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Febmary 3. 18P4
The Record and Guide.
105
THE RECORD AND GUIDE.
Published every Saturday.
191 Broadway, N. Y.
TERMS:
OXE f EAR, iu adrance, SIX DOLL&ES.
Commniiicationa should be addressed to
C. W, SWEET, 191 Broadway.
J, T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.
FEBRUARY 2, 1884.
There is a decidedly better fetling in the stock market; the tide
Beema to have turntd for the present at least. The"6oft" spotsin
the market seem lo have hardened, and the liquidation bas been
completed in the weaker securities. If this better feeling con¬
tinues, and men wise in the mysteries of the "street" think it
will, it Is an indication full of promise for tlie trade of the coun¬
try. The boom of 1879 commenced in Wall street, as did the busi¬
ness depression in the summer of 1881. A change for the better in
the same quarter now would mean an improved feeling in all de¬
partments of trade further along. The country is full of money,
our industrial machinery is in admirable order for a large busmcss,
and should confidence be even partially restored matters will mend
for the remainder of the year. Real estate would undoubtedly get
the benefit of this improved feeling should it continue.
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There is trouble with labor in France due to over-building. The
French are ahead of any other nation in using coi-porations for
improving realty in large cities. It was the French who invented
Credit Mobiliers for constructing railways and canals, and tbey
have also been first in the field in using corporate wealth to rebuild
sections of cities and improve neighborhoods which had decayed
or were surrounded by unfa^ orable conditions. But the corpora¬
tions were lured on by their success into excessive building, which
has turned out to be unprofitable ; lience the stories which reach
us by cable of the discontent among the laborers connected with
the building trade. Tho crisis has proved eo serious that it bas
been the subject of anxious conferences iu tbe cabinet meetings
and frequent debates in the Chamber of Deputies. So far corpo¬
rations have not been used to build houses in American cities, but
it is very evident, before many years aro over, tliat companies ^^ill
take the place of individuals in building not only blocks but whole
sections of the various cities. A company would not be so much
embarrassed by questions of title as individuals now are, AVe are
now also provided with an Exchange in which tbe shares of such
companies could be dealt in.
The tenement house cigar statute has been declared unconstitu¬
tional by the Court of Appeals, because its enactment conflicted
with that provision of the State constitution which provided that
" no private or local bills which may be passed by the Legislature
shall embrace more ihan one subject, and that shall be expressed
in the title." How strange it is that Lajjislatures composed almost
exclusively of lawyers should persist in passing statutes so care¬
lessly framed as to bo in direct violation of the fundamental law.
It is possible tbat iu this particular case the lawyers who drew up
the bill and had it passed intended to cheat the working people
who demanded the enactment of this law, but still the fact
remains that the tendency of all class legislation is to tax the com¬
munity for tbe benefit of the ruling profession. Tlie landlords
who compose tho bulk of the British legislators never forget the
landed interest, and the lawyers who swarm in our State aid
national capitals do all they can to promote litigation. A case in
point is our criminal law. Under recent rulings every murderer
can have two trials, one before a court and then another on
appeal before all the judges ot that particular court. Now it is
proposed to give a murderer three trials, and a bill is actually
before tbfl LegisUiture authorizing the Court of Appeals to re-try
every criminal convicted in a lower court of law. Is it any won¬
der that the people of Long Island propose to take the law into
their own hands when our courts fail to mete out punishment to
tho vej-y worst offenders, and all for the purpose of swelling the
bills of the lawyers? As for the tenement house cigar statute it is
just as well tbat it was declared unconatitutional; had it been
enforced it would have driven from NewYork an industry that
supports some forty thousand persons. It would be a serious mat¬
ter to East Side property were there to be no cigars made in tene¬
ment houses.
the columns of tbe Times had been suppressed ; but his ears stuck
out again on Thursday last when he was permitted to make tbat
paper a laugliing stock by declaring that the only persons inter¬
ested in the price of silver were the American mine owners. This
fool in finance actually did not seem to be aware of the fact that
the mass of mankind use silver money in all their dealings. It is
tbe sole money metal of Asia and a great part of Africa, as well
as of Central and South America. Even in gold unit countries it
is the money of all retail trade. Anything affecting tbe price of
silver is of the highest personal interest to tbe myriads of working
people who crowd this planet. The apparent depreciation in the
price of silver made by positive law in England, Germany, the
United States and a few other nations has caused widespread suf¬
fering over all the nations of the earth. Yet tho Times a.nd Herald
actually permit writers access to their columns who know abso¬
lutely nothing of this vitally important matter. Mr. George Jones
ought to "fire" that fool out of his editorial rooms.
The Record and Guide recently quoted Mr. Sharpe, tbe well-
known English railway attorney, as saying tbat the two addilioDEl
tracks should never have been constructed on the New York Cen¬
tral roadbed. He alleged that at tbe time Commodore Vanderbilt
was laying the two additional tracks, the New York Central was
used only six hours out of the twenty-four in transacting its great
business. This statement of Mr. Sharpe's was supposed to he
unwarranted, but General Winslow, of the West Shore Road, iu an
mterview with a reporter of the Commercial Advertiser, says :
"The New York Central road earns, so far as can be asceitaiued,
between New York and Buffalo, about $3^000,000. The whole of
this traffic could easily be carried over the New York. West Shore
& Buffalo Railway on account of tbe superiority of its alignment,
grades, and equipment. In other words, the tiao tracks of the West
Shore Railway, ivhen the sidings and terminal facilities 2>rovidcd
are fully completed, will have tlie capacity of transporting all ihe
present traffic of the New York Central Mead. Mr. Vanderbilt has
foui- tracks between Albany and Buffalo for handling this traffic."
This statement will not be disputed by any conipeteni railway man,
and lience the criminal folly of building another road between
Albany and Buffalo. It can he demonstrated tbat the Central with
the same tracks could do all the through and local business of Iho
Erie and Lackawanna as well as the West Shore ; nay, more, if the
Erie Canal should dry up, its enormous business in heavy freights
could be easily handled in addition to all tbe trnfllc above
mentioned by the Central road. Hence the hundreds of millions
represented by the Erie, the Lackawanna extension and the West
Shore has been more than wasted, as they will remain a debt upon
which interest will perpetually be paid by tbe business and travel¬
ing public.
:
Missing hia bray recently we supposed the donkey who
jOBoe time einoe ventilated hiB unwisdom on the ailver question in
Proposed Removal of (he Stock Exchange.
The talk about removing the Stock Exchange to Union Square
is of course merely talk, but it brings to light whatraay be a defect
in the organization of that important institution. It is composed
almost exclusively of brokers—of mere traders on commission—
who have no interest in the properties they deal in and no stake in
the community. Tbe Real Estate Exchange, for instance, has a
membership representing the realty interests of this city. Such a
body would never seriously propose to remove away from the
neighborhood it bad rendered valuable when the change would in¬
volve an enormous loss to innocent property holders. A removal
of tbe Stock Exchangeup town'would causeadisturbance in values
as great as the burning down of a first class city. It would render
useless bank and office buildings which represent literally hun¬
dreds of millions of dollars. Of course this will not ba done, but
a body of mere brokers have it in their power to always threaten
such a catastrophe.
Has not the time come ivhen the great banking institutions and
the owners of securities should have an Exchange of their own?
Why allow a set of irresponsible brokers to have all to say in mat¬
ters so vital as tbe handling of the securities of a continent? If the
owners of railways bad a pecuniary stake in the Exchange, there
would be a check upon the speculative tendencies of that institu¬
tion.
Let the property holders who would be ruined were the Ex¬
change to be removed, organize at once and start a new institution oc
the same kind, but with a more solid and substantia 1 membership.
The mere agitation of such a scheme would soon bring the unruly
brokers to their senses.
At tbe same time, it is undoubtedly (rue that the present Ex¬
change building is too small for the work it will have to do. That
the space is so limited is, however, duo to the brokers' lack of fore¬
sight. They should have had the sense to see how their business
was growing, and taken time by the forelock by securing the
whole block bounded by Wall, New and Broad streets and Ex¬
change place.
Before the system of elevated roads was established, there was
Bome aeuM in talking about removing business up town; now, bow i