August Si, 1890





Record and Guide.





141





De^ TO RN- EsTAJE. BuiLoiffc ApP<rrECTan|P;KousEiiou) Deoo^tioiW
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Published every Saturday.
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Communications should be addressed to

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





Vol. XLVI.





AUGUST 2, 1890.





No. 1,163





THE money market has resumed the place it has held during
spring as the peg on which quotations for the time being hang.
The troubles in the Argentine Republic, the heavy exportations of
gold, and the increase from four to five per cent in the Bank of
England's rate of discount, have all tended to make the future of
the money market a matter for serious apprehension. The cause,
however, is only a temporary one. English investors, though
straitened just at present by the disturbances in South America,
will not be seriously hurt thereby, and it is by no means certain
that the political excitement may not lead to a sounder financial
policy. Furthermore, the gross amount involved is not large,
and it is not very widely distributed. It is the speculators that
will be most severely bitten. Consequently, while there may be
some tightening of money in the immediate future, it is not prob¬
able that the gold exports will continue, unless, indeed, the imports
of mercliandise remain for some time as large as they are at pres¬
ent. Tlie crop reix)rts have not been so favorable during the past
week, and it is probably in the case of corn particularly there will
lie a considerable decrease of production. But we shall have
enough of all the cereals for our own use, and that which we
export will be sold for good prices. So, while there are momentary
causes for alarm, it is not probable that the depressing agencies
will have any except temporary eflFects.





THE general public are not, perhaps, familiar with the details of
the financial administration of the city. They probably do not
fully appreciate the wasteful system under which our current
expenses are met. The city, instead of collecting its taxes first, and
making its disbursements out of its collections, is obliged to borrow
money by means of revenue bonds throughout the spring and sum¬
mer, and pay oflf these bonds with the taxes collected on October
1st and afterwards. This means an expenditure of about $300,000
per annum in interest. The Comptroller, according to an interview
with Mr. Myers, published in another column, is obliged to run
around the city from one bank or trust company to another, trying
to raise money. During the past year he has paid 4 per cent for these
accommodations; but this was due to the tightness of the money
market. Obviously these methods are not sanctioned by any sound
principles of financiering. The worst administeredgovernment on
earth—that of France previous tothe Revolution—used so to meet its
liabilities, but otherwise it has no analogy. Unfortunately it is a
system which once adopted is difficult to shake off. Mr. Myers
proposes that next year the taxes be collected on May 1st instead
of October 1st. In order to do this the books of the Assessment
Department must be prepared by January 1st, and the Board of
Aldermen must have the appropriations approved and the rate
declared by February 1st so that the books of the CoDector of Taxes
can be ready by May 1st. This, of course, would require no little
extra work; but, what is more serious, it would mean the collection
of taxes twice within eight months. Property-owners would
naturally object to this; but it is a question well worthy of con¬
sideration whether the saving of $300,000 per annum would not be
worth the sacrifice. It must be remembered that tiie cost of the
present system will be constantly on the increase, and the diflScuIty
of shaking it off will also bo continually growing. If it is to be
done at all, it should be done now.

----------•----------

THERE is a point in connection with the work done by Mayor
Grant's Rapid Transit Commission, which the Mayor, the
Commissioners themselves, and the public should not lose sight of.
The Rapid Transit Act, whence the Commission obtained its pow««,
distinctly specifies: if the Commissioners determine that rapid
transit facilities are necessary, they shatt, within sixty days, lay out
a route; shall, within thirty days more, decide upon the plan of
construction ; and, within a further thirty days, makiog 120 in all,
s^uzUopen a book for stock subscriptions. As evpryono knows,
Mayor Grant's Commissioners went no further than to recommend
a route; and now that it; is jawposed to r§»ppoint the Commiseion,
tb? importantJqueBtiop arisefll^bet^^'f ^^« ^^}i 8o:fw done hftB not





been entirely thrown away; whether the Commissioners, to give
legality to any further steps, will not have to recommence their
labor from the initial point; for the law, we know, is a great
stickler for exactitude, and having, apparently, required the per¬
formance of three separate acts, within the legal lifetime of a com¬
mission may regard any one alone, null and void. Law and Politics
have been the Scylla and Charybdis of the rapid transit question. It
has been impossible so far to launch a measure that could escape one
or the other of these, and now it is doubtful in the extreme whether
the former has not already proved fatal to Mayor Grant's scheme,
as far as it has been carried out. In view of these facts, in view
of past experience and our present circumstances. The Record and
Guide recommends another perusal of the article, " Hints for a
Rapid Transit Measure," published in the issue of the 12th instant.
There the outline of a bill is given that provides for having a
rapid transit system designed by experts, and for affoitiing the
public all needed opportunity to be heard. Not only so, but the
final action of the proposed transit Commissioners is subject to
review by the people. These are the requirements of a fair transit
bill. It is not worth while now .'to talk about the details of a plan.
Such discussion simply confuses the subject. Energy should rather
be directed towards bringing about the appointment of the sug¬
gested expert board. Then the several thousand citizens who think
they know how the problem should be solved can have an innings.
Even should the elevated roads begin the work of extending their
lines—and such work is more likely to begin in the courts than on
the ground—the suggested transit bill should still be passed. An
extension of the elevated roads will not solve, though we believe it
would temporarily greatly lessen, the transit difficulty. It would,
however, educate the public to see—as is already plain to some per¬
sons—that the roads needed must be, not only as long as the city,
and accessible at many points, but part of, and of immensely greater
capacity than the present system of elevated roads can furnish.
Many projectors of Transit schemes fail utterly to realize how
great is the carrying capacity required. An adequate transit system
would, probably, carry 300 million passengers the year of its com¬
pletion. Men with beards now on their faces may live to see
even twice 300,000,000 passengers a year carried by railways
between the Battery and the Yonkers line. We are, indeed,
now at a point where it is possible to see that a transit system is
needed,'not wholly to meet conditions which exist, but, in addition,
to satisfy those conditions which will arise as the result of that
transit system.





THE latest eruption on the fair face of rapid transit calcula¬
tions proves to be a plan for extending the elevated roads
from 65th street, along the Boulevard to Washington Heights.
Lawson N. Fuller and other owners of property in the upper part
of the 12th Ward have been negotiating with the Manhattan
Company for the building of such an extension ; and the managers
of that corporation have acquiesced, provided that all the property-
owners along the line of the proposed extension will consent to
forego the pleasure of bringing suits for damages. Only about
half of these owners have already consented, so it may be
seen that Mr. Lawson N. Fuller will have to be expeditious
in case he wishes to go before the Legislature with
a perfect case. We are inclined to think, not only that
his well-meant efforts will be wasted, but that it is desirable
that they should come to nothing. We have always
favored, as the quickest method of meeting au urgent necessity,
giving to the Manhattan Company permission to improve its ser¬
vice; but the arguments which justify such a conclusion would not
equally justify an extension of its line. Determined efforts will be
made next session to pass a bill which will be the groundwork for
settling the problem adequately, and special legislation for particu¬
lar routes would not only be useless, but might well be detrimental.
Furthermore, we cannot see that such a line would be any
real advantage to the residents and property-owners of Wash¬
ington Heights. No solution of the rapid transit problem
could be considered satisfactory which did not give alleviation
to them as well as to the residents of other sections of the city
up town; but if this special branch is to be kept quite separate
from the main system, if it is to be built under a different law,
and come under the jurisdiction of different authorities, it might
really do more harm than good. Moreover, as the capacity of a
system is conditioned by the adequacy of its terminals, and as the
Manhattan Road, is at present running trains to its full capacity,
how can it afford to put on more trains for this extension, unless,
indeed, it gets its "loop;" and that "loop," we are sorry to say,
seems to be a part of Paradise to which Mr. Gould can never
attain.

IT is well advised, we believe, that one of the first steps to be
taken by an enlightened missionary among a savage and
heathen people is—^after securing for his person what protection he
can—to show them of how common material their idols are made.

The same coiirse ma7 oi^ja be taken witb great advantage in deal-