October 17, 1885





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THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

1©1 Broad^wav, IST. IT.

Onr Tolephoue Call Is.....JOJIN 370.

TERMS:

ONE TEAR^ ID advance, SIX DOLLARS.

Coiiimumcations should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Busmess Maiiager.





Vol. XXXVI.





OCTOBER 17, 1885.





No. 918





Our **Business World" contains several articles tliis week which
all our patrons should read. We notice that many of our exchanges
copy these selections. In The Record and Guide alone can be
found the cream of the press discussions throughout the country on
the subjects wliich most interest all engaged in active business.





There was a pause in the upward movement in stocks towards
the close of the week, but the bull market clearly is not yet over.
The purchasing lately has been so general and so undiscriminating
that tens of thousands of shares must have been transferred from
strong to weak hands. It is the outside public who are easily
frightened and who are the Tiatural prey of the bears. But all the
elements exist for a i-esumption of the rise in stock values. General
business, while not so active as it was, is still promising, while
the iron trade has not been in so good a condition since 1881.
Dealers report that more than one-half the steel rails are taken for
new construction. Of course there is no paralleling of old roads,
but there are many new lines projected to act as feeders to the old
roads aud to develop new country. The business outlook on the
whole is exceUent.





The success of the Republirans in Ohio will encourage the
friends of Mr. Davenport in this State. If the latter should succeed
in capturing the State government it will be a sore discomfiture of
the **spoils Democrats" who aro opposed to the civil service pro¬
gramme of Mr. Cleveland. The Republicans gained largely in
Ohio because of the bitter opposition of the Democrats of that
State to the civil service programme. A Republican success in
New York would give the Mugwumps great political prestige.





The large Prohibition vote in Ohio shows there is a new factor in
the politics of the country. The same party will undoubtedly
increase their vote in the Empire State. Indeed, the ono danger of
Davenport's defeat arises from the fact that the Prohibitionists will
be recruited mainly from the Republican ranks. It was not so in
Ohio, because the Democrats there upset the high-license law
which had put over two million dollara into the local treasuries
of the cities and towns of the State. The feeling against the indis¬
criminate sale of liquor is growing in all parts of the country.





The candidacy of John Sherman for the Senatorship also helped
the Republicans in Ohio. It is remarkable hov/ earnest is the sup¬
port of weU-known Senators in their respective States. American
voters may be fickle in other I'espects, but statesmen like Clay,
Calhoun, Benton, Webster, Sumner and Edmunds were always
sure to carry their States when a Senatorial election was pending.
Were Roscoe Conkling to be a candidate it would greatly add to
the bulk of the vote of this State. John Sherman has so loug been
identified with the finances of the country, and has achieved such
distinction in connection with the resumption of specie payments,
that a feeling of State pride has been evoked on his behalf. The
result would have been more in doubt had ex-Senator Sherman
been his opponent, but the Democratic machine in Oliio would cer¬
tainly have sent some far more objectionable person to represent it
in the United States Senate had a Democratic Legislature been
elected.





There are some very exceUent names on the local ticket of the
County Democracy. Tammany, also, presents a few very
acceptable nominees. The Republicans, however, could easily
elect every candidate to such offices for which there are two Demo¬
crats in the field, but the Republican machine is run very queerly.
The entire local ticket could have been elected last fall, but
*'Jolnii^Y " '^'Brien and his associates (hdiherniely sold out the local
licl:- ' is ;ilily to help the Blaine vote. This seems the morelikely,
aS J^'        ^'' ' lived over ninety thousand votes in New York, while

the : It ujy candidate for Mayor ran eight thousand ahead of his
tlckt" : <\ William R. Grace twelve thousand ahead of the County
Deui' ■ ' . jy ticket. With two such rich prizes aa the sheriff and
county clerk the Republicans ought to vote their own ticket, but





O'Brien, Hess & Co. run the raachine for their own benefit and not
for the benefit of their party.





There should be sorae machinery by which voters could be
instructed as to the personal character and career of the candidates
who seek their suffrages at the November election. In the case of
State officers, mayors and judges, there is always sufficient data
given to guide an ordinary intelligent voter. But when it comes
to county officers and members of the Legislature, the average
citizen is all at sea. The endorsement of a party convention is no
guarantee of the integrity or fitness of a candidate. The daily
press is an unsafe guide, and we ought to have some organization,
independent of parties, which will at least tell the voters whom not
to elect. Charles O'Connor, when alive, seriously proposed doing
this, but he could not get proper support. The tendency of all
legislation should be to concentrate authority so the people may
know whom to hold responsible when anything goes wrong.





Mayor William R. Grace does not appear to advantage in the
transactions of himself an :l his firm with Grant & Ward. The dis¬
appearance of the Tobey brothers—one of whom was a cashier of
Mr. Grace—is, to say the least, unfortunate. For there people seem
to have profited largly by the fraudulent firm, but whether for them¬
selves or for others has not, as yet, been made public. It is a scandal
to our law courts that there seems to be no adequate machinery for
getting at the facts connected with the failure of the firm of Grant
& Ward. It is not known, as yet, who received the profits of its
fraudulent transactions, and there is little likelihood that justice
will ever be done in the way of punishment of the guilty parties.





The Kind of Buildings that are Being Erected.

Some three years ago we called attention to what seemed like a
new departure in the architecture of certain costly residences
erected on the east side. The traditional brown stone fronts in these
cases were discarded for brick and stone, varying in color and orig¬
inal if not bizarre in design. It seemed to be the result of an honest
effort to give greater variety to the appearance of fine residences in
tho better quarters of the city. There were, of course, some unfor¬
tunate results in this striving after new effects. The architects
who built these novelties have evidently uot been encouraged, as
there are very few of these manj'-colored and strangely-designed
buildings now going up in New York. The building is generally
confined to the old brown stone front, back and front parlor, with
butler's extension. There were, a couple of years back, some quaint
small houses erected at the foot of Eighty-sixth street, near the East
River, in the Queen Anne style. Grouped together they made a
picturesque ajipearance. They have, we believe, rented well, but
they have not, as far as we are aware, been imitated in other quar¬
ters of the city. That such dwellings are not more popular is, we
judge, more the fault of the purchasing arid renting public than the
architects, for the latter would naturally incline to novelties in
building, as it would give them a chance te show their taste and
architectural skill.

As there ai-e no more large apartment houses projected, and as
the kind of new buildings now going up are of the old brown stone
and plain brick varieties, we judge there is not much hope for any¬
thing novel in the way of domestic architecture so far as this
island is concerned. True, on the west side there is a combination
of brick, stone and terra cotta, which saves some of the streets
from the monotony of the sombre but always acceptable brown
stone. It may be that on the northwest of this island, above One
Hundred and Twentieth street and overlooking the North River,
there may yet be houses constructed that would enrich the land¬
scape. In the bluffy, hilly region just south of the Harlem and west
of High Bridge, there are many beautiful sites for picturesque
dwellings. A brown stone front would be entirely out of place in
this locality.

It is, however, in the district north of the Harlem River that
dwellings of novel construction should be expected. Most of the
ground is laid out with reference to its topographical character.
The streets and avenues, instead of being at right angles, are wind¬
ing and conform to the lay of the ground. Then the new parks,
scattered from Long Island Sound to the North River, will tempt
men of means to lay out neighborhood parks and regions where
villas can be constructed subordinated to some general plan.
London, Paris, and indeed all the great cities of Europe have out¬
lying regions in which the dwellings conform to an artistic plan,
while affording scope for the inventic^i and taste of the architect.
People of means who go to live in tho pomi-rural surroundings of
the region north of the ITnrlem will demanfl something very dif¬
ferent from the ordinary city brown stone front. Grounds will be
essential, of course, and an arrangement of shrubbery and trees,
calling into play the skill of the landscape gardener, and,
finally, a house which will be appropriate to the green
and brown of the foliage and land surrounding it. Architects
should turn their attention to this field.   It is an inviting and will