November 5, 1887





The   Record  and  Guide.





1.379





THE   RECORD   AND   GUIDE,

Published every Saturday.

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Vol. sl.





NOVEMBER 5, 1887,





No. 1,025





The newspapers, in their advocacy of their respective candidates
for District Attorney, are rather over doing it. CoL Fellows is not
as black as he is painted, nor is Mr. Nicoll the only lawyer in New
York that will fill the bill. OE the two we prefer the latter, but
there is no reason for overstating the case.





The outcry against *' basses " by the press is particular!}- absurd,
for it is impossible to make a great party act together without
leadership and discipline. The maes of voters without head would
be a mere mob. Crews cannot command tlie captain nor the rank
and file the general. Wbat parties need, however, is honest and high-
minded leaders, and not the mere wire-pullers who are now in con¬
trol of the three party machines. It ought to be our leading citizens
who should suggest nominations and keep the voters in line.





Mayor Hewitt's letter on the canvass was timely. It is quite
true that the newspaper bosses are quite as mischievous in their
way as the political leaders they are attacking. Messrs. Pulitzer,
Bennett and Dana givo a special character to the papers they edit;
indeed, were it not for their marked personalities none of these
generals would command much attention, and it ie not seemly for
them to inveigh against boss rule. On this point Mayor Hewitt
says very justly:

*'I refer to the newspaper boss. Sictiog iu his editorial sanctum like a
brooding Buddha, he does not hesitate to claira omniscience and to endow
himself with omn-pofcenca. The political boss was responsible only to his
party; the newspaper boss is responsible to his own pocket. He i;i as
c'aDg^rou". as he is despotic. Ho must ba suppressed. Otherwise parties,
upou the healthful existence of which free government depends, will be
destroyed, and the voters will be compelled to choose between newspaper
ticKets instead of pai-fcy nominations.

It is true enough. It is nofc public spirit which animates the
editors in this contest, it is newspaper rivalry. If Mr. Nicoll
succeeds it will advantage the World at the expense of its rivals,
and this is at the bottom of the interest manifested in this matter
by the journals of the day.





Delaware has wisely refused to call a new constitutional conven¬
tion, the object in view being to increase the number of officers
voted for by the people. The executives, State and municipal, now
appoint most of the minor officials. This is as it should be. Here
in New York we are bewildered by the number of officers to be
voted for. It is impossible for nine-tenths of the voters to cast
their ballots intelligently for so many different persons. The State
ticket this fall is made up of nominees for positions, all of which
should be filled by the Governor. Under an ideal municipal system
we would vote only for Mayor, Comptroller and the local Legisla¬
ture, the majority of whom should be on a general ticket. Then it
would be possible for the average citizen to know for «hom and
for what he cast his ballot,

----------«----------

The basiuess situation continues hopeful. The return flow of
currency from the South and West is now under full headway, and
the bank reserves consequently show a steady increase. Money is
therefore getting easier, and the stock market continues to
show a more bullish feeling. With time loans at 5 per cent.,
operators do not fear to carry a line of securities; but the investing
public will discriminate. It will not load up with the stocks of
roads which havo been building into the wilderness so extensively
for the last two years. Nor will the shares of companies whose
lines run through the regions blighted by the drought last sum¬
mer be favorite investments. But the trunk lines, the coalers, and
some of the Southern securities will advance in value and be well
held, in view of the prosperous businesa they are doing. The
extreme West is evidently going through the experience of the
region north of the Ohio River, where some years ago there was a
building mania which resulted in there being more roads than
there was business to support. The country just south of the
lakes and east of the Mississippi is now in good shape, for there
has been a survival of the strongest roads.   But the region west





and south of Kansas City haa rather a dark immediate future, for
railroad buildiug has run ahead of population and business. ,





Tho increase of the dividends of the Pennsylvania Central, by
which it becomes a 0 instead of a 5 per cent, stook, was in every
way a commendable act on the part of the directors. Stockholders
are entitled to all a road legitimately earns. The piling up of
assets and the cutting down of dividends is unwise in every way.
This is shown by the history of the Baltimore & Ohio road. Had
the profits been distributed yearly there would have been no enor¬
mous mass of assets for lunatics like Roberfc Garrett to spend so
unwisely. Indeed, assets in the treasury of a railroad company
are as harmful and dangerous as is an unnecessary surplus in the
national Treasury. After all, the value of the shares of a railroad
corporation is what it pays, nofc what it earns. The public will
naturally desert Wall street, no matter how flattering the railroad
reports, if increased prosperity is not followed by larger dividends.
The Vanderbilts will doubtless become 5 if not 6 per cent, stockp,
If the dividends are not increased there is no reason why New
York Central, Lake Shore, or Michigan Central should sell for
more than eighty (80). In the absence of government bond calls
money will be worth more in this country than it was during the
years when the United States was cornering its own stocks, and
securities must pay more to be desirable to investors.





The politicians were never so mixed as to the probable issue of
the pending election. The Prohibition vote will certainly hurt the
Republicans, while the Labor vote may upset the calculations of
the Democrats. It seems to be conceded that the George vote will
be considerably less in this city than last year, but then in the State
the United Labor vote may prove large enough to defeat the Dem¬
ocratic State ticket. Had all wings of the Labor party kept together
there might be some significance in the vote they would poll, but
the revolt of the Progressives, so called, against Henry George's
one idea of land taxation, strips the movement of much of its
danger to the old parties, especially the Democratic organization.
It does not seem as if the Progressives would poll many votes, for
Henry George and Dr. McGlynn havo the befcter machinery and
commaud the most personal enthusiasm.

A cable company has absorbed all the horse-car lines in Chicago.
This will give that city an advantage over New York in the way
of swif ter surface travel. The 3 J avenue railroad proposes to con¬
tinue its cable line down to City Hall Park, and it is also under¬
stood in city railway circles that the Harlem and Madison avenue
road is prepared to supplant the horse-cars by a cable service. It is
a pity that the original cable company managed matters so badly
that they were not able to introduce the cable service all over the
city. It would have given us swifter intermural travel, as well as
a system of transfers that would enable a passenger to reach any
part of the city with one fare. There are movements on foot to
connect SSth street on the wesfc side with 86th on the east side of
the park, by means of a horse car service. Travel befcween the
eastern and western sides of the city up town is very difficult, and
is the cause of great inconvenience in view of the large population
that is now growing up on both sides of the park.





Ten Months of Real Estate,

The property sold, the buildings contemplated and the mortgages
secured on real estate from the beginning of the first to the ending
of the tenth month this year, make a varied and interesting table,
as will be seen below. In every instance, without exception, an
advance is shown over the preceding year, Tbe conveyances of
property are over twenty millions in advance of 1886, and some
seventy-two millions ahead of the year before. Of course a great
many *' trades," which have been quite numerous recently, are
represented in these figures. The 23d and Slth Wards show a
remarkable increase, running from nearly four to over six and nine
millions in the same years. The mortgages have been unusually
heavy, though not very much out of proportion with the heavy
increase in sales. In this connection one thing is very noticeable,
and thafc is that the number of mortgages at interest less than 5
per cent, have increased phenomenally during the pasfc few years,
running up in number from 30O in 1885 to nearly 1,200 this year,
with a corresponding increase in amount from less than seven
millions to over twenty-one. This shows that money is not only
becomiug cheaper, but that real estate is being considered more
stable year by year, and is largely supplanting the government
securities which have been called in. The number of buildings
projected during the ten months was nearly 300 more than during
the corresponding period last year, and over 1,100 more than the
year before, while their estimated cost increased from thirty-nine
and fifty-three millions in tho two latter years, to sixty-two mill¬
ions this year.

Kings County does not lag behind last year. It is a little ahead
in all directions, though only to a small extent, as will be seen from