Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 66, no. 1705 [i.e. 1706]: November 24, 1900

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November 24, 1900. RECORD ANT> GUIDE. 693 # ^ p(;Tini iiiwrn 'Ull. teviriED TO Rem Estate.Suildi/Jg i\RcrfiTECTUKE,HohSEHoiJ)DEoaF;fno!C BUSu/ESSAttoTHEt/lESOFGElfcRAL IWTEHESl. PRICE PER YEAR IW ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. PiibUshed every Saturday. TELEPHONE, CORTLANDT I^^O, Cornmunlcations should be addressed to C. "W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager. •■Enlnrd at the Post-Offiee at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter." Vol. LXVI. NOVEMBER 24, 1900. 1Y05 THERE is little if anything to say of the speculative and commercial conditions beyond what bas already been said. The movement that took its incentive from election results, is making satisfactory progress in al'l direotions, so that if noth¬ ing of an obstructive nature arises meantime, the spring should find the country in a state of universal activity. In the stock market the reaction is welcomed by brokers who feared that the pace was becoming too fast. Judging by the past, there ought to be a considerable reaction, but the present situation is so different to any the market has been in before that precedent counts for nothing at all, and on the general movement one man's guess is as good as another's. There is, however, proflt still to be made in securities whose prices have not yet risen to the plane of their prospects. Besides that, so long as money js cheap speculative operations can be engineered in nearly all sound paying issues, which will return good interest on the margin employed and may, in addition, yield a handsome bonus through advances in prices. In other words, there is stili proflt to be obtained on money sensibly and scientifically employed in the stock market. From now on until spring money should move towards this centre. The money market is helped further by the better news from Europe. Both in London and Berlin there has been this week an easing of rates which has been reflected by increased speculative activity, and there are some reports of a renewal of industrial activity under the stimu¬ lus of revised schedules of manufacturers' prices and the drop In coal. British and German makers have both reduced prices of iron and steel, the latter more considerably than the former, and American export prices were cut this week to meet the action of the European makers. Mail advices say that the success of the American Bridge Co. in placing a thousand tons of struc¬ tural iron with the North German Lloyd in competition with Westpbalian concerns has dispirited the German iron industry considerably. But until the new year has been reached the Eu¬ ropean money market is likely to be uncertain and a deterrent of business revival. SO far as an outsider can see, the principles which have guided the management of the terminal facilities of the roads running into the 42d street station are something as fol¬ lows: "Never make an improvement until it becomes acutely necessary;" "in planning improvements, always put up with temporary makeshifts as long as possible;" "do not take too much trouble to make your passengers comfort¬ able, because they have got to use your trains anyway." In pur¬ suance of this policy, the passengers on the Central and New Haven roads, particularly the commuters, have been subjected so continually to discomforts, and so freciuently to delays that the development of the whole territory tributary to the roads has been retarded, and the latter have never succeeded in taking ade¬ quate advantage of the magnificent situation of their terminus in the heart of New York City. At present the running in and out of more than four hundred trains every day puts such a strain upon the available facilities that a small accident causes very considerable disturbances, and some decided disloca¬ tion of the machinery will result in an amount of inconvenience and exasperation of the patrons of the roads which is not any more tolerable because it has frequently happened before. But apparently the situation has flnally become so critical, and the necessity of arranging for future expansion so immediate that plans for a really important improvement of the service are be¬ ing seriously proposed. It has been announced that a plan has teen prepared providing for a large tunnel under the present station, and a loop, which will permit the trains to run in, ■around, and out without getting into one another's way. This would seem to be the only comprehensive solution of the prob¬ lem, except one that carried with it some very considerable en- largem^ent of the space occupied 'by the terminus. But there is one obstacle which must be overcome, according to tbe President of the Central road, before such a terminus can be built. The management has not succeeded in securing an electric motor which meets all its requirements. It wants an electric engine which is capable of hauling express trains from Albany to New Tork, for a motor used to shift in the yards and to pull a traia in and out of the tunnel would be useless. The time required for coupling and uncoupling would make it more trouble than it was worth. All the patrons of the road will piously wish that the needed motor will soon be secured, that the upper tunnel will be cleansed of the fumes which now make a passage through it "50 disagreeable, and that the plan for a loop will not remain too long an object of study in the President's desk. The necessities of the present situation are small compared to what they will be ten years from now, when the Bronx is well built up; and unlesg some such comprehensive plan of improvement is adopted, the transit situation at the Grand Central Station is likely to be¬ come intolerable. Home Rule for the Boroughs. TTERY little is known of the intentions of the Charter Revl- *■ sion Commission, although we are only a week away from the day when they have to report to the Governor. Evi¬ dently they regard themselves as advisers of the Governor and responsible to him only, and believe that he only can decide whether publicity is to be given to the findings of the Commis¬ sion. None would have a right to quarrel with this state of affairs if the reticence had been complete; as it is, reports havo come out from time to time of the Commission's intentions, which by their uniformity seem to be true, but which for want of offlcial confirmation cannot be confidently accepted. Among other things, it is said the Commission have decided upon recommending that the several boroughs of the city be given considerable powers to regulate their own internal affairs, but unfortunately nothing has transpired to show how they pro¬ pose to do this. The importance of this particular point lies more in the method proTiosed for carrying out the principle in¬ volved than in the principle itself. The demand for a measure of boroughal self-government was mainly to secure two things, namely: (1) To remove the obstacle standing in the way of local improvements, and (2) to make each borough responsible for its own expenditures. If these two things are not obtained it will be much better to remain as we are, or to increase tbe degree of centralization of the city's affairs inaugurated by the Consolida¬ tion Act under which we have all moaned and groaned for three years. If it is simply proposed that the boroughs shall each attend to its own development, or that each shall carry out of itself those improvements only which are now paid for by local assessments, without checks on extravagance, the cure will be worse than the disease. It cannot be too strongly insisted upon tbat resulting pecuniary responsibility must accompany any measure of home rule conferred upon the burougbs. TJpott the desirability of securing this power the boroughs are unanimous. All have felt the evils of the existing system- Rich¬ mond so much so that an agitation is afoot there to secure sepa¬ ration; the Bronx found its development suddenly cut short and Manhattan groans under a double grievance of having ^o support its impecunious partners while unable to provide for its own wants. The experience of the Bronx illustrates not only the obstructive influence of the Charter, but its accompanying extravagance also. When that borough was run by a Commis¬ sion of Its own its salary expense was 525,000 a year and from 125 to 150 contracts for street openings, sewers, paving gradin" etc, were given out annually, each directly and immediately beneficial to tax values. The Charter extinguished the Commis¬ sion that had worked admirably, raised the expense for salaries to $125,000 a year and, until a very short time back operated to prevent the making of a single contract for an improvement in the borough. The local view now is that the borough was better off under the Park Department who had control until 1892 than it is now under the Charter of 1S97. A .similar story could be told of any one of the other four boroughs, and it is obvious that development can only be revived and other administrative details efficiently carried out if the work is done locally. At the same time any measure intended to secure this freedom of action will be nullified, from the same causes that clogged the machinery of government provided by the Ohartei-, if pecuniary responsibility does not accompany power of action, and each borough be compelled to carry the burden of its own extravagance or permitted to enjoy the bene¬ fits of its own economy, as the case may be. I