fflTJune IS, 1891





Record   and   Guide.





939







De/oth) to He^L Eswe BuildiKc -A^cKitel-tjre .KouseHold DfGOf^ftTlot).
BUSltJESS AIJd ThEMEE' of GENEIVi i;VTEI\£S-[

PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.                 |

TELEPOOME,                                  -        COBTLANDT 137P

Conununications should be addi-essed to

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

J. 7. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol. XLYII





JUNE  13,  1891.





No. 1,31S





NOTICE OF REMOVAL.

The publication offices of The Eecord and Gtjide have been
removed to Nos. 14 a7id 16 Vesey street, over Tlie Mechanics' and
Traders' Exchange, a few feet west of Broadway.





TN announcing the intention of The Record and Guide to insti¬
tute a permanent exhibit of building materials, -we pointed
out tlie great aud obvious assistance which such an exhibit would
give to architects. By the concentration at one pJace of all tbe
various materials which go to construct, equip and decorate a
modern building, the architect will be enabled by a ccnparatively
small expenditure of time to beep the run of the best and the
newest which the market has to offer. It is the factthattbe
market is always offering something new aod something better
that more than any other single cause gives a permanent building
exhibit its reason for existence. A larger variety of materials and
a more ingenious selection of contrivances enters into a modern
house than into any other article of present manufacture—unless it
be the most improved ocean steamships. It is eminently desirable
that an architect should be able to keep abreast of these improve¬
ments, and, in order that he may do this, there should be some
central place in whicli these materials and contrivances are col¬
lected, so that he cau see tbem and test theii- value for
his purposes. What we wish, then, is to dismember and
show in their isolation and perfection all the elements
that go to make up one of the best buildings of the present day—
just as an international exhibition dismembers tbe elements of the
industrial and artistic life of the world, and sbows them in their
aggregation. Now these elements are constantly changing. The
firms in the ti-ade are constantly making new adaptations, putting
on the market more satisfactory mateiials, and more ingenious
devices. This constant progress in the building industries
needs, as it were, a register, and it particularly needs a register in
a city like New York, which, whatever its pre-eminence over other
cities in other respects, stands far and away superior
in the amount of money its citizens expend in new buildings, and
in the standard of conatruction, equipment and decoration which
they exact. This register, furthermore, should be living and
visible, A newspaper can do something towards reflecting this
progress ; but words are one thing and examples are another, and
we ask the assistance of the building material dealers of New York
aud elsewhere in makiug our warerooui a complete collection of
the best articles tbat enter iuto our best buildings.





IN a market of great strength and inexplicable steadiness specialties
such as sugar and Chicago gas, on Thursday, developed marked
weakness; but on Friday a buying movement set in which per¬
mitted no exceptions, and prices closed fli-m and higher. Present
indications certainly point towards still better things, for the ob¬
stinacy of quotations in refusing to yield to so many bad influences
for weeks past could hardly bave any other meaning tbau that of
being the usual preliminary to an advance. Whenever we havea
good winter wheat crop, and a total yield of 550,000,000 bushels, arise
in the stock market is due as soon as it is assured—that is, about tbis
time of the year; and with the cessation of gold shipments, the
increased radvvay earnings consequent on the good crop
ought to be so far discounted as to cause an advance from 6 to 10
per cent.    Such a movement is all the more likely because usually





our large wheat crops are sold at 70 cents or thereabouts, whwea
duiing the present year the shortage abroad will he almost certain
to warrant much higher prices. It is scarcely probable thatthe
market will continue active and strong throughout the summer,
for the condition of general trade is not good. After a while it is
more likely to liecome dull and unsteady, hesitating until the fall
comes and the amount of the coi-n crop is ascertained. But there
is a growing disposition to look more favorably on the present
situation, and it appears to Lave good basis in probabilities.





THE Bank of England, acting in connection with a half-dozen
or so of the leading joint stock banks, has been putting for¬
ward its best efforts to maintain high rates for money, but with
only a small degree of success. Nevertheless, the Bank is still
increasing its gold reserve, which has reached a point that in ordin¬
ary times would presage an easy money market. But the
Bank will be under a necessity of meeting heavy demands
for the metal from tbe Russian government, as well as of
standing a drain of some magnitude from this country in pay¬
ment for the wheat that will he needed. Consequently
the prospects for tight money are about as good iu London as they
are in New York, and tbe same indisposition to buy securities exists
in both centres. .An illustration of this may be found in the prac¬
tical failure of the new Queensland loan, whicli follows a
failm-e of the Victorian government to float a like issue. These
bonds were not under-written as is usual, because the under¬
writing companies ai-e so heavily loaded up at present
that they do not dare to assume new responsibilities,
but were offered directly to the public, and the public
would have but little of them. Prices in Paris have
been somewhat stronger, Portuguese securities being among
those which have shown the mosfc strength, for dividends on the
railroad aecurities which were suspeuded in January have been paid.
The bears continue to hold sway in Berlin, and tbey are abusing
their power just asthe bulls formerly abused their opportunities.
Because the public are liable to be frightened easily, they have
taken to the tactics of keeping the market in a constant state of
alarm. Bank shares bave suffered a severe decline, but this is due
not to any weakness in their position, but to the
fact that values were based on the supposition
that they would keep on doing the large busi¬
ness of the past few years. Their reserves are said to be
equal to any contingency, and their assets are mostly of easy
convertibility. The Finance Minister of Austria recently stated
that the re-establishment of cash payments coiistituted an integi-al
part of the government's programme. The chief obstacle, according
to this authority, is not the difBculty of coming to an agreeraent
with Hungary, but that of collecting sufficient gold.





THE termination of the lumber difficulty is good news qualified
only by tbe fact thafc the settlement is not of a character as flrm
and dui-able as one might wish. After all, tbe settlement is little more
than the adoption of a statn quo; and nothing has been done to les¬
sen the possibility of future hostilities. Labor troubles are at
times not without their advantages, for as in contests between indi¬
viduals, sometimes they have produced a better understanding be¬
tween people, which often is all that is necessary for the mainten¬
ance of peace and the possible development of friendlier relations
in the future. The lumber boycott has been closed without any of
these betfcer results. Both Fides seem to have got tired of the fight
and so ruspended it. We fear it is only suspended. Without re¬
ferring to any particular scheme,, we wish sorae scheme, whereby
future difficulties would be submitted to arbitration, had been
adopted. Sensible people, eveu when very intent upon '■ keeping
their own end up," certainly ought to be willing to discuss what tbey
want and even agree to disagree before stopping work and closing
, yardsand going, asit were, temporarily oufc of business, which, what¬
ever the result may be, inevitably means losa of money. The po¬
sition taken by the builders in their convention last February is the
safe and proper one. Tbere should be at least an attempt at arbi¬
tration before a lockout or strike is possible.





IF eyer there was a case that might have been adjudicated by
reasonable men it was this lumber difficulty. Some of the
demands on both sides were eminently just, others were—wewon't
say unjust, but conspicuously impossible, Thei'e may come a day,
of course, when an employer with iargesouied confidence may be
able to allow auy oue of his employes or any walking delegate to
examine his books, add up his proflts, and criticise his wages
account. Some people say the sentiment of sympathy is increas¬
ing in the human race, aud if progress only goes on long enough
there may come a time when a new contract or a large order for
goods will be valued mainly as another bond between the employer
who gets it and his men; when the head of a flrm will hasten
into his factory or his office to announce, with tears in his eyes,
the capture of every new customer and will receive congratula¬
tions   in   which   all   personal and   selfish   considerations will