December 23. 1888





Record  and  Guide.





1507





De/oteO to f^L Estate , SuiLoif/c Ap.cKitectji^e .Household DEQOi^TiotJ.
Bi/sitJEss At^D Themes Of GEfJEfyilI;^TEi\EST





PRICE, PER VEAR IIV ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.
TELEPHONE,          .          -          -          JOHN  370.





Communications Ehould be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191   Broadway,
7. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XLII.





DECEMBER 22, 1888.





No. 1,084





The stock market is a puzz'e to tbe most sagacious dealers. In
view of the great crop and tlie immense tonnare in sight there
ought to have been a handsome advance in prices after the uncer¬
tainties of tbe Presidential election were over. But the war of
rates in the West and Southwest, where there has been so much
overbuilding of railroad lines within the last two years, created
such uncertamty among the transportation lines as to affect unfa¬
vorably the whole railway system of the country. Investors fight
shy of stocks when dividends are being passed or reduced, for tins
has been the experience of St. Paul, Burlington & Quincy, Missouri
Pacific, Rock Island, and other reputed strong corporations. But
the elements of a better state of things exist nevertheless, and were
we not near the close of tl:e year a general advance in prices might
reasonably be looked for ; but December is never a bull month. A
rise can never be reasonably expected until after the January
disbiu'sements. Yet, notwithstanding the depressing influences of
the season and the shock to confidence due to tbe reduction of divi¬
dends, it is worthy of note tbere has been a gradual advance of
values in many important groups of raih'oada. "Within the last ten
days the trunk line securities bave all been quoted higher, while
the Coalers have made decided advances, Delaware & Hudson,
Lackawanna and Reading have done an enormous business during
the past year. After paying fixed charges they will carry over
heavy sui-pluses ; hence the favcr with which they are regarded by
investors. The com carrying roads are also looking up and will
undoubtedly show handsome advances in the near future. We
may gradually run into a bull movement, despite the threatening
situation in the West and the continual shipment of gold. Tbe
general business of the country is good and the only doubtful
regions are the West and Soutbwest, where there has been an
excessive amount of railroad . building. Fortunately, however,
some seven great corporations are in absolute control of the region
where all the trouble comes from, and it depends on comparatively
few men to say when rates shall be restored and a peaceful basis
reached. As soon as these people agree we may look for a pros¬
perous period for our railroads.





Cartaia statemants made by Mr. Jay Gould in a recent conversa¬
tion with tlie editor of tha D-dilij •Sloskholdsr do not seem to have
attracted the attention tbey deserve. It is true ■ that as far as the
stock market is concerned Mr, Jay Gould's interviews are not
always presumed to be very reliable sources of information; but
these assertions were evidently not made witb any intention of
gladdening tbe bullish heart. They were simply matters of fact as
to the projects of a corporation with the working of which the
public is too familiar to make deceit possible. He said, amoug
.otlier things, that the Manhattan Company was constructing
two new tracks, one on the 3d avenue from the Harlem River to
65th street, and the other on the Gth avenue from 155th street to
53tb, and that they intended further to run tbe 3d avenue track
all the way down town, while the Gth avenue track would branch
off on the 9tb avenue division. Before long he expected they
would have through trains running from one end of the island to
the other, and making altogether four stops. The charge for the
trip would bs ten cents, and the distance would be covered in
twenty minutes. This would really be rapid transit. The Man¬
hattan Company is endeavoring to meet the exigencies of the
situation.





These improvements, however, do not go quite far enough.
Should Elm street be widened an elevated track could be erected
from one end of it to the other, and if more accommodations are
needed the Boulevard can be utilized for the purpose. No objec¬
tion to this latter scheme could be raised on the ground that it
would spoil the beauty of that avenue, for public neglect has done,
tbat pretty effectually already. With these facilities there might
be no further trouble about rapid Iransit for ten years or more.
Perhaps these are not the most perfect arrangements that could be
made, but they ai-e certainly tbe most practicable. Mayor Hewitt's
plan, cornpieheneive asit was, seema to have met with no public





approval, and it has been suggested that there are engineering dif¬
ficulties in its way. Moreover, it is extremely doubtful if any
scheme for a surface rapid transit road could bccarried into effect at
the present time. There are too many conflicting interests to satisfy.
It would be about as diffieidt to find a plan on which everybody
could agree asit would to pursuade Satan to stop sinning. The
Arcade schem.e was a splendid oie, but the o;>po3ition to it wa^
powerful and effectual, and it is understood the company has had
a bard time finding the necessary funds. Doubtless sometime Mew
York will be blessed by surface ripid transit roads, but at present
its citizens had better make the best otit of what they have got, for
the simple reason that they cannot help themselves. After all they
will not have very much to complain about if they can get from
one end of the island to the other in less than thirty minutes.





The Senate's discussion of the tariff bill before them is a aoriy
waste of time. The Tlouse. is not at all likely to concur in their
action, and if it did the President would not approve. This is to be
a short session, for, taking out the holiday rece33, there will be a
little over ten weeks for legislation, and tho regular appropriation
bills will, naturally, take up most of the time. Indeed, the political
outlook is not at all reassuring. The surplus is over seventy mill¬
ion of dollars and, unless reduced by legislation, will be a hundred
and fifty million by June next. Should the Congi-ess now in session
appropriate any of this money for productive or useful pm-po3es,
apart from the regular appropriations. President Cleveland will, of
course, interpose a veto. He will not countenance river a':d harbor
bills, Blair's education meastu-e, public building improvements or
any disposition of the public funds for tbe benefit of the busines.^ or
trade of the country. President Harrison will therefore take office
with a large and growing surplus, and he wil] be forced to call an
extra session of Congress in order somehow to get tho money out of
the Treasury.





If Congress was a business body it could, during March, April
and May, dispose of the surplus by liberal appropriations' for
improving our rivers and harbors, rehabilitating our comnierce,
adding to our navy, commencing the needed worii of coast defenses
and authorizing the constiiiction of public buildings where tbey
arc needed. We could really spend over $500,000,0'^0 to the
immense benefit of tbe commerce and security of the nation. But
there is nearly $150,000,000 that is really available. Were this
appropriated in productive works, Congress could then adjourn
until fall and return to tax questions at the regular session. But at
the extra sessions in March we will probably plunge into tariff and
other irrelevant debates. Nothing is really certain except that wo
will spend more money corrupUyin pension legislation and continue
to make a present of the sui^jIus to tbe w^ealtby individuals and
corporations who own evidences of the national debt. This debt-
paying policy is indefensible from any and every poiut of view. We
want the money for jiroductive works. Eight milUons, ar. least, are
needed right here in New York harbor, and equally generous sums
aro imperatively requh'ed for public works in other important
sections of the country. But it is clear that the coming spring will
see business men a good deal embarrassed because of the impossi¬
biUty of foretelling what our Congress, composed of lawyers and
politicians, will or will not do.





The coal roads, by all accounts, have been exceptionally prosper¬
ous during the past year. Their shares are all worth a great deal
more than they are selling for on the stock market. The output of
coal bas been very large and the prices have been remunerative.
Practically, they have acted together as a great trust. Under tbe
circumstances, would it not he wise for the companies to treat both
the public and their employes generously ? They should not charge
the highest rates for coal or its transportation. In addition, why
not show some consideration to the miners and their railroad hands?
It, confessedly, cost the Reading Company a million and a-half of
dollars to beat the sti-ike of last spring. Would it not have been
wiser to have spent a third or even a half of that sum in making
the lives of these poor wretches more tolerable ? To keep up prices
the companies are, very generally, suspending mining at the begin¬
ning of winter, which is a cruel hardship to heads of families whose
wages when employed afford, at be^t, a very scantliving. If, how¬
ever, the coal companies think only of themselves, and are prosper¬
ous at tbe expense of tbe community on the one hand and their
employes on tlie other> they must expect, in time, to face fierce
attacks in tbe press and in Congress. No corporations can jaerraa-
nently Hve in this countiy that trausact their business without
reference to the public or the people they employ., A little consid¬
eration for the interest of others would redound, eventually, to tha
interests of the coal corporations themselves.





It is estimated that the shrinkage of the values of tbe securities
of some several corporations, owned chiefly in the Eastern States,
since July 1, 1887, amounts to fully $107,000,000. New York finan¬
ciers are surprised that there have not been failures of, individuals