October SO, 1886





The  Record  and Guide.





1321





THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

191 Broad^w^av, IST. Y.

Our Telephone Call is.....JOHN 370.





TERMS:

OIE YEAR, in adyance, SIX DOLLARS.

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XXXVIII.           OCTOBER 30, 1888.





No. 973.





The advance of silver in tlie London market of %d, per ounce
witliin tlie last two days is a happy omen for the trade of the
world. The lowest point touched by i he white metal was 42f{d.
per ounce. Since then it has gradually advanced to 46d. Of
course this does not mean that there is any additional value given
to silver. It simply shows that gold will not buy so much of
anything, silver included, as it did when the lowest price of the
latter metal was reached. Every producer, as well as all who have
stock on hand, are benefited by this loss in the purchasing power
of gold. It follows that every industry in the world has been
benefited and will be stimulated by the advance in price which is
thus practically established. The New York press, which has made
so vigorous a fight for the money—moving interests in warring
against the silver dollar, is careful not to report the added value of
silver in the London market, nor does it tell us anything of the
progress made by the bimetallists in Europe. Yet every industry
in this country, as well as abroad, is vitally interested in this matter
of an international currency, which would stimulate business by
advancing prices instead of killing it by forcing the industrial and
trading world to produce and move goods on a falling market.





the shares have quadrupled in value. This has led to active buying
along the whole line of the Comstock. The Bodie stocks have also
been active recently. If a bull movement in railway securities
springs up after the election we may see a new development of
speculation in mining shares. Mines are cheap just now, and some
of them are attractive investments for well-informed capitalists;
but no good has ever come from speculation in mining shares—
they have proved a delusion and a snare to innocent outsiders.
Yet mining as a business is a paying one.





The real estate market does not show any fear of the election
next Tuesday. The business now is up to the most sanguine
expectations of dealers. There is a great deal of trading going on
—far above the average of former years. The Real Estate Auc¬
tion Room is constantly crowded, and the month of November
promises to be the most active ever seen in New York at thie
season of the year. There are some very large estates to be sold
at auction during the coming month. The chief interest will
probably be felt in the vacant lots which are coming on the
market, and which will tell the story whether there will be a
speculative real estate movement in the near future. The filing
of plans for new buildings naturally show some falling off, but
this was to have been expected on the approach of winter. But
the totals for this year will unquestionably surpass any previous
year in the annals of the metropolis ; that is to say, there will be
more houses built, more property transferred and more money
invested in 1886 than ever before. The general trade of the coun¬
try is all that could be desired. The principal embarrassment of
the railroad companies is that they have not sufficient cars to
transact the business offered them. Everything points to an era
of reasonable prosperity ; for if the price of silver in London holds
good, our grain, breadstuffs and cotton will all coinnx'ind better
prices in the markets of the world.





The Bartholdi celebration was a spirited affair, but our foreign
visitors, in all probability, criticised our procession and marked
its inferiority to similar demonstrations in Paris and elsewhere.
With our military, fire and civic associations there is material for
excellent scenic effects. But it requires a master mind as well as
carefully cultivated artistic taste to produce an ensemble compar¬
able to the splendid displays of the French capital. Our procession
was disjointed—what can be more meaningless than a half-mile of
ordinary hacks filled with Aldermen and nobodies? The enormous
multitude which thronged the streets shows how keen an interest our
polyglot population has in these public parades. Our capitalist class
could well afford to get up a syndicate to gratify the populace by a
procession which would have all the needed scenic splendor. It
would be one of the ways by which our rich men could wean the
working classes away from labor candidates for Mayor. It is their
greed and lack of public spirit which is one cause of the discon¬
tent of the laboring classes with them.





The newspapers admit that there has been no improvement in
the character of the candidates put forth this fall for Assemblymen
and Aldermen. New York will elect delegations to the City Hall
and Albany next Tuesday—three-fourths of whom will be of
purchasable material. They have been nominated to subserve
personal or corporate ends, and those who are chosen expect—at
least the great bulk of them do—to make money as representatives
of this city. The fact is a shocking one, but there is no gainsaying
it. We are very certain to elect an honorable gentleman for
Mayor of New York. The judges and the President of the
Board of Aldermen will not discredit us, but the Aldermen and
the Assemblymen .are, with few exceptions, a bad lot from beginning
to end. Our Congressional nominees are generally unfit men. Just
think of Frank Spinola and Tim Campbell speaking for the metrop¬
olis of the Union in the halls of Congress.   It is monstrous.





There has been a revival of interest in mining. It commenced,
curiously enough, in England, where there is now a boom under¬
way in the shares of certain mining companies. The English have
invested a great deal of capital all over the world in mines, some
of which have paid very handsomely indeed, but quite as often the
investors have got nothing for their outlay. A new discovery of ore
has beea made ia the famous Con, Virginia ou tbe Comstock lode, and





The Canvass for Mayor-

In our " Prophetic Department" will be found a guess as to the
result of the vote for Mayor next Tuesday. But estimates are of
very little value, because of the absolute want of data forgetting at
Henry George's probable strength. Indeed, the vote if taken
to-day might be a very different one from that which will be cast
next Tuesday. So far as the figures furnished by previous contests
go, it would seem certain that the candidate of the United
Democracy muSt be chosen. Abram Hewitt is a man of the
highest character and of great natural ability. He will undoubt¬
edly, if elected, prove to be an excellent Mayor. Henry George
and Theodore Roosevelt make the point against him, which is well
taken, that hovvever good he may be himself he represents the
people who have misgoverned us for so many years. The press for
the last quarter of a century has been educating the public that
the outcome of our local politics, under the control of the city
machines, has been the increase of the burdens of the taxpayers,
through the deliberate robbery of the city treasury. Henry
George had the advantage of first making this point against the
United Democracy. His letters and speeches on this subject have
been forcible, and his canvass has been countenanced, not only by
a great many workingmen but by thousands who do not belong to
that class, but who are eager to introduce an entirely new element
into our local politics.

The canvass for Theodore Roosevelt has been remarkably
vigorous, and no one can read the proceedings of the meeting held
on his behalf last Wednesday evening without baing struck with
the earnestness and high purposes of the principal supporters of
the Republican candidate. The wire-pullers of that party detest
Theodore Roosevelt, and they probably put him in the field so as not
to be troubled with him after this election, for he is the kind of
candidate who is the natural foe of all who have designs upon the
public treasury. But he is having splendid support, and were he
to have been put first into the field against George he would
probably have been elected.

It does not seem humanly probable that Henry George can
be chosen, but we do not think the daily press is justified in
predicting disaster to the city or the country if by any chance
he should be elected Mayor oC New York. George is not
only a writer of remarkable power, but, apart from his whim¬
sical theory about land tenure, has shown in the canvass now
going on both tact and judgment. There is nothing to be
said against his character or past career. His books have been
searched in vain to justify the charges that he is a Socialist or an
Anarchist, or other than he professes to be—a radical Jeffersonian
Democrat. The newspapers must think their readers children
when they bring out tlieir "bug-a-boos" and "raw head and
bloody bones " at every election. It is worthy of note, in passing,
that the only districts which show a falling off in registration com¬
pared with the Presidential year are those which contain the
largest number of rich people. If they were afraid of spoliation
the registration of this solid class of citizens would have increased
instead of being diminished.

In the best interest of this city we protest against the effort that
is being made to get up a scare over the probable election of Henry
George. If chosen be would be under bonds to act cautious^ly, and
to make a good reputation for himself and his clients. The foUow¬
ing is a portion of a speech he made to some east side workingmen,
which we find in the Evening Post, which paper has had a short-
I hand reporfcer at his heels to try and catch him saying something