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March 24,1894
Record and Guide.
445
r« DI Ktiim -0V>. MURCH 2iu> 1868,
j^ ESUBUSHED-^JWPH21U>1868,
DB&teD to f{iKi ESTA.IE.BuiLDl^G %crfiTE(rTunE.KouseKouiDEeCiH^T10^J,
Bi;si(/ess Alto Themes orGEffciv^l Ij^tefiesi.
PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Stdnrday.
TELEPHONE,......Cortlandt 1370
CJommunlcations should be atidreased to
C. "VV. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
./. 1. LINDSEY. Business Manager.
Brookl-tn Office, 276-282 AVashington Street,
Opp. Post Office.
" Entered at the Post-offlce td New York, N. Y., as second-class matter."
Vol. LIII.
MARCH 24, 1894.
No. 1,358
For additional Brooklyn matter, aee Brooklyn Department immediately
following New Jersey records (page 472).
THERE is a stronger dispoKition in busiuess circles to take
a more cheerful vievk- of the situation than has been iippar-
ent at any time since the iiisistaiice on tariti' changes diecked
the advance that followed the passage of the purchasing
clause of the Sherman Act last fall. In Wall Street this feeling
has found expression in large purchases of bonds of receiver¬
ship roads, i'his clearly indicates the existence of a strong
belief that the time has come for building up again what was
cast down in the days of general suspicion and discredit
last year. This building-up process is going to be
a slow one, but that it has commenced at all is very
Siitisfactory. The success of the call for a third as.sessment
on Richmond Terminal is more evidence in the same line.
Recent reports of railroad earnings ilo not show such large
declines as the public have been accustomed to see, and though
this is partly due to the fact that the comparison is made with a
period unusually adverse, from a climatic 8tand]ioiiit, to the
operation of railroads, the fact is not without good influence.
It is taken for granted th.it the Seigniorage Bill will be vetoed
by the President. While many wonder why he hesitates to tict on
a measure that would obviou.sly be so mischievous in its influence,
there is no doubt in New York tinancial circles of the course that
he will take. Meantime there is significance in the fact
that Exchange stands at the shipping point, though no
gold goes out. A continuance of the upward movement
in securities depends on the veto. The market will be minus
the foreign trade for a few dtiys, but that does not necessarily
mean dullness or lower prices for the early part of the week. In
the iron and steel trades business is good, though without
improvement in prices, and it is even thought that Southern iron
will fall lower still than it has yet done. Reductions in freight
and wages, however, make this permissible as well as probable.
There is also some talk of the establishment of a new steel plant
in the vicinity of Bii-mingham, Ala., to capture the trade that
will assuredly rise up as soon as the Southern roads are iu a
position to make important renewals and extensions. In other
lines about the same story is told. The outlook is more en¬
couraging. Demand shows iiii falling ott", though prices do not
advance much.
iron increased from 828,519 tons to 829,851 tons. The rush of
wheat to France also increased the Suez Canal dues in February.
The bonds ot the great French railroads are now selling on a
lower interest basis than governments. Berlin, now that the
commerciiU treaty with Russia has obtained the approval of the
Reichstag, is inclined to take a more favorable -view of things all
round and is assisting to put up the prices of securities issued at
home and abro.id. The report of the Deutsche Bank, recently
issued, expresses the conviction that business in Germany is
improving. Progress is being made with the project to found a
German Bank in Italy. Reports from the sugar, ii'on and steel
and other trades in Germany are good. Russia and Austria are
now discussing a commercial treaty. The negotiations having
got as far as the making of reprisive rates against one another
it is not unreasonable to suppose that these two countries wiU
soon eft'ect an agreement. The work of putting out the new
Austi'o-Hiiiigiiriaii currency and calling in the old is proceeding
satisfactorily. The 'proposals of the Italian Minister of
Finance to meet the difBciilties of the Treasury by
the imposition of new taxes will be fiercely fought in the Cham¬
ber of Deputies, but as it is difficult to see how the rejection of
the goveriiiiiental prtipositions could do anything but make mat¬
ters worse than they now are, conservative people hope that the
oppositiiin will be futile. The eft'orts of Argentina, small as they
are, to meet their obligations are having a good eft'ect, even
though it is very tloubtful whether the country can again within
reastiiiablc time handle its enormous debt to the satisfaction of
its creditors. Greece is fencing with its creditors to obtain the
best basis it can for a settlement. The fact that negotiations for
settlements are going on in all the bankrupt countries in Europe
is one of the best signs of the worst having passed away and of
a new era of rebuilding having been begun.
ENGLAND is occupied with the iiitlignant protest that India
is milking against the exemption of cotton goods fi'om the
new and otherwise general import duty ot 't per <-eiit. India as
a manufacturer of cotton is, iif t-oiirse, very much wrought iiji
over this discrimination and is raising the cry of favoritism to
Lancashire while the general body of English people are unwill¬
ing to see repeated a poli<\v of ftivor to home merchants at the
expense of colonies or possessions tluit bas cost the country so
much in times past; there is, therefore, a good probability that
cotton goods going into India will also pay duties. Lord Rose-
berry's accession to power litis not stopped the talk of a new
election this summer. British Guiana is coming to the front as a
gold producer. Last year it exported 133,146 ounces, valued at
about $2,500,000 against 101,298 tmnces, valued at .fl.SOO,-
000, in 1892 ; better results are expected in, the current year.
The measure passed by the French Chambers to increase the
duty on wheat imported into France had the effect of helping
the Treasury for the time being uiiismiich as the old duties ou the
wheat rushed in to avoid the new, largely increased the custom's
returns for January and February. The Paris iiitirket is
expected to take the new series of Russian 4 per cents about to
be oft'ered, and this will make iibout $1,500,000,000 of Russian
Governmental securities on the officitil list of the Piirie Bourse.
The production of iron tind steel in France for 1893 fell oft".
Pig iron declined from 2,057,258 tons to 2,032,567
tons; steel from-825,486 tons to 803,063 tons; manufactured
THE desultory criticism which has arisen lately in one quarter
and another against the Chamber of Commerce Rapid
Transit Bill is neither wise nor serviceable to the best interests
of the city. Indeed, it would be difficult to conceive of any
policy more unfortunate at the present juncture than a critical
policy that minces the details of that bill and creates useless
divisiiin upon non-essential matters. Action of this sort must
weaken the eft'ective force of the main proposition which the
Chiimber of Commerce have succeeded in enunciating formally
and committing to legislative action, -viz.: that the Municipality
must gi^â– e its assistance to the work of furnishing the
metropolis with the rapid transit facilities it requires. To raise
argiinients now as to whether Jones, who happens not to be
named ill the bill at Albany, would not be a slightly
more efficient commissioner than Browu, who does hap¬
pen to be named in the bill, and as to whether the rate
of interest to be paid the city b.y the proposed construction com¬
pan.v should uot be 4% instead of 438 per cent, and similar tri\nali -
ties is to begin to tight about shadows before the substance has
been secured. Let us be content with the fact that the chief object
which the bill is intended to procure for the cit.v is desirable
be.vond all tjiiestion. Moreover, it is one as to the desirable¬
ness of whicli the long disunited citizens of the metropolis are
beginniug til be strongly united. After years of useless discus¬
sion here we have at last actuall.v a definite, intelligible, prac¬
ticable proposition, with some more tangible support behind it
than that Viigiie fluctuating " public opinion," without head or
tail, whii-h hitherto has been striving in an inarticulate way for
rapiil transit in company with a gaseous commission which
has de.-ilt with the problem as though it were a question
in metaphy.sics, to be endlessly talked about but impossible of
positive solution. There is no readier wtiy to reconvert the
entire question of rapid transit into air again and kill the pres¬
ent bill than to begin to critically analyze its smaller details.
In this way the chief demand will be covered up b.v a multitude
of petty suggestions. The main question will be lost amid
trivial controversy. The enemy will capture the position we
desire to gain under cover of the dust we raise ourselves. The
Chamber of Commerce plan is ii good working measure. Were
it carried out it would bring the cit.y so close to rapid transit
that it would be a might.y easy matter to secure the full measure
of it. Of course, it is not by any means a perfect scheme; but
it is as good as we can get, better far than anything we have yet
had, and if New York has decided to wait for a perfect plan
before accepting any proposition, it will wait until it is a decid¬
edly ancient city. The Archangel Michael himself could
not formulate a bill that would please everybody. The
people of this city have got to use a little common sense in
this matter. There must be a putting aside of differences of
opinion. What is needed at the outset is as much united actiou
as can possibly be obtained, and silence, for the time being, ou
small points of controversy. To use the anarchists' phrase, what
we need is not tiilk but " the propaganda of the deed." We may
be sure of the fact that if the Chamber of Commerce bill fails
because of disunion here in New York, New York will hereafter
be given over to any flimsy rapid transit scheme that commends