May 32, 1886





The   Record  and  Guide.





669





THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

IQl BroacL^w^eiv, 1<T,1^.

Our Teleplione Call is.....JOSN 370.

TERMS:

ONE YEAR, in adTance, SIX DOLLARS.

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XXXVII.





MAY 33, 1886.





No. 949.





The general trade of the country showed an improvemenfc last
week, due to the abating of fche labor agitation and the more con¬
fident buying to supply consumers. The check to production and
the better wages of operatives not only make prices firmer, but
increases the demands of the consuming class. Railway stocks
have been dull, but the week closes with a better feeling on the
market for securities. It would seem as if a range of somewhat
higher prices waa now in order, though the spurt may be delayed
until sometime in June. Money continues easy, and our exports
of cotton and grain are unusually heavy, hence there does not seem
much danger of furfcher large exports of gold. There is nothing
to complain of in the real estate market, considering the season,
and builders hereabout have not been troubled so far with unrea¬
sonable strikes. "We are entering upon the summer season with
very fair prospects. The only difficulty in sight is the steady rising
purchasing power of gold, which shows itself in the lowering of
prices of all articles enfcering into the international trade of the
world.





without success. It has often been pointed out that general busi¬
ness is always better where wages are high and work people have
some leisure time. Life is scarcely worfch living in China, India,
Turkey, Russia, Mexico and other countries where the rewards of
labor are low and the hours of work prolonged. The most prosper¬
ous countries are those which pay the highest wages. Ifc is obvious
fchafc a working class which receives twenty dollars per head a week
have a higher standard of comfort fchan when ten dollars per head
is the average. Every business interest profits when the wages of
labor are high. It is for this reason that the United States is
befcter worfch living in than countries in whch the working classes
are employed longer hours for less pay.





The history of legislafcion at Albany this winter and spring
affords another warning that the authority of legislative bodies
should be curbed. We must lodge more power in execufcives and
limifc that of irresponsible State assemblies and senates. Our local
legislators are geneially lawyers without practice ; and it is a well-
known fact that men who make a living from selling their services
to clients are not as sensitive when bribes are offered as are the
general run of honorable business men. It is a curious facfc that
physicians are even more corrupt than lawyers when acting as
legislators. This is doubtless due to the facfc that physicians with
a fair practice could not afford to go to Albany any more tl.an can
a lawyer with a good business; but some amendment should be
made to our State constitution restricting legislative action. We
have already found how worthless are our Boards of Aldermen,
and we will soon realize that the majority of our State legislators
are equally untrustworthy.





The new Board of Aldermen to be chosen next spring will
consist of fifteen members, elected under what is known as the
cumulative vote sysfcem; that is, each voter can poll one vote
for each of the fifteen Aldermen, or can poll fifteen votes for one
Alderman, or three votes for each of flve Aldermen. The object
is to have the minority represented, and it is hoped thafc the result
will be to give us a Board of Aldermen we need nofc be ashamed
of. There is no harm in trying this exj)eriment, for almost any¬
thing would be an improvement on our present system. But
what is there to prevent the corrupt politicians of all parties
from marshaling their forces so as to elecfc eight Aldermen
pledged to carry out deals, trades and bargains to plunder the
city after the good old plan. Is there not danger also that Alder¬
men elected on a general ticket will be indifferent to the demands
of localities who wanfc their local improvements looked affcer.
There are thousands of minor matters which need attention and
which will be naturally neglected by Aldermen who owe nothing
to localities. However, under the system to be tested, it will be
possible for public spirited citizens to agree upon a ticket, the
majority of whom will be of the right sort. If the voters delib¬
erately choose rascals it will be another argument against
universal suffrage in municipal corporations in cities with so
heterogeneous a population as New York.





The utterances of Bishop Potter and the Rev. Heber Newton on
the labor question were timely, and calculated to do good. The
press almost universally had taken the side of the employers, and
had denounced the striking and discontented work people with
more or less severity. This was quite natural, as newspaper proprie¬
tors are aU large employers of labor, and their adverfcising pafcron¬
age comes exclusively from the same class. Practically the working
people are unrepresented in the press, for the momenfc even a labor
advocate becomes the owner of a journal he casts his lot wifch the
employers. Naturally clergymen, whose salaries are paid by well-
to-do people, represent the interest of their pew-holders in the
pending dispute. But Bisbop Pofcter and Rev. Heber Newfcon could
afford to disregard mere pecuniary considerations and show that
the matter waa not so one-sided as the press had tried to make oufc.
It is a real misfortune that some of our journals afc leasfc could not
have discussed this matter from an impartial standpoint, for the
working people really have a case, and a very strong one, and they
naturally feel indignant at fche misrepresentation of their views by

the press.

--------------0--------------

American newspapers and their correspondents in London seem
to be of the opinion thafc if Prime Minister Gladstone dissolves
Parliamenfc and appeals to the country, he will secure a majority fco
favor Home Rule for Ireland. The wish in this case is probably
father to the thought. Of course Mr. Gladstone might secure a
majorifcy. He has right on his side, and personaUy he has more
popularifcy fchan any living statesman. But it should be remem¬
bered that the Irish people are not popular in England. There is a
race hatred in the case, which is as keenly felfc by the Radical
workman as by the Conservative peer. It would be the first
time that the cry of justice to Ireland would be submitted to the
ordeal of a popular vote in England and Scotland. Should he be
defeated on the second reading, Mr. Gladstone will doubtless
appeal, but he evidently wishes fco gain fcime, for he is prolonging
the debate in the hope of getting a small majority for the second
reading. He may get this, bufc his bill is almost cerfcain to be torn
to pieces in commitfcee. He has, however, fche one advanfcage
of a definifce scheme. His opponenfcs have nothing bufc objections
to offer in its place. One thing is very certain, no Irish Parliament
will sit in Dublin this year.





The public should discriminate befcween the mere theorist's
and the practical demands of the mass of the working
people. The former embrace the land and currency reformers, as
well as the cranks of all descriptions who have patent nostrums to
heal the woes of society. But ali that the vasfc body of the working
people have contended for is better pay and shorter hours of labor.
They have erred in making extreme demands, but during the
last half century the employed have succeeded in limiting
the hours of labor and in securing higher wages. Employers have
resisted this tendency, fortunately, even for their own interest,





The land question is coming before the British Parliament in a
variety of aspects. The Radicals insist fchat the ground rents shall
be taxed. It is found that many noblemen, like the Marquis of
Westminster, draw enormous rentals from leasehold property and
pay no taxes thereupon. In former eras franchises were granted
exempting cerfcain lands from fcaxafcion, some of them for Churcli
purposes, but this abuse cannot last long in an age so Democratic
as our own. The holders of leaseholds, be they commoners or
nobles, will in time be forced to pay their jusfc dues to the State.
Charles Bradlaugh recently introduced a bill to tax in a way to
eventually alienate land nofc in use. His argumenfc was there were
some 35,000,000 acres in the United Kingdom which was not under
cultivation. Of course, some of this waa rocky, sandy or barren
soil, but he alleged the greatest part of it was capable of growing
crops or feeding cattle. If its owners would no»; put it to food-
producing purposes he wished the land to be confiscated to the
State. Of course this was aimed at the pleasure grounds, game
preserves and private parks of the nobles and millionaires of Great
Britain, Bradlaugh, however, did not press the matter, as the bill
he introduced was confessedly imperfect. He was, however,
listened to with attention, and had the applause of the Radicals in

the House.

--------•--------

The newspapers which literally bullied the Legislature into
repealing the Broadway Railroad franchise are not quite satisfied
with the way that matter has ended. The appointment of the
chief contractor on the new Croton aqueduct and chairman of the
Democratic State Committee as the receiver makes the whole
matter look like a job to advance the political fortunes of Governor
HiU. There is no doubt but what the Governor is an astute and
unscrupulous politician, who expects to be a Presidential candidate,
or, faUing in that, to be a member of the next Democratic Cabinet,
should the party at present in power succeed itself.   Governor HUl