May 16, 1891





Record   and   Guide.





777







2>-''            ^           ESTABLlSHED%;WARPH2l'-i'^1858.

De/oteO to f^EJ^L EsrwE - Buildii/c T^cediECTui^E .Household Degoi^tioiJ.
BusirJEss do Themes^ of GEHEfVi 1;Jtei\est







PRICE, PER VEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

published every Saturday.
Telephone,      _      -      -      -      Cortlandt 1370.
Commnnications should be addi-essed to

C. W.  SWEET,  14,&  i6 Vesey St,

J. 7\ LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XLVII





MAY 16,  1891.





No. 1,209





NOTICE OF REMOVAL.





The publication o^ces of The Recced and Guide have been
removed to Nos. 14 and 16 Vesey street, over The Mechanics' and
Traders' Exchange, a few feet -west of Broadway.

THE Stock Market this week has been suffering from the eame
coDdifcions, temporary do doubt but acute, which have inhib¬
ited the moderate advance that was justified b? our own industrial
condition. On the whole, and up til! Friday, it bore the strain
very well; but the accumulation of rumors, the distrust which the
continued shipments of gold bave created, tbeioabilityof anyone to
foretell tbe time of their cessation will be sufficient to check any
advance for the present. Consequently, the Stock Market must be
described as a waiting one. It is believed, however, that when the
shipments cease, a reverse movement will set in very rapidly. But
until it turns, any^discussion of the conditions wiiich ordinarily
contribute to the makiug of a market is quite futile.





ALTHOUGH during the past week Paris has apparently been
the seat of all the foreign troubles, owing to its more inti¬
mate connection with Lisbon, yet, unless affairs atthe latter centre
assume a still more threatening aspect, it is probable that the
seat of any future disturbance is more likely to be Berlin. One
correspondent writing from that city says: " No business, no
enterprise, no prospects for improvenient. This in a nut shell is
tbe position of the market." The bear party are having it very
much their own way. The public do not venture into any new
operations, and it is considered most fortunate that they do not all
rush to sell. There is not seetuingly any lack of money. Large
amounts of capital are seeking safe and remunerative invest¬
ments, without apparently very much chauce of success.
Most of it in the ordinary course of things would be invested in real
estate and house property; but tbis field has already been over¬
worked. In nearly all lhe Germa.u cities and towns, and particu¬
larly in Berlin, the rapid and constant growth of population bas led
to very extensive building; but this class of investment has
forthe time being become unrenumerative, Argentines are still
on tbe decline, tbe public continuing to sell. The committee for the
protection of the creditors will dispatch an agent to Buenos Ayres
to negotiate with the government; audit is said that the German
Governnient will give earnest support to the remonstrances of the
creditors. One of the main sources of weakness in Paris, according
to a well-informed writer is the engagements of the joint-stock
banks. The new hian, so successfully floated, has been very weak,
for which the French Government will be held responsible, as in
its eagerness to obtain acollossal subscription, that would compare
with some of the great loans under the Empire, the price was
fixed so low that investors heid aloof, being certain that tliey
would only obtain a small fraction of their demaJds. The conse¬
quence was that a great part of the loau was allotted to weak specu¬
lators, who were forced to realize after the first call for allotment
became due. The disquietude in both London and Paris is caused
less by apprehensions ot difficulties afc home than by apprehensions
of what may occur to Neighbors. The Austrian Government are
going immediately to begin some of the improvements which we
mentioned two weeks ago. The three in-incipal undertakings,
which it is hoped will form the basis of development on a large,
scale for Vienna are the building of the city railway, the
adaptation of the Danube Canal for heavy navigation, and
the covering up of the Vienna River, which receives all the
refuse of tbe Western and Southern districts, and is a great hind
ranee to the healthy development of the Danube City. The Gov¬
ernment promises £333,000 towards these works.. As much agam
will be paid by the Crownland, and the rest must be found by
Vienna. If the river and its unhealthy exhalations are covered up
tJj? city railroad may be expected to run ou the ground thus gained





and a splendid direct avenue may be formed, 'reaching from the
Raditsky Bridge, in tbe neighborhood of the Opera House, to the
Emperor's handsome summer seat. Castle Schobrum, Then the
quay on the Danube Canal will be laid out in docks and ware¬
houses to bring the rich harvests of Hungarv to the city railway
for transmission to the railway systems branching from Vienna in
all directions.





THE Record and Guide has persistently favored any means taken
to grant to the Manhattan Company an increase of terminal
facilities at Battery Park, on the ground thafc it was tbe only feasi¬
ble plan proposed which would provide the immediate alleviation
required, pending the construction of a more substantial and more
complete system. The new proposition of the company, however,
opens up-a far larger field for discussion; and the reasons which ren¬
dered an increase'of facilities in Battery Park desirable and neces¬
sary have but a slight bearing upon the larger question just opened
out. One thing, however, is certain. The proposal must be con¬
sidered on ite merits—as the plan of a company, which has thebest
opportunities for understanding the various requirements of the city
in respect to rapid transit, and all the resources necessary for the
construction of the needed lines. Vituperation about monopohes and
speculators are sometimes uot uninteresting, but here they are not
at all to the point. The Manhattan Company, after all has been
said, has been as satisfactory a public servant as most railways ; it
is ready to extend its service, and though we may not think its
proposals entirely adequate, alill they cannot be summarily ruled
out of court.





FOR tbe purposes of clearness, it will be well immediately to
draw a distinction between the proposed new lines thafc
are designed to meet requu-ements which are already existing, and
which undei-any circumstances will continue to exisi, and those
designed primarily aud principally to meet tbe larger re¬
quirements of an indefinite future. It will be admitted,
we think, that the reasons which justify the fulfillment
of the former are of a very dfferent order from which
justify or are supposed to justify the fulfillmeut of the
latter. In respect to the first class, there can be no question but
tbat tbe Manhattan Company should be granted what it asks. It
should be permitted to so connect its own lines one with another,
and with certain of the ferries, thafc thepeople who, under any cir¬
cumstances, will use the elevated tracks can use them with the least
waste of time and trouble. It sbould be allowed, that is, to build
the route, beginning at the City Hall Station and going through
Centre street. Canal street, through Canal sfcreet to Watfcs street,
and through Watts street to West street. Furthermore, unless the
route interferes with any scheme of the Commission, it should
perhaps be jjermitted to build from the Battery Park Station up
West street to Bloomfield , street, into 10th avenue
and up that aveaue to 14fch street, and thence to its
present stations on. 9th and 6th avenues at thafc street.
In the same way and for the same reasons the Ninth avenue line
should be connecLed witb lhe Sixth avenue line by means of a road
running from Greenwich sti-eet to Houston streefc, tbrough Clai-k-
son street to Carmine street, and through Carmine stieet to 6th
avenue, uniting with the present line just where it turns up West
3d street. The utility of all these extensions is obvious. Tbey
will aid the transmission of passengers from one route tn another—
something which can take place at present only at Battfry Park.
Tbey will bring to our shops and theatres an increasing number of
Brooklyn and Jersey people; and they will enable New Yorkers to
reach the ferries and the .Bridge conveniently. Furthermore, as
all this will be done for a uniform five cent fare, the public will
reap an enormous advantage without having to pay directly tor it.
The commentaries on the scheme tendered by Mr. Gould also
show that the increased number of tracks and larger termini thus
created will do much to rplieve the present over-crowding par¬
ticularly on the yd avenue line. Or to put the whole matter in a
sentence, the nevv routes will provide for the more efficient collec¬
tion and the better distribution of the traflic—the main thing
needful.





THE considerations, bowever, which would lead any fair-minded
man to approve of sucb extensions as will promote the com¬
pleter articulation ot the present system do not apply fco the exten¬
sion ui> the Boulevard and llth avenue and u(> 8Lh avenue. In so
far as this partof the plan is concerned, we are inclined to sympa¬
thize with the position taken by the daily newspapers. If it be
practicable to avoid filling those streets with elevated strucfures,
tbey sbould be excluded. If tbe only alternative to elevated struct¬
ures in the streets were an uudergronnd road, no doubt the
elevated tracks would be preferable, unless the advocates of
an underground system can prove more satisfactorily thau they
bave yet done, that tunnel travt-ling can be made pleas¬
ant. But if consistent wifch agi-eeable transit, the streets
should be sa.ved from disfigurement. Furthermore, since
it is supremely p.e.ce5S3.ry that the new system should be able t^o