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RECORD AND GUIDE.
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DD&TED P Rf\L ESTAJT. BuiLDIf/G A,^rrECTUnE .tfousEUoiL DE(!(i;(n>L
Bi/sd/ess aiJd Themes of Gei^er^L IKtxrjsi.
price per year in advance six dollars.
Published every Saturday.
Telephone; ......... Coktlandt 1370.
Communication's Bhould be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veaey Street.
/. T. LINDSE'V, Business Manager.
"Entered at the Post-Offlce at New Yorlt, N. Y., as second-class matter."
Vol. LXV.
JUNE 16, 1900..
No. 1683.
NO comment is necessary on this week's movement of prices
on the Stock Market, because it is simpiy a continued re¬
sult of the fretful mood which took possession of the puhlic some
time ago. All the evils of the situation are exaggerated and the
good minimized or disregarded. The case waa fully analyzed
last week, and it is, therefore, unnecessary to go over it again;
it is sufficient to point out that so long as this mood continues
there can be no expectation of revival in either trading or in
prices. If any want an object that they can regard with cheer¬
fulness, they can flnd it in our returns of foreign trade, which
for eleven months increased about $309,000,000, In the total, the
increase being nearly equally divided between imports and ex¬
ports, and only favoring the latter moderately. Lately, how¬
ever, this balance of increase has changed and largely favored
exports. In May the increase of the latter was 519,662,330, and
that of imports $1,395,488 only, fi-om which figures it will be
seen how much more we are selling than we are buying abroad
at the moment. This, though very satisfactory in itself, is not
the most important feature of the return, which is that it in¬
dicates how rapidly the business of the country is growing, it
being permissible to take it that the home ti-ade increases in as
great or even greater proportion than the foreign. Such a cal¬
culation leads on to the conclusions that there is sufficient basis
for the greater'amount of securities that recent years have pro¬
duced as well as for the higher quotations that established in¬
vestment issues bring. What may be called the permanent
growth of the business of the country is what calculations for
the movements of securities in the long run should be based on.
Just now abnormal prices of commodities have had to be cut,
but at the same time the demand for the commodities is good,
and, as the public acts promptly when they see a thing, as soon
as they see this it will have its proper effect in trading and spec¬
ulative centres. Meantime, however, things must be dull and
prices sag. Money rates invite operations on the bull side and
the action of the Northern Pacific directors in declaring a divi¬
dend of one per cent, instead of two, or one and an extra one, is
an encouraging instance of the conservatism guiding railroad
management.
THB demand for the reform of the legislative branch of our
city government acquires support from the merely factious
refusal of the Board of Aldermen to approve the issue of bonds
for the work in the New East River Bridge. The bridge is a ne¬
cessity in the development of the two boroughs it connects, much
money has been spent upon it ali-eady, and not only is this made
unremunerative, but the increase in values of the property that
will be directly benefited cannot mature. Consequently, the city
loses in two directions; one, on the money already invested and
the other in retardation of the growth of tax values. As to the
public, they are even more injured than the city, owing to the
added delay that the action of the Board of Aldermen must put
upon this enlargement of the facilities of communication between
the two boroughs. Under generous support fi'om those who
can open and close the municipal purse strings, the bridge would
now be nearly completed. The first contracts were let and work
begun nearly four years ago, and the engineers estimated that it
would take only about four years to complete the bridge if ap¬
propriations were promptly made as required. Owing to the dis¬
turbance of the city's finances as a result of consolidation, but
more by faction fights in the Board of Aldermen, funds to push
the work on time have not been forthcoming, and, consequently,
the completion of the bridge is delayed not only beyond the date
set for it, but with a sort of indefiniteness that is positively ex¬
asperating to thousands of people who need it. The sum of an¬
noyance and inconvenience resulting from the squabbling of the
Board of Aldermen over this appropriation is positively incal¬
culable. The members of the board know all these things Just
as well as we do, but that makes no difference; personal, party
or sectional feeling stands In the board above all public duty.
This has been the case ever since the five borougha were un¬
willingly forced Into one government, and it is an evil that the
Charter Revision Commission ought to take into account and
devise a remedy for. The approval of appropriations for public
improvement must either be excluded from the powers of the
municipal legislature the revised charter will create, or tha
means for its exercise must be such that a small disgruntled
minority cannot block it for petty reasons such as stand at this
moment in the way of the completion of a great and needed pub¬
lic improvement.
The Tyranny of Labor.
â– ^ HE Indictment of labor organizations before the Industrial
1 Commission at Washington by the Secretary of the South¬
ern Industrial Convention, ought to put the discussion of the
labor problem, or the problem of the relations between employer
and employed upon a proper basis, and in the way of satisfactory
elucidation. The charges made by Mr. N. P. Thompson against
labor leaders are briefly: Spread of socialism, creation of a cit¬
izenship of organization in place of one of country, disregard
of the rights of others, destruction of respect for law, creation
of class antagonisms, insistance on legislation discriminating
in favor of organized labor against the rest of the community-
destruction of the right of individual contract; tyranny against
those of the working classes who are in any way inimical to their
policy and the bringing of reproach upon the judiciary. Sup¬
port for all of these charges can be found by going all over the
country for It, but they do not all apply to labor leadership iu,
probably, any one particular section Just yet. Labor leadership]
like all other things, has Its extremes, and It Is agamst these
extremes, probably, that Mr. Thompson has directed his bill of
charges.
It Is obvious from what Is happening Just now In the West
that organized labor Is able to influence the authorities and the
courts there to a very unwholesome extent: but it cannot be said
that a similar state of things exists In this State for Instance.
Outrages on property and person have accompanied strikes,
even In this city, but they have arisen from the low and brutal
instincts of Individuals, rather than from the policy of organ¬
izations, and, further, have met with prompt resistance. If not
with proper punishment, by the authorities. While It is fair
to point to these facts. It is not wise to try to minimize the dan¬
gers of the situation. The standard of order and respect for
the law is a little higher in the East than In the West, that Is
all. Given the encouragement organized labor will become as
tyrannical and as subversive of good government in the one
section as In the other. The declared position of the labor leader
everywhere is that he will get all he can for his constituents; if
his agencies are limited to supply and demand, he will use those
for whatever they are worth, but If also he finds a weak legisla¬
ture and a weak Judiciary those also he will use as far as he
dare. Only last winter a bill was introduced into the Legislature
of this State to take away from the courts the power to Issue in¬
junctions in cases involving dispute between employer and em¬
ployed. Though it was defeated it shows the trend of union
policy.
So far the remedies suggested for these evils have been either
impracticable or Ineffective. The latter is particularly the case
with boards of arbitration created by State legislatures. Mr.
Thompson recommends these again; also the legal Justification
of homicide committed in resisting illegal acts of strikers and
the making of strikes and boycotts felonies under the law; the
latter savor too much of the savagery against which they are
directed to be acceptable. If all labor disputes could be brought
within the jurisdiction of the law and, where irreconcilable,
litigated like any other civil claim, a great deal would be gained,
but where this has heen tried it has not succeeded, probably be¬
cause of the difficulty of securing a court competent to pass upon
the vast range of technical matters that must necessarily come
before it. In the organization of employers for resistance to
labor demands within legal lines, and the creation of courts of
arbitration within individual trades, there Is great hope of im¬
provement. The Mason Builders' Association of this city and
the relations they have cultivated with their union help is a
striking example of this. Unfortunately many occupations do
not lend themselves to this kind of government, and it is from
these that most is to be feared and against which other protec¬
tion has to be sought.
In considering this question, and especially those phases that
excite indignation through the lawlessness they create, the low
standard of the public service should be taken into account. This
ia directly due to the want of public spirit in what should be the
best elements—but are not because of this want—and their