Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 65, no. 1675: April 21, 1900

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!April 21, igoo. RECORD AND GUIDl ,^ ESTABUsHED-^/WpasLi^iese, DeAteD to RfM- EST«I .SuiLDijJb AfiprfrrECTUi^;Kous£3JoiD DEflfflip)* ; .Bi/snfess Alto Themes of Gej^i^I lrfrcR^i.j ^ PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Pu6Hefted euery Saturday. Telephone, Cortlandt 1370, Com muni cations should be addressed to C. "W. SWEE3T, 14-16 Veaey Street. J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. __ "Entered at the Fost-Office ut New Tork, N. 7.. as second-class matter." Vol. LXV. APRIL 21, 1900. No. 1675. THE exhibition of speculative depravity to which Wall Street has been treated this week does not improve the situation at all or induce buyers to come ia. On the contrary, if the public is told in one breath that enterprises, upon which large security issues are predicated, are doing an enormous and profitable busi¬ ness and in the next that owing to slackening of demand it is necessary to shut down mills, they naturally become suspicious -and withdrawing their support, prices of securities, good as well as bad, suffer. In the past two days the market has become professional—very professional. However, it is not likely in the present hopeful condition of the business world that an extensive decline can be brought about; yesterday's rally showed how quickly prices will turn and how attached the public are to the fascinating amusement that Wall street pro¬ vides. It must be remarked, however, that we are reaching the reason of conventions and of the political distractions that al¬ ways draw the mind away from speculation and create those doubts and uncertainties of the popular will that always affect business detrimentally. More than all, there is a tendency in for¬ eign exchange to rise sulSciently to create expectancy of gold ex¬ ports, and, although, we can very easily spare any amount of yellow metal that is likely to be calle'd for by Europe, such a ^movement would be a good bear card in a time of public indif¬ ference to the Stock Market, and of little or much anxiety re¬ garding the probable results of the national election. The de- •mand for gold arises through the stringent condition of money abroad, not in London or Paris, but in Berlin and in Vienna and other centres that depend upon It, and where the industrial .development has been most pronounced along with limited cap¬ ital resources. ' NO one is likely to quarrel with the committee appointed by Governor Roosevelt to examine into the tenement-house ■question in "cities of the first-class," and to report a code of ten¬ ement-house laws to the next Legislature. The local men named are all capable and practical in their various specialties, and we take it for granted that the Buffalo men are equally good in their way. Philanthropic men of the practical and non-hysterical or- ■der is what the Governor says he desired to select, and, though 'this was taking wise guidance in bis choice, we cannot avoid re¬ marking that the intimation of the existence of a hysterical order was rather unkind of the Governor after having used their bys- 'terics in his emergency message to force the Tenement-House 'Commission bill through a reluctant legislature. That, how¬ ever, is a small matter, and at any rate does not concern us, who are entirely absorbed for the moment in the problem the Committee has to solve. This, as we look at it, is to im¬ prove the domestic surroundings of the tenement population without increasing the cost of their housing, or making them more difficult to obtain. If the cost of construction is materially increased the supply of the tenements will soon decline, and rents will go up accordingly. This may be taken as a positive certainty about which there can be no question whatever. The rapidly increasing population of this city cannot depend upon the commerco-philinthropic builder for the necessary increase of their housing, but must look to the simply commercial builder for it, unless the municipality will take the place of the latter. The Committee should also consider the obligations of the ten¬ ement dweller, to his landlord and the community. Require¬ ments in this direction have hitherto been supposed to be wholly involved in fan-lights, air-shafts and other peculiarly con¬ structional matters, and it has not been thought necessary to place upon the tenants any personal responsibility or obligation 'whatever. It seemed to be assumed that he was a creature of :hia landlord entirely, and that the latter was responsible for his well-being, as well as for the sanitation and repairs of the teh'- ement and that only through the punishment of the landlord could the tenant be made to live decently and conduct himself respectably. Now having a practical philanthropic committee appointed by a strenuous governor it is reasonable to indulge the hope that nothing will be recommended that will tend to create a dearth of tenements, and that at least equal justice will be ex¬ tended to the landlord as to the tenant. Charter Revision. WHERE THE NEED OF AMENDMENT IS GREATEST. IN a short time a commission for the examination of Chapter 378 of the Laws of 1897. otherwise known as the Charter of Greater New York, will be holding sittings, and as yet little preparation seems to have been made to impress upon the com¬ mission the direction where correction or revision is required. It is true that the Governor only signed the bill empowering him to appoint the commission this week, and it could hardly be ex- i:ected that preparations would be made to meet a commission whose legal authorization was not complete. But having signed the bill and having previously had many names suggested to him—said by some to number some hundreds—from which to make suitable selection, it is not likely that the Governor will delay long in naming his appointees, or that the Commission when appointed wil! allow much time to elapse before organ¬ izing and settling down to work. It behooves, therefore, those individuals and representative organizations, who see errors in the charter and have remedies to offer, to get to work to put their views into presentable shape, so that they will be in a po¬ sition to respond at once whenever the Commission intimate their readiness to hear complaints and suggestions. It could not happen, of course, that a bill to create machinery for the revision of the charter could be discussed through a whole session of the Legislature, without the defects of the in¬ strument being exposed in a general way. But so far, the dis¬ cussion has had reference to hitches in the governmental ma¬ chinery—the limitations on the powers of the Mayor to control the heads of departments, the difficulty of making a bi-cameral assembly run smoothly, obstructions to the working of several departments of city government, the inutility of the district and borough boards, etc. Nowhere have we seen exposed the great¬ est evil of all that arises fvom the uniting of resources with¬ out a corresponding common benefit to the several boroughs in expenditures. The trouble with the charter governmental ma¬ chinery is that it is composed of two ill-fitting parts, the one representative and the other bureaucratic. While not daring to overlook the principle of popular representation, the Legislature of 1897 and their advisers the Charter Commission, apparently had little faith in the competency or honesty of any representa¬ tives the people might be expected to send to the Municipal As¬ sembly, and gave part of the initiative and all the finality of ex¬ penditures to the bureaus. That the result has been bad for the public service is not surprising. The district and borough boards, too, have failed simply because they had no powers to make themselves useful. They could hear petitions on petty affairs and make recommendations to certain other bodies, who alone possessed the power to move. Consequently, the public found that it was a waste of time to go, first to the powerless bodies when there was nothing to prevent them going at once to those that had power. On this showing there is a demand that, with other changes to make the government machinery work smoothly, the dis¬ trict and borough boards be abolished entirely. To the aboli¬ tion of the district boards we would offer no objection, but through the retention of the borough boards, we think there might be effected a reform not only in governmental machinery, but also in the adjustment of the pecuniary burdens of the sev- ei-al boroughs. These borough boards might be made elected bodies and given the power to initiate and carry out purely local works and improvements, such as lighting, street cleaning, pav¬ ing, sewering, etc., and to prevent danger of extravagance the cost of these should be a direct charge upon the borough itself. To complete this organization there should be a municipal as¬ sembly of a single chamber, composed of representatives from each of the boroughs elected by the people, who should have control of matters affecting the city as a whole, mainly the great physical improvements, the bestowal of franchises and where possible a veto in matters involving health and morals. Whatever the value of the suggestion just made, it is clear that the two great points to be aimed at in Charter revision are: Simplification of the machinery of the municipal government and a just distribution of the cost of local improvements among the boroughs in proportion as each is benefited thereby. These n n