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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 66, no. 1709: December 15, 1900

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December 15, 1900. RECORD AND (JUIDE. ^ ESTABUSHED-^ ii\WpH 2L^ 1868. DEvbTEBpREM-Estate.BuiLDTf/G Ar.c^"e;ctuke,Ho^seHoU)Deg(BIM1oA Busit^ESs Atto Themes of GejJer^L Imter^si. PRICE PEB YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS. Published every Saturdav. TELEPHONE, CORTLANDT 1370- Commnnlcations should be addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street. /. T. UNDSEY, Business Manager. '•Entered at the Post-Offics at New York, E. Y.. as second-class matter.- Vol. LXVI. DECEMBER 15, 1900. No. 1709, LIKE tlie hibernating bear, the stock market is living on its own fat, which must in a moderate space of time become exhausted by this process of inter-nutrition. In tbe main quo¬ tations have fully discounted all the good in a future long enough to discount safely. This is proved by tbe. fact that tbe prices of best issues of both stocks and bonds, those that re¬ sponded to political encouragement first, have been practically stationary for weeks, or are somewhat lower than tbey were ten days after the election. It is the ragtag and bobtail that have kept up the animation since. How long this will go on it is hard to say, because the public is in a very jubilant mood looking forward to some years of good business, with endless development in many known directions and expecting it to ap¬ pear from others yet unknown to help to keep up the boom. Here and there may be found an event of the most encouraging significance as, for instance, the purchase of the independent anthracite interests through the agency of Erie, by the. other in¬ terest in the same trade concerned to secure unity of action for the maintenance, and perhaps advance of coal prices. But taking the general run of rumors upon which most people are satisfled to buy stocks, not so much ground can be found for their confidence. We hear of coming dividends which are not justified by known earnings and of combinations for which there is no apparent reason whatever. A week or two will pro¬ vide some disappointments to offset the present overconfidence. The unfavorable developments abroad, however, are likely to have a less depressing influence on our market than some seem to think. Temporarily they may help to bring prices down, but in the long run they are likely to prove more helpful than harmful- They foreshadow the withdrawal of capital from home use, much of which, unless in the unlikely contingency that we are disappointed of the prosperity we hope for, will seek employment on this side of the Atlantic, and so aid the business boom we are so confidently expecting- This foreign capital has, however, yet to reach us through slow processes, and meantime our marliets must sympathetically feel, in more or less degree, the effects of whatever is bad in the situation of other countries with which we are commercially related. THE most important event of the week to European business circles is the statement made by the German Minister of Finance that the empire must now look forward to some years of diminishing business. This is only an official conflrma¬ tion, stated with the conservatism natural to such an author¬ ity, of the view held for some time In financial and commercial circles, and the grounds for which have been from time to time given in this column during the past few months. It is now weeks since ws recorded the failure of the two mortgage banks, the Hypotheken Aktienbank and the Grundschuld Bank of Ber¬ lin and the assumption of their control by the government, which is attracting so much attention now. A great business grew up in Germany of late years in mortgage securities, aud there are many hanks besides those named concerned in it; but, as those were the leaders in the business, it is not sur¬ prising to learn that their troubles have discredited the issues of the others. This cireum.stance is a decided symptom of an unsound flnancial condition, and is likely to have far-reaching dolorous effects. We on this side of the Atlantic know only too well what such failures mean, and cannot be blind to the results likely to follow in the German money market, especially as they occur at a tirae when, of all periods of the year, money is in most demand. It is more than likely tbat London must send gold to Berlin, and as London bas no more, and perhaps not as much as that market needs, whence will it draw to make good the shipments to Germany? The money market has, too. to prepare for large governmental, municipal and probably, also, colonial demands. The British government wants $80,000,000, the German $20,000,000, and the British colonies and municipali¬ ties that withheld their demands from the market on the out¬ break of the Boer war fifteen months ago so as to leave it free to the Imperial government, must be feeling the pressure of need and soon be compelled to make their wants known. Not¬ withstanding those things there is likely to be a good demand for government issues, their security wili be sought in preference to that of the issues of private corporations, as is always the case when capital forsaking industry accumulates in the great money centres. It was in the bad times following the Baring failure that consols sold at 114, and it wa,s during the good times, commercially, that succeeded those bad times that these securities have gone below par. For the same- reason German bonds are favorably affected by the present troubles, the more nervous investors are anxious to get their capital away from the troubled waters of trade and speculation into the haven of government issues, which have all the wealth of the empire for their protection. Government bonds wili therefore be in greater demand, but they will not satisfy the bolder capitalists who, having no longer the hope of proflt in home industries for some time to come, will look abroad for more fruitful flelds of investment for the period of depression at home, and whither can they better direct their gk-'.nces than toward the United States, whioh has ouly passed one phase of its era of prosperity and has a greater one now in view? /*^ OLD or silver medalists of the Paris Exposition will be dis- ^—T appointed to learn that if they wish to receive their medals they must pay for them- A communication from the General Commission informs such exhibitors that the distribution will consist of the medal in bronze, and that if they wish for a similar medal in either of the precious metals as the award may have been, it can be had on application to the Paris Mint, and pay¬ ment of the cost, which will be about 22f if in silver, and 710f in gold. The delivery will not take place before the months of March or April nest. We have long known that Europe was pressed for money; but we thought the need was least in France and certainly had no idea that it was as great as this imposition on the medalists would lead anyone to believe. -------------•-—--------- A TABLE given in a report of the Tax Department recently ■*^ issued proves that there are good grounds for the com¬ plaints made by taxpayers in Manhattan of the disproportion of the burden put upon them as compared with that property own¬ ers in the other boroughs have to bear. This table contains the amounts required of each of the five boroughs and their several percentages of the total tax levy of this year. It is: Manhattan......$59,480,196.78 being 72% of the total. Bronx .......... 3,292,556,20 " 4 " " Brooklyn ....... 16,106,209,65 " 19'^ Queens ......... 2,572,874.65 " 3:^ Richmond ...... 1,087,360.31 " 1% " " Total .......$82,539,197-59 100 It is also stated that real estate pays $71,758,392.50, leaving $10,- 780,805.09 paid on personalty. The amount realized on real estate includes the proceeds of the franchise tax, $4,969,748,58 of which one-third is paid on property assessed by the Tax Department prior to the passage of the Franchise Tax Law, which would indicate that the actual proceeds of that law in this city should be $3,313,185.72, as nearly as they can be ascertained. The latter facts are, however, only noted in passing. The sig¬ nificant thing is that more than seven-tenths of the revenue raised by taxation comes from one borough, which also con¬ tributes an even larger proportion of the $10,000,000 from' the general fund that is applied to the reduction of the gross budget. It is obvious that there is here a case for relief. Such relief could surely have come through a system that would have made the several boroughs self-supporting. The Charter Revision Commission has not thought it advisable to go as far as that; but they propose to construct and empower the new board of estimate and apportionment in a way that will make the cir¬ cumstances of the several boroughs factors in limiting their respective expenditures. While they propose that the boroughs shall have large powers for their own management and develop¬ ment, the commission also propose that the board shall make the annual appropriations for their support and have a veto upon their expenditures. Besides this, the change in tbe system of fixing salaries, hitherto a fruitful source of extravagance, ought to go a good way towards equalizing expenditures; because instead of .the Manhattan standard being extended to the rural sections of the city, the conditions of living in the latter are to have a bear¬ ing in arranging the pay of the officials employed there. There