Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 57, no. 1467 [i.e. 1470]: May 16, 1896

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May 16,1896 Record and Guide. 833 ^ F-<;TARTi<;HPn ESTABUSHED-^ SWPH 21»C*-1868. DeV&IED to f^EALEsjME.BmLDIffc AR.CrflTECTi;KE,t{oiJSEliOU)DEGQF^TIOlf, Busii^ESs /lib Themes of GejIei^I Wtei\e31. PRICE, PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS. PnblishrtI every .Salnrday. TBLEI'IIONE, .-.-.. CORTLANDT 1370 Ciuumuuicatious should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-lG Vesey Street. J. T. LINDSET, Business Manager. "Entered at the Post-office at New York, A. P., as second-class mailer." Vol. LVII. MAY IG, 189G. No. 1,407 The Rkcokd and Guidb will furnish you with daily detailed reports of all building operations, compiled to suit your business speci.fically, .foi 14 cents a day. You are thus kept informed of the entire market for your goods A7i guess work. Every fad verified. Abundant capital and the thirty year.i' ixinrii nrr of 'loK Kkcdkd ANU GUIDE (/((((noi/ic tlie coin- pleteness and anihenticily of Ihis service. Send to 14 and 10 Vesey street for information. WITH SUPPLEMENT. rriHE vi.sit of the MeKinley agents to thi.s eit.v tliis Aveek is an -•- adniissiou on the port of iioliticol luanafiers of the iiupoit- iince of the coinnieicial opinion in the coming election. Not since the days preceding the resuiiipt ion of .specie paynieuLs liave the hanking and trading communities been listened to with so much respect as they are to-day. This is an excellent sign and one that promises well for a return to curiency sanity. The fact that onr vi.sitors failed iu their mission of inducing the representative business men of New York to accept Mr. MeKinley as a sound money candidate, in spite of his record, without any express declaration from himself, will probably bving out ;t stitement in the near future that will put this question at rest. These gentlemen are astute enough to see that the East tvill be satisfied withnoiie but an oiits))oken promise of currency reform based upon gold alone, tnid the candidate who cannot come out for that niiLst look elsewhere for .support. The man Avho is silent on this ipiestion will be .just as objectionable as the one Avho is outspoken for free silver It cannot be otherwise ; the curiency formed on the best exiierience of 1 he world is necessary to our prosperity, aud the business mau who encourages the creation of .any thing else is simply adding to the chances of his own ruin. This lesson has been pretty thoroughl.y learned in the past tliree years by the country east of the Mississippi aud the parLs west ot it not affiliated with the silver industry. The way this fact has found voice in the past week will most pro¬ bably induce Mr. MeKinley to give personal expies.sion to the sound mouey views he is said to jiossess within a fcAV days, or .see his boom collapse aud a stampede of all the other candidates for nomination to the gold standard. At all events, the week has improved the positiou of the believers in gold and as a con¬ sefpience the commercial situation has brightened and the pros¬ pects for higher prices on the stock market bettered. T^UROPEAX business, politics and quarrels remain in stdta •A-^ quo. The outcome of the .South African exposures will not apiiaiently be more than an investigation into the attairs of the Chartered Company aud the imposition of some limitations to the powers of that corporation. There is a general admission in Great Britain that the Boer authorities have acted with human¬ ity and generosity in their treatment of the people charged with treason against the Transvaal Republic. But those authorities show no present disposition to remedy the abuses which primal- ily caused all the trouble, and those abuses cannot be forgotten because there are thousands of Uitlanders still suffering from them, Avh-) will not let the Home Government forget them. It IS here where the difficulties of the sitiiafion will still be found to lie, when the Transvaal Re])iiblie has disposed of the charges against the members of the Reform Committee and the British GoA-ernmenthas dealt with Dr. .Jameson and the oftic is who accomjianied him ii])on his raid. Another matter that is likely to gain greater public attention for .some time to come, is that of the relations of tliiba lo Spain. A belief has sprung up in un¬ prejudiced circles, and is growing, that Spain is unable to cope with the insurrection. Should this belief be veritied later, the effects in places where the securities issued by Spain ou the revenues of Cuba, but with her own guarantee, are largely held will bo bad. The largest part are earned in Paris, Spain has for so long been in a condition verging on bankruptcy that this additioual burden must force a c(dlapse, even if the event of the loss of this hist remaining portion of her American einpiie d()es not lead to armed disturbances in the mothi^r country itself. Either event Avill be bad in its induenee on the marki'ts, and both together very bud indeed. In the more fortunate countries of Great Biitain, Fiance, Germany and Austiiathe returns of railroad earnings indicate good business, and to some extent justify the recent rise in the quotations for railroad shares, cept that tl;e latter are phenominally high. es- O INCE the publication of the preliminary report of the Board ►^ of Consulting Engineers, appointed by the Dock Depart¬ ment to advise on the measures to be emplo.yed to make the dock system of this city adequate and efficient, tho attention of proniotors seems to have been drawn to the value of West street for passenger and freight transit purpo.ses. The report referred to included iu the improvements reciunmended a marginal street 250 feet wide, Avith a railroad connecting with all the docks, uuder the exclusive cmitrol of the Dock Department. A couple of weeks ago the Manhattan Elevated Railroad Company, in subaiitting plans to Mayor Strong for extensions of its .system, suggested that they be given authority to run an elevated rail¬ road through the lower portion of West street. Now the New York and New Jersey Bridge C(un])any proposes to constract an elevated freight railroad, of the usual elongated tank order, from the Battery to connect, via West sireet,and llth itnd 12th. avenues, wilh its jiroposed bridge at 5nth street. This com¬ pany, by the way, has yet to demon.strate its ability to build its bridge. Presumably, in view of its own ambitions, the Dock Department will oppose the occupation of the riverside thor¬ oughfares by anything that mny obstruct the improvements they propose to carry out and which are absolutely necessary to the development of the commerce of this city, 'The reasonableness of this Department's claim that the railroad .along the dock front should be controlled by it will be .seen in a moment's considera¬ tion. When once a private corjioiation is accorded a privilege of this kind a monop(dy is created and till further improvement barred. This is shown ch^aily by the present condition of rapid transit in this city and by the policy that enables the New York Central and the Harlem River railroads to bar access to the city agiiinst all Iheir freight carrying competitors. With the Depart¬ ment in contriil, the railroad arouud the dock will be open to all comers, whether reaching it from the slips or coming in ou bridges, and, moreover, it will be easier tor the city itself to en¬ large these fticilitis as required, than to obtain improvements from private corporations. The propositions 1'roni piivate cor¬ porations to take portitms of the marginal streets are but in rudimentary form, still it is just as well to call attention at once to the injury likely to arise from them if they .are accepted. It ought to be understood that uothiug shall be placed on the streets alongside the docks that will confer a monopoly of freight carriage from and to the docks on a private corporation, (u- that may hereafter stand in the Avay of the comprehensive scheme for the improvement of the dock front. ^OMETHING of a sensation has been created out of the ^^ tiling of engineers' plans for a tAventy-two-stoiy building on the site of the Schermerhoru building, on Broadway and Pine street, owned by Mr. John Jacob Astor. As such a build¬ ing will enclose the recently completed American Surety Build¬ iug on its .south and east sides, and as there has been talk of negotiations carried on to preserve the light and air of that building by purchase of easements attaching to the adjoining pioperty, the newsiiapers have jumped to the conclusion that the negotiations have ended in a fight between the two owners. The conclusion drawn from this is that the filing of the pliins by Mr. Astor Avas to bring his opponent to his terms. The newspapers have beeu torrential ly garrulous on this phase of the matter, but the principals have declined to discuss their attairs with reporters, so that we do pot know whether there were negotiations or ill-feeling between them or'uot. It is rea¬ sonable to suppose that the Surety Company would not like to see another building run up right alongside of their own, but it is doubtful ita man of Mr. Astoi's wealth and standing would resort to such a step to force a money bargain. Such of the newspaper statements as were capable of examination can be proved to be incorrect. One is that tho tenants in the Sehermer¬ horn Building ean be dispossessed on a few diiys' notice, iiccord¬ ing to the terms of their leiise ■. As a matterof fact, the leases giA'e the owner no such powers, being ordinary agreements ensuring the teuants quiet pos.sessimi of their oftices for the terms named therein Another of these statements is that the Surety Com¬ pany dropped the negotiations and secured the iutroduction of the City Clnb bill for limiting the heights of buildings in the Legisltiture. This is all nonsense. The bill iu question was prepared, as every well-informed person knows, by Mr. Geo, B. Post, though seut to Albany by the City Club. Senator Pavey refu.sed to father it, and introduced it by "request" only, and thereby prepared it for its ultimate fate. The bill never had a chance of passing. It is probable that the Surety Compauy, in common with every owner of a high building in this city, would uot be averse to :ee restrictions put upon future buildings. But the bill, if tidopted, would not have helped them a great deal in their negotiations with Mr. Astor. The latter, under the strict-