October 18, 1889





Record  and  Guide.





1361









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Vol, XLIV.





OCTOBER 12, 18S9.





No. 1,136





The stock market for the past week has been wholly under the
influence of temporary shifting conditions. There has been no
change in the general business prospects. Ii'on is still strong ; rail¬
road returns aro still increasing ; we shall apparently get good
prices for our large wheat crop, and the enormous cotton and corn
crops aro 'well harvested. Yet such is the public shyness, that
prices for stocks are wholly in the hands of traders, and a trader's
market is as uncertain and two-faced as the wayward sea itself.
The selling of Atchison—that bete noir of Wall streei—and the
Trust stocks generally has depressed the whole list. Neither is
there any immediate prospect that these "fancies" will be put
upon such a basis and that they will cease to threaten the more
fortunate [line of securities. The sudden increase in Atchison's
eai'nings puts the company on a better footing ; but uutil some
scheme of reorganization is devised that will at once reduce the
fixed charges and gain the approval of the bondholders, tlie stock
will doubtless keep on making small gains aud large losses until
the bottom is reached, wherever that will be. The same is
true of sugar and cotton oil. Just eo long as the affairs of these
combinations are surrounded in obscurity, so that an investor or
speculator cannot be sure whether he is buying a valuable or value¬
less security, just so long will these wild and meaningless fluctua¬
tions take place. These combinations ought to be compelled to list
their securities ou the penalty of a withdrawal of the present facil¬
ities for deahng in them. As too many people are aware there are
enough dangers to be overcome in WaU street speculation, every
effort ought to be made to lessen them, so that judgment might
count for something. As it is what is not known about the Sugar
Trust would make a large and interesting volume, while what is
known is limited to the two flgures representing the market value
of the certificate?. It is a pity that this first movement towards
dealing in industrial securities should tend to discredit them.
Evidently, they are in the market to stay; but their place cannot
be said to have been made secure until the confidence of investors
is secured by the removal of the preseut thimble-rigging of the cer¬
tificates,

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We have already received several communications suggesting
amendments to the law governing the erection of buildings in this
city, as invited in om- columns of last week's issue. The revision
now in progress wiU probably be the last one for many years to
come, and as the gentlemen who have this matter in hand desue
that New York shall have the model building law of tbe world, as
liberal and as fair in its provisions as the public safety will admit,
all persons whose esperience or observation enables them to suggest
beneficial changes should send to The Record and Guide their
confa-ibution of ideas for the general good. The subject is well
worth the immediate attention of arcliitects, builders and all others
interested iu real estate improvements.





The interviews with Mr, Edison concerning the Paris Exposition
emphasize what has been said many times in these columns as to
the folly of the P, T, Barnum " gi-eatest-show-on-earth" idea of a
World's Fair which prevails just now as to om- own. Exposition;
and, incidentally, what the inventor said makes the proposition to
scatter the buildings in different parts of the city, instead of concen¬
trating them on one spot, worthier of careful consideration. In
substance Mr. Edison said that the Paris Exposition is too large to
be as instructive to visitors as it might be, and the buildings being
grouped, too great a crush results for comfort. Both are serious
objections to any arrangement, and both, especially the latter,
could be obviated by placing the several chief buildings in different
parts of Ihe city. The idea may clash with preconceived ideas of
what a Fair should be, but, nevertheless, a little consideration will
sliow that such an arrangement would possess  many  material

advantages.

----------a----------

, The discontent shown by the public because the Finance Com¬
mittee of the Exposition did not at their meeting this week report
a complete plan for raising the necessary funds is not well formded,
2^0 possible ^oo4 can come froai forjialatiag a plan mjrely, for





the sake ttf having some plan. What is needed is the plau; an
intelligent plan that will receive the approval of citizens and meet
and adequately meet the necessities of the Exposition, Before this
can he done it is absolutely essential, as we have more than once
pointed out, that the question of site should be completely settled,'-
and the exact character of the Exposition, the size of the build¬
ings and the natm-e of their surroundings determined. In other
words, a clear idea of what has to be provided for must be reached
before the Finance Committee can act in a business-like way. It
must be plain to everyone, that unless the Finance Committee do
act in a business-like way the money requu-ed, wherever else it
may come from, will not come from the public.





It is not necessary to point out to anyone who is well informed
on the situation that the question as to site is not completely settled
and the exact character of the Exposition and the size of the build¬
ings has not been determined. The Site Committee, so far, have
merely named a site ; it is not even prospectively in their possession.
Without the Bloomingdale land the site they have "named "is
admittedly valueless, and the trustees of Bloomingdale say they
cannot relinquish the land they occupy in time for the Fair, More¬
over, there are the property-owners on the site to be dealt with.
Because a few of the wealthier have already come forward and
lent their property for tbe pm-poses of the Fair, it is not to be
inferred tbat all will do so. There are many property-holders who
could not, even if they would, donate then- land. What proportion
do the&e bear to the whole?   Tiiis  question  cannot  be  answered

too quickly,

.---------*———.

All this is not to say that the site cannot be obtained. But it is
merely describing the situation adequately to say that the site has
not yet been obtained though it has been "named." Obviously,
until it is with some degree of certainty, prospectively at least, in
the possession of the Site Committee, the Finance Committee can¬
not intelligently approach the problem before them, Tbe same
remark applies to the character of the Exposition and the size of
the buildings. It would be simply absurd for tbe Finance Com¬
mittee to make public any statement tantamount to this: "We
have become possessed of a vague idea that some sum between
fifteen and twenty millions may perhaps be needed. Exactly for
what we do not know, nor whether for buildings only or for a land
speculation, and on this basis we ask the enthusiastic public to send
in as large subscriptions as possible," Tiie demand of the public
should be: " Settle the site question, determine what the character
aud the extent of the Exposition are to be. If this be done wisely
the money will be forthcoming." Let the first thing be decided
first.





Thomas A. Edison, in an interview published in the Sun, passed
two criticisms upon the Pai-is Exposition, which merit considera¬
tion from the management of the Fair of 1893, He thought that
the machinery was scattered about too much, and one who wished
to see it all had to do a good deal of needless walking ; secondly,
he regretted the lack of such a thing as a "live industrial process,"
Provided the facts ai-e true, these criticisms are certainly well
taken. It does not admit of any doubt that so far ay possible all
the machinery in the Exposition ought to be seen actually at work.
Its utility is increased a thousandfold thereby. The objections to
thus forcibly presenting to the observer the actual Hfe of an indus-
ti-ial process would ai'ise, first, from the large expense whicli it would
entail, and, secondly, from the deafening noise it might create, pro¬
vided all the machinery is to be located in one hall. The first criti¬
cism opens a far wider questioa—the question, viz,: Whether it
would be the more effective to locate, as has been the custom, all
the machinery in one enormous room, or to make the exhibits by
trades, and have the macliiuery appertaining to each trade con¬
tiguous to the trade exhibit, so that one conld throw Hght upon

the other.

---------•----------

In this connection it is worth while once more to recur to the
formula whicii Edward Atkinson suggested to guide the committee
hi the preparation and the arrangement of the exhibits. It is safe
to say that it would be impossible satisfactorily to show the progress
made throughout the last four hundi-ed years in indusb-ial work
unless the exhibits are grouped by trades, irrespective of the indi¬
vidual exhibitor, the State from which he comes, and liis peculiar
wishes in reference *o his exhibit. Nobody outside the committee
will have any direct interest in the preparation of the machinery
showing past and superseded methods in manufacnuring aud work¬
manship, and as all these preparations will have to be made there
is nobody but a trade committee to make them. Moreover, to
render them useful, the exhibits of lu'esent methods should be
arranged and selected so as to include only tbat whicb is instructive.
Why should the shoemaking exbibit of Missouri be separated from
that of Massachusetts, or even that of foreign countries, proyidfid,
of course, the object of the Exposition is contained in Mr, Atkin¬
son's formula. It is probable that the trades are uot sufficiently
rganized to  carry out any such  schsms ; but it certainly seerq^





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