t)ecemW20,1890





Record   and   Guid





e.





627







PRICE, PER TEAR IN ADVANCE, 811 DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.

TEL.EPHONE,               .              .             .             CJOKTU^TOT 1870.

Conununicatloiis should be addressed to

C.W. SWEET, 191   Broadway
/. T. LINDSEY, Buaineas Manager,





Vol. XLVI.





DECEMBER 20, 1890.





No. 1,188





THE VILEST SIDE INDEX.

AH persons interested in Weat Side real estate should possess an
Index of Ten Years' Conveyances, affecting property between b9th
and 125th streets, west of Bth avenue. This Index is published by
The Record and Guide, and the period covered is the ten years
prior io June 30f/i, 1884, to which has been added a list of the con¬
veyances up to January 1st, 1885. Every transfer of real estate in
that section, made between those years, is recorded in the Index,
with a description of the property, the price paid for it, and the
name of the seller and the purchaser. The volume is of the utmost
value to conveyancers, lawyers, real estate brokers, agents and
dealers in real estate generally, and in order to increase the value
of the West Side Supplement, issued vnth The Record and Guide
to-day, we will supply the Index to our readers, if ordered before
January 1st, at the reduced price of $6.





KINGS COUNTY INDEX FOR VOLUME XLV.
The Kings County Index for the Conveyances and Projected
Buildings, published in Volume XLV. of The Recobd and Guide
(January to July, 1890), is now ready and unll be supplied to
subscribers, free of charge, on application to the office of publi¬
cation, No. 191 Broadway,





THE next two weeks are not as a general thing marked by any
great activity in the stock market; and the present year is
not likely to prove any exception to the rule. Manifestly the pub¬
lic have no confidence in stocks at tlie present time. Neither is it
likely that an easier money market—which to all appearances may
soon be at hand—will prove to be of any material assistance in this
respect. The importation of gold has not caused any immediate
advances ; neither has the new president's agreement been regarded
with other than a cautious eye. It is safe to predict, however,
that the improved conditions signalized by these events will have
their beneficial effecte. As Matthew Marshal says, the present
panic, like that of 1857, has been mental; and hitherto, although
serious fears have been discard ed, faith has not returned. The
continuance of failures in business for no other reason than that
tbe merchants could not realize on their assets is but too unmistak¬
able an evidence of this fact. But, as we have said, money will
become more plentiful; and determined efforts will be made to
stop rate-cutting in the West. Wall street, warned by the experi¬
ence of two years since, is suspicious of the proposed pool; but, as
we think, rather too suspicious. The roads who will not sign the
agreement are few in number and for the most part unimportant;
and as the chance of respectable dividends (in some cases of fixed
charges) depends upon a better rate situation, tbe agreement,
which has not been lightly made will not be lightly broken. Wall
street is, perhaps, wise iu waiting until the crucial matter of the
division of the traffic is satisfactorily settled, and until the crop
and freight prospects for the new year are less a inatter of idle
conjecture; but some day, it is uot impossible that the operators
will wake up to an improvement in eamings, and a return in confi¬
dence that will make stocks jump up with comfortable celerity.
As to the legislation of Ck>ngre88, if it comes at all, it will
probably arrive just as there is no longer any necessity for it.
President St. John, of the Mercantile National Bank, is of the
(pinion that the bill propoeed by the Finance Committee will not
pass, and that the squabble will result in legislation verging
closely on the free coinage of silver. In any case, however, the
immediate effects of the discussion will be more likely to disturb
the money market than to assist it. Holders of Westera mort*
gages, particularly in ^nsas, will perhaps find something to think
about in the way the Alliance are proposing to treat mortgagees
who are sordid enough to f(M%close a lien on a poor farmer's land<
Several owners who come into possession of farms under sheriffs'
proceedings have been removed bodily, and it ia reported that this
htroic way of getting rid of encumbrances will b« continued.   If





such methods as these prevail there will be an indisposition to send
more money out West.

----------------m----------------

THE London stock market is suffering under a reaction from
the excited recovery which took place immediately subse¬
quent to the crisis. Speculation, however, has been dull, except in
the case of the Argentine securities, which have exhibited a ten¬
dency to rise since the publication of the report of the committee.
This report expresses confidence in the future of the Argentine
Republic, provided its finances can be set on a sounder basis by the
reduction of the premium on gold. In the opinion of the com¬
mittee the country has a valuable asset in the customs duty which
it is proposed to make available by the issue of a new loan, secured
by this asset. The loan will amount to between eleven and twelve
miUions sterling, which will be sufficient to meet all obligations
for three years, by which time it is expected that the country will
have recovered from the effects of the inflation. That this
report will result in anything is doubtful. The French government
at the present time is engaged in au effort to fund the Sexennial
Treasury bills with a loan of 700,000,000 francs. A return from
the Ministry of Finance shows that at the end of 1889 the principal
of the French debt aggregated 25,153,266,939 francs, and the annual
interest charges to 856,444,770 francs, an increase in ten years of
4,761,913,393 in capital and 94,108,830 in interest. The revision of
the French tariff appears to be taking the same lines as the McKin¬
ley bill, for the sub-committees having the revision in charge have
voted increases on all the new duties proposed by the government.
The conference between the governments of Germany and Austro-
Hungary has a very different significance. The feeling is that the
Protectionist policy of Austria has been a disastrous mistake, and
that the interests of that country will be best served by a customs
union with Germany. A wish to retaliate on this country is doing
much to help the movement, but it is said that the Austrian govern¬
ment fears the domination of Germany. The results of the confer-
enca may have important bearings on the trade with this country.





CERTAIN daily newspapers apparently are greatly shocked
because Mayor Grant has honored the city by appointing so
eminent a rum-seller as Mr. Patrick Divver, to be a Police
Justice. What we would like to know is: what was the
election in November but a popular call for distinguished
gentlemen like Mr. Diwer to come from the retirement
of their dives, rumshops and gambling places, and from
among their boon companions, to a sphere of wider use*
fulness. The voice of the majority of the free^enlightened voters of
this city declared in the most emphatic manner on November 4th
that they had no maudlin sympathy with "respectability,"
" decency," and a " government for business," and all that sort of
thing, about which so much was said. They were evidently perfectly
satisfied with the government which this city has '' enjoyed " for
several years past. Under the circumstances it is ver/ illogical
for anyone to blame Mayor Grant or denounce Mr. Divvtr.
The former is carrying out to the letter the wishes of the majority
of our voters just as Mr. Scott would have done if he had been
elected, and then appointed to office men of business capacity and
honorable character. Indeed, we venture to assert that if the
principle of majority-rule is to hold good, Mayor Grant is bound
by duty to put aside any personal preferences of his own and nomi¬
nate to office good Tammany'men, of which Mr. Divver is a notori¬
ous and shining example.





BUT in the meantime, what is that vast body of " respectable peo¬
ple " doing about which we heard so much in the Evening Post
and other papers at election time? We were then told that they
would go to the polls in their might, and banish from amidst us
forever the corrupt rule of Tammany. Though they were called
upon loudly enough, like the gods of the prophets of Baal, tbey must
have been sleeping at the time they were wanted, High as is the
estimation in which Mr. Divver is held in certain quarters, we
hardly dare suppose that he realizes to the full the ideal of a police
magistrate for the respectable part of this community. One can
only with great difficulty imagine the appointment of Mr. Divver
to a magistrateship in Berlin, Paris or London (because, we suppose,
of the inability of an effete civilization to recognize legal ability
in a rum-seller); but if, due to some freak of tbe appointing power,
such a man should get into office there, we believe the respectable
part of the community would not rest until he had been induced to
resuine, what in theological language is called tbe position to which
God had called him. Is it not curious that that great body of
respectable citizens amongst us are so backward in expressing an
opinion at this moment on a matter of no little importance to them 7





SYDNEY SMITH'S classification of tho human kind as men,
women and clergymen ought to be altered so as to include a
separate class of politicians. Their ways are inscrutable. Appeal!
to common decency are as little regarded as appeals to oommon
leiiMt If th«re evar was a reform wbicb can be earily anil cheaply