The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-30

With the subway instead OF on tho subway
s bearing q the hsss Of fat
the value OF land is evident. The rental
income Of q typical one or two family house
In The Bronx might reach $500 or $500 a
year. Perhaps q ajority OF the five story
flats erected this year along The e s1 70 saX
while occupying less ground than two pri-
vate dwellings In the past few weeks
between 5000 and 4 900 lots have changed
hands on and adjacent to the johnson tract.
They will all be improved with five story
they would be used for private houses.
The best Of them were selling at 81 500 each.
They now bring 1000 apiece;
about change so radical IN the cttys hons-
answer Is not far to seek. The city has
grown enormously In population. It has
made unprecedented progress In industry
and commerce and In the accumulation OF
wealth.. The crowding which ensued has
broader Interpretation Of its responsibility
for the maintenance Of proper vital and
social conditions. The advance In each
Of these directions, material and HUMANE
tartan. has made encroachments on the
parks, Fairgrounds. schools, Libraries baths
bridges, railway terminals, factories and
warehouses have been provided by the
demolition of thousands OF tenements.
Meanwhile the building Of new tenenents
has been checked by the enactment OF more
stringent legislation governing their con-
1t will be sufficient for the purpose OF
this article 10 note only those elements OF
the city's growth which have directly
affected the demand for cheap muld-family
houses. The expan sion Of industry and
commerce has given rise to an unexam-
pied demand for unskilled labor, which has
induced a corresponding increase in the
volume OF foreign immigration. Italian
attract by opportunities for employment
in the building trades, in local railway
building, in harbor improvements and in
publica nd sem-publio constructions. Munic-
ipal, Federal and great semi- public improve.
New York were carried on which involved
total expenditure OF 500, 00o
ma jority OF theso were started within
the four year period In question; and the
bulk OF .he common labor on all OF them
was performed by Italians
Even stronger encoura cement to foreign
Immigration wa held out by expa nson Of
the dry goods trade, The dry goods trade
is the greatest single commercial industry
In New York. 1t is the largest market OF
bined dry goods markets of london and
Manchester. The wave OF prosperity which
swept over the United States in the early
part OF the period under review reacted,
of course. on the New York dry goods trade.
creating emplo yment for vast army OIL
Jewish imniyra nts.
The ,d,ral Census Bureau figures New
York's increase Of population between
1870 and 1908 at 27s, 9s5. There is every
reason to believe that this estimat, is far
sents the foreign immigration. without
allowing for the growth by excess OF births
over deaths. According to the New York
Italian Chamber of Commerce, the local
Italian population has been increasing by
nearly $1,000 a year. The Jewish immi-
grafton probably now exceeds that figure.
Or 80,s15 Jewish immigrants who arrived
at our port last year. 1928 remained IL. the
city. OF A,l27 who came during May,
June. July and August tie present year,
81 $3.50 declared their intention to remain.
With these figures in mind 1t would seem
a conservative es innate to place the city's
recent annual growth at considerably more
than 10000 While population has been
expanding at what is from any point of
view an unprecedented rate, the supply OF
cheap housing has increased but slowly.
1t is estimated that 10000 people were
unhoused by the bull ding OF the East River
Bridge a. Delaney street. How many
were dispcssessed on the Pennsylvania. the
Grand Central and the North River tunnel
station sit e and on sites taken for parks,
schools and other public improvements is
not known, but the number Is certainly
very large.
1901 has tie nded to check the building Of
multi-family houses. Tenements, OF fire
resisting construction, planned on hygienic
principles, cost more than fiimsy, dark. un-
ventilated barracks. The new law cut
down the speculative Profits Of tenement
partially suspended until rents have ad-
vanced to higher level.
The avera &c amount OF capital invested
annually in new tenement house building
in Manhattan from 1895 to 1901, inclusive,
was $2s,Sl2,Ooo. In 1902, the year after the
new law went into effect. the amount was
sl5,252, 900 In 1908 it was s25, lo2, 900. OF
course, building material prices and interest
rates were high last year, and prolonged
fight, was waged between the Building
labor unions. However the members Of
the employers association do not, as
rule, enga &c In tenement house construction,
and the strike tended to benefit rather than
injure independent builders.
Furthermore In spite of high materia
prices and interest rates there was sui stan
tial increase Of general building through
out the city compared with the preceding
period. The investment for buildings OF
oil kinds in Manhattan. The Bronx and
average OF SOS, e4o,soe, as against only
SOS, lie, 900 In the preceding seven years
On the other hand, the average for tene-
ments in all these boroughs together was
several million dollars below the preceding
eeven wears avera ge in Manhattan alone.
Evidently the new law diverted capital
from tenement house construction to other
forms OF building enterprise. The law,
in fact, has been largely responsible for
the great riae in rents which has taken
place In Manhattan in the last two years
a rise amounting to IS per cent. on the
lower Fast Side and perhaps 80 per cent.
in Harlem. In the course OF 1902 and 10 0s
the city's depleted supply OF apartme nts
was replenished by new accommoda ton
for only 22,2i3 families, or, say. lli,210
| persons During the first ak months Of
the present year, under the stimulus OF
high rents and the near approach OF the
completion OF the subway, flats and tene-
ments accommodating 20.sss families or
| l0t, 100 persons, were projected.
From what has been said In the foregoing
it IL perhaps safe to hazard the guess that
accommoda tons for 100000 to 0,0c0 per-
sons might be added TO the city's present
supply Of apartments without more than
merely replac cling the surplus which ex-
listed when the construction Of the sub
way was begun In 1900. After that build
ers would still be kept busy uptown sup
plying the housing called for by the city
current growth OF popula ton:
This, then explaine why the effect OF