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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 80, no. 2051: July 6, 1907

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Jiily 6, 1907 RECORD AND GUĨDE ^ ESÎABUSHED'ÍQ>M^CHeiíî>l868. DEV&ĩflJpRp^LESTWt-BinLDĨJÍG A,R,cKrrECTUI^,HoU3ElíOUlI)KÍI|JIlMl, Busn/ESS AffoTHEtíEs OF GEfJERjl llftrafSl^ PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EIGHT DOLLARS CommunicationE should be addressed to C. W. SWEET Published EVery Satnrdoy By THE RECORÍ) AND GUIDE CO. Presideot, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE Vice-Prea. & Geni. Mgr., H. W, DBSMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLBR Nos. 11 to 15 East 24tli Street, New yoi-k City Teiephone, Madison Square, 4430 to 4433. "Entereil at tke Post Offiee at New York, W. Y., cs SfCoiiiZ-tioss matter." Copyrlghted, 11)07, by Tbe Record & Guide Co. Vol. LXXX. JULY 6, 1907. No. 2051. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. Advertising Section. Page. Page. Cement .......................xvi Lumber....................xxii Consulting Eigineers ..........vi Machinery ..................viii Clay Products .................xx Meta! Work .................xvii Contractors and Builders.......iv Quick Job Directory..........xxii Eiectrica! Interests ...........ix Real Estate ...................xí Fireproofing ..................iĩ Roofers & Rooflng Materials.. xxi Granite .....................xviii Stone ....................xviii iron and Steel .................s Wood Products ............xxiii ALTHOUGH prices of stocks dealt in on the Stock Ex- change are in evidence six days of the weelt out of the seven, it is not always possible to say anything new, week in and week out, in a review of the market for that -perĩod. News of little iniportance and the national holi- day have made transactions in Wall Street this week of a eharacter similar to what they were last week. The im- provement has been maintained, the tone is better aud there is a much more hopeful feeling. Most of the tradiug has been professional, with some proflt-taking reactions in prices followiug, but the technical position of the market has not heen materially altered. Union Paciflc and United States Steel may be said to represent respectively railroads aud industrials. All kinds oE reasons were given for the advance of the issue so strongly identiíied with_ the name of Harriman, one of which was that a large private hank- ing house had been borrowiug a great deal of money on Union PaciQc as collateral and employiug it to support the bull movemeut to induce subscriptions during next week to the Union Pacific convertible bonds.. While this may not be the case, Uniou Paciflc has a host of believers in its fu- ture and higher figures are freely predicted for it. As to Steel there is again talk of an increase of the dividend rate on the common stock at the forthcoming meeting this month. During the iast six months the corporation has earned ?81,000,000 net, while its net earnings for the cur- rent year are estimated at from Ĩ155,000,000 to $160,000,- 000—truly a remarkable showing. The efforts to get \ip a cotton crop scare on the government report on cottou con- ditions up to Juue 25th have temporarily succeeded, Octo- ber futures in New Orleans scoring an advance of forty points. While 72 is certainly a low percentage of condi- tion it must not be forgotten that government reports are not always accurate, and the cotton scare may be but a rep- etition of the reeent grain crop scare, which at one stage of the excitement would have left us ■without auy crops at all. Wall Street helieves that a large proportion of the July dividend and interest money will flud its way in the near future into good stocks as an investment. There is not the same confidence with regard to bonds that are in little de- mand. Real estate and huildiug iuterests are uaturalĩy concerned ahout the present rates both for call and time funds. Call money touched 10 per cent., declining to 5, the ruling rate heing ahout 8. This is in strong contrast to Londou, where it was quoted at 1%. The high rates here are looked upon as temporary. IT was iuevitahle that the site of the present Fîfth Aveuue Hotel should before long be improved with an office buildiug. The old hotel could uot eompete advantageously with the newer buildings, whĩch have recently beeu erected farth,er north, and its situation is better adapted to husiness than it is to hotel purposes, When the new buildiug is erected it will be oue of the very largest in the city, for it will eover an area equal to tweuty-one city lots, and it wiU be twenty-four stories high. Douhtless such an enormous increase oE rentable space iu this immediate vjcinity will not be entirely occupied for several years. There is not any- thing like the demand for ofiĩces in the vicinity of Madison Square as there is in the financial district, and the new Fifth Avenue huildiug will almost double the rentahle offlce space in its immediate neighhorhood. But the rapidity with which the Brunswick Building is being occupied indicates thaĩ the larger structure wiíl soon be as fuli as the St. James or the Fiatiron Building. The neighhorhodd of T^venty-third Street and Broadway is destined to be the most Jmportant centre north of the Cîty Hall of that kind of business transacted in offices, rather than in shops and in lofts, and the whole of Madison Square wiU eventually be hordered with huge skyscrapers, and it is a good thing for the city that such will be the case. Office buildings ereeted on a spacious square are much less objectionable than they are upon an avenue or a street. They interfere less with the light and aír of other buiidings, and they, themselves, afford a much better quality of light to their occupants. Moreover, when they can be seen from a spacious square they look much 'more impressive than they do when they front only on a street. The full beneflt of their height and mass can he imparted to the design. What, with the Fuiler Building, the Metropolitan tower and the new FiEth Avenue Building, Madĩson Square will become architecturaily the most overpowering, if uot the most interesting, square ín the city. IN RESPECT to the Public Utilities Commission for thís district, one cannot help remarking at the outset that its membership is distinctly inferior to that of■ the old Rapid Transit Couimission. The new officials have had a certain amount of experience as publie administrators or in legisla- tive bodies, but they are not remarkable either for proved ability or for the puhlíc confidence which they enjoy. They cousist aĩmost entirely of lawyers, and there is not among them either a civil engineer or a practical railroad or trans- portation man, or one especially acquainted with the needs of our great real estate development interests. A commission of this kind obviousJy has a great deal to learn before it can become an efficient pubiic servant, and it is to be hoped that while it is learniug its business it will not by any errors it may make forfeit public confldence. It by no means fol- lows that a group of comparatively undistinguished men may not in the end develop into an excellent aud faítbful body of administrators, hut it is a pity they do not at the outset commaud more confldence, beeause they cannot af- ford to make many mistakes, The Record aud Guide is not surprised, however, that a more distinguished group of men could not be found, for the task of the uew commission is one of incalculahle difficulty. It has been constituted because puhlic opinion has been díssatisfled with the unreg- ulated action of the puhlic utilities companies—because, that is, these companies in pursuing their seiflsh interests have not conformed to the publie interest. The commissiou con- sequently will be ex'pected aggressively to assert the public iuterest as opposed to the private interests of the corpora- tions, and if it faîls to do so, it will eome in for viqlent criticism. On the other hand, it is equally important that the commissíon should not whoUy antagouize the corpora- tions which have been placed nnder its jurisdiction. It is uecessary that these corporations should in the publie in- terest constantly iucrease and improve the service which they offer to the puhlic; and, if the corporations believe themselves to be iil-treated it will be impossible to fiud the capital for such improvements. The mere appointment of the commission has already helped to injure the financial standing of the Interborough-Metropolitan Compauy and hurt its credit. In short, the task of keeping the coufl- deuce of the public, and at the same time of working har- moniously with the corporations, canuot heĩp but he very difflcult, while it may prove to be impossible. Moreover, the difficulty will he increased by the anomalous situatiou of the eommissiou in respeet to the regular municipal ad- ministration. The Mayor, the Comptroller and the other elected offlcials uaturally resent the action of the Legisla- ture aud the Governor in bestowing on an indepeudent eom- mission such important local functions; aud they wiĩl, at least in the beginning, treat the new commissiou as an un- warranted intruder in the field of muuicipal administration. This open antagonism of the municipal officials will embar- rass the work of the commission. Altogether the new com-