iSmj 18,18B8





Record   and   Guide.









ESTftBUSHED ^; /A«^CH 51«"^ iase.,_

BtfswiEss Asfe THEMES Uf Ge^r^ 'iii^^^^n
PRICB, PER TEAR IN ADriNCE, SIX DOLLARS.

i*it&Iis/ied euery Saturday.

TBLBPHOKH^       ....       COBTI^RDT 1S70,

Oonmmn loa tioua should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET,  14 & 16 Vesey St.

J. 7. LINDSEY, Sttsiness Manager,

"Entered at the Post-offlce at Neto York, N. Y., as second-class matter."





Vol. li.





MAY 13,   1893,





No. 1,813





THE little strength that has been seen in the stock market has
recalled into use the rusty stereotype phrases about the return
of public confidence. As a matter of fact public confideuce is a
matter of prices. "When these get very low people will come in and
buy irrespective of any value whatever. This has been seen hun¬
dreds of times and wil! be seen hundreds more. The stock most in
discredit to-day will probably a few mouths hence be most eagerly
bought merely on a supposition that the price will go up and the
buyer can get out w^ith a profit before the inevitable collapse comes.
The people who control the corporations now enjoying the public
opprobrium understand this very clearly. In Cordage the same tac¬
tics are being employed as were em},loyed iu Distillers and in the
ease of Eeading to shield Mr. McLeod's little indiscretions. There
is a combination inside to keep the outside stockholders ignorant of
what has been done or what it is proposed to do. The true facts
are only divulged piecemeal and at long intervals when the public
mind is occupied with other things. Thougb tbe break in
Reading came months ago it is only now its losses in stock
operations are leaking out. To a persistent holder of Cordage
prominent men who have lent the prestige of their name to the
scheme are not ashamed to plead ignorance of its affairs, and the
officers of the Company refuse to supply any information. No
one will be likely to press the inquiry home, and consequently no
one will suffer for the injury that has been done. That prices are
now low enough and the outlook good enough to attract outside
buying is very doubtful. There are still snarls at home and abroad
to be straightened out before thatiwill be the case. The most
reliable reports on trade in the West are not flattering. The iron
trade is persistently dull, with prices low; in the one branch
where there are signs of better demand, (iron-pipe) business is likely
to be checked by the advance that has been made in prices. Crop
reports cannot be considered satisfactory, even if a larger foreign
demand is probable and likely to raise prices of grain. These
things continue to influence the stock market. On the other hand,
it must not be supposed that there are no encouraging signs in
Wall street. All the injury of much that was weak and rotten
has been di.ne. There has been a very heavy liquidation, for
which the atmosphere is much better and clearer. The failures
of the past week were no more than might have been expected
to follow the disasters of the preceding ones—the succumbing
here and there of a weakling whose esistence has for j long been
threatened with destruction by the coming of a stormy day. In
the past two days the stock market has developed some rallying
power and ability to resist the pressure of, at any rate, profes¬
sional sellers, though it remains to be seen how it is prepared to
take any important liquidation of long stock should such be
necessary. There is a very strong party prepared to take advan¬
tage of any weakness that may develop.





BRITISH investors are beginning to believe that there is no end
to the failures of Australian banks. During the past month,
in which six important institutions closed their doors, tele¬
grams were received in London daily from tha Antipodts announc¬
ing that the panic had subsided and that the banking busi
ness was being restored to its normal condition, but iu spite of
these encouragmg assurances one failure has been succeeded regu¬
larly by another. Well-informed observers of the situation are
now pretty certain that the end of these disastrous bankruptcies
is at hand. All Australian banks have not been conduct¬
ing business upon the same lines. The banks which
are most affected are those that have during the past few years
been making the greatest efforts to increase their deposits from
Great Britain, the reason being that it is they who, in employing
these accretions of new money, ministt red most largely to the past
" boom," and who, therefore, now that the collapse has come, are
biirdened with the largest proportionate amount of unrealizable





securities. To this policy of inflation the older and more conserva¬
tive institutions refused to lend themselves. Some of them have a
limit for British deposits which, as a rule, tbey do not care to
exceed, while others that do not work upon such fixed lines have
been chary of increasing their obligations and commit¬
ments in a time of extravagant speculation, of which
tbey were shrewd enough to see the ultimate col¬
lapse. In the matter of tbeir cash reserves, too, the older
banks are relatively much stronger than the others, and while
less liable to a run, are much better able to bear up against one.
The more important banks that have failed recently did not in th&
aggregate carry a proportion of cash to liabilities much over ISJ^
per cent, while they only held about 6 per cent in available securi¬
ties. It is no wonder that they were unable to bear the burden of
any particular strain. In Austria the decbne, which we noticed
recently, still continues, being brought about chiefly by the dwind-
hng prospects of a good harvest. State loans, however, have not
suffered in the least; and this is considered to be the best possible
proof that the Austrian and Hungarian governments possess the full
confidence of the financial world as to their ability to carry out the
important reform tbey have in hand. Hitherto the operation of
obtaining gold for the currency reform has beeu attended by a
singular flow of luck. A year ago it was only whispered that the
amount of gold required might be as much as forty million pounds
sterling; and it was deemed impossible that such a sum could ever
be brought into Austria. Yet all of this has now been acquiied,
except 100,000,000 florins—a comparatively small sum. It is
expected tbat in a year and a-half the currency reform will have
become a reality. ',





IT ia worth noting that despite the monetary stringency and
the hesitating feeling that is more or less prevalent in com¬
mercial quarters generally the past few days have been unespect-
edly satisfactory in the real estate market. Many brokers have
reported to us, with surprise, the conclusion of a number of halt¬
ing transactions which looked very dubious a short time ago, aud
natm-ally still more so when the trouble in Wall street began.
This increased activity, of course, is probably only a momentary
matter and is most signiflcant of the son lewhat independent place
which real estate occupies amoug forms of investment. The season
is now practically over and any revival of business can necessarily
be only temporary. The general note in brokers' offlees is one of
complaint. Expectations have been disappointed; but, then,
when have expectations not been disappointed? As a matter
of fact, the season has been satisfactory, though in one or
two sections of the city transactions have been really dull.
But, New York has become so large a place and the real estate
interests so enormous and so diversified, that nothing but condi¬
tions of the very widest range can affect all parts of it. Dullness
on the East Side or iu Harlem may be offset by greater activity
on the West Side or downtown, or vice versa. It need not be
pointed out that monetary difficulties might create the very kind
of conditions that would affect real estate as a whole. So far,
as we bave already pointed out, the financial stringency has had
almost the reverse of an adverse effect, or perhaps it would be
better to say has been accompanied by increased activity, for as
a matter of fact the tightness of money has alreadj forced more
than one operator to restrict his holdings, and the sales whioh
brokers have succeeded in carrying through this week are the
result of negotiations started some time ago. Any increase of
unfavorable monetary conditions must be more or less detrimental
to real estate, and conservatism is the best security against dis¬
aster until it is possible to see a little further ahead than even the
most astute can just at present.





'





SPEAKING of the '* season," in the foregoing, reminds us of the
change which has occurred in the real estate business within
recent years. Five years ago, indeed, perhaps not so far back,
there was a very clear demarcation between the seasons. The rent¬
ing period came within very definite dates and the broker could
almost calculate to a week when the main part of his transactions
would be closed. Within the last two years, the tendency has been
to blur these lines. The seasons are beginning to overlap, and for
a very much longer portion of the twelve months than formerly,
the real estate broker must be on the alert. The renting season,
for inscance, has been in part transferred to the fall, and it will be'
remembered that last year, almost before midsummer had passed,
buyers turned their attention to West Side property, and good
business was done while the thermometer stUl stood
somewhere about 90 in the shade. At this present time of
the year, three or four- years ago, the languor of
summer pervaded the offices of our principal brokers, but to-dayi
as noted above, agents are busy closing a number of good transac¬
tions. As our gossip columns show, the movement is general. It
is not confined to any one class of property; but, as will be seen, the
East Side is particularly favored. Indeed, the East Side seems to
have past out of its evil days and is again receiving the attention of