Mill eh 17, 1891
Record and Guide.
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Vol. LIIT.
MARCH 17, 1891.
No. 1,857
For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Dejmriment immediately
'following New Jersey records Ipage 431).
We commence in this issue the publication of a series of articles on
Private Propertij. They are,from ihe pen of Pro.fessor Fichard T,
Ell/, whose eontriliulioii.^t t;> Political Economy in recent years hare
given him a foremost place among American investigators in this
flcpartincnt o.fsrienee. The purpose of the articles is to set forth in
a clear, suceinei manner the nature of private prf)perty, about
tvhich aiprcscnt in tlie popular mind there are so many vague, con-
.fiiseil, perplexing antl even ilaugerons notions. It is ncetllcss to say
that the subject is one of the liighest interest to all intelligent citi-
eens a.itl is one that slionltl partieularly engage the attention of our
readers, the activity of sr> many o.f ivliom is liascd npon private
ownershij} of real estate.
THAT tilt? stock market k(>eps its strength in spite of the
character of cnrrcnt news, must be accepted as evidence of
JV Yt^ry great change of feeling on the part of investois and specu¬
lators. If there \viis not a very strong belief tliat jiiices were
h)w uud generiil bii.siue.ss improving, the mnrket could not have
resisted the evil iutiiieiices of the passage of the Seiguioia.ge Bill
by the Senate iind the ri-port th:it the Pre.sideiit lii-sitiites tn tiike
a position on the ineiisure ; the strikes iu tho iieiglibnrhood of
the city with their iiccomp:iiiyiug- disorders; the cmiflict at Den¬
ver, the engngenieiit of gold for shipmeut to En.gliuid, ratt-
ciitting on riiilroads, and other thiugs th.tt in times of high
prices aud diminishing bu.siness would have iiiibieed iittacks.ou
values with an iilniost certain .prospect of success.
But as it is there has lieen a week of continued strength <iud
almost continued thon,gh slow advance. This could uot certaiul.y
be the case, unless belief was strong that certain dangers to tlie
situation would b? speedil.y removed. There i.s, however, in
some quarters whose ojiinions are entitled to respect, consider¬
able nervousness occasioned b.y the fear that the President may
be induced to sign the new inflation measure that has just beeu
pa-sed, in order that his V(!to ot it may not prejudice the Taritt"
Bill, but it is hardly possible that politica] e-\pedience will be
ciiriied so far. The looseness with wliich the bill is drawn makes
the likelihood of a veto greater. It is a curious coincidence, if
not a natural consequence, that the e-icport of gold immediately
follows the passage of the bill in the Senate iis it did
its adoption by tlie Huuse ; there is no doubt tliat
tlie signing of the bill would be followed by further
exports of the precious metal aud there would be no
doubt whiitever of the cause of their shipmeut. If tliere were
no other reasons for desiring the defeat of the Tiii-itf Bill, this
sl.O'jld be a potent one. If it were a question of both or neither
of the.se two measiu'es the best democratic in the country
might with au easy conscience accept the latter alterna¬
tive. Not ouly iu the stock market has busiuess been better but
the report is general from most trade centres that business is
slowly picking up in nearly all de]>artineuts and the outlook
which only a few weeks back threatened a relapse into gloomi¬
ness IS giving renewed .signs of biighteuing.
in.ir to grow. In France the Minister of Finance proposes to
increase reveiim^ by a cluiu.sy device of check stamps, graded
from ten to fifty eentiiiie.s, according to the amount of the checks
drawn. This would require the depositor in a biink to have five
stiiiiipetT c]ieck boolvs or to u,se adhesive .stamps. The French
people iire said to have only .iust got used to the employment
of checks, and it is feared that this tax requirement will
drive them back to old methods. Populist schemes are very rife
now in the Chamber of Deputies. One deput.y wants all
foreigners excluded from the Bourse, another that deposit banks
shall be limited in power to receii'e deposits in proiiortiou to the
amount of paid up capital, a third would have all advertisementa
and paid artich-s in newspapers taxed, and the Chiimlier of Coic-
inerce of Miizamet. a large inanufactuiing centre, demands that
all siieeulative transactions in raw materials and other merchan¬
dise be taxed. The new duty on wheat is 7 francs per quintal,
and th it ou flour 11 fi-ancs to Iti francs. They will be levied on
all cargoes shipped since November 21st. During January,
while these dulies were beiug discussed, the wheat imported
was valued at ip23,000,000 compai'ed with imports to the
amount of .$',},000,000 iu January, 1803. It was of course all
cleared iu order to escape the duty. The returns show hor e
trade to be active. The Grerniiiu publie is hiird to convince that
order and prosperit.y can be soon restored to Italy, consequently
the qiiotiitions for Italian rente in Berlin are not as settled as
the authorities in both countries would like to have
them. It is Siiid that a new Italian bank mil be
fiiunded with German capital and have its headquarters
at Milan. Aimonncemeiit is made of the adoption by the
Reichstag of the treat.v with Ru.s.sia. The governnient intentls
to increase its silver in eirculatioii by lietween $.">,000,000 and
$(j.000,000. Austrian exports iucieased over 10 per cent in
1893 i-ompiired with the preceding year, due to increase in
price of mau.y important articles as well as to iiuantity, whieh
fact gives a good deal of satisfaction to the people. The British
Australasian Colonies are making slow progress towards recovery
of comnieiciiil health helped by an extiaoi-dinary cheapness of
the elementary articles of consumption in the prineipiil colonial
centres. It is said bread is cheap, meat selling- at merely nominal
prices, and rent, owing to overbuilding, costs a mere song. But
the fall in values ot lands is causing many seeurities once good to
become impaired.
WE are curious to see the fate of the Chamber of Commerce
Rapid Transit Bill, wliich is now in the hands of the State
Legislature. It is, beyoud an.y doubt, the most practical and
bu.siness-likeand Siitisfactory plan tlutt has .yet been formulated j
and it may be regarded as representing the final judgment of
business inen, crystallized uuder the pressure of public wants
and the fati.suin.g investigation, discussion and scheming of the
last two years. Indeed, we might go further and say of the last
twenty-five or twenty-six years. The iihin, moreover, not only
has the indorsement of the Chamber of Commerce and the Real
Estate Exchange, two bodies whii-h represent a veiy large part
of the greater merchants and bind owuers of the city, but is also
supported by a pronounced publie sentijnent. Not a newspaper
in the city stands iu opposition to the scheine. Not
a single individual, prominent iu any of the professions or in
any of the departments of commercial life, is opposed to
it. There cau be no doubt that if the people of the
city werf to vote upon this measure to-morrow, freed
from .all obliquities of "politics," seven-eighths of the votes
would be east in favor of it. In any country of the world where
even a semblance of popular goverument prevails this support
would insure a speedy passage of the measure. In the Empire
State nothing of the kiud is certaiu. Poptihir government with
us is always tampered with " politics" and modified by .special
iuterests. It is therefore not by auy means sure that the Cham¬
ber of Commerce bill- will be passed. It will, of course, bo
treated with superficial respect and with much consideration aud
discussion, but whether it becomes a law will depend largely
upon political eircuinstauees, and the intensity ot the opposition
it will encounter in Albany and elsewhere from the large vested
interests which alread.v occupy the Rapid Transit field in New
York. Naturally they are not desirous of competition.
A N explanation of the dullness in American securities in
•^^ London is given by the Economist of that cit,y iu speaking
•of the Bliiud Seignoi-ii.ge Bill; it says : " The fact that such retro¬
grade le.gisliition is seriously contemplated eannot fail to revive
the feeling of iippi-eheusion as to the stability of American cur¬
rency aud Ainei-iean securities which was so prevalent before
the repeal of the Shorniiin net." The clo.sc of ths Euglish
governniental fiscal year, now neiir at hand, will pvooiibly show
receipts to be below expenditures by .about si<l(\OliO,Ol)0. The
erop returns for Ireliind iu 1893, iiulike Eiigliiiid, iire good, pro¬
duction having increased in all the importiint departments
excepting hay. The Bank of England is expected to pay a divi¬
dend ot 9 per ceut or one-half of 1 per cent less tlinn last year.
Money iu London is very plentiful, with tho demand continu-
THAT we are uot exixggeratiug the uncertainty of action in
accord with the public will m.ny easily be shown. On
Thursdiiy representatives of the Chamber of Commerce—the
very body pushing the Rapid Transit matter—appeared in the
Seuiite Clianiber to protest against the Bi-Partisaii Police Com-
niissionci'.s' Bill. In the course of his .address the lepreseutative
oE that biuly, by far the mo.st iufluential in the coinmcrcial world,
decbued " that tlie police department of New York City is abso
Ititely rotten ;" that it is the "main smirco of corruption in the
city government;" that it is "absolutely esseutial to good gov¬
erument" that there should b:; reform and reorganiiiiition of that
depiu-tiuent, and that ths Chauibsr of Commerce iib.solutely
opposed the Bi-Parti.san Bill. No one whatever in New
York City doubts the correctness of these statements. It