June 4, 189Í





Record   and   Guide.





88t







DEVíiTrí) 10 Kíal EsrME Sí.'ildinc ApctíiTECTaHE.Ko'JsrHoLDDEGOR^noii
BiIsWess and Them.es ũf Ge.^JeivI l;Ji£!\£ií

PRKE, PBR ¥EAR i\ ADVAIVCE, SIX DOLLARS.

í^blished every Sattirdag.

TKLKPHONB:        ....       CORTLA.NDT   1370.

CommunÍGatious sliould be addressed to

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

J. 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager.

"Entered at the Post-offlce at Neio York, N. Y., os second-class matier."





VOL, XLIX





JUNE  4.  1892.





No. 1,264





AGREAT deal of bad news—enougli leal to be serious, but
more of the luanufactured variety—Iias been circulated
during the vs'eek f( r the piirpose of depressing prices in the stock
niarket. The vvorldl.v protits resulting have not justilied the
spiritual perils incurred. LouisviUe & Nashville, St. Paul and Bur-
lington & Qiiiney are oft'; Atchison, Rock Island, the Coalers and
others, the first two of which were not loiig ago so easily afîected
by bear operations, are seiling at about the price they were at a
fortnight ago, while sonie of the railroad stocks, Western Union
and the Industrials are higher. That there should be some weak-
ness in the Grangers is not suTprising considering ihe crop and
weather news, but that Atchison and Rock Island should fail to be
influenced by it suggest that those securilies are down to the
resistance-point for the time being. The fact that the Atchison
Incomes are in process of conversion would suggest that support is
given to all the is&ues of the company, but the volume of operations
does not indicate any selling pressure that would make .support
necessary. Reading takes the action of the Jersey Court to check
the work of tbe coal combination pending a hearing on the merits
of the case very well, but litigaticn is no agent for the making of
better prices. It is true the courts cannot confiscate the property
of the combined companies, or prevent tlieir owners fiom operating
unitedly if they wish to in one form or another, but they
can create a great deal of trouble and disturbance in com-
pelling the legal form to be used, only in the case, of course,
of the present form being iUegal. However. while the matter is
in ihe courts the stocks aft'ected may be the objects of distrust and
from that account alone bring lower prices. But there is no very
valid reason why the Reading Income bonds should be similarly
treated. The interest on the first and seconds paid last yeat was
earned prior to the combinalion and they and the thirds must par-
ticipate inthe belter earnings of the united roads whatever form
theirunion may be compelled to take. This is oiily reason, but
bondholders are such a sca'.-y people that they may not eleot to be
bound by it alone. The recurrence of the gold nxport movement is an
indication that foreigners havebeen among the sellers of oursecuri-
ties; the limitations of that movement show that the selling has been
but slight, but it also showa how i-jdiculous is the expectation that
Europe wiU be a buyer of .Vmerican securities w hile they are objects
of distrust in the country that issues them. What is wanted, if
we are going to see better prlces at an early day, is some expansion
of the buyiiig movement here and some improvement in business
conditions outside of the market for securities. Such indications
at the moment are less than they were a week ago. They may
come at any time, but the/ ai'e not hereyet. They may come with
ihe declarations on the dividends on the Vanderbilt properties,
which will be made shortly and in which no disappointment is
thought to be in store for thestockho'ders.
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THE governmonts of Austria and Ilungary have ftnally taken
an irrevocable step.in the currency reform, and have laid
the six biUs on this important subject before the Austrian Reichs-
rath and the Hungarian Reichstag. The bills have met with some
opposition, because it is averred that the government does not
offer a sufĩicient guarantee that cash payments wiU be resumed
in conseqiience of the reform. It is said that the government
cannot and will not at once provide by loaiis the large sums that
would be needed for withdrawing the paper and silver in circula-
tion at one bold stroke. The gold staiidard must be legally estab-
Hshed, the proportionate value of paper, silver and gold must be
determined; and then the nation's confldeiice iii the government
and in the legislative aasemblies must be trusted to for letting
events take theright com'se. As gold has been accumulated, the
moment the biils are voted, the new currency vvill be coined and
put in circulation eveu before the loans are emitted. There will
then be a double currency in the monarchj—the old paper and
silver florins and the old tokea  money will circulate   side   by





side with the new gold twenty and ten crown pieces and the nickel
and bronze token naoney of the future. If the population
is confident that the government will adhere to its
measureF. there is no need to distrust this state of
things; and though it may be supposed that each
indií idual will be desirous at first to see for himself whether he can
really change his old note of ten florins for a gold twenly crown
piece he will soon be convinced, and will then wait patiently until
tinie and efTort have replaced the last florin note by itsequivalent in
gold. Business in Krance is being very miich depressed by the new
tarift'. The efîect of the vvar of tarilĩs betvveen France and Spain
is Deing felt particularly severely by French merchants trading
vvith the latter country. Letters published in the newspapers
describe the situation as disastrous, for French merchandise is sub-
ject to the higher scaleof duties, while England and Germany con-
tinue to enjoy the minitBum tarifî.





"]^rO one, even remotely interested in real estate, needs to be told
-^' of the very rapid growtlĸ^f the title insurance companies,
during the past few years. Mauifestly, they have done goodservice
and supxjlied a real public need. Indeed, the services they perform
havebecome almost of the nature of a public fuuction, and are
now part of the trade macbinery of the real estate business. A
proposition has been made Ihis week, by the Commissioners of
AccountP, that these title companies shall pay to the city a cerlain
percentage of their incomes, iii order to offset the decreased income
of the County Clerk's and Register's ottíces, due to the competition
of these institutions.    The Commissioners say :

" Legislatiou ought to be passed which would coiupel the title guarantee
companies to pay the city certaiu percentages of their iticomes, in order to
compensate, to some extent, the tajpajers of tbis city from the loss they
are sustainiog by the compelition of these companies.

" It Í3 true tbat the records are public property, but it is questioaabla
whether public property can be applied in the manner in which Ihe lille
guarantee companies have done it aud derived a reveijue thorefrom, with-
out some coniponsation to the public. This injustice ought to be cured by
proper legidlation."

We have always contended that private corporations should pay,
and liberally pay for public facilities from which they derive
income. But this case is not one wherein any franchise or mon-
opoly is granted. The records are public property, and anyone is
free to raake the use of theni that the title compauies do. The
real injustice is that the public have been driven to rely upoii private
enterprise for a service in kind and ([uality which the oity itself
should have provided, but does not. The title companies would
never have existed had the city been alive to public requirements.
It is this defect that should be removed by " proper legislation."
Tlie Commissioners of Accounts have taken up the wrong end of
the stick. Any "..ax imposed upon the title companies would
ultimately fall upon the piiblic, so that in a sense the public would
be fined for the deficiencics of the municipai administration. That
would be '■ getting it" on both sides.





C'IOLUMBIA has uudoubtedly secured the best possible site for
^ its purposes south of the Harlem ; but the New York Uni-
versity, by the expenditure of a much smaller sum has secured
a site equally as large on the other side of the river. No one
who is famillar with Sedgwick avenue and its vicinity can avoid
congratulating the University on the selection of its trustees.
The site for the beauty and diversity of the view it commands,
and for the advantages ví various kinds which it offers, is second
to none iu a city that possesses great natural attractions.
It commands a view, not only of Washington Heighls,
and the low lands north of Fort George, but of the Hudson
beyond aad thePalisades. Whatever the looatiou of its buildinga
can do for a university, this location could do for this institution.
The opportunity is offered for surrounding the students with an
atmosphere as different from that which envelops the University's
present buildings as confinement is from freedom. It is very much
to be hoped that the institution wiU be able to form a community
up in Fordham iu the sense that Columbia never can be a com-
munity under circumstancea present or to come. In securing thia
location the University hasgained a greatadvantage overCoIumbia,
and one which will prove of much advantage in the future.
Doubthíss the architecture of the new buildings wiil be fully equal
to the aiie, and if the Univeisity can only get funds enougli it will
be admirably equipped to surroun.i the student with that euuobling
atmosphere which does a great deal to influence impressionable
youth aud to make a university dear to the memory of its gradu-
ates. Xew York City is also to be congratulated on this latest addi-
tion to its monumental public improvemeuts. Fordham Heights
is a singularly attraclive neighborhood aud needs just the kind of
development which vvill be supplied by the grounds and buildings

of the University.

-------•-------

IT Í8 curious  that wiudy political orators, who  make " patríot-
ism" an end in itself, never seem to have aufficient .sense to
confiue their inflated mouthing to the realm of facts.    In a apeech