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Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 80, no. 2064: October 5, 1907

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October 5, 1907 RECORD AND GUIDE 513 ESTABUSHED'^ tlWPHSliiA 1868. DnÔTED p" Rp^L EsTAjĩ,BuiLDĩífc AjPírrcerui^ .KousnlOLD DEQCiĩĩí.Tiotí. BtfsntessAifoTHaaEsbFGEĩÍER^l WtEitfsi.. PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE EĨGHT DOLLARS Communications sh.ûuld be addressed to C. W. SWEET Publisôed Etíerg Saturdag By THE RECORD AND GUIDE CO. President, CLINTON W. SWEET Treasurer, F. W. DODGE Vice-Pres; & Genl. Mgr., H. W. DESMOND Secretary, F. T. MILLBR Nos. 11 to 15 Bast 34fh Streef, New Vork Cify (Telephoũe, MadisoQ Square, 4430 to 4433.) '•Eiitercd at tke Post Office at ĩítio York, N, y., ns sccontl-cltiss matter." Copyrighted, 1907, by The Reoord & Guide Co. Vol. LXXX. OCTOBBR .'3, 1907. No. 20G4. INDEX TO DEPARTMENTS. Advertising Section, Page. Page. Cement .......................xvi Lumber......................xx Glay Products................xvii Machinery....................xiv Coasulting Engineers..........vii Metal Work....................xiii Contractors and Buĩlders.......Iv Quick Job Directory............."ix Electrical Interests............xv Real Estate.....................'ix. Fireprooflng....................li Roolers aud Rooflng Materiala.xv Granite......................xviii Stone........................xviii Iron and Steel................viii Wood Products................xxi PRESIDENT JAMBS J. HILL., ,ot the Gréat Northern Railroact, and President Roosevelt disagree about inany questions of public policy, but it is by no means an accident that they also have points of agreement. The former gave oitt an înterview early în the week, iu which he predicted the eventtial breakdown of the railway systeins of the country as a means of transportation, and the abso- iiite necessity of developing the inland water-ways. The chief burden of Mr. Roosevelt's speeches in the Mississippi Valley has been the second of these ideas. He has been poiiit- ing out the absolute iiecessity of supplementing the railway^ by means of the larger use o£ canaĩs and rivers, and tiiere oan be no doubt that ia emphasizing the necessity for im- proved waterways he is performing a public service as ĩm- portant as that which he performed when he advocated a system of national irrigation. In this, as in certain other respects, the îndustrial practice of the United States is far behind that of Germany. Germany has sedulously devel- oped hér iuterna! waterways as a siipplement to her railway system, and the comparativeiy cheap means of transporta- tion thereby afforded have had much to do with the indus- trial expansion of the German Enipire, Ámerican indus- tries, on the other, hand, have been biiilt up under conditions which, the Great Lakes apart, makes them almost exclu- sively .dependent on the railways, and the railways them- selves, in their desire for tralĩic, have adopted a rate policy which prevented, wherever possible, the transportation of freight by water. If Mr. HiII's statements are well founded, this policy cannot be continued. The railways are unable to earry aĩl the traffic ofEered to them, because of the lack of sufflcient terminals, and they cannot afford to buy the iiecessary terrainals at prevaíling prices. In all this there is, we heĩieve, a certain amount of exaggeration. Mr. James J. Hill seeras to be in an over-wrought state of mind which prevents him from seeing things in a normal perspective, nevertheless there is much truth in his contentions, The industrial development of the country will suffer severely, unless a greater use is made of the waterways, and no time should be lost in planning a system of internal ĩmprove- 'ments for this purpose. New York took the lead in thi.s re- spect several year,ĩ ago by beginning the eulargement of the Brie Canal, but the National Government should adopt a similar, but a much more elahorate and comprehensĩve policy. enforcement of the tenement-house law. He proposes also, the reorganization of the Department of Charities and Cor- rection for the purpose of transferring the control of the city prisons to the Police Department. This, again, is an extremely desirabĩe change, for the association of the care of the poor and the sick with that of crimiuals is not based upon any rule of propriety or efficiency. What is still more important, he proposes the constitution of a Public Works Department, which shall include the existing departments of Building and of Bridges, and which will have control over much of the work now in the hands of borough ofĩĩ- cials. This should he one of the most useful of all the ad- ministrative reorganizations proposed by the Mayor, and with the assistance of a proper system of municipal ac- counting, it should conduce both to efficiency and economy in the expeuditure of the city's money. The usual objec- tion to these proposed changes is made on the score that no genuine contribution to good government can be made by means of tinkering with the Charter; but the whole hîs- tory of the municipal reform movement both in the city and throughout the country proves the superficiality of this ob- jection. Municipal niisgovernment has been due to many causes; but not the least among them has been an admin- istrative organization which denied the executive offlcĩals any efficient authority, and so relieved them of any real re- sponsibility. New York is now being better governed than it was ten or flfteen years ago, not only because the people are electing better officials, but because these officials after they are elected have more power than formerly and can be held to stricter accountability. The changes proposed by Mayor McCIelĩan all tend to carry a step farther this impor- tant process of simplifying the organization, and concen- trating both authority and responsibility, and the Charter Revision Commission should certainly adopt this prineiple as their dominant constructive idea. The commission should get to work very soon, and should ask for all the time it needs to complete its arduous and difflcuĩt task. MAYOR McCLELLAN has permitted the puhlicatîon of certain of his ideas in respect to charter revision. and' it ĩs much to be hoped that they will find favor with the Commission. Áll the changes he proposes look in the direction of a simplification of the administrative machinery of the city, the reduction in the number of the departmental ■ chiefs, and the concentration of their powers. He proposes. for ĩnstance, the organization of a Health Department which shall be responsible for the sanitary regulation and inspec- tion of the city in every respect—including, of course, the THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION has made a grave mistake in authorizing the construction of the Fourth Aveuue subway to South Brooklyn. In the course of time this subway, among others, should be built, but to spend as much money as will he needed for this improveraent at the existing Juncture is nothing less than a betrayal of the interests of the whole city for the benefit of a very small proportion of its inhabitants. The reasons which counsel ihe postponement of the construction of this subway are so numerous and so conclusive that we hope the Board of Es- timate will at the last moment refuse to assume all the risks which are implied thereby, and propertied interests in other parts of the city should bring the utmost pressure to bear upon the Board for the purpose of preventing the com- mission oĩ this grave mistake. As we all know, the city has a margin of less than $40,000,000 whĩch, during the next flve years, can possibly be devotedto subway construction, and why should the partially developed territory ofSonth Brooklyn be selected as the cemetery in which the larger part of this sum is to be buried. It must be remerabered that the appro- priation of $25,000,000 lor a tunnel to South Brookĩyn pro- hibits any other subway construetion, unless the debt mar- gin can be increased; and it raust be remembered also that there are other parts of the city which are in much greater need of genuine rapid transit than is South Brooklyn, The whole East Side of Mauhattan îs unprovided with subways. and its population is four-fold the population whîch will be aided by the Fourth Avenue subway. No doubt the East Side of Manhattan has its elevated railroads, but so has South Brooklyn. The action of the commission is equiva- lent to spending almost all the raoney available for rapĩd transit for the benefit of a few hundred thousand peoplo where it should and could be spent for the benefit of almost two millions. What could be mgre absurd than the con- struetion of a subway, whlch will run for miles by vacant lots, instead of constructing a subway through a part of the city whieh is congested with population and which Is equally in need of improved means of transit, New York is cer- tainly paying a high price for the purpose of preventing the collapse of the real estate boom in South Brooklyn. ONE TROUBLE IS that no one kuows how high the price will be. It may he assumed without hesitation that no bids wilĩ be received for operating the proposed subway. If the Interborough Company could see no profit in operat- ing under existing conditions subway extensions on the East and West sides of ManhattaP, it cau be imagined how roany