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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 66, no. 1696: September 15, 1900

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September 15, 1900. RECORD AND GUIDE. 317 established"^^ ifywpHStfi^ 1868. BUsdIess ju(dTheses or Ge}1ei^ ll/TEnpi. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVAkcE SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saliirdny. TUL,iE PHONE, Cortlandt 1370. Com muni cations should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. "Entered at the Poat-Office at New Tork. N. Y., aa second-class matter.-' Vol. LXVI. SEPTEMBER 15, 1900. 1696. IT would "be the worst exaggeration to say that there is any desire to hasten a revival of business now that the vacations are about over. On the contrary there is a disposition on all sides to sit still and await events. Bankers, generally, are ad¬ vising caution, and telling their friends that it is advisable not to do anything until after the election. A similar attitude of the Savinga banks will be found portrayed in another column. On the surface it seems as if, by a mysterious agreement, everyone had got the same idea, that having gone through a dull summer, it was just as well now to sit still a little longer and see what the election will reveal before doing anything; the election is so near now, six weeks or so. that it is hardly worth while to take any chances, and so forth. But looking under the surface it will he found that the election has less to do with this inertia than some other things. As is pointed out by the president of one of the great savings banks of this city, if nervousness ex¬ isted over political probabilities it would make itself more clear¬ ly apparent, while the only indication he could see was a with¬ drawal of money from his bank slightly above the normal. Cor¬ roboration of this feature of the situation hy otber savings in¬ stitutions suggests that what little fear of political change exists is confined apparently to a class of people whose means of in¬ formation are so scanty as to make their emotions either way an idle exhibition. Probably the most potent cause of the wait¬ ing attitude of the business public is the readjustment of com¬ modity prices that is now going on. Producers try to fo.ce the impression that the reaction in prices has been all that the con¬ ditions require, but consumers decline to take that view, and maintain that quotations have still further to go on the down¬ ward course. "While bankers, stockbrokers and manufacturers are content to put off the day of business revival into November, it is more than likely that they will be compelled to move earlier in spite of themselves. So soon as the public begins to feei the need of things, activity commences, and this need may become apparent at any moment. The stock market has withstood the shock of the awful news f.'om G-ilveston, the in;pending strike in the anthracite coal fields ai?d some sligiit indications of a hardening tendency in money in a way that si;ggesl:s the exist¬ ence of latent strength, which would not be apparent were the fundamental conditions other than sound. The break in prices late yesterday afternoon, with accompanying election bets, had all the appearance of being the result of an organized raid by traders who saw that the market was nodding. WHEN some of the chief states of Eurone are running around trying to borrow money in foreign markets, it follows, of course, that local capital is tied up so closely as to create danger of disturbance if a new demand is made on it. Russia, which is again in the market for a large loan, has always borrowed abroad, now in London, then in Paris, afterwards in Berlin, and is now trying the French financial world again. But when Great Britain, which has hitherto been a generous leaner to all the world; and Germany, which, for a good many years, has managed to supply its own needs, come to the United States for help it shows the extended condition of commercial affairs abroad in a rather striking way. Besides our own. Prance seems the only country that has a surplus of capital beyond domestic needs. In sound rich states this condition of embarrassment, if such it can be called, is only temporary, but so long as it lasts it betrays an unsatisfactory condition in finance and commerre generally. The sign of recovery is the return of the securities to the country whose government issued them. This was the case whei) the United States bonds sold abroad during the em¬ barrassment of the last Administration, began to return hither, and it is the case now when the British war bonds lately placed here are iinding their way back to London and making unnecessary the shipments of gold which we expected to make to meet in¬ stalments upon our portion of the loan. Whether the same re¬ sults will follow the placing of a large part of the German loan here, it is not easy to guess, but it is probable ultimately, if not immediately. The reported terms of the proposed loan would ni^ke the bonds so desirable for trust and other purposes at home that they will inevitably be attracted there whenever home capital becomes released from its present engagements. Four per cent at par, if these are the terms, are more than can now be obtained from either Prussian or Imperial loans in the home market, and the chances of the new issue going to a pre¬ mium will be better than those that accompanied the British offering. But we are as much concerned with the extended con¬ dition of European business that this vagrancy of the foreign chancellors reveals, as with the proud position this appeal to New York gives it as a world's financial centre. —t HE Department of Buildings is getting a little more out- i side abuse just now;, this time because of the order that no plumbing plans shall be received unless they state the name of the plumber who is to do the job. To comply with this re¬ quires that the plumbing contract shall be made before the plans are filed. This owners and architects, naturally, do not want to do until the plans are approved; because, in the event of modifi¬ cations being required, it places them at the mercy of the plumb¬ ing contractor as to figures, besides giving him an unfair advan¬ tage over those other plumbers, if any, who may have figured against him on the job. The form that accompanies the build¬ ing plans contains spaces for the insertion of the names of the owner, architect, mason and carpenter, but an indorsement of "not selected," satisfies the Department as to the last two. "There are good reasons why the Department should he a little more particular about knowing the names of plumbing con¬ tractors, but these seem to be met by paragraph 9 of the Rules, and Regulations for Plumbing, etc, which says: "It shall not he lawful to commence work on said plumbing and drainage, or any part thereof until the plumber who is to do the work shall sign the specifications and make affidavit that he is duly author¬ ized to proceed with the work." etc. Doubtless the Department exercises discretion in the enforcement of any order, and the one requiring that the name of the plumber in advance among them. It is, therefore, only necessary to know what concession they allow to put the plumbing plans through easily. But the existence of an unnecessary order gives irritation, and is there¬ fore better out of the way. A DEED was placed upon record in the Register's ofiice this week which was of historical interest and suggestive of the changes that the city experiences from time to time. The deed proved title of the German Ev. Lutheran Church of St. Mat¬ thews to the block front on Canal street, between Forsyth and Eldridge streets, the dimensions being about 200.x75. Recently the church sold the block front with a depth of 50 feet, and doobtlcEs the old deed, which dates from 1785, was recorded at the request of the buyer. It was made by Isaac Stoutenburgh and Phillip Van Cortlandt, Commissioners of Forfeitures^ which circumstance reminds us of the Revolution. Toryism and suffer¬ ing for political faith. The names of all the streets on which the pioperty faces have been changed since the deed was made. In it Pump street stands for Canal. Second street for Forsyth, and Third street for Eldridge. The name of the beneficiary has been changed from the United Lutheran Church to the longer title given above, and the consideration in the later document, com¬ pared with that of the former, affords an idea of the growth of values. In the first it is specifled at £150 for the plot 200x75, and in the second at $200,000 for 200x50, thus leaving out a lot ecch on the side streets included in the original purchase. The pound sterling at the date of the deed was worth about fifteen shillings, and, that brings the consideration down to the modern equivalent of $540, It happens that the improvements now standing on the portion of the land recently deeded are old and valueless and only await the expiring of some leases to make way for modern buildings, consequently very little more than land values are to be considered, which makes the comparison more interesting and easier. ON another page will be found a couple of resolutions pissed by the New York Pire Insurance Exchange which ought to interest the real estate world. These resolutions oppose the suggestion, made by members of the Firemen's Benevolent Asso¬ ciation, to limit the hours of duty of the men in the service of the Fire Department of this city. Chief Croker has pointed out that the work done by the Pire Department will not lend itself to the adoption of a routine of service for its members, without