taxoh 7,1891





Record   and   Guide.





339





-^             \           EST*BUSHED-^MARPH21'>-1859.;;^

De/otcO to Rf*.L Estate - SuiLoiiic AiticHitectji^e .KousdIold DEeoR^noit
Bi/sit/E5S Atfo Themes of CeNeraI 1;jte[\esj

PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS,

Published e:very Saturday.
Telephone,           -          ■         -          Cobtlandt 1370,

Commimications should be addressed to

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





Vol. XLYII.





MARCH 7, 1891.





No. 1,199





TP the stock market has beeu weak during the past few dafi
-^ the cause is to be found in London rather than in this
country. Appntentiy the same conditions which depressed prices
previous to the panic have not yet run their course. The affairs of
the large speculators, Neugass & Co., who were tided over their
diflBculties in the autumn by having a large block of atocks takeu
off their hands, have not yet been straightened out; and either they
or their helpers are apparently lightening their load. Certain it is
that underlyiog first mortgage bonds, the pick of our railway
securities, wbich have not been seen in this market for years, have
now turned up and are changing from English to American bands.
Ostensibly there is no lack of money in London, for the Bank of
England's rate of discount remains at 3 per cent; but some exten¬
sive realizing is going on. It is this selling of our securities
which keeps the rates of exchange so near the gold
shipping point, and some one must be deeply involved
thus to go to the bottom of tlie bag to obtain money.
If we keep on exporting gold we may get into the state in which
France was in 1860. Al that time tbe Bank of Prance lost a lai-ge
quantity of the yellow metal, and became so pressed for this kind
of cash that she very much appreciated a loan of £2,000,000 from
the Bank of England against; the deposit of an equal amount of
silver. This fact is worth remembering, in view of the hub-bub
caused by the late loan of the French institution to the English one.
Hence the Bank of France I simply returned a favor which had
been extended to them thirty'years before, at a time when £3,000,-
000 meant more than £3,(j00,(]0u does at the present day. Stocks are
cheap enough for their earnings and prospects ; money is cheap
enough ; and no great fault can be found with trade ; but these
facts are not sufficient to lift the market out of the rut.
Uneasiness prevails, and it takes but small buying or selling
to turn prices either one way or tlie other. The railroads, whose
main business comes from the transportation of grain, are begin¬
ning to feel severtly the effects of tbe bad crop of last year. The
heavy shipments of livestock partially make up for tbe loss, but
thegi'oss returns are less. Other lines have nothing to complain
about as regards earnings, and some of them are able to make
reductions in operating expenses; but it ia scarcely possible
that there will be auy revival in activity until the crucial ques¬
tion of the coming crops has been settled. Another such an one as
that of last year would create and justify extended demoralization.
The large government expenditures wbich the defunct Congi-ess
has authorized, while it will do away with the surplus very effec¬
tively, will make themselves felt immediately, in all probability,
by the slow but certain withdrawal of the government deposits
in the national banks. Neither will this money be quick to return,
for at least $15,000,000 of it (the Direct Tax Refund) will get into
State treasuries;, and the pension disbursements will be scaitered
in such a way that it may take the money some time to get
back to its normal channels. The price of silver has
fallen to nearly as low a point as it ever has been—a
fact, from which we may expect two effects at any rate. The
mines, which recommenced production, because of tbe rise will be
again shut down, and railroads like the Denver & Itio tfrande and
the Colorado Midland, whose increase in earnings was due largely
to the transportation of the ore, will not be so prosperous. On the
other hand the decrease in production, coupled with the heavy
government purchases, will tend, after the lapse of a certain
time, to restore the price of the metal to somewhere near its former
value.





THERE has been a perceptible hardening of the discount rate in
London, as in New York, due, in the former case, to the
large revenue collections, which give the Bank of England the
control of the market. Contrary, however, to expectation, the
governors of that institution have not found it necessary to advance
their rate, and their action (or the lack of it) has had a strengthen¬
ing effect on pricea in London. This, together with the fact
that there are good prospects of a satisfactory settlement of the





Argentine debt, has helped to create a better feeling both there
and in BerUn, It has scarcely, however, sufficed to shake that
lethargy out of the market which has been its prominent character¬
istic since December last. English railway securities are firm and
advancing in some cases, for most of the companies are making
good tra&c returns for the new year, and this in spite of the fact
that trade reports do not come in very strong. In France, also,
altliough operations on the Bourse have been fairly satisfactory,
trade has not been active. Both imports and exports during Jan¬
uaiy show decreases from the aame month last year, and
the railway traffic returns have not been altogether satisfactory.
In Berlin the issue of the new loan has monopolized public
attention for the time, leaving other securities even more neglected
than has been the ctistom of late, The bears, however, have not
been able to make very much impression on the market, either in
the home or in the foreign department. A good deal of feeling
continues to exist about tlie stiff prices at which the convention of
German rolling mills still hold their rails, and to show their disap¬
proval of the policy it is stated that the government has recently
given a large order of rails to an English firm. In Vienna the end
of the railway tariff dispute between Austria and Hungary, and
the cordial reception accorded in St, Petersburg and Moscow to the
Archduke Francis Ferdinand have had a very good effect on quo¬
tations. A good many complaints are heard, however, as to the
state of trade, and the indisposition of banks to lend aid to new
undertakings. Considerable depression exists in Vienna owing to
the pronounced tendency on the part of manufacturers to leave
tbat city for tbe provinces. This has led, of course, to inactivity
in the building trades; and a circular city railroad, similar to that

in Berlin, is being talked about.

----------•----------

PROPERTY-OWNERS on tbe West Side are to be congratulated
upon the defeat, for the time being at any rate, of the North
River bridge project, which if carried out according to the plans
published would have converted the neighborhood of 72d street
into a sort of railroad yard, defaced the water front below River¬
side Drive, making it even more of an eyesore than it is; and
played havoc generally with millions of dollars' worth of first-class
property. In our tstimation, very little chance existed that the
project would ever pass beyond paper; but on paper it was a very
unjust and noxious scheme, and not even the glamor it shed over
the public imagination as a great and no doubt valuable engineer¬
ing achievement could conceal the unnecessary loss it would inflict
upon property-owners. As we pointed out in these columns some
time ago, and as the committee from the West End Association
reiterated before the Senate Committee of Commerce, the scheme
had the effect of virtually withdrawing from tbe market all the
property on the line of the proposed structure and its connections
and all property adjacent thereto. Against thia tyrannical pro¬
ceeding what redress had property-owners? Their posses¬
sions were locked up, or the value of them materially dimin¬
ished, just as long as the scheme existed legally.
There are, of course, larger interests than those of
property-owners to be considered in connection with
improvements of a public or quasi-public nature ; but this is no
reason for giving legislative sanction to "wild*cat" schemes
concerning which there is only a remote probability of ever
being carried out. Corporations or individuals seeking to obtain
by legislation extraordinary priviiegea affecting the property of
other people should be compelled to state definitely the lots they
require, and give bonds that the work contemplated will be com¬
menced and completedjwithin a stated, reasonable time. It can
surely be no hardship to ask that the plan for a new undertaking'
be definitely formulated, and its feasibility, from a financial and
engineei-ing point  of view,  determined, before the Legislature is

asked to grant the right to interfere with other people's property.

---------~»----------

THE Committee ou Finance of the Senate at Albany, Senator
Sloan, chairman, gave a hearing on Tuesday afternoon last
to the advocates of the proposed act to authorize the appointment
of a commission to draft grades of building laws applicable to all
cities in this State, excepting New York and Brooklyn, which two
are the only two cities in this State that have building laws. The
committee seemed to be unanimous in recognizing the necessity for
such laws and the appointment of skilled men to draft them for
presentation to the Legislature at its next session. The dame
stumbling block is before the Finance Committee this year that
proved insurmountable for the Judiciary Committee last year—tbe
number of commissioners, the method of their appoint¬
ment, and the amount of money to be appropriated for
their services and expenses. Hazarding a guess, the hill will
probably soon be reported confining the number of commissioners
to three, and allowing a total sum of §10,000, which shall include
salaries, counsel fees, printing, clerk hire, and any and all other
expenses. There seems to be an erroneous impression prevailing
quite generally that this bill is making provision for a permanent
building commission to enforce building laws through the State.
The commission is to exist only one year, and its duties consist