Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 57, no. 1463: March 28, 1896

Text version:

Maich 28, 189G Record and Guide. 617 ESTABUSHE33-^ iSWpH 21Si^ »86^^ DevStiD p Rp^lEstate.BuiLDif/c A}?,cilrTECTUi^>{ousn(oiJ>I .Bifsntss Alto Themes of Otftssii, iKreflgj^ PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturday, TBLBPHONB,......OOBTLAKDT 1870 Uommnnlcatlone should be addressed to C. Vf. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. '. 7. LINDSEY, Business Manager. " Sntered at the Post-offlce at New York, N. Y.,(u second-elcus matter." Vol. LVII. MARCH 28, 1896 No. 1,463 The Rfcord and Uliue will furnish you with daily detailed reports of all building operations, compiled to suit YoliK business specifically, .fo) 14 cents a day You are thus kept informed of the entire niurket for your goods A'o guesswork. Every fact verified. Abundant capital and the thirty years^ I xperience of Toe Rkcord and Gvide guarantee the com¬ pleteness and authent'ic'ity of this service. Send to 14 and IG Vesey street for information. "VTUCH of the gloom that pervades men's miiitls at the pies- -^-'- eut (lav will disappear as soon as the weatlier brightens and the aclivit.v wliieli ahva.ys comes with the advent of Spring is again apparent. \Miileso miicli is being said of the indiflfer- ent condilimi ot trade, the causes, wliatever tliey are for the bad business, do uot seem to atfect prices. A proposition to re¬ duce the price of steel rails from !f!28 lo $24 has not beeu ac¬ cepted b.y the Qiakers, and the 189(1 prices for Lake Superior Bessemer ores have been arranged on a higher basis than thope of ISO."). This docs not look as if steel interests feared a more unsatislactoiy market this year than last. In other directions it will be found that concessions are for the purpose of clearing oB'goods thai have hung on mauufactiirers' and .iobbers' bands too long, and are by no means signiflcant. There has tindoubt- edl,y been a falling ott' in deniand in the past thirt.y days, but not more than was to be expected iu a period so marked with storms as this has been. The Stock Maiket is, perhaps, the dullest of any, the hading being not only small but entirely featureless. Should the fiars of trouble in Sonth Africa be realized, there would undoubtedly come a bearish movement in all the bourses, and New York would surely sympathise. So long as Ihis fear continues buyers will stay away from the market, but on a considerable break or on any extensive liqui¬ dation, there would be a prompt rusti to pick up the bargains that would be lying around as a consequence. OWIXG to the startliug occurrences of the past three months, Kurope has got an unusualli' severe attack of political nervousness. One able Hnancial .journal tells its readers not to build u[)on the morrow ; to take short views ouly. Accident has •so much to do with Ihe tuniiug of events that the greatest can not be said to knuw any more thau the meanest what the next (lay will bring forth. This is ouly loo true. The Emperor Wil¬ helm did not know a couple of months ago that he would to-day be begging (Jreat Britain to go to the relief of defeated Italy and save the Dreibund. Whether this is going to create a Vier- bund we very much doubt. Great Britain's advantage iu being the independent balance of power is too great and too profita¬ ble aud too effective in maintaining the peace of Europe to be lightly abandoned. Xotwithstanding the dangers that have threatened her, Great Britain's trade is iu a very good condition, as will be seeu from the market reports. Take the following summary for the 12th iust. for example: Cotton, market has been more active and a good business has resulted at hardening rates for most descriiitions. Shipments of cotton goods abroad for Febrnary showed au increase on the same month last year. Iron and steel, activity is ou the whole well maintained. Wool, at secoud series of colonial sales piiccs improved in most kinds. Leather, silk, Hhk and hemp, dull and inactive. Jute, in steady demand. The expected conflict iu the Freuch Chamber of Deputies over the Governmeut's plan for a graded income tax has come. The Budget Coiumittee coudeinned the project and refused to reconsider its vote. The Minister of Finance appealed to the Chamber, which finally sustained him. Tax returns point unquestionably to a substantial revival of trade throughout France. Statements have been prepared by the Hungarian Governiueut lo ottset rejiorls affecting the tiuaucial credit of Hungary and the capital, Budapest. The returns of 911 industrial conrpanies iu the latter, it is shown, had in 1894 a riserve equnl to about 17 per cent, of theii- ciipital, after paying 10 per cent, to their shareholders; in the same year 12 per cent, of the uel receipts tvere added to the reserve. Further, the Hungarian excheciiier has sums lo its credit in dittereut banks amply sufticient to defray the State's expenses, eveu un¬ der the most unfavorable circumstances. It is true that bad things have been prophesied for Hungary which have never happened, but the country that has to support its credit by official statements of this kind will be a pi'oper object of suspi¬ cion. The State has been carrying out a number of great works, the completimi of which is timed for the celebration of the thousandth year of its foundation, and the activity these, as well as the celebiation, will occasion will keep money in circu¬ lation. After that will come tho real test of the country's pros¬ perity._____________ LAST year at this time we were calling attention to the falling ott' of receipts of Americtiu wheat in the British market, owing to the competition from Russia and Argentina. This year it is pleasant to have to tell auother story. The Board of Trade returns for February show that the imports of that cereal from Russia were 1,24.''),700 cwts., as compared with 1,927,300 cwts., aud iu tbe first two mouths of this year 2,.56.5,700 cwts., as against 4,.552,135 cwts. Here we have a falling oft' of 681,600 cwts. for last month aud of 1,895,435 cwts. for the two mouths. From Argentina tliere were received in February 105,800 cwts., and iu February, 1895, 164,900 cwts., aud for the two months 107,000 cwts. this year and 079,860 last year. There was also a remarkable falling ott in Indian wheat for both periods, and none at all was received from Australasia iu February, as com¬ pared with 116,700 cwts. iu the samo'month of 1895. In Jau¬ uary from the same source the receipts were only 6,500 cwts., while in the same time of the previous year they were 271,990 cwts. Practically the shipments of wheat from Australasia have stopped uutil next harvest. These facts explain why our own shipments to Great Britain have jumped up to very large figures this year. The returns acknowledge the receipt of 2,382,300 cwts. last month, with ouly 1,567,900 cwts. received iu Febru¬ ary of last year, and for the two months 4,945,500 cwts., as compared with 3,936,320 cwts., or an increase in the month of 814.400 cwts. and in the two mouths of 1,009,180 cwts. It is significant that four-fifths of this increase was made in the later aud smaller period of time. When drawing attention to the falling oft' in the receipts of our wheat by Great Biitain, we pointed out that there was little hope for an improvement in the price of that cereal so long as the greatest market of the world took its supplies from our competitors, nearly all of whom can undersell us when they have any wheat to sell. With the com¬ petitive supply cut ott in part, it is reasonable to suppose that uow the contrary will be the ease aud thtit wheat prices will advance. That they are not now advancing is because the gloomy feeling, which is apparent everywhere else, is also influential in the grain market in throwing all energies onto the short side. When legitimate influences tsll they will be for higher figures. The demand from Great Britain is not only for whetit, but for flour also, the tigures for which are as encnura.ging as those for the grain. They show an increase of .ibotit 1,000,000 cwts. for January and February, of which 600,000 cwts. were contributed in tbe last named mouth. Corn, too, makes an excellent show¬ ing in the returns, with 3,800,000 cwts, increase in the two months, and 2,400,000 cwts. increase for the month of Febru¬ ary. How much good better prices for our agricultural products will do needs no telling. --------•-------- ' THE suggestion made by the Botxrd of Health to locate one of the proposed East Side small parks iu the block bounded by Pitt, East Houston, Willett and Stanton streets is the best that has yet beeu made on this subject, because, to use the lan¬ guage of the Board's resolution, which we indorse, " Such pub¬ lic park and playground would give an open air space in the most crowded locality, and will remove the greate.st number of conditions which may or have become a menace to public health." The proposed site is withiu our celebrated square mile —that is, the spot that has the world's record for crowding and squalor. Ordinarily as Americans we love to beat the world, but this is a case iu which we could see the honor pass to the next rightful claimant with the utmost complacency. Oue way to get rid of it is to open up air spaces where the density of population is greatest and the consequent conditions most men¬ acing to the general health and morals of the city at large. The block in question coutains a number of old tenements, among them five rear ones, which make up what is known as " Bone" alley, and where herd some of the poorest and most wretched of our Italian population. Until we cau find a Tray for municipal treatment ot the question of housing the poor, our only hope for keeping down tbe evils of the existing arrangements is in using the powers granteil by the Legislature to lay out parks, for breaking gaps iu the worst sections and letting in air aud light, as well as dissiiiating .some of the worst elements iu the popu- l.atiou, so that the evils they engender may uot become insur¬ mountable through their perpetuation by means of permanent unwholesome seltlemcnts. The Board of Health doubtless had these thiugs iu mind when they made their recommendation, and their peculiar iituess for giving advice in this matter was