July 17, 1886





The  Record  and  Guide.





913





THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

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J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager,





Vol. XXXVIII.





JULY 17, 1886.





No. 957.





The semi-annual Index of the Conveyances and Projected Build¬
ings in Neio York and Kings Counties for the last six months up to
July 1, 1886, is now ready, and all subscribers of The Record and
Guide are entitled to a copy free of charge. It will accompany this
issue.   Binders may he secured at this office for |l each.





A volume ichich should he in the hands of every huilder, con¬
tractor, architect, and owner and dealer in real estate, is now
ready and can he procured at the offi,ce of The Record and
Guide, It is a new edition of the law relating to huildings in
the City of Neio York, loith added matter, marginal notes and
colored engravings to illustrate the subject. It contains the law
limiting the height of dwelling-houses, also the existing Mechanics'
Lien Laio. This work is edited by William J. Fryer, Jr., lohose
original and tcell-thought-out comments give it a special value.
The volume tcill also contain a complete directory of architects
in New Yoi'k, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Neivark and Yonkers. The
hook is handsomely hound in cloth, and is sold at the low x:)vice of
seventy five cents.





The bull speculation in Wall street now under way simply reflects
the hopeful feeling prevalent everyvphere that our fall business
will be more than good. All the railroads show increased and
increasing earnings. Our winter wheat crop has been secured in
excellent condition and is a large one. Our corn crop looks well,
and there will be plenty of cotton for export. The domestic
exchanges of the Country are largely in excess of last year. We
shall build double the number of miles of railroad in 1886 than we did
in 1885. The strikes have checked production so that consumption
has more than overtaken the stock on hand. The real estate situ¬
ation never looked better, and next fall promises to be the best
autumnal season for realty New York has ever experienced. If a war
ohould occur in Eastern Europe, which is not an unlikely contin¬
gency, the country would witness an era of prosperity which would
be second only to the " boom" of 1879-80.





The House of Representatives have voted (307 to 65) that the
Treasury Department be instructed to use all the surplus funds on
hand, $110,000,000 excepted, to pay the public debt at the rate of
$10,000,000 per month until the prescribed limit is reached. The
vote in favor of this resolution, which was proposed by Mr. Morri¬
son, was mainly from the South and West, and no doubt represents
the judgment of a great majority of the American people. The
average citizen cannot understand why we should continue to
pay interest on a debt when we have money enough on hand to
discharge a large part of the principal.





for itself ten times over. It would employ labor, help trade,
stimulate our iron and metal industries, and give us a sense of
security by putting our coasts in a state of defense. But Congress
sternly refuses to appropriate an adequate sum for any of these
needed purposes, yet devotes our surplus to paying debts before
they are due and to cheapening the price of money, thereby stimu¬
lating speculation in stocks and the agricultural products of the

country.

---------------%

It is to the credit of Senators Evarts and Miller, of New York,
that they voted in favor of appropriating money to begin the Hen¬
nepin Canal. This projected improvement, it will be remembered,
is designed to unite the waters of the Mississippi and the lakes by a
ship canal. If constructed vast quantities of grain, cattle, lumber
and other Western products would come East to Lake Michigan
instead of being floated down the Mississippi. This would add
largely to the business of Chicago and all the lake ports, and would
indirectly swell the commerce of the metropolis. It would, indeed,
greatly enlarge the traflic of the trunk lines that lead to this city.
But our Eastern papers oppose the improvement bitterly and call
it a " job." It is creditable to the Senators wiio represent us in the
Upper House that in the face of these outcries they can vote for
this very desirable public improvement.





The Sun quotes European authorities to prove that a check has
been giving to the shrinkage in prices whicb has been going on so
steadily since Germany and the United States destroyed the parity
between gold and silver as money metals. It is jijuite true Ihat
wool, tin, sugar and certain manufactured articles have advanced
in price throughout the world in the last three months, nor is it
unlikely that grain and perhaps cotton will be higher in the next
four than they have in the preceding four months. Then in this
country we have the advantage over other nations in that the con¬
tinued coinage of the silver dollar maintains prices ; but still the
fact remains that gold continues to appreciate, because there U
vastly more used up in coinage than is produced in the mines.
There may be a temporary reaction in prices but in the long pull it
will be found that quotations will go still lower.





The shrinkage in prices, due to some general cause, seems to
affect everything which enters into the trade of nations. It now
seems that drugs have been reduced iu value one-third since 1883.
Opium, which sold for $3.75 per pound the first year, is now oft'ered
for $1.75, Quinine, worth $1.80, is offered for sixty cents i)er
pound ; and so through the entire list of drugs. The shrinkage is
even greater than in the case of cotton or grain. It has not, how¬
ever, affected retail prices, which are nearly as high now as in
times when medicines cost very much more by wholesale. It is a
curious fact that although there are higher profits in drugs than in
any other articles of trade, sometimes reaching 1,000 per cent,, yet
there are more adulterations in them than in any other class of
articles dealt in in a retail way. There is no assurance as to the
purity of medicines in countries where there is no government
supervision. In Germany the selling of drugs is a government
monopoly, and doctors can depend upon their prescriptions being
made up from pure drugs.





Our Eastern papers are scolding the House for passing the resolu¬
tion on the ground that it is likely to impair the public credit, but
why a nation's credit should be injured by paying its debts they do
not explain. Nevertheless, while recognizing the fact that this
vote expresses the will of the people, we take the liberty of doubting
whether it is wise to pay our national debt at this time and in this
manner. There is no dearth of money in the channels of trade for
it goes begging in Wall street at 3 per cent, per annum. The pay¬
ment of the debt would only add to the amount of unused money
at the banking centres and will stimulate, an advance in stock
values; in other words, will-add to the current bull speculation. . It
would also reduce the value of trust funds held for widows and
orphans, and will eventually cause a shrinkage in the cuirency by
withdrawing the bonds from the market upon which the' national
banks have made their currency issues.





. If Congress had agreed to use the surplus funds of the nation
productively the effect would have been wholesome ; .that is, if it
had voted to expend say thirty millions in river, and harbor
improvements, a like amount in fortifications'to desfend our sea-
coast cities, and .equally large sums fota navy we.so much need,
and for cannon to guard oar coasts aAd^^arm .pur stipg, a hundred
and Mtj miUioas B^mt ia tbif way wlfcfeM .iwo y^ps wQ]il<i pa^





As Manhattan avenue runs into Manhattan street at the junction
of St. Nicholas avenue, those who are building in the immediate
neighborhood asked to have the name of Manhattan street (from St.
Nicholas to Ninth avenue) changed to Hancock place. The prop¬
erty-owners, around the triangle of land belonging to the city,
having just completed their improvements at their own expense,
that of grading, fencing, etc., recently petitioned to have the park
named Hancock Park. The Board of Aldermen passed the resolu¬
tion on Wednesday last, naming the park and changing the name
of the street, to take effect December 1st, 1886. It is now assured
that this neighborhood will be among the best in Harlem. One
property-owner has offered to donate $500 toward the erection of a
monument to the memory of the late General Hancock in this park.
This seems a very appropriate and commendable undertaking, and
can hardly fail to meet with the approval of the citizens in this
vicinity. It is very near General Grant's tomb, and the constant
travel in this direction cannot fail to develop this locality into
deserved popularity.

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The putting of the Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railroad
into the hands of a receiver was quite a surprise to the street in
view of the large increase of the earnings of that road since last
November. Within a year its securities^had trebled in value, due
to the larger receipts and excellent prospects of the property. The
excuse fo^-^the e^ointment of a receiver was that an unjust
decision hadibeenTendered by the Supreme Court of Ohio respect¬
ing the lease-o^^^ Sandusky road, under which the I., B. & W.
would be f orceaH^^^^$50,-000 per annum more than it thought
its contract demanded. It is, npt pretended that the railway com-.
ppy ipould ?3Qt weet evgry Qlt^lJgation,   Jt ma»a|ecl to pay its U^'m