108





Record   and   Guide.





January 23, 1882







"^               '^            ESTABLISHEd'^'«ARPH?I'-í'^I868.

Dev&teĩ) ĩo He*,l Estwe , BuiLDir/o Ap,crfiTE(rrui\E .HolseiIold Degoratioií
Bi/sitJESs aiídTheme? of GeHeivI 1;<t£i\esi

PRKE, PER VEAR I.\ ADVAIVCE, SIX D0LLAR8.

Published every Saturday.

TKI-EPHONK          ....        CORTLANDT  1370.

Communications should be addressed to

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

J. 2. LINDSEY, Bnsiness Manager.

"Eatered at the Post-office ai New York. N. Y., as secoiid-class matter."





VOL.  XIIX,





JANUARY  23,  1892.





,Vo, 1,245





"T^OTVVITHSTANDTNG all allurements the public is still on the
-^' outside of Wall Street, and tbe niarket contiuues to be
irregular. But the argunieuts used to depress it are not founded
on the business or traflSc situation, but on two such unceriain and
alien quantities as the state of Jay Gould's niind and tlie pros-
pects of war with Chili. It is significant, also, that as soon as
prices fall away, a combination or a strong bull party of some
kind steps in and soon tiirns the tide the other way. All that a
secui'ity-holder at the present time has to do i.s to be willing to
wait. As yet the railroads have been engaged maiuly in moving
the grain ; sooii the other classes ot freight will be in demand,
and this new business will be suflficient U> maintain heavy eam-
ings for the coming .six months or more. What their present
stateismay be gathered from the paragraph that follows. Readers
of The Record and Gutde will be interested to learn that in our
next issue will appear as usual Samuel Benner's prognostications

for the year 1892.

----------■----------

THE hullabaloo about the threatened withdrawal of theMissouri
Pacific from the Western TraflSc Association and the great
speculative importance which Wall Strcet has attached to Mr.
Gould's slightest utterances during the past week. are distracting
attention, curiously enough, from the real freight situation. The
fact is, that the problem how to handle the business, present and
ofĩering, is becomiug every day. for tbo railroads, more instead of less
diflScult. Not only are the available cars totally inadequate, but, in
addilion, terminal points are choked with loaded cars which the
great liiies tínd it impossible promptly to handle, unload and return;
and this condition, all their cleverness, with gangs working night
and day, makes little impression upon. To illustrate, the president
of an important Southwestern railroad, this week, stated to the
writer that he held for a month an entire train of loaded grain
cais, at an intersection of the Baltimore& Ohio Railroad, trying to
send the grain over that line. The Baltimore & Ohio
was unable during that period to furnish cara into
which the grain could be transferred and forwarded East.
Finally it was deemed most expedient to allow the loaded cars
to be taken by the Baltimore & Ohio on the promise of that com-
pany they would be immediately returned ; and although this
occurred some time ago nothing has since been heard of the cars !
The eutire tiain isprobably side-tracked somewhere waiting for its
turn to get into Baltimore. The president quoted says he has had
tbe same experience -with the Vanderbilt lines, and that he found
this week on coming to New York over the West Shore ,Railroad
the side tracks on that line were flUed with loaded trains almost
as far north as Kingston. This will serve to explain, in many
cases, either a falling ofî or a non-incre3se of earnings for many
Western roads during a few weeks past, because either thc-y are
unable to get their cais bick when jiarted with or they are forced
to hold them loaded at connecting poÍDts waiting for trains to
which the grain can be transferred, the elevators being fuJl. In
either cise they are depiived of the u.se of their equipment, and
their earnings sÍDiply reflect the capacity of such cars as the.y arc
able to keep in motion. The same gentleman reports corn await-
ing shipment as ahnost limitless, witb a sbarp demand for it at all
graiu poiiits. and adds that corn roads will be kept worked up to
their capacity until tlie next wheat crop begins to move.





THE new year has brougbt a favorable change in the stock
markets holh of Berlin and Vienna. Among Austrian and
Germaii iuvesrors the expectatioii that peace will be maintained is
gaining ground cverv day. and confidence has been awakened by
tho tavorablc iuiprcsHÍon produced everywhere by the new com-
mercial treaties. In Austria particularly is the trade outlook
most pr'iiiii-iiig, all tbe departments of wliich show considerable
exp;i                iii   Berlin the stock  exchange shows  more activity





aiid prices are firmer; but this is believed to be only a
temporary bull advantage, for the stagnaney in trade
does not wari'iint a high degree of successful speculation.
In London the position of the security market has not
a.3 yetimproved very mucb. No return of cheerfulnessis expected
for some timetocome. StiU tliere isreason to supposethat the worst
of the depreciation of prices hasalready passed, íor this reason if
for no other, tbat in .South American stocks there is scarcely roora for
a furtherfall. Theperiod of inaction maj be prolonged, but it is
usual in such timts to find a gradual recovery of safe investments.
In Pai'is the Panama Canal matter is again exciting attention.
More tban a hundred petitions, drawn up in identical terms, asked
Parliainent to concert with the government and charge the Gov-
ernor of the Credit Foncier lo prepare a financial com-
bination and take the d rection of a new company to be formed
to complete the canal, but with the reservation that the rights of
the old shareholdeis and bondbolders sbould be guaranteed. The
government. however, refused to consider the petiiions. and the
Chamber did notbingbut vote a resolution inviting the Minister of
Justice to hasten the investigation now in process, and if necessary
to institutecriminal proceedings. Thisdiscussionleaves the Panama
undertaking in precisely tbe same situation as it was before. If the
works are not resumed by the 28tb of February, 1893, the conces-
sion will lapse and the canal, as it stands, wiU become the property
of the Columbian Government. According to a good authority it
would be possible to form a new company if tbe works could be
purchased outright, and the claims of the present owners com-
pounded with. but the share and bondholders still refuse to admit
that tbeir money is irretrievably lost and would prefer to see the
canal abandoned rather tban pass into  the hands of other pro-

prietors.

--------•--------

THE trustees of Columbia College aresomuch m^re completely
informed as to the nceds and conditions of their institution
than any outsider can be. that their decision in favor of the site on
Morningside Hill must be deemed conclusive, particularly as it ia
shown by tlieir report that tbey have fully considered the alterna-
tive propositions. Their reference to the accessibility of the site
does not. indeed, show a very careful consideration of its desir-
ability from tbat side, for Morningside Hill is undoubtedly very
difficult to get. at. Students desiring to reach the col-
lege would Iiave only throe methods of doing so. The
first would be to get oíĩ the Eievated at 116th street and
climb over the Hill, which would be a lengthy and tiresome pro-
cess. Or they might get ofif at 125tli streot and take the cars across,
which would leave them an unpleasant walk of some distance, to
the proposed grounds. Or they might get off at 104th street and
take the surface cars. In the beginning this inaccessibility would
be agreat drawback, but the trustees are justified in assuming that
the West Side Rapid Tiansit line must come before the expiration
of many years, and when it does come, although tbe proposed site,
locatedas itisonone corner of the island, wiU still be diflĩcult
toreach from tlie East Side of tbe city, its comparative inaccessi-
bility tvould not outweigh its luany advantages. If the trustees
are able to consummate tbeir plan it wiU give Columbia a most pic-
turesque horae and the West Side a most desirable improvement.
The opportunity offered for architeotural expression and the moral
effect of the conspicuous presence of such an institution in wbat
will be some time a thickly-ijopulated district ought not to be lost.
But most important of all is the increased eíficiency with which
Columbia wiU then be able to fulfiU her function. In that institu-
tion New York already hasa university of which she may be proud,
and the excellence of its achievements and tbe value of its work
JBstify many times over the request wbich it makes for pecuniary

assistance.

--------•--------

"l^rO reasonable objection can be taken to the form into which
-^ ' Andrew H. Green has thrown his bill for consolidating New
York, Kings and part of WestchesterCounties. In the case of each
community the matter is tobe decided by popular vote—as itsbould
be when such an important readjustmeiit of municipal boundaries
and administrative macbinery isproposed. Moreover, it is only by
some such provision that consolidation would have very much
cbance of adoption. Brooklyn politicians and newspapers are
bitterly opposed to annexation, because it will be
likely to diminish tbeir influence; and as the friends of
consolidation ou the other side of the river are by no
means enthusiistic, its interested eneinies could doubtless create an
impression that Brooklyn is unauimous against amalgamation.
Tbis opposition woiild certainly be powerful enough to block the
passage of any immediate consolidation bill in the Legislature, for
Tammany is not enthusiastic in favor of the change, and its other
friendí- lack a foHowing. The Kings County politicians may tbink
it safer to pievent the passage even of tbe pruposcd measure ; but,
if they oppose it, they certaiiily will have no logical ground for so
doing, and they will reveal tbeir selfishness very clearly. As to the
result of tbe vote, if it is ever taken. New York and Westchester will
acqiiiesce, and Brooklyn will probably dolikewise, for tbe unanimous