000. It probably assures the ultimate completion of the amount. Meanwhile it is noticeable that in reality there was bufc little public opinion behind the newspaper consecration of the park. The fund did not increase a whit more rapidly after the sacred spot was preserved. A lo^-ical sequence of the frenzied newspaper talk would be a proposition to appoint a day of thanksgiving for the happy defeat of the vandals. The Evening Post, having nothirg more to object to in the policy of the committee, returns once again to personalities, adopting the good-old policy of " abusing the plaintiff's attorney." The obvious implicationis that the paper has "no case." There seems to be a tendency in the later Exposition editorials to abuse the rich men'of tbe city for not responding more generally; but considering that all alike, rich and poor, are siuking alike into a state of indiffer¬ ence, and considering that whatever has been done so far has been done by rich men, the latter might be spared the abuse. It seems to be very generally feit that Mayor Grant did an excel¬ lent stroke of business in getting the managers of the Broadway surface railroad to guarautee to the city the T^^y^ent of $150,000 per annum, besides taxes aud licenses, in return for permission Uy change its motive power from animal to cable. No doubt ifc was a g^od bargain compared to what the other companies are paying, but that this small sum should be considered satisfactory, in return forthe facilities surrendered, is a significant commentary on the small value, whicli is put on our street franchises by the municipal authorities. The fault does uot He with the present Sinking Fund Commissioners, for the company already owns the franchise. Probably they got as much out of the company as was possible in return merely for a permission to change the motive power although the latter accepted the terms with such marvelous readi¬ ness fchat possibly a still larger sum might have been obtained. At the same time, inasmuch as the franchise is by far the most valu¬ able possession of the company, and inasmuch as the prompt accept¬ ance of the terms shows tbat with the change of motive power a gross income of some ?3,OCO,000 per ai.num is not unexpected by the managers of tbe eompany^ it would seem ^150)000 ih addition to