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'Entered at the Post-oStce at Neia York, N. T., as second'Claita matter."





Vol. li.





APRIL 32, 1898.





No. 1,310





THE perfect ciinency. is one that works without change anti
without friction. For want of one such, values have been
(liHliirbeU in the Heciirity market, and there is no jirowpect of
improvement for aome time to come, hecause the change that it
is necessary to make is one that cannot be made in a day. The
difficulties of this situation are best ilhislrated by the inconsi,sten-
cies found in Secvetai'y Carlisle's recent statement to the press, in
which he describes very clearly how tlie silver producers are turn¬
ing their product into gold at tbe expense ofthe country at large,
and an immense quantity of metal is thrown upon the Ti'easury
" as useless for any purpose of circulation or redemption as iron,
lead or any other commodity." Notwithstanding this he says :
" There is enough gold in the country to meet all the requirements
of tbe situation, and if all who are really interested in maintain¬
ing a sound and stable ciu-reucy "would assist the Secretary of the
Treasury to the extent of their abilities the existing dlfKcullies
would soon be removed," Of what use would it bo to assist the
government to bolster up a system acknowledged to
be so bad, which has worked so much mischief
already, and which can only work mischief as long
as it is maintained? There ia only one remedy—the entire repeal
of laws providing for the use of silver in any form ;but that of
subsidiary coins. What help the holders of gold could give, whether
hanks or private individuals, could only delay the application of
the proper remedy and it would be preferable to be on an admitted
silver basis than to continue the condition of things that has been
seen for a year past. From all that can be learned of the next Con¬
gress it is not likely to repeat or even amend the silver laws without
a very emphatic and general demand from outside, and such a
demand is not likely to come while expedients which can ouly tem¬
porarily stay the damage that is being doue are reported to to
carry the Treasury along from day to day. Wbere the evil and the
remady are so well known as in this case anything short of the
remedy cannot do more than change the tone of speculation from
time to time. Mere expedients will not influence legitimate busi-
" ness, Uuder these circumstances the stock market is likely to be
subject to violent fluctuations as the news from the Treasury is
good or bad, but with the final result'against values until it is
antlioritativejy announced that the needed legislation has been
j)Lissed.





have been customary ui hard timesi. lu France business ci>nliiines
steady in spite of political disturbances and uneasiness. The report
of tbe Paris Gas Company is interesting hecause of the attention
which the relation of gas producing companies to the municipality
is exciting in this couutry. Owing to the competition of electric
lighting tbe total consumption of the year 1893 waa 3,000,000 cubic
metres less than in 1891. The total receipts of the year were 104,-
838,555 francs. The expenses amounted to 70,169,838 francs, of
which 27,375,315 only were for coal and heating. The City of
Paris received nearly $4,300,000 as its share of tbe profits; and the
State obtained more than $200,000 as taxes. The sura whicb tbe
municipality gets is a very large one ; but the company can afford
to pay it only under conditions that are rather burdensome to tbe
consumer. The gas costs the public nearly double the price which
it costs in other European capitals (about $1.60 per thousand cubits
feet), but according to tbe reports of the company, it receives, after
deducting the dues to the city, and the loss on gas furnished for
street lighting and tbe municipal buildings, only about two-thirds
of that sum net. Its businesa is also hampered hy an octroi tax of
about$l,;W for every ton of coal consumed. The negotiations with
the Oity of Paris for a prolongation of the company's monopoly, in
return for a reduction in the price of gas, have been entirely broken
off ; and it seems as if the city would go iuto the business as soon
as the present poncession expires.

----------m----------

IF there is one thing we Americans believe in it is the absolute
pre-eminence of Yankee enterprise. It is a matter of faith with
ua that we are the only nation on earth that wear theseven leagnetl
boots of Progress. We are convinced that we are the^ only people
that deal with human affairs in a wholesale way, that do not hesi¬
tate with our problems but go right to tbe heart of them at the
first step without fear. If there be a city to be built we go about
it very much as the foreigner does about constructing a factory.
We girdle a continent with a railroad as quickly as other people
put down a short street-car line. Thought is supposed to be quicker
with us than with others, and we act almost as readily as we
think. Howevermuch of truth there may be in this popular suppo¬
sition it will not in all cases bear the teat of facts. Enter¬
prise is too closely identified by us with mere reatltneas
to act. He may be slow, but sometimes ' when the
foreigner does get to work he gives us a lesson in
enterprise which almost takes our breath away. Tbia
happens frequently in tbe field of municipal action. What
would we here in New York say to a propositioa to spend
nearly a hundred millions of dollars in street improvements? We
doubt if any one has the courage to even propose such a step. Our
ideas have not gotten beyond the point of spending some one or
two millions of dollars a year in tbe betterment of our streets, and
an improvement like the widening of Elm street has to be contem¬
plated and discussed for something like a quarter of a century
before we can pluck up courage to go ahead witb it. Yet here is
Paris, a completed city compared with New York, readily uuder-
taking improvements which necessitate an outlay of about four
hundred million francs, all of which is to be spent practically imme¬
diately; that is, all the contemplated work is to be finished by the
year 1900. Surely one would say that it is New York and not
Paris that should be spending money in this way,
for it is here not in the French capital that better¬
ments on a large scale are needed. But the difiiculty with
New York is that her citizens have not yet learned even
the direct value of fine streets, great public buildings, beautiful
squares and parks. A Parisian knows that probably no investment
tbat he can make pays better than the money he spends in beauti-
f ving his city. Visitors throng to the Boulevards from all over tbe
world, solely because the Parisian has made his city a pleasant place
to live in, and we dare say tbat within ten vears Americans alone
will have returned to tbe Parisian hotelkeeper, storekeeper, thea¬
tres, etc., almost the cost of the improvements now contemplated.
If the New Yorker were really a man of enterprise, clear-sighted,
far-seeing, he would turn his back absolutely upon the niggardly
policy which lias hitherto prevailed in the municipal management
of tbis city and proceed at once to make the metropolis a beautiful
place. He would require wide, well-shaded streets, handsomepublic
buildings and fountains, and instead of turning the thoroughfares
of the city over to any cheap commercial enterprise he would
insist that notbiug should be done that would mar their beauty,
even though an uuderground road cost sixty millions or an adequate
viaduct railway one hundred millions.





THE State building law, as it is called, the bill creating uniform
building lawa for all tbe cities in this State, excepting the
cities of New York and Brooklyn, in three grades according to
population, was killed for this year in the Assembly at 11 o'clock
on Thursday night by a motion to recommit the bill to the general
laws committee with instructions to strike out the names of certain
cities, which motion was carried by a vote of (13 to 43, notwith¬
standing the eft'orts of Speaker Sulzer to save the bill from what
was practically a death blow in the last  hours of the session,