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December 27,1890





Record  and  Guide.





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"^   _        \         ESn«JSHn)^IWPH«»i^l868.;

BifsniEss Ai(D Themes or GeHei^ IjnciiEsi
PRICE, PER TEAR IN ADTANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

PubUshed every Saturday,
Tbuphoni,           ...          CobtIaAITdt 1370.

CoaununicatioDS dioald be addresBed to

CW. SWEET, 191  Broadway.

J. T. LINDSEY, Buaineas Manager.





Vol. XLVI.





DECEMBER 27, 1890.





Na 1,189





THE stock market has been dull and irregular throughout the
past week. Both business and speculation are waiting for
the b^g^ning of the new year, and waiting with no very confident
feeling. It is not an easy matter for business men to recover from
the effects of such a shaking-down as the one which recently
occurred. The very strong cac, of course, take advantage of a
market like the present; but those who have been weakened by
losses or discouraged by the lack of immediate recovery take
ime to regain confldence. There does not seem at the present
time to be any very threatening clouds on the financial sky. Money
ought to begin to return from the West; and the rate situation,
whatever tbe croakers may say, never looked brighter. There may
be some significance in the fact, also, tbat the past season has not
been a good one for retail shops. Expensive lines of goods, which
were laid in to meet the Christmas demand, have frequently proved
to be almost unsalable. Another circumstance which indicates a
lack of ready money, is the disastrous theatrical season. More
than a hundred combinations which started out on the road
this fall have been obliged to break up, owing to poor receipts.
Such facts do not speak well for the ability of the people to spend
much surplus money. The rise in prices under the McKinley
tariff may partiaUy explain the matter.





FREQUENT references have been made in these columns to the
tlu^atening condition of the relations between labor and
capital in Great Britain. During the past week a strike has been
started which, if it spreads, may have the same disastrous con¬
sequences as tbat of the dock laborers. About nine thousand men
employed by the various railroads in Scotland have quitted work,
and the trade of that country has already been unfavorably
affected. The cabled reports have so far been too meagre to
'judge of the full extent of the disagreement, the amount of
bitterness manifested on both sides, and the possibility
of the strike spreading; but coming as the strike does immediately
after a most unfortunate contest between the Scotch ironmasters
and their employes, the result may be worse than is at present
anticipated. In 1889 the strikes in Great Britain were twice as
numerotis as during the previous year, 1,145 having been recorded.
Of these 476 were successful, 368 i»rtially successful, 207 unsuccess¬
ful, and 94 of unknown result. Such facts as these must tend to
give employes confidence in their ability to f'^rcc their employers
into acquiescence with their demands. The stock market in Lon¬
don, although affected by the strike, has been like that of this city-
dull, but firm. Argentines still remain the principle instruments of
speculation, and their price varies with the prospects of an agree¬
ment among the various classes of security-holders. In Paris, also,
the market has been dull. M. Rouvier, after considerable conces¬
sions to the Chambers, has managed to make the two ends of his
Btidg^et meet. The French wine interests have been more prosper¬
ous in 1890 than in 1889, the production having risen from 28,288,572
hectolitres of twenty-two gallons each, to 27,416,827. Tbe latter,
however, is still below the average of the five years past, which
was 29,677,095 hectoPtres. In Berlin and Vienna the condition of
afUrs has not varied much. Speculation is moderate the world
over, and the tendency of prices rather upward than downward.
Everywhere, however, the future is regarded with distrust rather
than with hope.





"p^ VEN the bitterest opponents of Tammany have not been able
-*-^ to find fault with Mayor Grant's new Rapid Transit CommiS'
sion. Ordinarily our chief magistrate, in contemplating his
appointees, is oUiged to rest satisfied with Touchstone's observation
respecting his Ipdy Jove, "an ilHavored thing, but mine own."
It i^ enoonragiog to notice, however, that both tbe Mayor and his
oi^nents are pomipg to the conclusion that the tini^for trifling
ia over, Tamn^any pr<^bably apprefsifttes the fs^t that a well*
devised jcitpid transit system will he an exe§l}en|t record wbere^
with to 00 |» Ithe feopl9 in 18^, and .■^ R^blicftni must
fee tlifit Aei919 idor? 1911 tlHW gain wpuniiii^g j^ pQl^j 9l ft^^





opposition. The new commission, which, presiunably, is the one
which have the carrying out of the provisions of any bill which is
passed, possess all the requirements insisted on by Senator Fassett
in his interview with a reporter of this paper. This bill, according
to the latest information, is not simply a copy of the Mayor's bill
of last session, but will contain the best features of the Fassett trill.
Furthermore, the Mayor is said to have received the assurance of
earnest support from many Republican Senators and Assemblymen
to tbe measure, as outlined. Ifc would thus seem as if the promised
land was fairly within sight. Our experience in this
matter does not tend to make us hopeful; but this much can be
said—^that never were the prospects fairer. Senator Fassett, it is
true, may differ with the commissioners as to which are the " best
features" of his bill which the Mayor's bill will retain. He will
be right in insisting upon a provision for the ultimate reversion of
any system to the city. There can be but little doubt that the city
ought to own, if not to operate, any new lines of transit; but if that
is impossible, the next best thing is the establishment of a sinking
fund, which in time will return to the public a franchise which a
private company will use without risk. Senator Fassett will also be
right if not popular in stipulating that provision should be made for
an immediate extension of the Manhattan system. The need for
increased facilities is so urgent that real estate values in this city
would be seriously hurt by the postponement of any relief until
the new system is constructed and is in operation. We do not say
that Senator Fassett would be justifled in prohibiting the passage
of any bill which did not contain provisions bearing on these
points, but he should make an earnest effort to have them
incorporated.

THE passage of a bill, however, as Geo. S. Lespinasse recently
said in an interview with a reporter of the Evening Post,
will not give us rapid transit. The new commissioners must be
sufficiently skilled in financial matters to know that no company
or set of capitalists would assume the present responsibilities of the
Manhattan Company for the sake of its emoluments. If any part
of the system is to be elevated, the question of damages to property
must be settled in some equitable manner. This is one of the
greatest difficulties still remaining to be overcome. The treatment
which the Manhattan Company has received alike from private indi¬
viduals and public authorities has been outrageous. Already the cry
is being raised that Jay Gould will use his money at Albeny to pre¬
vent the passage of any measure looking towards increased facili¬
ties, in face of the fact that it is obviously to his advantage not to
oppose but to control the construction of any new system. We
have faith that men like Frederic P. Olcott, Samuel Spencer and
John H. Starin have too much sense to participate in the silly
abuse which is being showered on the Manhattan Company.
They must know what the real attitude of its managers
is, how far it is necessary to assist Mr. Gtould
in providing tbe immediate increase of facilities needed, and how
far it is necessary to limit by public supervision his control of any
future system-. The curse of this city is a parcel of silly news¬
papers and senseless officials who will not see how far they them¬
selves are responsible for the evils against which they so vehe¬
mently protest. Mark the following most wise utterance which
appeared in the Tribune of December 26th:

As the miserable victims of tbe present system are violently propelled by
impatient crowds through passages so narrow that the walls almost bunt
from the strain of compressed humanity—as they are shot ont by tbe force
behind upon scanty platforms covered with struggling, writhing f<Hini,
many in danger of being pushed over the edges upon the rails—as soma
hang wearily upon tbe straps in the cars, while others, unable eveo to get
the support of a strap, are trembling with ezhaoBtioa, and are only saved
from falling by tbe fact that they are so wedged togetiierinthe insiiiBBcient
space tbat there is no room for them to fall—as our citizens are daily sub¬
jected to such annoyances and sufferings, they are not inclined to favor
any further grants to the elevated railroads.

In other words, they are not inclined to consider a propocdtion
which, if carried out, would alone give them immediate and satis¬
factory relief. The present condition of things is bad enough, in
all conscience; but childish over-statements such as those contained
in the above extract suggest that the writer must have been under
the influence of too much plum-pudding. Everything indicates
that the Manhattan Company is not able materially to increase its
facilities; but is obliged to put on only such extra trains as will pre¬
vent an absolute congestion of traffic. We should not be in favor of
giving the company its " loop," unless under certain stipulations
as to an increase of trains in proportion to the numjiwr of passen¬
gers. The Manhattan Company would have every reason to assent
to such a proposal.                        ^_______

BEFORE Thb Rbcord and Guide is ag^n issued, the Blocl^
Inde?dng Bill, passed by the L^isl^ture of 1889, will have
taken effect. We give in anothmr oolipnn the new l»nd maps of
the city, on wbicb the operation of (be act |9 batied* The maps, as
explained eleewhere, do no more ^)»n Aow tlie tiiirtoen sed^ma