->^-
"^r \S ESTABLISHED-^ ^ftRpHSlu"^ 1868,
De/oTED to l\EKi ESTWE, SuiLOIf/O A,R.ClllTECTvJ[\E .KoUSEHOLD DEGORATlOtJ.
Busit/Ess aiJd Themes of GeNeiv^I I;^t£i\esT
PRICE, PER YEAa IIV ADVIIVCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
TELEPHONE, - - - JOHN 370.
Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 191 Broadway
J, T. LTNDSEY. Business Manager.
Vol. XLI.
MARCH 17, 1888.
No. 1,044
On the 24:th day of this month The Record and Guide will have
completed twenty years of its existence. In commemoration of its
entry upon the year in which it will attain its majority, an extra
large edition will be issued on the 2^th inst., which will be sent
broadcast all over the country, thebusiness establishments to which
it will be mailed being those that will he of most service, not only
to increase ihe circulation of The Record and Guide, but to bene¬
fit its advertisers. It will be read by real estate brokers, agents
and investors, architects, builders, merchants, bankers, lawyers,
decorators, property owners, mortgagees and purchasern of build¬
ing materials, and its advertising columns will form an index and
guide to thousands of firms in and out of town to refer to when
they stand in need of estimates on any and every description of
work connected with the construction, improvement and alteration
of buildings. Intending advertisers should send in their copy early,
not only to insure a good position, but to avoid inconvenience and
errors. In honor of the occasion the papar will be printed on new
and handsome type.
Whatever actions of the trusti* do not come under
land as it Btan<3n written to-day can safely be left a.
o
1, if
The reporta concerning the Burlington strike ar*^ *<*o c<atrai8o£
tory to permit any very certain judgment as to the {'""^seDtatatt'^'^''
the trouble. However, it seems that the railroad 'GOEipany '"^"^
slowly improving their position and are likely to be able to h'
the
y a
While the elevated roade on Monday made a partial failure,
everything else, whether it was a horse railroad or a steam one,
made a complete fizzle, and even at this late day are not
running in anything but a straggling manner. To-day ought,
however, to see them all in very good ehape, excepting such roads
as the Broadway and 6ch avenue, w^hich are likely to be blocked
more or less until the parallel means of communication for vehicles
are free from snow. Surely, however, a great corporation like the
Manhattan Company ought to have been able to do as much
towards clearing its station-houses from snow as did individuals
with their houses, and yet on Tuesday, all through the day, the
Btepis and platforms of nearly every station were dangerously
clogged with ice and snow, all of which could have been easily
removed with a few hours of labor. It is a disgrace to any manage¬
ment to continue paying dividends, leaving, at the aame time, its
structure unpainted, dirty, and not at all cared for aa a flrst-class
corporation should care for its property.
That frisky individual, the oldest inhabitant, for once, has nothing
to say. Memory has at last failed him, and he cannot recall that
even his father or grandfather related that any weather ever before
was able to close the Stock Exchange, to say nothing about all the
minor ones; that no milk could be had for two days at any price;
that the great New York Central Railroad and its equally great
rival, the Pennsylvania, for nearly three days did not land or send
away a single paaeenger; and that as they were tied up bo were tied
all railway lines which centre in this city. Snow to the right and
to the left waa banked up in great drifts on every corner so high
that in many houses one had to first dig out to reach the street,
and once there he found that all the usual means of communica¬
tion were as quiet as if aome fairy had in a moment sent every¬
thing to sleep with a touch of her magic wand, to rise from which
one naturally looked around for the good fairy who was to come
along and shake off this unnatural state of things.
out long enough to win the fight uulesa the engineers can succ
in isolating them, and severing their connections with other ro^^j
But this can scarcely be accomplished without an extension o',mgp(i
strike. Aa the matter stands, Aithur will be foj-.ced ^jj^Btern
to submit or order his men out from every road that performa Ua.
obligations as a common carrier and accepts Burlington freight, se
-----------.----------- -d-
The death of the Emperor William was unattended by the poti'^y
cal catastrophe apprehended by some people. His son has quiet
ascended his father's throne and the nation has raised the c
cry: "The King is dead; long live the King." It was one of thi
absurd ideas that people sometimes get into their heads that „
death of a feeble nonogenarian w^ould disturb the peace of a co
nent. In spite of increasing armaments Europe is year by ;
being led further and further along the path of peace. The nat
are learning that war doesn't pay, and that military glory has i
aday to be purchased at too high a price. Russia, semi-c'-'''
possessing only an incipient industrialism, is the reaUnion^ *
of danger at present. The massing of troops on her fro^m have
winter is a much more ominous sign than anything that h c'o^s *he
pened in Austria, Germany or France. ^
—------------^-—â– â– — . ouge
The War on the Corporations and Trusts.
So far in our history corporate interests have been favored eing
tho American people. At the very beginning our governme
under the leadership of the Jeffersonian Democrats, ann ou need''"f"
purpose to abstain from interfering with the industries of " ^
country. It reluctantly consented to a tariff on imported .
incidentally protecting home manufactures, but this was bejm^^^j^
it was the easiest way to raise money by taxation. But tha i jg y^j-^
sonians held that government should do no work of itstoftbe
When the great Cumberland road was projected it created a hey are
of opposition, and Mrs. TroUope, in her amusing book on Am. it doea
now half a century old, tells us of a scene ia the House of Ipensive
sentatives when a proposition waa made for the governme stands
give some aid for an improvement that would make a wat'"?' ^^^ {
through the dismal swamp. The vehement denunciations, i'-^^^ ***
most insane terror at the idea of the central power doing an, ^ ^^^
to benefit the country, seemed to her extremely absurd. T'jj. ^^^ ^^^
like of governm^-nt action has become traditional, and for
burden of most of the speeches in Congress, as well as the eo^hboring
in our daily press. The proposition to open a Hennepin Cartbe occu-
levee the Mississippi or coQSiruct canals to help the comm'bouses?"
the Northwestern lakes, are all denounced as jobs, and creat'
as much unreasoning opposition as was shown when Gov. C^^ reply,
firat took measures to construct the Erie Canal—one of the"*.'^°'^^®
useful and essential improvements ever made by any State. ^^""^
But the need for public worka was realized by everyone.ioQ|
government was not permitted to construct them, and indiv the
had not the means to do so. So corporations came into exis
and they have given us our magnificent railroad, telegrap
telephone systems, and they have opened our mines and fil(j,CO0
country with manufactures. They have been favored it
way. Land grants have been given the railroads; tariffs ha
manipulated to benefit the manufacturers. The governme
Senator Arnold's bill to prohibit truats, introduced at Albany on
Thursday, brings the agitation regarding these corporations to its
logical conclusion. This is the only real service the bill will ever per¬
form, for not even Albany legislators are likely to pass a measure
which infringes eo far on commercial freedom and the rights of
the individual, merely to please a popular prej/ ^. Those per-
BOns and journals, who have been crying for ef ^ ^^ eainst trusts
are now brought to a point whore they must/ ^ s?^ ?knowIedge
that in the trust per se there is nothing ilie' ^ ^ .rfioouaust agree
tbat it is necessary to greatly curtail the p/ ^ Anainland -tommer-
â– (y.-'^"'"â– â– 'H--------"— Tr»r Arnold's bU' -"i- ^^ IOO feet Lg ^1^^^
sufficient depth to o^ ^j^g marsh and reacB solid ground. 1 _.:"- ..uuum
V â– '"kith, of dry la^,etween aach*canal of about 150 feet, whicli would
V- houses and eardenR. The met^ ^e-
the first money for testing the telegraph, and after pro'
8,000
practicability and usefulness, gave it away to become thr
manipulating corporations. What a war of rapine and ot ^ ^i^^
has been that of our telegraph system, which has ended ii^
it into the control of Jay Gould instead of f^ole Sam. A
poration, it should be remembered, ia a government, only it j.
comparatively irresponsible one. It has the power to tax, but.
so often has been faid, has neither "a body to be kicked nor a ik
to be damned."
A legitimate development of the corporate system ia the tr
The latter differs from the former in that it is atill more ."^
sponsible. A trust is a corporation of corporations. It i
massing of wealth to effect cheaper production and cheaper c
bution, but its natural tendency is towards monopoly. TheBn;^^
manufacturers and merchants cannot compete with it ani
driven o jt of buainess. This cannot very well be helped. '**"
tbis point of view a trust ia a labor-saving machine and a po)oo
benefit to the consuming public. Bat it ia liable to abuse. C
rations have shown themselves very cruel and merciless in d^Qf
with their employes and with the public when the latter v ,t^^^
their power. The temptation is to charge extravagant profit â– 7|;o(.ic
here is where public opinion and legislation miint
the community. â– BaJ0^/
ap.
t
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i coi^ii make'it)ore money IE it were tepaaled, but I Bhoi_
conBideration infliiencB me if I thought that high apartm;, aee page?,
an ipi'tny HJ^*' ' bftHsve th«v arA a very great he".