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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 57, no. 1456: February 8, 1896

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Pebraary 8,1896 Record and Guide. 213 ESTABUSHEB^ ^^«VCU2W^ 1868, Dev&ieD to I^L Estate . Buildi)/o AR.cKrTZ(nvjRE j{ousEilou> OEGOipBt Basnfess Atfo Themes of GEifeivi l)^reBF»Ti PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every /Saturday. TBLBPHONB,......OOBTLANDT 1870 Uommonlcatlons shotUd be addressed to C, W, SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street J, 1, LINDSET. Business Manager. "Entered at the Post-offlce at New York, If. T., as second-class matter." Vol. LVII. FEBRUARY 8, 189(1 No. 1,4.56 The Record and Guide will furnish you with daily detailed reports of all building operations, compiled to suit -yotiR business specifically,.for 14 cents a day. Tou are thus kept informed of the entire market for your goods. No guess work. Every fad verified. Abundant capital and the thirty years'experience of Thk Record and Guide gitaraiifee the com¬ pleteness and authenticity of this service. Sendito 14 and 16 Vesey street for information. WHATEVER may have beeu in the minds of the Adminis¬ tration when it was decided to offer the new loiin to popular subscription, it must be admitted that the results give their policy every appearance of success. It is not actually the subscriptions of the humbler classes of the people, liowever, that have brought about this result, but the bids came from so many directions that they give an air of spontaneity and popu¬ larity to the whole business, and so long as appearances are kept up it does not matter from the official point of view that the ultimate destination of tbe bonds is pretty miicli as if they had been sold en bloc to a syndicate, as they ought to have been. The failure of the lowly citizen to come forward with his savings bank deposit to buy bonds is, in the peculiar circumstances of the times, a matter for congratulation, because it would have been impossible for those people to get the gold to pay for them except at tlie Treasury, or by going into the market and putting tlie desired metal to a comparatively high premium. As it is the bulk of the bonds will go to people who can get gold witliout calling upon the Treasury for it, or disturbing the market, and whose interests are best served by the purpose of the issue being achieved and preventing what would be prettj' nearly as bad, gold goiug to a high premium. Another point that cannot fail to have a bearing on the commer¬ cial situation is the confidence shown by the most astute linaneiers that the United States will iilways redeem its currency in gold. Congress on its part ought to .see two very important and promi¬ nent points in connection with tliis loan; they are tin- avowed preference shown for the gold standard, and that it is due to themselves that the bonds of the United States sell below those of nearly every other great Power ; and, in fact, that Americans themselves give preference in their investments to the issues of the large cities, whenever such are redeem¬ able in gold. Whether Congress sees these things or not, the ettect of the issue cannot fail to benefit the business situation ; the ettects may uot be perceptible at once, but they are sure to come. In addition to this we are itp- proaching the sciison of the year when .activity increases and spreads, and when, as a consequence, even bad news, should any come, would not hiive so much influence as in the winter days, when men's energies are not so fully taxed as the.y soon will be. manufactures. The Mexican budget figures the expenditures at $46,015,162 and the revenue at $46,101,162, leaving a small sui'plus of $86,000. There is some talk of the gold mining industry of the Rand having been permanently injured by the recent troubles in the Transvaal, and of a large amount of capita having been drawn from it to seek investment elsewhere. There is no doubt that a good many people who had undeveloped ventures on their hands when these troubles broke find them¬ selves in an embarrassing position, and that it will take some time to get matters running smoothly again, but the owners of paying properties .are not likely to let go their hold upon a dis¬ trict with such a splendid record for results, if the conditions foi working can be maintained ou a reasonable basis. •T3ECENT adverse political influences are displaying their -»-li effects on European business. For instance, the new loans offered in London during January were the .smallest of auy for that month in tive consecutive years, and the German textile trade reports business with England paralyzed. There are, how¬ ever, m.any projects on foot which only require a change in public feeling to bring them onto the carpet and give a better tone to business. Au important report has been presented by the dele¬ gation, consisting of representatives of both employers and employees, which was sent by the British Iron Trade .\ssociation to inquire into the conditions of the manufacture of iron and steel on the Continent, in view of the force and success of foreign competition with Great Britain iu that line. The ultimate find¬ ing of the delegation was that, if Euglish manufacturers enjoyed the same railway rates and royalties as those on the Continent, foreign competition could be defied in neutral markets. Russia's determination to push the Siberia;! railroad to completion is shown by an extraordinary provision iu the budget for the cur¬ rent year of $65,000,000 for that work. The foreign trade of France last year declined in imports $30,000,000 and increased ia escorts $60,000,000, $46,000,000 of the latter being in CONSOLIDATION promises to throw the entire business of government in this section into a state of complete chaos. The project hitherto has been almost eutirely in the hands of cranks aud enthusiasts and politicians, and, of course, the scheme they have concocted is merely a crude jumble of " notions " formulated for legislative actiou. We seldom get anything better. It is made by precisely the same process as we adopt in the creation of a great part of our laws. .Schemers or cranks get to work with a free hand while the mass of citizens, whose daily interests are .seriously effected by botched legislation and laws mainly for " politics," remain quiescent either until the very last hour for actiou, as in this matter of consolidation, or until they actually feel the sh.aip consequences of their indifference. Our people seem to think that there is some Providence existing to specially protect tlieui from the legitimate penalties of their short comings. At the hearing before Lexow last .Saturday, the jn'otesting citizens frankly admitted that they had allowed years to go by without raising their voice about consolidation, and the strange thing is that, after such ii confession, they, or any one else, should be siu'prised that politicians give practically no consideration to luiblic opin ion. The leal estate interests in this city ought not to say a word if a cnide scheme of consolidation does go through which saddles them, by iind by, with hetivy burdens. They hiive been grossly indifferent to their own concerns, and with supreme indifference have left the management of what is peculiiirly their affiiir to any oue who should find interest enough to meddle with it. Haven't we heard that coii.solidation is a good thing because hackmen think it will give them more lares; because it will build u)) the Staten Islaud water front; because it will make the outskirts of Brooklvn available as a site for residences for people who won't live "outside of New York." Yes, we have heard from all these important interests, which made so deep an impression upon the great mind of Lexow, but we have not heiird from the real estate interests of New York City, unless the skirmish which occurred last Saturday is to be regarded as an encounter in force. CHICAGO did not build its big buildings on sand, but, what was worse, on an earthy mush, and the result is settling, of proportions sufficient to aw.aken a good deal of alarm. It has been the practice of all the heavy buildiugs iu Chicago to crack in consequence of the subsidence of the foundations. There have for niiiny years been openings iu the walls of the Govern¬ ment building and in the County building there, which ought to have been a warning to the architects of the recent big build¬ ings, but which do not appear to have impressed them suf¬ ficiently. The most prominent victim of this imprudence is the Board of Trade building. Expert examinations of this structure have been made at short intervals during the past six years, which shows that the average settlement is three-sixteenths of an inch a mouth. The maximum total settlement during this time was 16 inches and the minimum 8I3 inches. 'I'he inequali¬ ties of the settlement have caused serious breaks in the walls and made necessary extensive repairs. An expert engineer has declared that the high buildings of Chicago overload the soft clay on which they rest, aud if the foundations of some of them are not strengthened they will be total wrecks in a few years, like the Government building. The importance of these facts for New York is not that mistakes have been made in Chicago, but in calling attention to the necessity for very careful examina¬ tion under official supervision of foundations for high buildings Fortunately the nature of the sub-soil in New York is more capable of bearing the great loads which these buildings repre¬ sent thau that of auy of the other large cities. Still, it displays weaknesses in spots that require special treatment, and, as dam¬ age in any particular direction would cause general uneasiness, it would be well th.at the public should have assuranc tha^ every precaution is being taken to insure safety. It is not to be supposed for a moment that; an architect will endanger his reputation by placing his building upon any but what he believes a sure foundation, but mist.akes will occur. The structural per¬ fection of one large apartment hotel has been impugned this week before the Commission of Accounts by an architect who should know what he is talking about, and this, most probably,