;March 80, i?89





Record   and   Guide.





421





Devoted to_ F^L Estate . SuiLoif/c Aij^ciliTECTiJi^E ,Kousei(old Degor^tioN.
Bilsit^Ess Alio Themes of Ge^eraL I;JT£r\Es-i





PRICE, PER VEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

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





Communications sbould be addressed to

C.W. SWEET, 191   Broadway,

I. T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XLIII.





MARCH 30, 1889.





No. 1,(





Wall street ought to be happy, but it ia not. Rates out West are
maintained, and about all the roads make a better exhibit than last
years. Net earr ings show a larger gain than gross earnings. Money
ia easy, and here we are on the verge of April without any gold
shipment to speak of. Europe ia certainly buying our bonds and
stocks, and is taking more of our provisions and corn than ever
before in our history. Notwithstanding all these favorable factors,
stocks have been drooping, and it is the bears which is the aggres¬
sive party. The fact seems to be that the conservative investor is
again proving liimself a goose. He would not sell last year when
Burlington, Atchison, Bock Island and the Grangers generally were
too high. Now that the bad news haa been discounted in the price
of securities, he ia eager to sell bis investment stock. It is strange
that the most long-headed and prudent men will insist in buying
stocks when they are assuredly high, and in selling them when
theix' price declinea. Prices ought to be better after the April
settlements.





The diplomatic appointments of President Harrison are generally
excellent, and Secretary Blaine should get his share of praise for the
selections, as it is incredible that his advice should be disregarded
in every instance. The son of Abraham Lincoln will not make
much of a mark as a speaker at the festive gatlierings in London,
but he will be an object of interest, and, as he is a man of discretion,
will not  be likely to compromise the interests of the country he

represents.

-----------■-----------.

A great deal has been said since Mr. Gould's letter to Mayor Grant
was published, aboufc the "loop" desired by the Manhattan Com¬
pany to increase their faeihties at the Battery Park terminus. It is
doubtful, however, whether one person out of ten has any kind of an
idea of what the Manhattan Company really asks for, aud in return
for which they declare the present rapid transit accommodation of
the city would be considerably increased. So thafc our readers can
form a sane judgment on the matter, and speak from the merits of
the case aad not from prejudice and in tune with public clamor, we
print elsewhere in this issue a map to scale of the Battery Park,
showing the existing elevated lines and fche propoaed "loop." Ifc will
be seen that the Manhattan Company ask for only twenty-four feet
of the park, partly parallel fco and adjoining the existing sti-ucture.
The concessions they desire would not materially detract from
either the presenfc beauty or serviceableness of the park, Ifc is in no
seuse the gross piece of vandalism it would appear to be from the
tone "oi the daily press and the idea which the public has of the
matter-





Even at the expense of reiterating what has been said before in
these columns on this subject of rapid transit we must again point
out that the city could not pursue a blinder, a more suicidal policy
than its present atfcitude toward the elevated roads. These
toads, and these alone, can give quick relief to a condition of things
which has become, not only au intolerable nuisance, bufc is stunting
the erowth of the cifcy, damaging its prosperity and driving popu¬
lation to surrounding towns. In saying this we are not condoning
any evil done by the Manhattan Company, or holding up Jay Gould
as a public-spirited citizen, or ignoring Mayor Grant's project or
any of the many excellent transit schemes which have been made
public in the last twenty years. We do recognize, however, that
even under more fortunate circumstances that experience permits
us to imagine, no road not in existence to-day can help us in our
immediate difficulties. At best they are all three, four, five or
more years away. As Lawson Fuller told Mayor Granfc, any
scheme yet to be born must go through the measles, whooping cough,
scarlatina and other troubles, and about its survival and attainment to
maturity there must always he doubfc. The best scheme ever proposed
—the Arcade Road—that for twenty years was engineered and man¬
aged with indomitable courage and remarkable skill was kUled when
its success seemed most certain. It is senseless fco ignore facts which
everyone recognizes. The obstacles that beset Bunyan's Clu'istian
on his way to Heaven were not more numerous tban those which
any and every new scheme will have to confront before it goes into





operation. On the other hand, here is the Manhattan Company's
system constructed and in operation. It may not be an ideal
system, it may be tofcally inadequate for the future, but it is all we
have got to-day, and by slight concessions, and with fche work of a
few months it can be greatly improved, so that fcransit will be a more
comfortable and more rapid matter than it is. Why not accept the
half until we cau have the whole?





Ifc is to be hoped fchafc common sense will prevail in this question.
The public, of whom Mayor Grant is the representative, should give
the Manhattan Company the hearing that has practically been denied
to it. Mayor Grant should call back fche officers of the company
whom he dismissed wifch the assurance that his mind was so firmly
made up thafc prolonged consideration of their views was useless.
By falling back upon the exceUent policy outlined in bis address,
wherein he invited everyone fco give him ideas and suggesfcions for
his fullesfc atfceufcion, and by learning what concessions to the public
the Manhattan Company are willing fco make in refcurn for conces¬
sions from the cifcy, some arrangement might be reached which would
better subserve the interests of everybody thau tbe present pohcy of
looking to a remote future for tbe requirements of to-day.





Of course one reason of the unpopularity of fche Manhattan Com¬
pany is because Gould and Sage are its principal owners. Yet the
two men had nothing to do witb bringing thf system into existence,
To Cyrus W. Field more fchan to any one man does that credit
belong. We have often condemned Field for his rapacity and for the
league he made with Jay Gould and Russell Sage; but his service
in laying the first cable as well as in building the'' L" roads of this city
will be remembered to his credit long after this generation haa
passed away.

-----------------9-—■----------

With fchis hostility to the " L " system, the pubhc naturally turn
to the Mayor's plan of a commission to locate a route and organize
a company, to do the work. But, to begin with, this scheme would
require time. The Evening Post thinks that Mayor Grant should
not be permitted to appoint the commission imtil he haa been a year
in office; then there willhe fighting in the courfcs, quarrelling among
the promoters, and blackmailing by the lawyers and politicians.
After six or eighfc years had elapsed what'kiud of a road would be
built? A viaduct would be too costly. An underground structure
would be out of the question, unless indeed it was an Arcade Road.
The traveling public would never go through a noisome hole
underground when given the choice of traveling with comfort in
the open air. As the underground road would not run for lesa
fchan five cents, it could get but little business of its own, and its
charter would naturally fall into fche hands of its rival. Keeping in
view all the circumstances of the case, ifc is our deliberate convic¬
tion that the only rapid transifc we shall have for the next quarter
of a century is that furnished by the elevated roads.





One of the anomalies of our American municipal governments ia
the efflcjeucy of some of the departments and the wastefulness
which marks fche control of others. Whafc can be more admirable
in ifcs raanagemenfc than our fire department? New York gets a
splendid service at a minimum of cost. Our Croton water depart¬
ment is equally well managed. We have a police force we are
proud of. Om- educational machinery might be improved upon,
but there are no monetary scandals connected therewith. But our'
public markets have always been a scandal to New York, Tha
petty officials employed are recruited from the lowest type of poli¬
ticians; for half a century the blackmailing of the marketmen haa
been the mle and not the exception. The revelations brought oufc In
the recent investigation is a pretty good specimen of fche way in
which   public   markets   have  been   managed   for   at   least   two

generations.

----------•—-——

Matters will doubtless be better for a little wbile now that Senator
Daly has been made Supermtendent of Markets. Although a
Tammany Democrat he has made an excellent record at Albany;
but, of coui-se, the difficulty has been that in reality we have had no
markets. The so-called Washington Market was a collection of
broken down sheds in which it was impossible to maintain order or
a system. Dealers did not wish to give this market up as it did an
enormous business, but its hmited area aud lack of proper accom¬
modations tended to build up a swarm of little butchery aud grocery
shops all over fcbe city, which fact has helped to make living very
costly in New York. No city can fulfill its duty to its citizens with¬
out proper market faeihties. Buildings must be provided where
all kinds of meats and vegetables can be pm'chased at the lowest
cost and with the least friction.





The time has come when New York should have a system of
markets laid out to meet its future requiremenfcs. They should be
edifices worthy of what will be the most populous and rich city on
the globe, for we may take it for granted that some time or another
that New York, Richmond, Kiugs, Queens and Westchester Countiea