Ojfcabar 10.





Record  and  Guide.





429





^-                  -.            ESTABLISHED^ NlARPHaiu"^ 1868,^

De/ojeD to I^L Estwe . SuiLdij/g Ap.ct(iT£eTai\E .KousEriou) Desoi^^tioiI.
Rusih/Ess Alto Theme? of GeKeiv^ Int£i\est

PRICE, PER YEAR I!V ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.
Tblephonb       -      -      -      .      Cortlandt 1370.

Communications should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET,   14 &  i6 Vesey St.

J. J. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





Vol, XLVIII





OCTOBER  10,  1891,





■Mo. 1,230





The exhibition of architectural drawings is now open in the
exposition rooms of The Record and . Guide, at Nos. 14 to 16
Vesey street, to which the public are cordially invited, free of
charge. This display of drawings is one of the finest that has ever
been made in New York City. It contains about three hundred
works from the boards of the leading architects. Among the per¬
spectives of more than ordinary interest are those of the several
large hotds now building in this city, and the designs submitted
in competition for the new cathedral of St. John's. No one who
unshes to study the principal recent architectural works in the
metropolis and the contiguous suburban district should fail to
pay a visit to the exposition.

CONSERVATIVE owners of stocks have no reason to feel dissat¬
isfied with the dullness which bas overtaken the market and
with the comparative immovability of quotations. The prices of
securities have advanced smartly in response to a manifest improve,
ment of conditions, but they liave not advanced too much, and it is
better that they should not. It seems likely that in spite of daily
fluctuations the present level of prices will be maintained until
some substantial effects of the increased prosperity are shown
Already there is beginning to be talk about a higher rate of
dividend on many lines of securities, while in some
cases it appears probable that stocks which have long been
non-dividend payers will take their place on the dividend list.
When this time comes, or when these events are umistakably fore¬
shadowed, it will be time fora further advance. Nothing of the
kind is likely to take place this fall; and very shortly Con¬
gress will make a disturbing element. If stocks, hon ever, are
about as high as tliey should be at present, the same is not true of
bonds, . In the beginning there was some improvement in many
good mortgages; but it soon ceased, and many excellent issues are
still selling at very low prices. Evidently, the buying has been of
a speculative, but not of an investment character; and if there
should be a further advance in stocks, without a corres]ionding one
in bonds, it would be a sign of an empty and precarious rather than
a stable and legitimate movement,

- —9 ------------

TN Europe the flnancial situation remains unchanged, France is
-*- StiU cheerful and sanguine in spite of her bad crops, while in
Berlin the bears still control the market. In the latter place the
strength displayed by Paris is both inexplicable and a matter for
envy. Comparisons are drawn between and comments made as to
the high market prices of the French Three Per Cent Rente, and
the low quotations of the Imperial and Prussian three per cent
loans. Some Germans do justice to the energy displayed by the
French nation in the reconstruction of her political, economic and
flnancial position ; others argue that it is all a bubble and will
burst some day-. But even those who take this view frequently
betray a trace of admiration for France, though as soon
as they talk on political questions, they are as emphatic as
anybody in denouncing the exuberant mood of the French, which
prompts them to advance any amount of money to Russia, They
pretend that Russia at the present wants only the money of the
French; and that in order to get this money, the Muscovite states¬
men are making security out of France's hatred of Germany,
Nevertheless, according to one well-informed authority, many
people are preparing for grave international eniergencies. The
subdued anxiety is naturally a big impediment to all attempts to
impart new life to the stagnant markets. It is feared that one day
France will discover that she is unable to support the present mar¬
ket price of Russian loans, that the latter will give way, and that a
disastrous crisis in Paris will be the result. The change of
German opinion iu regard to Russia is curious and
jnstructive.     In the jnidst of the rise ip Russian notes and loans





a year and a-half ago the Empire was designated as the " country
of the future," and unmeasured praise was bestowed on its prog¬
ress. The bad crops, the meeting at Cronstadt, and perhaps some
part of Russia's domestic policy has put a quietus on this hypocrit¬
ical enthusiasm. The country is now believed to be on the verge
of ruin.





IT will be remembered that the bill constituting the present Com.
missioner of Street Openings in North New York provided
that within two years and a-half from the flrst of last January the
new commissioner must complete a survey of the streets in his dis¬
trict, and arrange them according to some fitting plan—a plan which
will subsequently be submitted to the Board of Street Opening and
Improvement for approval. If the Board finds the plan satisfactory
it will settle for all time the general street system of that part of the
city. Local changes may aud probably will be made here and
there; but a stable determination of street lines is so essential
to property-owners that no other general alteration
will ever be attempted. It is consequently very necessary
no mistake should be made either in the general system or in the
details. What a mistake brings with it we have an ample experi¬
ence in that part of the city south of 14th street. The commis¬
sioners who laid out the city in the early part of this century stuck
very largely to the lines of the old roads, and consequently the
municipality has since been obliged to go to a very heavy expense
in cutting through blocks and widening streets to meet the trafllc
requirements. At the present time two expensive improvements
of this kind are under way, that of Bethune street and that of
College place, while one other, that of Elm street, is imperatively
required. North of 14th street another egregious error
was committel. In a city like New York, which is far
longer than it is broad, the traffic naturaUy runs up
and down town more than across town. Consequently the
avenues ought to have been placed nearer together than the streets
—that is provided a. rectilinear plan was adopted. With singular
foolishness, however, exactly the opposite course was taken, and
the consequence is a totally unnecessary concentration of traflSc on
comparatively few thoroughfares. Of course no errors of this
character could be made at present, although the imcertainty
which attends any anticipation of local development of the 23d
and 24th Wards makes it probable tbat some errors in detail will
be made. There are, however, other conditions to be met than
those of traffic requirements, and these can be anticipated with
exactitude. When the present maps were made, the street lines
-were planned on the supposition that the North Side would be
given over mainly to villa sites, and that consequently wind¬
ing roads would meet all requirements and be more pic¬
turesque than straight ones. Mr. Heintz finds, however, that
the demand is not for villa plots, but for the usual rectilinear par¬
cels on which city houses are built. Consequently he intends, so
far as possible, to reform the street lines of the district on the checker¬
board plan, so common in this country, and in doing this he will
undoubtedly have the support of the property-owners and brokers
in his district. In the southern part thereof the demand will cer¬
tainly be for the same kind of parcels as those needed in the lower
wards, but it may be doubted whether the northern part of the
North Side wiU not take rather a suburban form. However that
may be, the property-owners of that section may well consider
whether they will not lose more than they gain by the adoption of
a checker-board plan. Is that dead level of uniformity, the East
Side of this city, no lesson'to them ? In Europe cities are not buUt
so quickly as here, but they are built more enduringly—and more
effectively. It is, however, waste time to advocate the creation of
a street system on any plan which would subordinate the individual
to the general interest.





WE regard the Evening Post as one of the very few " influ¬
ences " in this city that make for decency and intelligence
in public matters. It is an excellent fighter and its cause is usually
a good oue, or at any rate a strong one, from its point of view.
The paper is particularly noticeaole, in the present degraded state
of " journalism," for the lack of the fictitious in its columns—the
sensational, the trumped-up opinion or argument, and all the other
insincerities, devices and subterfuges practised by the showmen
and fakirs who " run " the local press at present. Consequently
few of the Post's readers can follow with satisfaction its utterances
recently about the Rapid Transit Commission and the Greathead
system. Clearly, the paper has said either too little or too much
on that score. If the Post is in possession of any positive informa¬
tion that the Commission-^composed, as we all know it is, of citi¬
zens who have hitherto and do still occupy a high place in commer¬
cial and social estimation—is rejecting plans and concocting others
so that a sordid lot of scurvy politicians may plunder the com¬
munity, why does not the Post make the facts public?
Or is it that the Post is allowing a political bias or,
if one prefers, a just antipathy to a not over estima¬
ble    organization,   to    overthrow   its    poise,   judgjnent   an^