NoTember 16, 1880





Record   and   Guide.





1531







^S^,__________

Dev&teD to He\L Estme.SuiLDif/c AjicHitectji^e.HouseholdDEGOfiATiort.
Bi/sifJEss Alio Themes of Ce^ei^L I;>(tei\est





PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS

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

Cormmmicafaloiis should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 191   Broadway.

/. T. LINDSEY, BtisiTiess Manager.





Vol. XLIV.





NOVEMBER 16, 1889.





No. 1,131.





Accompanying this number of The Record Am> Guide will be
found a sixteen page supplement, giving an illustrated and descrip¬
tive account of the progress and present condition of the west side.
Every purchaser of the paper should see that he is suppUed loit-i
tive same.





Just as the average operator haO firmly made up his mind that
it was impossible for the stock mariiet to turn—and, by the way,
the market always waits for tlie average oi>erator to reach this
conclusion—it surprised everybody by doing the very thing which
everybody had been predicting it would not do—it did turn. The
next problem is, will this strength continue ? The first intimation
of a turn of affairs came from the Southern stocks and, curiously
enough, Richmond Terminal furnished tlie lever. There is no reason
why the Southern stocks should not continue to bw in the lead at
advancing prices. The greatest crop of cotton for years is being
gathered and sold at extremely satisfactory figuers. Not only this,
but theSouth has raised more corn this year than'ever before, so that
the South will keep her money to an extent not ordinarily the
case. Moreover, sucli is the general prosperity of this section of the
country, so,rapidly are its manufactures increasing and its mines
being developed, fchat it is doubtful whether there could be a better
region iu which to make investments. And this is particularly the
case with railroad securities, because the railway building has not
been so much overdone in that region as elsewhere. It would not
be surprising if in the future tho Southern securities would lead
what advance there is in the market. The advance, however, has
not been and will not be confined to Southern securities. Lake
Shore promises a 7 per cent, dividend on its common stock and has
earned 12 per cent, on both preferred and common. If the divi¬
dend is declared it wQl make a pretty little Cliristmas present for
the inarket—oue which, perhaps, will find a parallel in kindred
actions by the other Vanderbilt companies. This much is certain,
"we have had an advance aud should have a still larger one. Busi¬
ness in some directions is not all that it might be, but there is
notliing to justify a decline.





The Committee on Revising fclie Building Law, consisting of the
members of the Board of Examiners, including Superinteudent
Brady of the Bureau of Buildings iu the Fire Department, assisted
by Mr. Fiudley the attorney to the department, and Chief Clerk
Shields, the latter acting as secretary to the committee, are hold¬
ing tri-weekly meetings, Monday, Wednesday aud Friday after¬
noons,in the rooms of the.Fu'e Underwriters, in the Mutual Life
Insurance Company's building on Nassau sti'eet. A public invita¬
tion has been extended to all persons who have suggestions to make
to submit the same in writing, or to appear in person and be heard
betweeu tlie Jio'U's of three aud four o'clock on tlie days stated,
during the present moii*h of November. Special invitations have
also been extended to es-Superinteudeuts Esterbrook and D'Oench,
and to a mimber of architects and builders whose experience and
knowledge qualify them to make valuable suggestions. The Archi-
■tectural League aud some other societies have appointed certain
of tbeii' members to appear before the commifctee. Thus far only a
few amendments have been agreed upon, and these not important
ones, although quite important ones have beeu under consideration.

-The-committee-ltas-deemed-it tlie wiser plan to firsfc hear as far,as
possible the wislies of the public before adopting ideas of their
own.   We need hardly repeat what we have said before in these

. columns, that it is the duty of all persons interested in bnilding
operations to aid the committee with all the suggestions that can be
offered towards making the law complete, clear, and free from

■■*equh-ements that may work hardships to individuals or classes of
men. Tiie committee are not paid for the arduous labor involved
in the work of revision, and tliey deserve all the help that an aiijn-e-
ciative public "can extend.





ber trade for subscriptions for the guarantee fund. Until this
week he has mefc with good success, but it seems that lately he has
been hampered by a " so-called Committee of the Arts and Indus¬
tries of the Building Trades." Mr. Godfrey is evidently a mild-
tempered man, but he became annoyed at tlie way his movements
have been sliackled by this so-called committee. Hence he writes to
the Mayor and accuses these gentlemen of cooking tbeir fish before
digging the bait to catch them. We very much fear that iMr. God¬
frey has been v little hasty. Could he not have done this so-called
committee the justice to communicate with them and learn their
intentions, instead of writing an unnecessary and unjust letter to
the Mayor? Did Mr. Godfrey find anything in the temper or in
the resolutions of the meeting which appointed this so-called com¬
mittee antagonistic to the general committee? Was not that meet¬
ing addressed by Roswell P. Flower, who certainly does not lack
zeal in furthering the interests of the Fair? Did nofc the resolution
that was passed explicitly state that the committee of nine and the
sub-committees of three were to confer with the Finance and Site
Committees of the World's Fair in respect to the adoption of
measures best calculated to give us a good Esposition and a good
building exbibit ? We think if Mr. Godfrey had looked into these
matters as seriously as he would have solicited a subscription, he
would have addressed himself to the commifctee instead of to tbe
Mayor, and learned from them how unjust were his accusations.
As a matter of fact the " so-called committee" has no fund, and
as yet has been soliciting no subscriptions. It exists for the pui'- *
pose of co-operating with every true friend of the Fair and of hin¬
dering nobody. That real estate men and builders are still subscrib¬
ing is sufficiently proved by the fact that up to the closing hour
yesterday $37,060 was contributed, inclusive of §35,000 by W. W.
Astor.





But enough of Mr. Godfrey. Tlie brewing industry is the first
to follow the example of the builders and organize. By the munifi¬
cence of their subscription they have practically assured the com¬
pletion of the guarantee fund. In time other trades will see the
advantage of doing the sarae, for it h in this way, and in this way
only, that the General Committee can be efCectively aided, and the
various special industries can see that their money is expended in
the way that will best make the Exhibition at once profitable and
instructive. Among these special interests there is none more
important aid more to be benefited by the Fair than the building
trade. There is none that should subscribe more liberally or work
more energetically for the success of the project. The meeting
held last week gave every evidence of widespread interest, both in
the Fair iu general and in the particular exhibit of the building
trade.





_ During ttie past week a letter was written totbeMayorby Wilson
Godfrey, wbo, as be hiinself declares, has bp.en canvassing thelum-





The subscription of the brewers came very opportunely, for most
people were beginning to be discouraged at the feeble striving the
fund was inaking to reach the necessary ^3,000,000. It probably
assures the ultimate completion of the amount. Meanwhile it is
noticeable that in reality there was bufc little public opinion behind
the newspaper consecration of the park. The fund did not increase
a whit more rapidly after the sacred spot was preserved. A lo^-ical
sequence of the frenzied newspaper talk would be a proposition to
appoint a day of thanksgiving for the happy defeat of the vandals.
The Evening Post, having nothirg more to object to in the policy
of the committee, returns once again to personalities, adopting the
good-old policy of " abusing the plaintiff's attorney." The obvious
implicationis that the paper has "no case." There seems to be a
tendency in the later Exposition editorials to abuse the rich men'of
tbe city for not responding more generally; but considering that
all alike, rich and poor, are siuking alike into a state of indiffer¬
ence, and considering that whatever has been done so far has been
done by rich men, the latter might be spared the abuse.





It seems to be very generally feit that Mayor Grant did an excel¬
lent stroke of business in getting the managers of the Broadway
surface railroad to guarautee to the city the T^^y^ent of $150,000
per annum, besides taxes aud licenses, in return for permission Uy
change its motive power from animal to cable. No doubt ifc was
a g^od bargain compared to what the other companies are paying,
but that this small sum should be considered satisfactory, in return
forthe facilities surrendered, is a significant commentary on the
small value, whicli is put on our street franchises by the municipal
authorities. The fault does uot He with the present Sinking Fund
Commissioners, for the company already owns the franchise.
Probably they got as much out of the company as was possible in
return merely for a permission to change the motive power
although the latter accepted the terms with such marvelous readi¬
ness fchat possibly a still larger sum might have been obtained. At
the same time, inasmuch as the franchise is by far the most valu¬
able possession of the company, and inasmuch as the prompt accept¬
ance of the terms shows tbat with the change of motive power a
gross income of some ?3,OCO,000 per ai.num is not unexpected by
the managers of tbe eompany^ it would seem ^150)000 ih addition to