^2H«tob 18.1898





Record  and  Guide.





397







BewjeD p I^i EsTAjE. BuiLDif/c Aji,ti('TECTji^ XcujsRftJW Desor^ib:
Biiyitess nio Themes Of Ge^JeraI ^tc^sj

PRICE, PER FEAR IIV ADTAIVGE, SIX DOLLARS.

PablisTud every Saturday.
THLBPHONB       ....        COBTLAHDT 1370.

CommnnlcatlonB shonld be addressed to

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

J. J. LINDSEY, Business Manager.





"Entered at the Post-office at Neto York. N. T., ow second-class matter."





Vol. li.





MARCH 18, 189S,





No. 1,805





rpHE declines seen in ao many issues on the stock market have
-^    been so great that the little rally in prices of yesterday waa
not surprising, nor would it be unnatural (notwithatanding that
outside conditions have not improved much), if it were maintained
40 a moderate extent.   Such recuperative power as has been shown,
however, lately, does not promise much; a really wholesome rally
cannot be predicted with any certainty, and a return to a bull
market is not to be expected so long as the conditions tbat have
caused the recent troubles still endure without prospect of remedy.
Accompanying the advance in Northern Pacilic preferred waa a
story that the floating debt was to be funded somewhat in the way
the Union Pacific floating debt was treated, and the collateral notes
offered    to    the    stockholders.     The    advance    already   seeu
ought   to   discount   all    the    benefit   the    stock   can   obtain
from such an arrangement.    Erie's affaira aeem to be nearing the
acute stage, as can be seen not so much by fche decline in the stock
as by the sales of the Consol 6s.   The privilege the Company has of
suspending interest payments on these bonds at its convenience
makes them the fiist to suffer after tbe atock when it is known that
theCompany is needy, theae advance sales being in tbe nature of
aborts m the expectation that the Company will not be able to meet
the June coupon.   The movement, or rather want of movement in
Readmg   mdicates   that   the   receiver's report is not favorably
received.   It   shows   so clearly the company's   need   of   money
and   that    ita   funds   have    been   dissipated   in   stock    opera¬
tions   that    very   little    confidence    wil]    now    be    placed    in
the property so long as the preseut management keeps control
All   the   Coalers   are   affected   by   the   reduction   in   tlie   coal
rates so that a logical conclusion from the breaking up of the com-
bmation and the reduction in coal prices is that these stocks will
return to the prices they were accustomed to before Mr McLeod
unfortunately for so many,  became a star of such magnitude'
New YorK Central haa also shown a need of uew capital, which it
18 proposed to raise by an increase in the capital stock, presumably
because the market is not a good one for bonds just now. Generosity
to the stockholders in the matter of raising new capital in that
quarter is suspicious.   With the developments of ao many great
properties so discouraging it is not reasonable to look for higher
pricea except as they come as a reaction from overselling,
----------■----------

CONTROLLER MYERS' letter to the Eapid Transit Commia-
■^ tiioners 18 the first wholesome utterance that has yet come
from any public official concerning rapid transit. The spirit of the
recommendations that he makes should have been incorporated
long ago into the general policy of the municipaUty iu disposing ot
public franchises. Indeed, considering the enormous money-mak-
ing facilities which the Manhattan Company has already obtained
from the city Controller Meyers' requirementa are much below
what they might justly be. The Manhattan Company ahould be
made to pay the full value of any additional concessions made to it
The plea tbat the construction of the additions to the present struc¬
ture will cost the company several millions without any adequate
retm:n and that conaequently the improvements are for the benefit
of the public and should not be taxed is ridiculous in face of the
effort which the Manhattan Company has been making for years to
obtam permission for several of the very additions which the Rapid
iransit Commissionera now propose to grant.





T f ^^\T °^ ^^^ ^^^' ^'^^^^ Exchange in sending a deputation
K ^^^'^'^y t° support the Ellison bill was a logical though

probaby an ineffective action. Legislation at Albany is not mov-
ng just at preaent in sympathy with public opinion, and the recep-
m of delegations was little more than a necesaary make-believe in

the farce of law-making.    The committee, however, did well, and

deapite of much controversy their arguments are unanswered to





this hour. The fact of most importance disclosed this week in con¬
nection with rapid transit is that the Mayor has requested a hear¬
ing on fche Farquhar bill before the cities' committee. The public
may yet be able to learn what is the attitude of the oity ofBcials
towards the underground scheme, th© estension of the elevated
roads and city ownership. Under our, present system of free
government whatever they determine upon is likely to be carried
through.





"pRESENTiindications offer very little hope for the underground
-»• scheme. The selfish iuteresta at work in favor of the elevated
roads are numerous and powerful. The presence of the Manhattan
Company is everywhere, and its alliances^are numerous. A factor
greatly in their favor ia fche indifference of the multitude as to what
system of transportation New York gets so longas ifc gets somethhig
quickly that does not inflict any direct injui'y upon them. A great
many property-holders too, who have been suffering for years
because of inadequate transit facilities, are willing to turn the city
over to anybody who will do anything to increase the value of their
lots or houaea, and thereby enable them to dispose of them. Their
motto is " After us the .Deluge." Then, too, the elevated roads
undoubtedly possess many superiorities compared with; any;ofcher
means of transportation possible in New York, and these appeal
very powerfully tojpeople. Indeed, there are not a few who would
heartily^favor the construction of an improved sort of elevated road
from one end of Broadway to and along the Boulevard. They believe
this to be the best solution of the Rapid Transit problem. Cerlainly
it seems more likely that.we shall come to this than that the under¬
ground road will be built.





/t S to the extensions of the elevated road, sanctioned by the
-*^ Rapid^Transit Commissioners this week, there is this to be
said: Would it not be wise to determine whether New York City
is to be dependent wholly upon the Manhattan Company for its
Rapid Transit facilities or upon some other system, in addition to
it, before going ahead ? The third track and some other similar
improvements might be permitted at once, but patch-work
extensions should be avoided. If the elevated roada are to be
supreme, let the Manhattau Company lay out a system tbat will be
as complete and as adequate as possible. If we are not going to
have an underground road, afc least nothing less than some such
scheme as that of Mr. Spencer's should be adopted. It is folly to
go ahead in a tentative, halting way. There are certain obvious
steps that ought to be taken at once. Beyond these, nothing should
be done until we have iletermined upon the permanent course we
are going to pursue. It ia foolish to ask the Manhattan Company
to patch up their present system if, after all, theirs is to be the sys¬
tem of tbe metropolis.

-----------a-----------

THE residence section ot the city lying east of Central Park is
just DOW experiencing the same trouble with stable builders
that the West Side passed through only two years ago. So far, there
is this essential difference in the experiences of the two sections:
on tbe Weat Side, stable builders threatened their nuisances for
purposes of blackmail, and it was possible for tbe injured property-
owners to buy them off ; on the East Side, the offenders are very
rich men, who build their stablea in first-class private house neigh¬
borhoods, notwithstanding the I pecuniary offers made, to induce
them to desist.   Argument, too, has been of no avail.    Having pur¬
chased unrestricted lots and determined on building stables, these
wealthy vandals have carried out their intentions with the per¬
tinacity peculiar to rich men, who think they can afford to defy
public opinion.    Under tbe law, as it is, adjoining property-owners
have no redress, and scarcely auy means of prevention.    It has
happened, we believe, in desperate cases, that property-owners have
resorted to the subterfuge of instituting condemnation proceedings
to have tbe unrestricted lot taken for police, fire or school purposes,
purchasing the*property from the city subsf quently at a price only
slightly in excess of the coat to the municipality.    In restriction of
solid blocks to private houses, there is, of course, a sure guarantee
of safety from nuisances, but holders of vacant property only too
frequently refuse to combine in such a movement, fearing that at
some future time the restriction may prove disadvantageous.   The
last case of the despoiling of a neighborhood, the story of which is
told in another column, shows, however, tbat outside of restriction
property-owners have anotlier safeguard. The Phillip's Presbyterian
Cburch congregation, who ai-e among the most injured by the
erection of the stable on Madison avenue, north of 73d atreet, had
a promise from the owner^that if the ^lot now used as the stable
site was ever offered for sale they should have a first opportunity
as purchasers.   Thie tacit understanding was known to neighbor¬
ing property-owners, and they rested content in the belief that the
church would never permit the erection of any sort of nuisance
adjoining its own edifice.   James Lenox, however, who made the
promise died, atid the property passed into the handa of people who
were probably not aware that any such agreement had ever been
made  and   who  were   not   interested   either in fche church or
in adjoining property.    After thedeath of Mr, Lenox the adjoining