Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 64, no. 1650: October 28, 1899

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October 28, 1899. KRCORF» AND GUIDE. 633 ESTABLISHED <^ ftVARPH Sl^i^ 1668. Busij^ESSAtfci Thèmes or Gt^iEryil, I.-jteixe.st. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Published every Faturday. TELEPHONE, COKTLANDT 1370. CoiamuslcationB shoalcl b« addre«sed to C W. BWEHT, 14-16 Veaey Street J. 1. LINDSEY, Business Maiiaaer. " Ent&'ed at tke Post-Optoe at New îoric, N. T., as sc-ondclais tniVer." Vol. LXIV. OCTOBER 28, 18!)». No. 165;i TXT HEN the Treasury made its offer to pay in auvaoce in * ^ terest maturing on government bonds during the cut- rent fiscal year, it was thought that it would alarm more than relieve. As a matter of fact. the offer dates the heginning of the présent advance in the stock market and the comparative ease in the money market. Consequently, it has to be admitted that the move was a wLse one, and that in this, as în all his other preceding measures to relieve the immédiate situation, Secretary Gage has scored a decided success. In parenthesis lt may be re¬ marked that this proves the desirability of having a practical financier in contro! of the flnancial branch of the administration, especially in a country whose eurrency arrangements handicap business at particularly inconvénient moments. Following the relief afforded by the Treasury to the money market, comes the «ncouragement to be found in récent reports that reveal the enormous activity of business throughout the country. This week alone we hâve statements regarding the steel business, and the préparations the great railroad companies are making to Increase their equipments, in order to handie the enormously increased business their managers foresee, which naturaily excite the most flattering anticipations in the minds of those people who look for announcements from these sources to guide them in their own undertakings, The railroad of all industries is the one most interested in gauging the business future correctly, not only be¬ cause on it, as the transport service, lies the duty of keeping the armies of industry supplied and in motion, but also hecause its own pecuniary success dépends upon the correctness of its views, There is, then, good reason for acceptîng the views now expressed by the captains of the railroad industry as the best that can he obtained for practical guidance. At the same time, it must be remembered that the managers of raiiroads look at the commerr eial more than the financial prospect, and while tbere is every reason to accept their opinion that the country has two or three years of industrial and commercial activity betore It, this raay not be effectuai in preventing uncomfortable moments in the money and share markets. Such activity may, indeed, he again, as it has been receûtly, combined wîth over-speculation, the cause of trouble în both. In the past two weeks there has been sound buying in the stock market, and, while money is easier, it is still comparatively high, but there is also présent a spécu¬ lative feeling that must hâve play; witness, for instance, the iidvancing movement in both railroad and industrial canines and félines, which will be followed by its usual conséquences. Meantime, of course, this spéculative feeling will put up prices and the bold will proflt as usual at the expense of the timid and laggard. IN spite of the unlaudable endeavors of the yellow presses on hoth sides of the Atlantic to scare us wîth suggestions of impending disaster to the British forces in South Afriea, it is apparent that those forces are keeping the Boers well employed pending the completion of the British military plans on the ground, which will now soon be perfected. The movements of the stock markets further indicate an absence of alarm about the outcome of the war or îts effects upon the propeny of the gold mining companies. While we hear so much talk of this belng a war of greed, and that the Rand gold lands are its real object, it may not be entirely useless to point out that this gold country practically belongs to Great Britain already through the invest¬ ments of her people, The présent may not he iu any sensé a "holy" war, hut it is more one ■kuMÉa^Û^estments atready made than to seize Boer land. whJB^wrircmis or agricultural simply, The terms upon which ilSpilU 1iDaïÎ7'be settled dépend, as all such matters do, upon tbe ccsï'to'tihe-cornbalant that proves to be the more powerful of the twô '^ii''Mlclf'ael Hicks-Beach, in the HousG of Commcns, stated di '' of ibe expense that Britain wouid be called upon to meet would hâve to be borne by the Transvaal, and from this it may be taken that the govern¬ ment of which he is a member has no thought at présent of an- nexation, What they may ultimately hâve to do, there is no man who can s,ay, not even among themselves, for the reason that the final outcome must dépend upon circumstances created by and during the struggle. The activity in the naval yards oE Europe concurrently with this land war will give a new impetus to business and put off the reaction that had already begun to make its appearance. In a country as large as this and which, even late events and présent happenings considered, is a moder¬ ate spender Eor military purposes, we bave very little idea of the effect upon trade this sort of thing has rn a country as small as Great Britain, and that uses money so lavishly in military emer- gencies. While they appear to be extravagant, these expendi¬ tures are. however, measures of prudence, because they make other nations very cautious in the support they give to the other side, While the military justification is their first object, thèse expenditures at the same time help the business of the country very materially. for the time being at least. Encouraged hy these facts the exchanges bave developed considérable activity also, despite the high points at which the typical discount rates are maintained and the certain call of heavy proportions from the government on the money market. On the continent, too, a tem¬ porary ease in money has had a similar effect, though not so ex¬ tensive, but the financial authorities still hold that stringency will be felt again hefore the year is out. Appearances and précé¬ dents alike support that view. Any attempt of the Bank of Eng¬ land to draw goid from the continent, where it cannot he spared, will be met hy higher rates. NOS. 5 AND 7 t AST 66TH STREET. IN the huilding activity, in the way of private dwellinga, upon the east sîde of Central Park, from 59th street, yea, even until SOth street, there is a certain or uncertain proportion which is either instructive or entertaîning. The judîcîous and ex¬ perienced observer cannot possibly fail to numher among theae the large house-front now nearing completion, and practically, so far as concerns the exterior, now already completed, at Nos. 5 and 7 East 66th street. Although the front occupies two numbers, it is in fact only a single house-front, and of course that is a very good thing for ic in all ways. The stupîd tyranny of the New York deep lot, of itself a conséquence of the New York street-system, has never been more markedly exemplified than in the popular préjudice that the city lot which resulted from the délibérations oE the Commissioners of 1807, was rather more than the normal unit of space, and that a house which occupied the whole of such a lot was, by that fact, a prétentions sort oE abode. The plain fact is that a décent house, with its excessive depth now assumed as one of the requirements, cannot be built upon even a whole city lot, and that a man who îs able and willing to build a really habitable house for his family ought, as a prellminary, to ac¬ quire more than the "normal" unît of space, made normal by tboFe wonderful men of whom ît may he truly said that the evil Ihat Ihey did lives after them, Ycu must really acquire more than the authorized unît of space if you désire, and ean afford, to be decently comfortable, meaning, among other things, if you désire to hâve every room in your bouse decently lighted and aired. You really cannot attain this moderate goal unless you can afford to occupy more than one lot. And so a number of people are finding out, who, a génération ago, would bave built upon the "normal unit" pro¬ vided for them by the city, and would bave deemed themselveB guilty of a want of proper municipal feeling if they had doue anything else, However this may be, there is no doubt that a comfortable iu d well-lighted house, not too outrageously deep, can be built, il! Uie worst and most fashionable quarters of New York, upon a frcntage of 45 feet. One has a kindness for a man, no matter how rich he may liave the misfortune to be, who begins his house building in the right way, by insisting upon having room *r.ough, no matter how much his neîghbors. by "extensions" or otherwise, insist upon shutting off his supply of that ligbt and air without which it is simply not possible to bring up a family under wholesome conditions. .à... tbis is net architecture, but when we come to architecture, Llie case is quite as strong. Every new device to which an ar- i-bileci lias recourse to give some interest and individualîty to a twenty foot or twenty-five fcot front testifies anew to the hope- lesEuess of the attempt, It is true that a clever and unscrupu- lous designer may make an individual success, at the expense cf his neîghbors, of a twenty-flve foot front, or even less. But lo make a neighhorly building in a fashionable quarter, he must hâve more frontage than that. On the other hand, if an architect