Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 63, no. 1619: March 25, 1899

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March 25, 1899^. Record and Guide M. # EST3lHUSm)V/i Bdsn^s A)&>lHEKEa or Ccflot^ tKrofsi. PffflGK PER TEAR IN ADVANCE SIX D0^L.4JR& Fublitlted every. Saturday, THUPHOm, COXCUiXDT, 1370.- CsnuBRDlmUoni aliauld b« addresMd to : C. W. SWEET. 14-10 Vcsfy Stnet. /".. 1. LINDSEY, BuaiTiess Manager. "EntemdatthtPnei-OSteetUlfew York.N. y„ as setutndrctass inatter." Vol. LXIII. MAKCH 2o, ISOO, No. 1.G19. THERE Is an enthusiastic party in Wall Str&et who apparently believe a new upward mcvement can be engineered In stock market values. It is not quite clear what they base their beliet upon, but an -expectaticn of lower rates for money is part of it, and confidence in the commercial prosperity cf the country, probably, the rest. This movement will be very interesting as affording for future use, a gauge as to how far beyond values speculative operations can carry prices, by fixing a sort of specu¬ lative high-water mark, so to say. While for a couple of days the market generally was a little stronger than it had previously been, the greatest activity was in what might very properly be called the Mysteries, to distinguish them from other well-known classes of stccks like the Grangers, Coalers, etc. These are the issues about whose affairs the public is allowed to know nothing and which are moved by intiniations of good cr bad conditions, oracularly delivered from the brokers' offices in which they are being manipulated. And cn these intimaticns a confiding public, utterly forgetful of the past history of the Street, so rich in warn¬ ings, will buy. The buyers, however, are not the lambs of con¬ ventional thought, but rather foxes who know the trap is set for them but cannot reslEl the bait and are sometimes caught, A satisfactory feature cf the market is the way interest-paying stock-s and bonds hold their quotations. Railroad securities are benefited by the bill now before the Legislature at Albany for enlarging the choice of the savings banks in railroad bond invest¬ ments. This bill, while introduced and promoted by railroad in¬ terests, has, apparently, the approval that silence gives of tbe savings banks. According to published interviews, as first draft¬ ed, it did not please the latter, but was altered so as tO' secure im¬ munity frcm the cppositicn if i't could not obtain the active sup¬ port of the Institutions affected. Railroad men particularly have long held that the restrictions in this State on investments by savings banks in railroad securities were tec severe. The policy cf the State in this regard is less liberal than that of several others; but the savings bank presidents do not seem to have complained and are new undesiroUs of change, and as this policy has helped to make the New York savings banks the soundest and safest in the country, the Legislature will, naturally, consider the matter very carefullly before risking any change. For the bill, it may be said, that the condition cf the railroad business, and consequently of the mortgage securities predicated thereon, has undergone a great change fcr the better since the provisions re¬ lating to savings bank investments in the latter was framed, aud it may be now possible to show that both railroads and banks would benefit by a mcderate relaxation of their stringency. IN supporting the Italian and Belgian demands fcr naval sta¬ tions on the coast of China, Great Britain reveals her policy toward China, of which the famous "open door" has been only the screen. By encouraging all the European powers to take up po¬ sitions that will eventually complete a sea-wall—an altogether new Chinese wall—along the Chinese coast, it is apparent that Great Britain expects eventually tc see China governed through a dummy native sovereign, by a beard cf foreign diplomats in which her own will be chief and iu which tne Russian will be forced to take part cn pain cf exelusicn. It is a policy cf Euro¬ pean co-operaticn versus Russian exciusiveness, but with Great Britam dominating the co-cperatcrs. The wish of the United States as to the future of China has yet to be officially expressed, bui the adroitness which has recently encouraged this country into the policy of expansion will probably be suceessfidiy exer¬ cised to secure our assistance in a union against Russian absorp¬ tion Basing our foreign policy as we do on merely mercenary motives, we shall probably be willing, like ether peoples, to take what is assigned to us, on failure of an opporunity to act inde¬ pendently and take fcr oitrselves what we need. Our share cf the white man's burden, unless we can return to the high ethical principles,of our fathers, will be all the black, browji or yellow man's money we, cap giet.lnto cur pockets. These things, how-::, ever, coacern thecommerce of a distant day. At'present.tiie facts most cperaU-v« are the high,rates for meney and the prospect of higher cnes in the near future. , In this connection, attention may/ be called to the faot that, although Parliament has been sitting for neaj-Iy two months, we have heard nothing of the report of the,, Irudian Currency Commission, but in view,of the circumstances and the condition cf the money market, this is not tO' be wondered ait, France and Portugal are opening negotiations for a commer¬ cial treaty. As once between the former country and Italy there- are now no commercial relations between the two countries based on the most favorable cnetcms' tariffs, and the trade between them has co incidentally, if not-consequently, declined." Brttieh and American trade rights in Madagascar having been obstructed, in favor of French merchants, complaints a,re being made from, the Island of inadequate supplies cf cotton' goods. The Prussi-an. Minister of Public Works has announced that the railways in. the. manufacturing districts having reached the limit of their capacity. about 600 miles of new railroads wiil be built. The iron industry throughout Great Britain and Europe ia more active than ever and industrial shares in that and collateral lines more in demand. Negotiations for the fiscal treaty between Austria, and Hungary are to be begun anew shortly. The capital issues in London, to date are the highest known in any similar period since 1894, and perhaps beyond that. Australian bank reports for 1898 in¬ dicate, OB the whcle, an improvement in the affaire of the country. THE WINDSOR HOTEL FIRE. ON Friday afternoon of last week the Windsor Hotel caught fire from some cause not yet determined, and in a few hours the building was totally destroyed and many lives were, leet. The conditions for the rapid spread cf flames in that build¬ ing were quite unusual. At the time the fire started, a St, Patrick's Day parade was passing the hotel, and nearly every window of the Fifth Avenue front was open, causing drafts of air in all directions, and most cf the employees in the hotel had temporarily abandoned their pests of duty to view the parade. Where the first first started is uncertain. Some persons think, that it was in the basement; others that it was in the roof, and others think it was due to surcharged electrical wires which si¬ multaneously smarted a conflagration in a number of places. Thia hotel was erected nearly thirty years ago, and, although it pre¬ sented an imposing extericr, the interior construction was of a: fiimsy character, net even as good as that now required for or¬ dinary tenement-hcuses—in regard to division walls of brick, strength cf floors and means cf exit. It compned, however, with the building laws in fcrce at the time of its erection. It must he remembered that it was not until 18S5 that a comprehensive law for the better preservaticn of-life and property in buildings was enacted; and it was not until 1892 that all hotels thereafter erected were required to be built ureproof. Quite naturally this fire has directed public attention lo hotels, and hundreds cf suggestions have been made in the newspapers to secure safety in hctel structures, some cf these going so far as to demand that all ncn-flreprocf hotel buildings, shall be torn down, or their occupancy changed .o some ether use. Several bills bave been drafted and iutroducea in the ftate I^egislature, and cne has been drafted by the Corporation Counsel with the sanction of the building and fire department commissioners to so amend the Charter as to require the licensing of betels by the Mayor, to the end that licenses shall be granted only to such hotels as may be entirely safe fcr inmates, in case of flre. These proposed laws are all aimed at hotel buildings' in the city of New York. If such laws are to be placed on the statute books they should relate to all hctel structures throughout the State; for, with the exception of as many buildings as can be counted on the fingers of cne hand, all the hotel buiidings in the State outside of New York City are of the most combustible character, and class fcr class are mere dangerous to the inmates than those in this city. The tact is. that the existing buiidins laws and the laws relating to the extinction and prevention of hres, the latter under control cf the fire commissioners, are entirely sufficient to secure all reascnable safely for the inmates in hotels, if properly and wisely enforced, without any further legislation. In proof of this statement we quote some of the requirements contained in tho laws now in force: BUILDING L.A.W, Section 4S4. Fireproof Buildings,—Every building hereafter erected to be used as a hotel, " " * the height of which exceeds thirty-fivp feet, EhaU be built fireprcof. SEction 40S. Fire-Escapes,—* * * Every building already erected, or tiiat may hereafter be creeled, more than three stories In height, occupied and used as a hotel, * * • shall be provided 'with swch