New-York tribune., 1920-12-20
Low er Cost
For Shipments
OF Materials
Railroads Restore Former
Practice of Free Lighter
age, Thereby Lowering
Charges for Hauling
Big Demand for Old Brick
Price Changes This Week
Downtown. Particularly
for Glass and Flooring

Lower costs Of handling building
materials in this market seemed pos
,iblc toward the weekend when an
nouncement was made by leading rail-
roads entering this harbor to the effect
that free lighterage practice was being
restored, according to the current Dow
Service Daily Building Reports
For the present the Pennsylvania,
New York Central. Central Railroad of
New Jersey. Lehigh Valley and Lacka-
wanna will give free }ighterage under
permit, but it is expected that within
the near future it will be possible to
obtain bulk deliveries in New York
harbor without this Imitation The
restoration Of this practice, which was
annulled as a war measure at once
brings down the cost OF handling build
ing materials from 5 to s. ton, rep
resented by the additional cost OF
trucking over varying distances from
car sidings at railroad terminals
Trucking of heavy building materials
has been necessitated from places
twenty miles away from jobs in this
city and vicinity in order to get ma
tcrials. Under the free lighterage
practice railroad shipments viii ter
inmate at dealers docks on car floats.
1t is expected that all the roads enter
ing New York Will restore the practice.
This outgrowtl of persistent efforts
on the part Of bul.ding material dealers
here 10 get bacN as soon as possible to
pre- methods of doinc business is
being hailed witA satisfaction as prob
ebly one OF the most forward stepping
accomplishments of the postwar read
Justment period. Il comes at a time
when winter weather makes trucking
costs heavy and a burden upon every
buyer of building materials. 1t should
therefore be reflected in a considerable
price saving to consumers on shipments
coming IN from this time.
Cheaper Price for Materials
Price changes this week are mostly
downward. and are particularly notice
able in a lowering of plate glass prices
two points on sizes over five square
feet and on hardwood flooring. The
trade looks for another drop of around
20 cents barrel on Gem WIT before the
end OF the year, due principally to the
fact that the cement companies are
nearly all quite hungry for business
in the absence Of which some of the
largest plants began to close down last
week
A strange situation is developing in
the brick market New brick being of
fered here at the bottom of the price
range is being considered as inferior
to secondhand brick, and when ownel 5
tear down buildings to make way for
new ones they save the CID brick. in
stead Of selling them, and lay them
again in the new structure. Conse-
qUently there is a growing dearth of
secondhand brick. and prices are even
! more in some cases than are new brick
Second-ha brick, of good quality. for
I example, are bringing S23 a thousand.
delivered, as against q delivered price
for new common brick of from $2l to
S25. Some Of the common brick manu-
facturers are covering their brick on
barge alongside Of dock here for the
winter rather than sell at the whole
sale prices now ruling. which are Sl6
to SIS thousand dock. New York.
The delivered price includes the Gus
rtomary charges for handling, haulage
ard l5 per cent.
AS for general construction, it is
Stacking perceptibly November was
almost a third behind October in new
construction projects, taking the coun-
try as whole, and was almost hall OF
what November, 1919, recorded The
number of new projects registered was
not quite SO disappointing.
All hope for support for building
material activity from railroads next
year has been thrown into the discard.
The railroads are not sure that they
are going to realize their expected
earnings and are pretty sure to defer
their general expansion and develop
ment programs until 1922
Many Plants Closing Down
The building material manufacturers
foresee the reverse side to the present
trend of conditions in the building in
dustry. Out of all the whirlpool Of
evidence gathered and stil to be gath
cred by various state, municipal and
national Investigations there is grow
ing q natural disposition on The part
of the building commo oditv producers to
take a safe, waiting course. Material
men are even now preparing TO await
for the actual market demand to event
uate. They Will not anticipate the con-
struction markets requirements for
next year, and even though their stocks
are lower thar they have been in many
years, with q prospective demand great
er than this country has ever known
chey are one by one shutting down
Building material manufacture as an
industry was the first to feel the bust
ness reaction coming, and it is likely
10 De tNe iaSL 10 leeI the recovery.
When the recovery does come building
material purchasers will find them
selves in comparatively barren
market.
The whole inventory Of the cement
industry of the United States to-day is
barely $4,000 600 1t should be three
times that figure. upon : mill base Of
50 barrel. Water systems, road WORKS
and requirements for municipal i'm
provements next year will greatly ex-
ceed one-half Of the mill output, which
this year will approach $4,000, 600
barrels. The stock, per mill, in the
country right now is only about 5000
barrels, and many OF the plants are
shutting down even with such low
reserve. In zones i and ,, supplying
+ New York, % per cent of the mill
output has already been spoken for
for road work in New York, New Eng
land and New Jersey. There is not as
] much reserve common brick in manu-
REAL ESTATE