October 18, 1890





Record  and Guide.





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ESTABLISHED^ MWPH a»i^ 186

1)ev6teD to I^ Estate . BuiLoiffc Aj^prfrrEtrrai^ .KouseHoid Deoo^twI.
Bi/sikEss Alto Themes op GejIei^I IjiTcnEsi

PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.
Telephone,          ...         CJobtlandt 1370.

Communications should be addressed to

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





Vol. XLVI.





OCTOBER 18, 1890.





No. 1,179





IMPORTANT NOTICE.

Next week's issue of The Record and Guide will contain a hand¬
some Illustrated Supplement devoted to the new mercantile district
now creating in the section bounded, roughly speaking, by Canal
and 14th streets, Broadway and 6th avenue, and Carmine street. In
addition to about forty pages of illustrations made from architects'
drawings and photographs specially taken, it will contain a history
of the district, of the " boom " in building now in progress there,
and of real estate values, tcith a list of conveyances showing recent
purchasers, with other articles and statistics. This supplement unll
be circulated with every copy of The Record and Guide, and as it
will reach with certainty all of the principal architects, builders,
real estate owners, investors, bankers, and thousands of private indi¬
viduals interested in real estate, it affords an unrivalled opportu¬
nity not only for the advertisement of real property, building mate¬
rial, etc , but for any and all the articles in demand among the weU-
to-do. " Copy" for advertisements for Supplement (only) must be
sent to the office of publication. No. 191 Broadway, no!: later than
Wednesday afternoon.

This number wil be a very handsome one, and subscribers and
others wishing to acquaint their friends outside of the city with the
growth and progress of New York, cannot accomplish this better
than by sending them copies of the supplement. As this edition will
be a very large one to meet the demand, orders should be sent at once
for the copies needed. Notwithstanding the costliness of this issue,
no advance in price will lie made, and orders for ten copies or mor-
will be mailed free, upon receipt of 15 cents per copy.





THE SUPPLEMENT.
This number of The Record and Guide contains a supplement of
illustrations of the Berlin Elevated RaUroad.   Subscribers and
readers should see that it accompanies their copy, and any omissions
should be reported to the office of publication.

THE stock market, as vre anticipated, has been stronger through¬
out the past week ; and though not exceptionally active, it
has been marked by a healthier tone. There has undoubtedly
sprung up a more confident spirit among dealers; brokers say that
there are more applications than for some time past from outside
customers who wish to know what to buy, and consequently there
seems to be some hope that prices may receive some outside sup¬
port. It i3 not likely, however, that this support will come from
abroad. English securities have been suffering depreciation just
as ours have, and apparently from about the same cause. Money
is more or less scarce iu all the markets of Europe,
and tbe conversion of various important loans, which were
to have been attempted immediately, have been postponed
until a more favorable opportunity presents itself. But
the prices of stocks in this country have suffered heavier
declines than those of England; they are cheap at the pres¬
ent prices and with present prospects. The general trade prospects
continue to be almost unexceptionable. Our exports were never bo
heavy as thqr were a week ago—amounting to more than $16,000,-
000 against an average of $8,000,000 for the six preceding weeks.
A certain part of this large total—about $4,000,000—should have
been scattered over the previous month, but even making allow-
aiute for any circumstance of this kind the showing is most encour¬
aging. If this process ccmtinues it must result in bringing money
to this country. There is no fault to be found with railroad eam-
iugBf and the managers oi the various Western roads appear to be
making determmed efforts satisfactorily to adjust tbe rate situa¬
tion. The preponderance of argument is undoubtedly on the
buUifl^ffldo^





TBERE appear to be no new developments in the attitude of the
European nations to tlie McKinley bill. The Xoitdon Econo¬
mist very properly rebukes continental journals and English papers
like the Times for their fierce denunciation of tbe bill.   " The





policy which the United States are pursuing," says the Economist,
" may be, and in our opinion is, a most mistaken policy. But the
American people bave a right to regulate thf ir fiscal affairs in
whatever manner they think best, and for us to resent as an insult
the exercise of that freedom, because it clashes with our own
interests, is foolish and absurd. Such a display of temper will
only aggravate the evil. It will play into the hands of the protec¬
tionists, who will contend that the success of tbeir policy may be
measured by the irritation it causes here." It has never been rec¬
ognized as a principle of legislation that the enacting
power should scrupulously consult the interests of all
othei- nations. The McKinley bill must be judged by
its results to the trade of this country, not by its effect
in the trade of other countries. In case the latter decided to retali¬
ate, we shall have as little right to enter an objection as they have
at the present moment to grow hysterical over the bill's restrictive
features. The price of securities abroad is hinging, as it does in this
coimtry, on the condition of the money market. Alike in London,
Paris, Berlin and Vienna, the fiuancifrs are watching with anxious
eyes the rate of discount. The dealers in all these cities are very
cautious. In the London Stock Exchange there has recently been
the same shrinkage of values as in New York. Consols have
dropped as much as 4 per cent from their highest point touched
this year. English railway stocks have fallen from 5 to 15 per
cent; Southern American bonds have suffered heavy depreciation;
.American railway securities have been equally unfortunate, and
international bonds of the safest class hsive not been without their
decline. These losses have been directly occasioned by the
tightness of money. Furthermore, general business in England
has apparently been quite as active and prosperous as in this coun¬
try. The index number of the Economist, representing the general
range of prices at the end of September is 2,301, against 2,229 in
1889 and 2,130 in 1«88. The bankers' clearings show an increase of
5 per cent over the previous year ; the returns for railway traflSc are
equally satisfactory, and the general trade of the country, while
not exceptionally inflated, is " healthily active."





THE gradual transformation of the character of the Peoples'
Municipal League has been curious and significant. When
the Rev. Mr. Newton and his friends first issued their call to the
various exchanges to send representatives to a meeting to organize
a reform movement, they evidently fully expected that a certain
proportion, at all events, ojBhese exchanges, would be represented.
As a matter of fact, none of the exchanges responded to this call.
In the case of the Real Estate Exchange, for instance, the oflBcers
felt that they had no right to commit the organization officially to
any sort of action on a matter in which there was room for a wide
difference of opinion among tho stockholders. It might be true
that municipal government was business and not politics; but the
officers of the exchange could not very well endorse such a
statement or officially countenance a movement to put it
into practice until the question had been submitted to tbe stock¬
holders. Doubtless the managers of the other exchanges held
similar opinions. And the consequence was that individuals only,
not organizations, were present at the meeting. We referred to
this fact at the time, pointing out that there was no such unanimity
in tho business community on the side of the League as its friends
could wish. The trend of events subsequently has shown very
clearly that whether the League candidate wins or does not win,
the object of that association will not be accomplished this fall.
Municipal government will still remain very much a matter of
politics. The Republican organization has not committed itself to the
principle of throwing the weight of its influence on tbe side of tbe
best candidate; the ticket itself is based on a careful distribution of the
offices among the various parties. We do not mention these patent
facts in any spirit of captious criticism on the make-up of the ticket.
The League Committee undoubtedly had no alternative but to act
as it did. A ticket constituted in any other way would not have
obtained the ratiflcation of the Republican and County Democratic
organizations or the support of the labor people. But it is only
fair to point out that this is not the way to get rid of parties in
municipal affairs; on the contrary, it is a distinct sanction of the
principle that party lines should be observed in the distribution of
elective offices. And the League was forced into this position
because it could obtain no general and forcible response to its appeal
to business men as such to rally around an unpartisan flag. There
is no escape from the concltision that our citizens in any civic mat¬
ter are partisans first and business men uecond. Two years from
now we shall see a repetition of the same flght as we have already
witnessed this year, with a strong probability, as it will be a Presi¬
dential year, ol a totally different ending.





fXIQE result ef tbe police eensus enumeration in adding a round
-J^ 200,000 names to our population is quite in the line of expM>
tation; and it is difficult to see how Supmntendent Porter can
refuse to order another count without incurring the gravest indigo
nation.   But although this result has been anticipated the sice of