July 18.189»





Record   and   Guide.





71







ESTÍiBUSHED ^íAARpH ?1"^ 186S.
"De/ũÍeD ĨO KeA,L ESWE  BuiLDIffc AĩíC.><lTECT'J[í,E,K0bsnloLDteQ0F,nt01i

PRICE, PER YEIR IIÍ ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.

Publisheã eve'ry Saturday.
TBLBPHONB;        ....        CORTLANDT 1370,
Communicatĩona should be addressed to

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

J. 1. LINDSEY, Business Manager,

"Entered at the Fost-offlce at Neui York, N. F., as second-class maííer."





VOL. L.





JULY  16,  1893.





extraordinary deTelopment of the country bave increaeed from
about $33,000,000 to about $67,000.000, During thia period the
number of inhabitants in the capiLal increased from
150,000 to 500,000. No escessive preasure became neces-
sary on the part of the governroent to obtain tliese
favorable results, while at the same time Ihe credit of the Staie
improved so much that, wLereas, twenty-five years ago it could not
get a loan nnder nine per cent., it dow pays ODly four per cent. In
England there is no cessation of the fall in tbe prices of conimodi-
ties which, generally speaking, have been steadily dwindling for
the past couple of years, Since tbe middle of.1^90 the fall in prĩcea,
taken as a whole, has been about 7,9 per cent, wbile during the
past half ypar the decline ha-i equalled 2.4 per cent. During theae
eix moHthSjWhile the domestíc trade has been fairly well maiotained,
the foreign trade has continued decîdedly dull, The protracted
dimínutioa in commerce accounts for some of the decline which
i3 still taking place in quotations ; but in tbe case of some important
commoditîea there are other causes to which the fall is attributable,
The low price which cotton and cotton manufaciures have touched,
for instance, may be traced to the abundance of raw material.





No. 1,270





SEMI-ANNUAL INDEX WITH lEIS ISSUE.
With this number of Thb RBCORn Asn Gcide there is issued the Index
of Conv&yances for 'Vol. XLIX, co'cering the period fro'tn January 2 to
Jttne 30, inctusive, anã all subsci-ibej-s should see  thatitis ãeli'oeredto
thern ■with their copy of the paper.

IN the gentle midsummev ebb and flow of pricea on the stock
market auch features as make thpmsel'ves distinguishable do
not encourage the hope of an eariy advance. If any one will take
the trouble to watch the course of good stocks, such as New York
Central and Norfchwest, he wili see that the tendency has been
alraoat constaotly downward, The only strnng stocks ai"e a few
most actively dealt in speculatively, and even these bear evidences
of reahzings, It cannot fail to be marked that the defeat of the
Stewart Silver Bill in the Houae failed to carry prices back to the
point at which they stood when the BiII passed the Senate,
and although the trouble at Homestead was influential in
depressing prices, peace there fails to advance them.
Aa a matter of fact tbe action of the Houae no
more disposes of the Silver question tban the occupation of
tbe Carnegie works at Homestead by tbe militia of Pennsylvania
settles the strike. These are only moves in what must be tengthy
operations, In one case it has yet to be aeen whether the company
can operate its works independently of iĩs late employes, and in the
other whether the currency as it oow exists can be made satis-
factory to the home and foreign publics and remove the fearsit has
created in the Snancial world. Another instance of the trepidatory
influence of silver legĩslaiion comes out in the refusal of some
banka to supply gold certifîcates for conversion into gold for ship-
ment. This refusal couJd bave only been actuated by a desíre on
the part of tbe bank making it to protsct its store of gold and while
the danger which caused ifc bas disappeared for the time being,
and gold is easily obtainable, the instance remains to show how
much nervousness exists on this question. This nervousness
can now only be removed by a comprebensive solution of the
Silver question. The defeat of the Stewart biJl does no moie than pre-
vent its aggravation, and the passing of the suggested Bberman bill
willnoi, remove it imless concurrent with an enactment which will
satisfactorily dispose of the matter, though bow satisfaction is to
be obtained. outside of an international agreement, it is very
difficult to say, because any legisiation on the part of Congresa alone
wiJl not now be accepted aa aDything more thau an esperiment.
Another feature of Ihe financial situation îiot without ils gravity
ÍB the position taken up by the Biirlington road towarde the
Westem Traffic Association, from wliich there ia reason to
fear that the end of ihe aasociation is desired in order tu obtain
a readjnstment of business and rates, a process that îs always
injurious to the securitiea of the railroads affected.





IT ĩs noticeable that Austria-Hungary who, when the fîrst
announcement of her fînancíal reform project was made, was
represented as a most flourishing country, is now painted in colors
much leaa bright, Just when the biUs for the currency reform are
being pasaed, the commercial and other securitiea of the counlry
are undergoing a severo fall, It is claimed, however, ihat tbe cauaea
for this depreciation must be sougUt in the condition of other
continental bouraes, Just as foreign investors have been obliged
to aell agreaC many of our owu securities, so their necessities com-
pel the disposal of their holdings of Austrian issues, It is aaid that
there are no local reasons for Lbo fall in prices. Trade is not as
aclive aa it waa; but it ia stÍU in a sufficíeutly prosperous condition,
The financea of both parts of the monarchy are so saiisfaccory tbat
they can give the exchange no cause for uneasiness. The Austrian
Eco'nomist calla attention to the fact that the indirect taxea of Hun-
gary duriũg the laat twenty-fîve years whícii bave witnessed an





THERE is no real oppositîon in any quarter to the appropriation
of $5,000,000 for tbe World's Fair which Chîcago has requeated
of Congress, and no queation shonld be raised over granting the
amount deaired. Chicago haa already conlríbuted all that can be
fairly expected of lier, and the sum stiU needed to finish and equip
the Exposition does not do much more than represent ihe larger out-
lay necessitated by the extensiou which the scope of the enterprise
haa undergone during fche progression of the work, The opinion origi-
nally held that an intpmatíonal exhibition in Cbicago could be
nothing but a freak of Western imaginafcion has step by step beeu
driven from every corner of the iand. Chicago enterprise and cap-
ital has developed the " local affair" wilh which we were threat-
ened into an undertaking tbe scope, character and extent of which
ia too large for any one city to carry. Chicago has done her part
so well that ahe lias jiractically forced the nation into partnersbip
with her. We simply cannot afford to refuse the appropriation.
It should be granted without auy imnecessary objections or delay.





rOR years past tbe farmer hnsbeen salting away a number of
ideas, social and political, wbich he regards as vaiuable
assets. One of these ideas has recently been embodied, for his
benefit, in the Anti-Option Bill, a measure which demoijstrates that
the farmer is atiU as much the victim of tbe political quack as he
has always been of the well-advercised patent nostrum. Even
from, or rather particularly from thefarmer's point of view, the
Anti-Option Bilt is a daiigerous attetnpi to restrict commGrcial
freedom. It is based upon a totally false conception of the rela-
tion of modern speculation, ia even its most gambling aspects, co
what the farmer regards as legitimate trading. The farmerisno
more a victim of the oue thao he is of ihe other. Indeed, specu-
ĩation gives him a readier marlet for his produce than he would
otherwise have, and brings about a speedier adjustraent of prices
to the couditions of supply aud demand, which surely are as mucb
in bis favor as against it, If prices decline in the operation, it
isii't thc fauit of speculation buE of the etate of the
market. There ĩs nothing ín " futures" that diÉfere esaen-
tially from any ordinary trading. If a farmer ie
driving a small herd of swíne to market and he sees
ahead of him hie neighbor driving a larger berd he
wiU take a short cut, if he can find one, and get ríd of bis piga
before his neighbor arrives, This operation could be performed by
telegrapli. Knowing that the supply of pigs in the market
promised to be large be could instruct hia dealer to sell his porkers,
promising to drive them to town the nexfc day or the day after, or
at any future time coavenient. If he were a farseeing man he
could go further than this. Snppose in hís travels among the
neighboring farms he noticed fche promise of a very large " out-
put" of pígs. "Marthey," he might say to his wife on his return
home, " Dealer Jones who has agreed to take any pigs we may
have in the fall is jesfc as ready to buy them now as later. The
cbancea are we shall^have fourteen; but law! if we mai-ket them
when Farmer Hayseed and Farmer Wayback markets theír'u we
won't get anything like present prices. I'm going
to sell mine now." Thereupon, he does sell his by
mail that very day, and in the fall delivers them,
finding himself ao much in pocket by his foresight. Are any of
these trausaciions essentially different frotn theothers? Suppiy
and Demand governs tbemall, asour farmer would find to his coafc
if he should fail into a miscalculation in carrying out any of them.
Farmers Hayseed and Waybaclĩ might wish lo suppress the mail or
the telegi-aph wlien they learned what theirneigbbor bad done, but
the latter would surely maintain that his actioo all along was
legitimate. Next year our farCLer might be usiog hia foresighc and
the mail and the telegraph Co advance prîces, and then of course
Hayseed and Wayback wouSd be convinced of the legitimacy of
the operation.    It  may he  aaid  that into the transactions of the