Febrnary 10,1891





Record   and   Guide.





209







ESTf.OLISHED -^^y MAHCH Bl'-i^ 1868,

De/oteD to f{cKl Estate . Buildi/^'o i^Kci^itecture .KouseHold DESOJij,TiorJ,
Bi/s'in'ess aiJdThemes op Gej^ei^aL 1Ktei\e&t.

PRICE,  PER   YEAR   IN   ADVANCE,  SIX   DOLLARS.

Published every .Saturday.

TKI.KI-llONlC,......CilRTI..\NDT 137(1

Cominunicatioiis ahoiild be addi'ca.sed to

C. W. SWEET, 14-lG Vesey Street.

J.  ■/,  LINDSEY. liusiness Manager.

linilllKI.VN  Ol-lIl'E,  27li-2Sl.'   W.V.SIllNliKl.N'   i^riiKET,

Oi'C. Post Oii-k-k.

"P.nterrd al the Post-office at Xew Tork. N. T., as second-class matter."





Vol.. LIII.             FEBRUARY 10, 1894,            No. 1,352





For additional Brooklyn matter, sec Brooklyn Department immediately
fnllowinij A'cw tfcrscy records (page 2:!,T).





T





features tlmt sive cucourngemeiit for
holding- better for things in the stock market in the near
future, notably the steps that have beeu taken to disjio.se of tho
Heading floating debt and the movement toward resuming the
work on the Richmond Terminal leorgaiiizatioti. These are evi-
deuces of a begiunin,!? of a movement for setting up the fallen
and as sticli are vei-3' pleasant to contemplate, tlie coiuse ]ia\ iii.t;-
tor so long been oue of throwing down. 'J'lie National Lead t'o.
makes a good report for la.st year and .sliows improved business
during January, and as its trade is so extensive and touches so
many interests, that fact may be .tccepted as an evidence of the
growing improvement in general business. The iiiiiiorts of dry-
goods for the past week <iro much larger than they were in the in-e-
vious week, from which it may be taken that merchants in that
line are compelled to replenish stocks to a moderate extent at
least. Of eourse actual business is still light everywhere, and is
not likely to be very large for some time to come yet; but if there
is only a fair pro.spect ahead and fears of relapse into the unluiiijiy
conditions of the dosing montlis of last year are dissi]iated, it
will be as much as we can expect for the present.





ri'>HE tiuancial condition of all the great goveriiments of
J- Europe is best expressed by the latest Punch cartoon to
hand, in which .lohn Bull, Mile. France, Italy, Austria, Germany,
Russia and (U-eece are geniall.y welcomed to the regions of
national pauperism, knowu as budget deticiency, by that old-
timer Turkey. That is the ]iictorial view. The news,
however, is not all bad. AVIiile the new.s]iaper correspond¬
ents are trying to involve England and France in a war in whii-lr
the rest of the great poweis will only take part as spectators,
trade iu the tirst-iiamed country is reviving under the stimulus
of the work that has been begun in the great centres of ship
liuilding and of the dividendspaid by most of the great railroads
for the last half of IsniJ, which, though ri'ductioiis, are better
than had been expected and are takeu to express a confident
belief of good .judges of the situation that better times are at
hand. It is difficult to .see, however, how an.y improvement of
British trade can lie permanent while the position of silver is
so disorganizin.g to bu.siness in India and iu the far East.
A threatened stain]i and tax ou all bouise transactions has iibout
killed the little business that was being done on the Berlin .Stock
Exchange, while the fate of the commercial treaty negotiations
with Russia is eipially effective to stay a recovery of trade. The
last-named measure is looked upon iu Germany much as the
Wilson Bill is regarded here, and until the Reichsrath tiiially
disposes of it, it will form the excuse for much dullness. There
are, of course, other things that make the outlook bad,
which are not spoken of so much as the jiolitical
causes, though in reality they may be more iiiHiieii-
tial. One, for instance, is the, fact that about !j<l(i(l,00(l,()(ltl
of Italian rente are owned in (Germany, another that
the condition of the coal and iron interests of the Empire, which
though said to be better than it was is still very bad, as is shown
by the estimate of receipts from the Prussian state coal and iron
establishments for the year lK94-'t)5, which is about a million
aud three-quarters of dollars less than List. year. Austria-Hun¬
gary is, too, a large holder of Italian rente, though not by an.y
ine.ans as great as Germany, ^'ienna bankers are becoming cau¬
tious in their advances to Hungary owing to thi^ building mania
at Buda Pesth having .xsgiimed alarming jiroportions, so that
it is not unlikely that we m.ay hear of financial trouble
from the Hungarian capital before very long. The report of
the trustee savings banks of France for 1893 is interesting
becausc it gives the best view obtainable of the condition of the.
peasant aud workman.   Couipared with 1892 the uew uiouey





fell off about .$18,750,000 and the withdrawals increased about
^^31,500,0011. Foreign trade with Franco for 1893 decreased
.')<210,000,(1110. Higher duties are given as the cause of a falling
oflof ^10,000,0110 in iniiiorts of foreign wines, but the vintners
are still dissatistied, and having had a large vintage last year,
which they say they cannot sell, instead of attributing any part
of this fact to the condition of the times the,v join the
wheat growers iu clamoring for increased import duties. As
matteis are shajiing- them.selves in the Chamber of Deputies
if is proliablc that the imiiort duties on wheat will be consider-
abl.v raised. Inijiorts of niiinufacttu-es into France fell off .$18,-
000,000 in 1 so:',, but exports declined $40,000,000. The increase
iu navigation bounties made a year ago was either in.idequate or
the principle underlying such bounties is false. Siuce the
bouuties went into force the Frencli entries decreased 301,078
tons and the clearances 249,404 tons; while the foreig-n entries
increased 388,011 tons aud the clearances 34,748 tons. There
was even a loss iu the French n-tvi,gation with foreign
countries in Europe, for which ti bounty had not been paid
jirevious to Februar.y 1st of last year. The suppression
of tlie half-bounty on foreign-built ships put ou the French reg¬
ister did not prevent the importation of such vessels, iu fact
there was for the year an increase of such of about 10,000 tons.
The cairyin.g out of the ai-rangemeiits made for settling tho
Aigentine debt meet with considerable difficulty, so that holders
of Argentines do not get the promised iuterest. Oue Loudon
bank i-e()uested the holders of one Argentine loan " to retain '
the next due interest coupon, which is as neat a way of announc¬
ing- a default as could be conceived.





WE siiK-eicly liope we shall have no niore legislative dis¬
pensing of charity. The present depression in the labor
market and in business iu general undoubtedly afforded an
excellent ojiportunity for the eity authorities to undertake
inijii-oveinents. The opportunity offered, however, should have
been ajiiuoachod and made use of upon business principles, pre¬
cisely as our large linaii<-ial institutions have been induced by
fiie cheainiess of buildiug materials to uudeitake the erection of
office buildings whicli might under other conditions have beeu
deferred. Those coiiioratioiis would scarcely have beeu acting
ina business way had they employed any siiridus of money in
mere uureiiinuei-ated decoration or iu locking uji their capital iu
auy niijirodiictive form. Bnt this is the very thing that the city
authorities have ihine. Instead of going to work as bu.siness
men would to expend what money they could command upou
the miin.y necessary iiniiidvements the city needs, they have
iindertakeu to invest the city's funds in what may
be called municipal trimmings, as though the chief
problem before them was not how to act with the utmost
calculation for the benetit of the cit.y, while at the same time
aiding the unemployed, but how in the readiest and easiest
way to distribute largess and iiliiis. Instead of rushiug into
expenditure on the Speedway (wluch is uot immediately needed
aud is not essentially necessary to the welfare of the city), it
would lie more iu accord with business common sense to under¬
take extra work upon the improveineut of our miserable streets,
the defective condition of which entails au indirect assessment
upon our merchants of many tliousauds of dollars annually.
There is also our iundeiiuate dock system wliich might have
received attention, as well as certain street wideniugs which are
imperatively needed. We are not olijectiiig to the Speedway or
to any improvement of tliat class. Tht*y undoubtedly but
indirectly benefit the city. At the same time they are not of
prime necessity and should not receive attention until the hard
daily requirements of the i-ity have been fully met. We believe
that it would be to the advantage of everybody were the muni¬
cipality to be a large spender in diUl times like these, but the
citv's money should be expended upon business princijiles.





IX -Albany, the lepresentatives of the 23d and 24tli Wards
have apparently awakened to the fact that " The Greater
Xew York Scheme" means a higher rate of taxatimi for their
constituents. Tliis is dne to the fact that hi.gher taxes than
those prevailing iu Xew York City are exacted iu nearly all the
towns which it is proposed to incorporate in the Greater
Jletropolis. We cannot jiossibly see how Brooklyn, with her
decidedly high tax rate, and m.any of the Westchester County
and Long Island cities, with their high t,ax rates, can be
annexed without adding to the burdens which the Xew York
taxpayer has to meet. The only w.ay to avoid this is to continue
sejiarate systems of taxation in each of the separate localities
consolidated: but any arrangement of this kind imjiairs the
esseiiliiil jiart of the '-Greater Xew York"' sclieme, which
is tlie abolition of all the jiresent goveriinieutal differ¬
ences in the metropolitau area and the construction
instead of a single piece of machinery for the whole
district. Tho trouble is the plan of consolidation
and the jiroblcms it necessarily raises have received so far very
little analytical consideratiou.   Thu scheme has sounded well iu