November 9. 188»





Record  and  Guide.





1499









ESTABLISHED^ (AftRpH 21 ti> 1868.'^

De/otS) to f^E^vL Estme , BuiLdiKc Aji.c}^iTECTa[^E ,HouseHou) DfCOR^Tiort.
Btfsii/Ess AtloThemes of GErJER^L 1/(t£i\es7





PRIDE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS

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

Conamun Ications should be addressed to

C.W. SWEET, 191   Broadway.

L T. LINDSEY, Bii»iness Manager.





Vol. XLIV.





NOVEMBER 9, 18S9.





No. 1,ISO-





Headquarters of Oommittee of tbe Arts and Industries of Building

Trades.
No. 191 Broadiray, New York, Nov. 9,1889.
At a meeting of representatives of the Arts and Industries con¬
nected with the Building Trades, held October 31s/, the undersigned
committee was appointed to call a piihlic Mass Meeting in the Real
Estate Exchange, 59 Liherty street, on Tuesday, November 12ih, at
id'clocJa P. M., to consider tke advisability of concentrating the
infiuence of the Architectural a^id Real Estate Professions and
Building Trades, in order  to procure a systematized, collected

AND  PERMANENT BUILDING EXHIBIT  in  the forthcoming EXPOSITION,

and to take such other action as may be deemed advisable to assist
His Honor the Mayor and the several committees now in charge of
matters relative to the proposed World's Fair.

Your presence and co-operation is respectfully and earnestly
requested, as the subject is of vital ini.portdnce to all engaged in the
Building Arts and Industries.

If unable to attend, a reply stating your views on the subject
would receive respectful consideration.
(Signed)
E. A. Cruikshank,            Thos. Graham,

Chas. Buek,                       Richard V. Harnett,

A. J. Bloor,                      Henry M, Keasbey,

R. C. Fisher,                    F. W. Seagrist, Jr.

Hiram Snyder.
Francis Crawford, President of Meeting held October dist.
H. W. Desmond, Secretary, 191 Broadivay.





The call wbich is to be issued to-day by the Committee of Nine
for a mass meeting of all who are interested in the arts and iadiis-
tries connected with building is given above. The meeting should
be, and there is very little doubt that it will be, the largest and
most euthusiastic gathering that has ever been held, of what, for
lack of a better jihrase, may be called the " Building Trades." In a
sense their reputation as good citizens is now at stake; for curiously
it happens that they form the only interest that has yet been pub¬
licly charged \vith " backwardness" in connection with the
effort to secui'e the Exposition of 1892 for New York, Mr. John
Claflin said in his complaint to Secretary Wilson, " it is a difficult
matter to persuade men who will not be benefited by the Exposition
to subscribe to tbe fund when those who will reap gi'eat advantages
from it are unwilling to come to tbe front." Had Mr. Claflin
known that, at the very moment be was writing his letter the men
he accused of looking on while others were sowing for the harvest
they expected to assist in reaping were effecting an organization of
which tbe meeting nest Tu^-sday will be the outcome he would
have particularized some other industry in his charge.





It would be strauge if the only industry that has been publicly
stigmatized as niggardly should be the one to give new vigor to
the Exposition movement. It is not unlikely that this will be tlie
case. The organization of the building trades to secure for them¬
selves a thoroughly representative exhibit in a suitable and perma¬
nent building, would surely be followed by the organization of other
trades. If tbis were to liappen, the Exhibition wou'd not only be
assured, but Edward Atkinson's idea of what the Exposition should
be (and it is the best that has yet been advanced) could easily be
carried out. Tlie Exposition then, instead of being a chaotic dis¬
play of merchandise, chiefly for advertising purposes, scattered in
weai'isome barnlike buildings, telling the visitor httle and teaching
him nothing, could be historical, wlierein the past and present of all
the important arts and industries of man could be portrayed and
the different departments of each industry showu in their relation
to one another. The jewelry, iron, cotton, leather, paper, book-
uiaking, electrical apparatus and ship-tuiiding^lrades, iu bhort all





trades should organize to support tlie Exposition, and see that their
exhibit is the best that can be made, and is properly siystematized
and displayed. This cannot be accomplished by one general com¬
mittee in charge of the Exposition. It needs special knowledge
which is to be obtained only in the different trades.





At the meeting next Tuesday the BuUding trades should put their
shoulder to the Exposition wheel -nhich, from some cause or
another, is not rooving quite as rapidly as it should. Perhaps it is
that individuals, as individuals, have done as much as can well be
expected, and the time has now amved for organization, which is
essential to make effective the great strength of the mass of the
people. We see tbat so long as the movement has been one claim¬
ing tbe support of the public as individuals, it has appealed chiefly
to ttie very rich. The movement now needs to pass into another
phase, and througli organization appeal to the multitude. It will
be found a much easier enterprise to build the Exposition with the
dollars of the masses tban tbe thousand dollar subscriptions of our
millionaires. Tf, however, the chief trades of New ^ork vrill
organize, the Exposition will be a certainty. Let tbe Building trade
show the way.





Every member of tbe Building trades bas, m a sense, a personal
interest in the meeting to be held on Tuesday. A permanent
Building exhibition, wherein eveiything from the designing to the
completion of the construction of the several kinds of build¬
ings could be shown, has long been talked of and wished for.
Here is the opportunity to obtain such a building. It would be one
of the most interesting and instructive of all in the Esposition. We
believe that a very handsome building could be erected from con¬
tributions made by manufacturers and material men in kind.
Offers have already been made by several leading firms to donate
for such a building all the material necessary of the kind they
manufacture. Business men will not be slow to see the benefits
tliat would be obtained from doing so, and exhibitors will realize at
a glance how much more advantageous tbeir exhibits would be to
them if displayed in a building that would attract to it all the visit¬
ing architects, builders, and that part of tbe public that is interested
in the cousti'uction, decoration or furnishing of houses.





Now tbat the Bloomingdale Asylum site, with its twenty-eight
acres, can be obtained for the Exposition, and the Central Park
has practically been thrown out, the World's Fair, for the first
time, may be regarded as assured.





The stock market, with some exceptions, has stiffened perceptibly
dm-ing tbe past week, and tbere seems to be a possibility that
before long we may have a taste of the often deferred rise whicii
the Wall street scribes bave been so long predicting. It is true
that a rise does not, as a general thing, set in just previous to the
holidays ; but the circumstances are exceptional and an advance
may be expected as well on the 1st of December as on the 1st of
January. The conditions favoring it continue as manifest as ever.
Business is good, both generally and specifically, for the railroads.
The estimate of the English wheat shortage is increasing, the
latest calculation putting it at some 158,000,000 bushels. There
seems to be no probability of any rate distui'bances in the West.
And last, but not least, the price of silver in London is steadily
advancing, the latest quotation being about 43^ pence. Unfor¬
tunately tbe proflts in business have not incrtased in the same
proportion as the "volume, but they may he expected to become
larger in time. Altogether, there seems to be no reason to with¬
draw the confidence we have felt that better prices were bound to
result in time.





It is noticeable that tbe Prohibition vote has played a part of
absolutely no importance in the election of tbis year, |Formerly,
although tbe poll has never been large, it had always been increas¬
ing, and politicians regarded it as a factor of some importance in,
tbe making of tbe result; but in the future, fortunately or unfor¬
tunately, they can afford to disregard it. The movement may not,
however, be without a pohtical result. All the new party men,
whether single tax or ijrohibitionist, have laid great stress on the
fact that there is, at bottom, little to distinguish the two parties one
from another, either in the consistency of their policy or in the
character of their leaders. The faith of these reformers in their
nostrums may grow cold, but their discontent with the present
party divisions will remain—a discontent that may well make itself
felt when the occasion arises. In any case, the number of voters
who have renounced their allegiance to the two parties as consti¬
tuted at present is as large, if not larger than ever; and future
elections will be the more uncertain because of this fact.





Another result of the election has been to increase the uumber
of doubtful States, It may be premature because of Foraker's
defeat to place Ohio ou that list, for it is not tbe first time tbat the
Democrats have won a victory in the contest for GQvernor wittt-"