October 22, 1887





The   Record   and Guide.





THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

191 Broad^way, 3Sr. "^T.

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JOHN 370.





TERMS:

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Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XL.





OCTOBER 22. 1887,





No. 1,023





Prices iu Wall street bave been ratber better tbis week. Thia
was hardly expected, as tbe various deals had been completed
without creating a bull market. It was supposed the Baltimore
& Ohio and Reading reorganizations, and tho absorption of tbe
Baltimore & Ohio telegraph by Western Union, would create a
better feeling in the stock market; but every time the bulls were
disappointed. Tbis week, however, with no news to influence
prices, there bas been a considerably higher range of values. One
good feature is the cheapening of money. The banks are now
willing to make time loans at 5 per cent, on mixed collateral;
hence it is easier to carry stocks than it has been. The general
trade of the country continues good, but the price of iron and steel
has fallen to a point which does not admit of the importation of
steel or iron rails. It is noticeable, however, that many of the
Western roads begin to show decreased earnings. The partial
failure of the crops and the lower price for grain will undoubtedly
injure the Western railroad business during the coming year.
----------•---------•

We have never joined in the cry against ** boases " in politics,
for we have held that wise and efficient political management
was impossible unless there were *'leaders to lead" as well as
*'followers to follow." But we have always objected to the kind
of ** bosses" which somehow secured the control of the leading
poUtical *'machines." If John O'Brien was replaced by Senator
Evarts or Editor Reid, if the County Democracy was under the
control of Mayor Hewitt or ex-Mayor Cooper, and the Tammany
organization recognized some equally worthy citizen as its chief,
there would be no fault to find. But O'Brien, Power and Croker
are not the kind of " bosses " tbat will give us good local govern¬
ment.    There will be a revolt eome day against tbis state of things

which may involve serious consequences to the men who misrule us.

_--------^---------.

The local election tbis fall will present some peculiar features
and there may be quite an exciting contest over more than one of
tbe offices. There is a sharp newspaper fight over the possession
of the District Attorney's office. The World wants Mr. Nicoll
nominated and elected because of his efficient services in following
up Sharp and the boodle Aldermen. But the Sun, Star and Herald
are united in opposing the nomination of Mr. Nicoll because they
seem to fear that the World would be all powerful in the District
Attorney's office if that gentleman should be elected. The World
has made quite a feature of detective criminal sensations lately,
and the rival journals fear that it will have a great advantage over
them if the World reporters had free run in the District Attorney's
office. The war has become very bitter, and the canvass for that
particular office promises to be mighty interesting. It looks as
though there may be n?any surprises in store resulting from the
fall election this year.





The Democratic politicians are not so alarmed about the Labor
vote in this State as they were some time ago. Th(^ Socialists'
revolt will take many votes from Henry George in this city, and
the course of Patrick Ford, of the Irish World, shows that the
Irish Catholic vote will be polled against and not for the United
Labor party. George and Dr. McGlynn are stumping the State,
but the people who go to hear them are not by any means
exclusively Democrats. Their largest audiences were in towns
where there were schools and colleges. The working classes proper,
the bulk of whom are Democrats, show no signs of abandoning
the old parties. Still the now party excites a great deal of honest
enthusiasm, while the old parties are conducting a very feeble
canvass. The falling ofif in the registration is quite large and
shows an apathetic feeling among the rank and file of the
Republicans and Democrats. There are really no vital issuer to
call out much feeUng between the two old political organizations.
The defiance of the law by the Democratic Police Commissioners
in refusing to give the Labor people an Inspector of Elections
will give the latter an excuse for their decreased vote after the
election. They will claim that they have been deliberately
counted   out, and they will be believed,  for  the three  existing

party "machines" are notoriously corrupt and unscrupulous.

----------•----------

The case of Chav "=5ey M. Depew has a moral which it would be
well for public me» *^ o keep in mind.    He waa univergally popu¬





lar, for his speeches and public utterances showed him to be a man
of sense as well as wit. He is the best after-dinner speaker in the
country, and that he has well-developed business faculties is evi¬
denced by hia being called to so important a position as President
of the New York Central road. A number of papers have recently
been talking him up as a Presidential candidate. He was said to
represent the men who had brains. But his unfortunate St, Louis
interview puts an end to all thought of making him a Presidential
candidate. What he said was measurably true, but everyone saw
how incongruous it was for the repre.sentative of one of our great¬
est railway properties to talk of panics and cyclones in business.
The American people long ago came to the determination to never
make a President of an exceptionally brilliant man, especially one
who had become famous as a speaker, This explains the Polks,
Pierces and Clevelands, and tells the story of the reluctance of the
party conventions to nominate the Calhouns, Bantons, Websters
and other great orators. It accounts also for the defeat of Clay,
Greeley and Blaine. Men who '* wreck themaelves on expression "
are never to be depended upon as candidates for the Presidency.
Mr.  Depew is an able man,  but he  " talks too much with his

mouth."

----------•----------

The groundiag of the Cuaard steamship Aurania ou Monday waa not
due to any one's careles3nes3, it appears, but is simply a remiader that the
mouth of New York harbor needs attention. There ia no better place for
engineeriug skill and river aad harbor appropriatioas to be exp3nded than
upon the entrance to the principal port ia the couutry. That it can be
Improved is admitted, and some work, of course, i^ done upon it, but the
improvement is not sufficiently pushed. This harbor is important enough
to receive the special attention of Congresg, and a liberal appropriation
which is not made conditional upon log-rolling appropriations elsewhere.
An adequate force should be sustained to keep the channel or channels in
permanently good condition. There has been full discussion sa to tha
methods of work. Let them be carried oat. If it is feasible to prepare
the way for the admission of the largest vessels at any state of the tide, this
country is surely able to pay for it.—World.

Yet the World is continually demanding that the surplus be cut
down by abolishing internal taxes and reducing the tariff. The
money in the Treasury is needed not only to improve our harbor,
but for any number of desirable objects. It is required for other
harbors than New York—for our internal water courses, for fortifi¬
cations, new guns and war ships, and for purchasing the Western
Union telegraph lines or building others in their place if the price
asked is too high. The nation could spend with advantage not one
hundred, but two hundred millions. It is quite true that our tariff
and internal taxation requires revision, but this can only be accom¬
plished after a long debate. The first duty of Congress is to get
the money out of the Treaiury. Any change in our tariff or tax
laws will take six months at least to agree upon, while it will be a
couple of years before the revenue will adjust itself to the new
conditions. It is simple nonsense to talk of reducing the tariff in
order to get rid of the present surplus.

—-------•---------

On one point the public ought to make itself heard. There must
be no more pension bills. No nation ever paid its soldiers such
extraordinary bonuses as has the United States. Our Treasury has
made paupers all over tbe country, and has enriched claim agents
in a way that has become a national scandal. New public build¬
ings are required in hundreds of places. It will be a good time to
do such work, lor there will be far less private building next year
than there has been for the past three years. There will be large
numbers of mechanics in the building trade eager for work next
year, and they will be moderate in their demands. An appropria¬
tion of $30,000,000 for post-offices, custom houses and United
States courts would not be coo much for the year 1888,





The riots of the unemployed poor in London is not a satisfactory
symptom of our times, and ought to set the rich and the rulers to
thinking. The hideous poverty of certain classes in our large cities
is a scandal to our civilization. There is certainly wealth enough
in London to insure the working poor at least a bare living, and there
is some defect in the workings of our social machinery, when
people starve and die of hunger while surrounded by unbounded
luxury. How absurd to talk of over-production when there are
literally millions who are always on the verge of starvation and
wbo are insufficiently clad. The fact is, there is an under-produc¬
tion of money, and haa been since silver was demonetized by the
commercial world. The single gold unit is impoverishing the mass
of the working population of the Old World. At a time when the
growing commerce of the world needed both the precious metals
to conduct its business silver was discarded to the consequent
impoverishment of all save those who owned and controlled the
gold which measured values. England, as the most exclusive gold
country, has been the greatest sufferer. We have been saved from
this acute distress, because of the silver coinage law.





We are to have five new school houses to house the many child¬
ren for whom there are now no school accommodations. One
of these buildinga is to be in the llth, two in the 12th, one in the 22d,