May 2,1891





Record   and   Guide.





687











\*            fst*rii<;hed







2r'             '^^          ESTABLISHED"-^':^'W>RCH BV-^ 1868.

De/oteO \o Rf^L Eswe BuiLDif/o AR^rfiTECTJi^E .Household Degoi^iioU.
BUskJess A(Jd Themef of GeNeiV-^ l;JTt'\EsT

PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.
Telephone,      -      -      -      .      Cortlandt 1370,
CommuDicatioDs should be addressed to

C. W.  SWEET,  14 &   16 Vesey St.

J.  T. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XLVII





MAY  2,  1891.





No. 1,207





NOTICE OF REMOVAL.

The ptiblication offices of The Record and Guide have been
removed to Nos. 14 a^id 16 Vesey street, over The Mechanics' and
Traders' Exchange, a few feet ivest of Broadway.





Subscribers should see that they are furnished with the four-page
supplement to this number.

THE stock market ha? for a week been resisting attempts to
lower prices, and witli such success that quotationa differ
from a week ago only in fractions, putting aside, of course, the
exceptions which ari> al ways to be found from tlie general move¬
ment at any time. All tbiugs considered, even the most serious
ones, the indications point to a continuance of the advance. Tbe
operator has a not unnatural objection to buying back at his
aelling jirice, and, when he sells, works and prays witb fervor for
a reaction. He is so working and praying now. Sliould
either be efficacious, tlie decline is likely to be moderate
and its duration sliort. On Weduesday the operator for a fall
quoted five reasons why prices should act according to bis wishes :
The failure of a large financial institution, a rise in tbe Bank of
England rate, the ordering of $5,000,000 of gold that day for ship¬
ment, the loss in net earning,? shown by the Burlington statement
for March and the showing of the Union Pacific in its report for
last year. Surely five good reasons ought to induce any one to
sell? But in this case three of the reasons were lies, purely and
simply, and two were exaggerated in importance. The strength of
Bui'lingion, and with it the strength of the market, for in bear
tinies it could not have withstood the bad news as it did, was fully
demonstrated when on tbe issue of a report show¬
ing a loss of $891,745 in net earnings, notwithstand¬
ing a reduction of over half a million dollars in operat¬
ing expenses, tbe stock sold off but 8 per cent., and recov¬
ered most of the loss next day. Yesterday the cry waa that Mr,
Gould was selling, and there were confident estimates that he had
parted with 20,000 shares of his specialties, principally Missouri
Pacific. If he did he had a larger proportion of the sales of those
stocks than can reasonably be given him. Also it may be asked, if
he did, what of itv It has been noticeable that the Gould stocks
have not participated in tbe advance in the way the people who
always know what Mr. Ooidd has done, is doing and will do, said
they would as soon as hereturned to town; but it is characteristic
of the Gould stocks to rest while the balance of the market is
advancing, aud to advance while other stocks are resting or react¬
ing. Large speculative houses continue to advise their customers
to take profits as they have done for ten days or more, which may
assist a temporary decline, but for the long run are bullish, A
feature of more importance and seriousness than any yet urged on
the bear side, but not likely to be of immediate influence in the
stock market, is the continued movement of gold to Europe; and
in coin. The loss of ten millions of gold coin represents a loss in
trading capacity of, say, from forty to fifty millions of dollars, aud
in times of monetary scarcity would work serious damage to
prices of securities, but is not noticed when funds are plentiful.
The May requirements caused call money 011 the Board to
advance to 6 and 7 per cent late in tbe day on Thursday, but the
subsequent ease in loans indicated tbat there is furtber room for
expansion of values before our gold shipments can be felt, and
before that time we may hope to see the movement of gold west¬
ward to pay for the grain which Europe must take from us this
year. There is a decided feeling in England that the American
market will be the most favorable for operations in the near future,
as can be seen by the greater attention which the London news¬
papers, in particular the Times, are giving to our markets and the
news affecting our securities, and in this case it would be a pity if





*





by a bad break our markets are made unattractive to the English
investor.





A





A BOUT the only weak stocks on the London market are the
-^^*- , Argentine issues ; they are continuing to fall in that centre
and in Beriin, So discouraging has the situation become that the
project of organizing a sort of European intervention in Buenos
Ayres is again coining to the front. It is proposed that the
European Powers should establish a commission, as in Egypt,
which would control the receipts and expenditure. As English
interests are most at stake, it is now hoped tbat the great financiers
and the English government would lend a willing ear to such a
proposition, and, after England, Belgium and Germany
are also sufficiently involved to aid in such an interven¬
tion. All hope has apparently been abandoned that a
friendly arrangement with the Argentine government, whereby
European investors would be protected, can be consummated.
Some doubt is expressed, however, whether the Argentine officials
would permit their country to go into a receivership in this fashion,
and it is scarcely likely that the European powers would care touse
coercive measures. Many meetings are being held iu France to
protest against certain articles of the proposed new tariff law, but
it must not be supposed that there is a movement in favor of free
trade in general. The objections on the tariff bear only on duties
on raw materials and natural products, whicJi are re-exported as
manufactured articles, the position of the protestants being in short
substantially thatof the tariff reformers in this country. The quarrel
is growing very acrid, with the issue still very dubious. In Berlin the
market is going from bad to worse, and it is difficult to discover any
outlook for improvement. The fact is interesting, that a report
written by the secretary to the Centrai organization of the Cham-
,bers of Commerce, who had been delegated to the United States in
order to report on the possibilities of American agriculture, comes
to the same conclusion, as does a recent American writer in the
Arena, the conclusion, viz.: that before the close of this century
the United States will cease to be a purveyor of cereals to Europe,
because the rapid growth of home consumption will absorb the sur¬
plus and interrupt exports. The financial circles of Vienna are busily
discussing the speech from the Throne with which the newly-elected
Reichsrath was opened, and which has made a most favorable
impression. The Government has come forward with a comprehen¬
sive scheme of economic reform. Efforts willbe made to accomplish
some satisfactory arrangements betweeu employers and employes;
the insurance againat accidents of working people lias given such
excellent results on trial that it is to be extended ; the building
trade is to organized, and this will bring with it an extension of
freedom from taxes for newly-built houses, beginning with Lem-
berg, to which has been granted twenty-five years of exemption.
Nor is this all. The organization of trades unions ia to be extended
to agricultural pursuits; a number of the rivers are to be improved
for commercial purposes ; fire insurance for immovable property is
to become obligatory and to be effected by the state ; the govern¬
ment is to purchase more railways and build local lines in many
directions ; commercial treaties are to be concluded with foreign
companies ; and many minor reforms are proposed. Is it not sin¬
gular that this -vast scheme of improvement has not received more
attention from the newspapers ?

THE State tax rate for the present year will be the lowest for
forty-six years—standing at 1.38 mills against 2,34 for lb90.
For this relief much thanks; butitis well to inquire how far this
condition of things may be expected to remain permanent.
According to Comptroller Wemple, the State, owing to a vigilant
enforcement of the corporation and other special tax laws, has
sufficient balance on hand to meet all demands on the general fund
authorized by the present Legislature. The property tax will have
to be used only for canal and school purposes. Furthermore, the
Comptroller is "firmly convinced" that, hereafter, no necessity
will exist for placing any burden on the property of the
people to meet the requirements of the general fund.
The direct tax-refund will remain untouched in the Treasury
awaiting disposal at the hands of a subsequent Legis¬
lature. The collateral inheritance tax law is, in the main,
responsible for this satisfactory condition ot affairs, and the income
from tbis source will be increased by the statute taxing the direct
inheritance of personal property. With every wish, however, to
be as firmly convinced as is the State Comptroller that the future
requirements of the general fund will be met without recourse to
the property tax, we must confess to .a rooted distrust. Itwill
doubtless be very pleasant for the backwoods statesmen to return
to their constituents with the good tidings of a lessened tax rate ;
but the temptation will be constant, in spite of any increase of
income from other aources, gradually to return to the fatter tax
rates of the past. So long aa the property tax remains aa a means of
raising an indefinitely large sum of money, so long will our legis¬
lators be likely to use it so far as they dare. The permanent result
in a few yeara ia more likely to be an increased atandard of expen-