Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 76, no. 1952: August 12, 1905

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Atlg-tlSt T2, 1905 RECORD AND GUTDE 2Sr ___•jM-^ ,_y - ESTABUSHED'^ i\ABpH BVT^ 1968. Dd^TED \0 RpA.LEsrWt.BuiLDlK'c AflCtdTECTUKE.HoUSEHOIDDEflOEtJTlOll,, Bus[(Jess aiIdThemes of GEriERil lliTEti.EST.; PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS Pubtished eVerg Saturdap Communications should ne addiaaaed to C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New York TelophoBe, Cortl.indt 3157 "Entered at the Post 0.fflce at New York, JSf. T.. as second-class Tfialler:' Copyright hy the Real Est.ite Record and Bailders' Guide Company. Vol. LXXVI. AUGUST ]2, 1905. No. 1952. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. {Advertising Section.) Page. Cement .............. xw Clay Products .......... xi'iv Conlr.ictcrs and B.;ilders. vi Fireproofing .......... ii Grauite .............. xlv Heating .............. xx Iron and Steel.......... xvili Law ................ Meta! Work ......... Stoi'e ............... Quick Job Directory.. Real Estate ......... Wood Products ...... Page. vlil xxii jxlii xxvii xil xxv! THE remarkable advances wtrich have recently been taking place ill the prices of a number of higli-pviced securities, have been the sensation of Wall Street; and they are as certain to result eveiitualiy in new financial arrangements on the part of the corporations concerned, as if the companies were failing instead of enjoying: extraordinary prosperity. Stocks which sell any where from 200 to 450 and which do not distribute more ihaii a small proportion ot" their net earnings, are not fit ma¬ terial for stock market trading. Schemes will undoubtedlv be worked out in the course of time whereby the assets which justify these high quotations will be distributed and repre¬ sented by larger volumes of securities which pay lower dividend rates and sell for less money. Such financial schemes have not been very much in favor during the past two years; but now that confidence has been restored, we may expect that the great manufacturers of securities will resume business. They cer¬ tainly have many opportunities to produce large volumes of saleable goods. In respect to these high-pricecl railway stocks, it is interesting to note that they consist, not of the great pas¬ senger trunk lines connecting the East and the West, but either of coal roads or of roads whose mileage runs west of Chicago. It is not the New York Central or the Pennsylvania which earns twenty per cent, on its stock and sells between 2fHl and 450; it is the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Delaware and Hudson and the Lackawanna. Doubtless one reason is that in the past financial history of the New York Central and ■"■f tfie Pennsylvania the melon has already been cut several times, but the lesson on the whole seems to be one which indicates the paying' quality of honest and competent railroad manage¬ ment. The Erie was almost irretrievably wrecked by its early controllers, although it operated a line from New York to Chicago, whereas Mr. Hill has managed to make a railroad which runs from Minneapolis to the Coast, through a compara¬ tively uninhabited country, earn twenty per cent, on its stock. RE^AL ESTATE trading is fair in volume, considering the season of the year; but it is devoid of new traits or in¬ teresting results. It is confined chiefly to flats and tenements. The demand for private residences is fair; but it is nothing extraordinary. No specific indication is afforded as yet of the dominant lines of activity during the coming season, but there is every reason to suppose that real estate and building trans¬ actions will continue to be much the same in character and volume as they have been during the past twelve months. The nndetlying conditions determining the whole movement—the enormous increase of the population of the city by immigra¬ tion, will not be altered, because the general business prosperity which attracts these aliens will persist. But while the popula¬ tion will be inci'easing, no additional means wii) be provided during the year of distributing It more effectually; and a large volume of new tenement house construction will be necessary lo accommodate it. These tenements will be constructd chielly in the east side of the Eronx, for it is becoming more difficult than it was to obtain good sites anywhere on the East Side or Manhattan. A better class of tenement house will be erected on Washington Heights in even larger numbers than during the past spring and .■iummer. Indeed, we should not be surprised to see plans filed for fully five hundred five or six-story flats to be erected on Washington Heights during the coming twelve months, and construction will also be commenced in the Dyck¬ man tract. We dou'pt very much, however, whether builders will erect private dwellings on the Heights in much larger numbers than they hiave hitherto, because the enlarged demand for residences is looking rather for houses on the East Side costing from .'i!4ll,0^10 up, than for a cheaper grade of residences. The existing supply of cheap houses on the West Side and in Harlem is apparently adequate to the demand; and tbat demand must be actually less than it used to be, because the supply is being constantly decreased (owing to the destruction of old buildings) without causing any noticeable increase in prices. So far as business property is concerned the area of activity and new building will be shifted a little further north, and under prevaijing conditions it should reach a large volume. During the next few years the majority of new loft buildings will be erected north of Twenty-third 'Street and along the lifie of Broadway. IT would seem as if it were scarcely worth while for the Lackawanna Railroad Company to erect another large and expensive terminal in Hoboken, for surely the oflicials of tha company must realize that they will be forced eventually to build into Manhattan, The company will be able to keep its present large suburban traffic, and to secure a fair share of the enormous increase of the future only by meeting the plans of its competitors. The competition of tlie Pennsylvania service might not make so much difference; but the trolley car per¬ vades every town in New Jersey, and in a few yoars will be carrying passengers without change and by express service into the heart of the business and amusement districts oi Manhattan. To ignore this competition or to pretend that the establishment of a ferry service to Twenty-third ."street is a . sufficient counter move would be the worst kind of business. Neither should the cost of the project be too great for the . Lackawanna Company. It would, indeed, be obliged to pur¬ chase a terminus as far east as Seventh Avenue somewhere north of Twenty-third Street; but it could probably share the expense with the Erie Company, and in any event tlie cost would be small compared to that which the Pennsylvania is incurring. A block of rea! estate should be sufficient for the station, and this purchase could be made partly to pay. its own expenses. Every year of delay means an increase in tj^e expense incurred and the time will come when further delay will be tantamount to the abandonment of its local passenger business. THE proposal of the nominating committee of the Citizens' Union to run Mr. Jerome for Mayor, is not a wise one; and Mr. Jerome himself will certainly know enough to reject it. He would make a much stronger running candidate for District Attorney than for Mayor; and there is no evidence that if he were elecled Mayor, he would make a competent official. The duties of the Mayor of New York are chiefly that of a business executive; and our Chief Magistrate should be first of all a man of affairs. But Mr, Jerome has little interest in municipal or any other kind of business. He is a lawyer, a moralist, a reformer and a popular exhorter whose business it is to talk, and the position of District Attorney suits him admirably. We believe that he has a much better chance to be elected District Attorney. There are many independent Tammanjr voters in New York who might vote for Jerome as a candidate for District Attorney, just as they voted for Roosevelt as a presi¬ dential candidate, but whose loyalty to the organization would not allow them to vote for Jerome as a candidate for Mayor. No; let Us have men of affairs for our Mayors—men who, no matter whether they are lawyers or not, show some technical interest in the tough details and problems of municipal finance and administration. AS the weeks go by, it becomes harder rather than easier to discover any serious flaws in the business situation. General trade throughout the whole country is reported by the mercantile agencies to be both large in volume and wholesome in character. The prosperity of the iron business for the next six months is assured, while at the same time there is no strong tendency towards a big boom and excessive prices. In certain lines premiums are being paid for early delivery, but the condition is not what it was in 1902. There is apparently no danger of any disturbing stringency in the money market during the remainder of the current year. There is every prospect that the crops will be unusually large in volume, and will neverthe¬ less be sold at profitable piices. In the stock market many of the best securities are selling at figures which do not ap¬ parently leave much room for a further advance; but according to the outlook there is nothing insecure about the striictiue of values. It has been obtained ihrough the puichase of stoclra by investors, and does not rest to any considerable extent upon borrowed money. In fact, there are no indications of a "boom" in any important part of the industrial and commercial territory. What we see iswholesome activity and steady expansion. Even the labor unions are on the whole content to enjoy their share of the spoils, so that the resources of the saving.s banks have been increasing during the past six months at an unexampled rate. Indeed, the situation looks so extremely satisfactory that an observer cannot help harboring a doubt whether it is really as good as it seems. A man cannot put his linger on certain tendencies as in 31102; and say that if this sort of thing keeps /