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Angnst 18,1994
Record ""and " Guide.
227
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ESTASLIS9ED^tfvWlpH21«>1668.
Deified io P^i Estwe .BulLDI^'G Af^cKitectui^e .KousEtiomDEGafjATiorf,
BUSII/fSS A\'yTH£M-P OrGEfJER.^11KTER.EST.
PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
Telephone,......Cohtlanbt 1370
Oommuidoatlona should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J. 1. LINDSEY. Business Manager.
Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Wasoington Street,
Opp. Post Office.
"Entered at Ihe Post-office al New Tork. N. T., as second'Class matter."
Vol. liv.
AUGUST 18, 1894.
No. 1,379
For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Depas-tment immediately
followina A^ew Jersey records (page 2431.
"VrATURALLY there has beeu a great deal of talk about the
-^ revival of business because of tbe passage of the &ormaii
Tarifi Bill in place of the AVilson Bill, deceased. As a matter of
fact, the revival may be said to have begun some time ago, with
busiuesa baaed on the probable uew tarift and merchants and
manufacturers hoping; that the JIcRinley Act might, for all said
and done, still remain in force. What is seen uow is a little
extra spurt, due to the p-ood feeling evinced on the close of a,
discussion with which the commnnity has been bored and both¬
ered off and on for nearly a, year. The satisfaction, however,
is wholly on the eud having come to all this annoyance foraloug
time to come, even should the President take the higlily improba¬
ble courseof vetoingthenieasure justaccepled with such ill grace
by the House. One striking fact iu the situation is the main¬
tenance of the protective principle in our laws, iu spite of the
party pledged to free trade having numerical control of both
Houses of Congress aud its candidate iu the AVhite House, The
coming elections will certainly not strengthen the free trade ele¬
ment 80 that it is safe to atHrm that tbere will be no lowering of
duties in a geueral way for many years to come. The aduiinis
tration, however, comes iu for no share of the kindly feel¬
ing that is animating the public at the moment. Ou
the contrary they take up Walt Whitman and siug:
"1 will make a song for the ears of the President,
full of weapons with meuaciug points, and behind ^the
weapons countless dissatisfied faces." While general busi¬
ness and the security market have both made response to
the agreement at Washington, that of tbe former shows most
sign of staying. Iu Wall Street realizing about offsets the uew
buying, a condition of things that usually indicates a reaction.
But as securities reflect in the maiu the commercial aud
trading conditions it is safe to say that any reaction will afford
an opportunity which intending buyers should not fail to avail
themselves of, not forgetting, of course, that discrimination is
always necessary in stock and bond purchases.
LONDON bankers have cut the minimum rate of interest on
deposits fiom one to a half per cent, and while this may be
necessary in view of the condition of the banks, it also canuot
fail to awaken capitalists to the fact that there is something
else to do mth theii" money besides keeping it on deposit at the
banks and gettiug au insiRuiticant return for it. All the foreign
security markets have become more active, especially those at
Berlin and Vienua, aud as tirat-clasa investments have for a
loug time been out of sight, bnyers are turning their attention
to other issues, American as well as European. Naturally
Europe regards the reductions made in the tarift
with favor, and in the good nature thus aroused,
and the belief that trade on this side of the
Atlantic must uow improve with more rapid strides, is
willing to buy our securities. Victoria, Australia, which has
large silver Interests, is proceediug with its land loan scheme in
spite of the warning set by the Argentina and is putting forward
bimetallistic theories â– with remarkable naivete, claiming that
her ability to pay iu silver would relieve her of a large part of
her obligations to England. Evidently Victoria wants to be
avoided by lenders in future. According to mail advices the
Indian jute crop promises to be better thau that of 1892; if
nothing untoward occurs the esportations for 1894-95 will
equal those of 1893-94. The coudition of the United States
Treasury is being carefully watched from abroad. If it is not
improved either as a resiUt of tariff settlement or by some act of
the Secretary of the Treasuiy to increase the gold reserve the
confidence of foreigners iu the coming of our new prosperity
will be short-lived. Now that China and Japan are actually iu
the market for money and supplies and the prospect of the
stniggle betweeu them being prolouged is increased, silver and
.'iilver issues are coming into favor ou tho foreigu markets.
TXTE are in a time when the work of the statistical depart-
''^ ments of the government is looked for most anxiously,
and this makes more satisfactory the prompt issue of the trade
statement for July. Previous reference has heen made to the
delay in issuing the Interstate Commerce Commissiou reports
until the time had gone by wheu they could be of use to tho
active business man, however interesting they might prove to
the speculative political economist or the student of railroad
statistics. Similarly, there has been good reason to complain of
the delay in issuing the reports of our foreign commerce, by the
Treasury Departmeut, though there is no reason to believe it
was due to either waut of ability in that department or the
absence of appreciation of the importance of giving them to the
commercial world as soon as possible. The fault most prob¬
ably lay with Congress, whose members appear to
be alive only to the moves iu the game of the
parties aud canuot, therefore, kuow the importance
of having the countiy properly informed of the proportions of
its trade from time to time. Tlie promptness with which reports
of their trausactions are made by tbe great trading associations
of the country is conclusive evidence of the value of all facts
and figures having a bearing on trade aud commerce and con¬
trast tu a striking manner with the dilaloriness of (he govern¬
ment. Auother couti-ast, not at all to our credit, was found in
European counti-ies, wliere the issuance of every kind of
I'eport of this nature with every manner of useful detail ia
deemed of first importance, Tho bare report o( inipotis and
exports for June was sent out by the Tioasui^ Department
ahout three weeks after the Loudon papers had been received
hero, containing elaborate siiinniarieB of similar figures, though
in mnrlt more detail, of (he foreigu commerce of Great Britain
i'or Ihe same mouth and also for the half year. Consequently
the British returns were issued fully a month ahead of our own.
Congi'ess ought to look to this matter, aud at least keep us ou ;m
equality mth other countries; a little judicious extravagance
would jiay in this instance.
TF a carjjenter were to put a table together iu tbe way the
-A. ordinary foreign correspondent fixes up his uews, the legs
would stick out at the sides aud the sides themselves form a rim I
ou the top. This su.-ipiciou ot the newspaper man's elumsiaess
is raising doubts about the gi-eat Yellow Jacket story of the
Chinese Viceroy, Li Hung Chang. The latest version of the
story is tbat the great Viceroy was never deprived of bis sym¬
bolic wi-apper at all, but that finding the weather warm and the
work heavy he laid it aside so as to be more at his ease, unmind¬
ful of the fact that the excitement of the times made newspaper
correspondents more numerous and vigilant than usual. One of
these, it is said, spj'iug tbe celestial Richelieu working iu the
sleeves of the Chinese substitute for a shirt, immediately jumped
to the conclusion that he had heen deprived of his official gar¬
ment by the Emperor, and accordingly made all this unnecessary
bother about a very natural and harmless incident. In fact, as
later reports run, so far from ciu'tailing his Viceroy's wardrobe
in auy way whatever, the Emperor has added to it as a testimony
of his regard and affection for the wearer a btdlet-proof coat to
protect him from enemies within and from without the Empire.
———»-—_—_
JAPAN and China at war with each other and employing
Western tactics, arms of precision, iroTiclads aud the other
most modern and terrible results of scientific thought directed
to productiou of engines of destmction is a picture that may well
startle the Western powers and give them food for earnest
thought. However the present conflict may end, either -with
honors easy, Japan triumphant at sea and China victorious on
land, or oue compelled to submission to the other, the war
cannot fail to bring out latent powers and qualities that
neither nation was supposed to possess before. Hitherto the
wars of these counlries have beeu carried ou with bows aud
arrows aud such like medieval weapons. The useof improved
ai-ms cannot fail to show them how much of the power of the
West depeuds upon these. There will probably be a new East
hereafter, with Japan inaccessible to the invader, developing
iuto a formidable sea power, having a large seaboard for Ihe
trainiug of sailors and harbors for shelter and (he building of
docks and ships, aud China becoming conscious of the advan¬
tages she possesses in her immense territoiy and a dense
population from which may be drawn inexhaustible
supplies of troops whose eflectiveness will be many
times increased by the modern arms. It may be
that hereafter the West will not have so easy a task as it has
hitherto had in enforcing its wishes on peoples of the Orient,
because they will no longer bo suuk in ancient traditions or
reliant on means of defense that have satisfied them for hun¬
dreds of years. The gun which opened the war between Japan