Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 71, no. 1839: June 13, 1903

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June 13, 1903. BECORD AND GUIDE 1169 ESTABUSHED-i^/WPH2i"^'86a. Dtlirjf^ ID Re^L £st«e . BciLdij/g ^^rrzeTURE ,Kousn!oiD DEGOR^tl, .BiisQifess Ai^ Themes of GeiJer^ Ikter^sj. PRICE PER. YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX DOLLARS PahUshed eVery Saturdai/ Communications sbould bo addressed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorR I. T. LINDSEY. Business Manager Telephone, Cortlandt 3157 "Untered at the Fost Office at J^efo York, X. Y.. as second-class matter." the New York building and real estate interests. No matter bow general business wakes or wanes, the process of improve¬ ment and readjustment will continue, until the apparently con¬ siderable transformations of the past few years will be dwarfed. Vol. LXXI. JUNE 13, 1903. No. 183lt. THIS week bas witnessed the culmination of a six weeks' stock panic. The impartial observer must see that tbe result was out of all proportion 10 tbe causes tbat in the beginning manipulated and depressed prices. We have simply witnessed again what bas been so often demonstrated iu tbe -history of Wall Street, that tbe first step is really all that is needed to "count," for after tbat there is always a big follow¬ ing that blindly apprcpriales the original force of any move¬ ment and continues it in obedience, we suppose, to the working of wbat Le Bon terms the "psychology of tbe crowd," Brokers, bankers, correspondents, all alike have been busy of late extend¬ ing and supporting the "original force" of tbe initial attack on prices. And this in face of tbe fact that there is little wrong with tbe country except ils cooking! Tbe crop outlook is ex¬ cellent, in some respects even without parallel, and a greater number of immigrants are landing weekly on our shores than the host tbat marched in the great Sound Money parade. This freight, dead and alive, bas to be cared for and moved, and whatever may happen to industrials it is difficult to figure by the ordinary arithmetic how the railroads are to suffer or the securities thac represent them. The more conservative, and certainly the keener sighted, perceive that there is no warrant in the situation for tbe recent slump, and the recovery of tbe market from five, to ten points is the evidence of the fact. AFTER an examination of tbe plans for tbe New York Cen¬ tral's terminal Mayor Low is reported to b-ave said to Vice-President Wilgus: "I hesitate to predict how wonderful will be the changes made in New York during the next fifty years. Your comprehensive scheme is proof of the thought I have had for seme time tbat tbe changes which are to come about withiu a comparatively short time will entirely alter the oomplejcion of the city." By tbe changes whicb are to come about within a comparatively short time Mayor Low undoubt¬ edly means the changes whicb will be produced by such im¬ provements wbich the New York Central aud the Pennsylvania Railroad companies are now about to make, and by the new bridges, tbe new tunnels, and the whole vast and comprehen¬ sive new transit system of tbe Greater New York, Tbe effect of these great public works will be threefold. In the flrst place tbey will directly and indirectly cause a great and steady de¬ mand for labor throughout the whcle of tbe city, and will thereby stimulate local demand for property and provide work for a largely increasing population. In tbe second place tbey will, one and all, take possession cf considerable areas hitherto given over to tenements and dwellings and occupy the space for various other purposes arising immediately out of the necessities of these improvements. Finally, they will all of tbem help to increase tbe industrial efficiency cf the greater city, and to centralize certain kinds of business and pleasure seeking in Manhattan, It might seem as if all tbis additional train ser¬ vice would serve merely to take people out of Manhattan and to give them opportunities to live more cheaply elsewhere; but the same tracks wliicb take people away for some purpose will bring them back for other purposes. In the expansion and a dif¬ ferentiation of metropolitan life Manhattan will gain quite as much as the other boroughs. Indeed, it will gain more, for every inhabitant of tbe otber boroughs will have to do business in Manhattan, or pay tribute to its shops, theatres, restaurants and hotels. The pressure upon tbe restricted space of the island will become constantly greater instead of less; more and more street room will be added to circulatory system of tbe borough; tbe necessity of building taller and larger will become greater with every successive year. The opportunities thereby offered to tbe shrewd and welLto-do building and real estate operator are palpable,, and will be continuous. It is this prospect wbich leads one to anticipate many years of comparative prosperity for HE persistence of certain influences in tbe life of a great city is remarkable. New York, for instance, bas for the past two hundred years been more composite in the blocd of its residents tban has any other of the great cities of tbe country. Even during Colonial times, when its population was smaller than that either of Philadelphia or Boston, it was derived from more various sources, for an English and a French protestant infusion had been added to the original Dutch basis. After tho beginning of our national life, as soon as tbe foreign immigra¬ tion assumed formidable proportions. New York was always the chief port of entry, and always retained a certain considerable proportion of tbese immigrants. About 25 per cent, of its popu¬ lation are either German-born or of German parentage; about 21 per cent. Irish-born or of Irish parentage; about 12 per cent. Russian-born or of Rnssian parentage, and about 11 per cent. Italian-born cr of Italian parentage. Only about one-fifth of the population of tbe city is native-born and of native parentage, and cf these about one-seventh comes from States other than New Yorlv. It sliould be added tbat almost lialf of this foreign population has been born in tbis country, and that a fair pro¬ portion of these may be considered to be pretty well American¬ ized. Unless all signs are mistaken, however, tbe percentage of foreign people is likely to increase rather than diminish. The number of arrivals during the present year promise to reach SOO,000, the largest in the history of the country, and the per¬ secution of the Jews in Russia will serve to increase still further the immigration from tbat source. The local demand for labor ■is such that an unusually large proportion of these new-comers remain in New York; so that we may expect that tbe State census of 1S95 will show an even smaller proportion of native- born and bred whites tban did tbe national census of 1900. In view of tbe fact tbat this immigration is so large and promises to be still larger, it is extraordinary that tbe demand for some restriction does not become more insistent; but we believe that the ill-success whicb bas hitherto attended proposed restrictive measures is due to the conviction that tbe economic develop¬ ment of the coTintry is net in a position to dispense with the labor wbicb it derives from abroad. Moreover, while certain serious eviis undoubtedly attend this flood of immigration, there are not as yet any signs tbat the assimilative powers either of New York City or the whole country are becoming exhausted. The Jews whicb bave come within the past fifteen years are be¬ coming as wholesomely Americanized as tbe Irish and Germans, wbo nreceded them. THE decision of the Interborough company to enlarge a number of its stations on tbe Sixth and Ninth Avenue lines will be a great relief to passengers on tbe West Side, par¬ ticularly to those who use tbe express trains. The Barclay, Cortlandt and Rector Street stations of tlie Ninth Avenue line have long been not merely a discomfort to people who boarded nortb-bound trains between 5,15 and 6.30 in tbe evening, but a positive danger, Tbe Barclay Street station particularly would be a disgrace lo a small suburban railroad. The platform is en¬ tirely inadequate to accommodate the passengers who take tbe trains during tbe evening rush hours; there is no waiting room, and practically no protection against inclement weather. It is to be hoped that tbe improvements on tbese three stations will be begun immediately and tbat they will be completed so as to accommodate the great pressure of traffic which occurs during the few weeks whicb immediately precede Christmas. Tbe present arrangements at 1161b and 125th streets are also very inconvenient, and tbe new elevators aud escalators, wbich it is proposed to erect at these points and at 33d Street, will be a great convenience to the public as well as a source of additional income to the companj'. It is an extremely suggestive fact tbat in 1902 some 5,000,000 passengers boarded the trains at 116th Street, and that this was an increase of 25 per cent, over tbe year before. Tbe great increase of traffic was not due to ihe larger amount of living accommodations which was opened up during that year; it was due chiefly to the fact that the great region of flats and apartment houses served by the 116th Street station was more fully rented than ever before. Although those flats and apartment bouses are even more fully rented now tban they were in 1902, a corresponding increase will uot take place during the current year, because the new llOtli Street station, which has recently been opened, will relieve tbe pressure ou the llGtb Street station. In making these improvements the Interborough company is only fulflling its plainest obligations towards its passengers; but the disposition even to fulfil obliga-