fieptembet 1,1894
Record and Guide.
291
1
ESTABLISHED-^ M^RPHSP-;!'^ 1868.
DzV&TED to REA.LESTWE,eUlLDl^''G Ap.CHlTEeTUR,E.HciUSEHOlDDESQRJTIOI*,
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"Entered al the Post-office at New York. N. Y., as second-class matler."
Vol. liv. SEPTEMBER 1, 1894. No. 1,381
For additional Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediately
followina jVeio Jeraey records [page '3071,
The Eecord and Guide edition of the Building Laies and Ordinances
of Brooklyn, with illustrations and a conifilete index, by which one is
enabled io find at a glance just what he ia looking for, is now ready for
delivery at the offices of The Record and Guide, 14 and 16 Fesey
street. New York, and 276 Washington street, Brooklyn, at the uniform
price of $2.
SO far the Treasury seems to have benefited most "by the Gor¬
man Tarift'Aet. That was to be expected because of the
immense quantities of v-'^ods that were lying in boud awaiting
the consummatioM of that legislation, and the duties on which
go iuto tlie Treasury as soon as they are withdrawn. Incident¬
ally, too, the Treasury gold reserve bas increased, which is a
very satisfactory feature of the retiu'us appearing from day to
day. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the new condi¬
tiou of affairs, after the lirst rush of business it occasioned is
over, will confciuue to favor the Treasury sufficiently, not only
to meet the requirements of tlie uation, but also to put tbe gold
reserve into better ijroportions with the paper it has to sustain,
and to keep it there. The position of the Treasmy will continue
to have a more tham ordinary bearing on values of securities and
on business uncil it has become sti'ong enough to cease to excite
attention. General busiuessis on the wbole satisfactory, though
it shows uo further improvement thau has been ab'eady
reported, but the removal of doubt from tbe situation can¬
not fail to have ultimately a stimulating effect. The leactiou
in the stock market was uot uunatiu'al, though the opinions
of certain railroad ofBcials in the corn belt are receiving
more prominence than they deserve, because they represent the
comparatively nanow view presented by the teiTitory they refer
to. The disappointment of the Northwestern farmer, botb in
the field as regards crops aud iu the markets as regards prices,
while having au important bearing on the situation, is very
cousiderably offset by conditions in other parts of the country,
and by the teudency of other things besides gi'ain to fall iu
price. Investors abroad see this and are buying discriminately.
Sbi'ewd speculators at home are interesting themselves in the
securities of newly reorganized properties and properties about
to be reorganized. These buyers, both at home and abroad,
are acting on a belief that tbe country as a wbole bas entered
on a new period, iu whieh tbe favorable feature will largely
predominate, and without regard to the day to day quotations.
OUR friends in Europe generally regard the settlement of the
taritt' discussion as we do, more as removing an obstacle
to the regular course of business than as benefiting them through
the lowered duties. If any are unduly sanguine it is the Genuan
woolen manufacturers. A typical British view of the situation
is that the lower duties will work to the advantage of Great
Britain, but tbat they will lead to auy very large permanent
expansion of exports to the United States is very doubtful.
The woolen aud linen trades, whicli unquestionably suff'ered
from the operation of the MeKinley tariff, are expected to bene¬
fit, if any do. The last report on tbe English labor market,
being for the raonlb of Jul}"-, showed ou the whole a downward
tendency. The Panama Canal scheme is to the fore again, the
courts having sustained the coutract by which the Societe Nou-
velle du Panama will take over the property aud franchises of
the old compauy. It bas secured $^1,000,000 of funds to take
up the work, and will apply to the public for ^8,000,000; which
latter sum is, however, underwritten. But the estimated total
capilal required is fpllO,000,000, au amount that it will be very
difficult to raise in view of what has already transpired, the im¬
possibility of earning anythingupon itfor aome years to come, and,
most important of all, the roiiiibt of ultimate sacci ssof the work.
'Whether any part, of this Jno Joey can be raised or not, the revival
of the enterprise shows a change in feeling toward new opera¬
tions that must bo good for other and less problematic ones.
The cheering reports from the European harvest fields are hav¬
ing their natural effects in better prices for seciu'ities aud more
activity in the industiies. The New South Wales official report
of its gold production in 1893 values it at $3,306,430, com¬
pared mth $2,845,890 in 1892. The Greek bondholders have
very positively rejected M. Tricoupis' proferred compromise,
notwithstanding they were threatened with something worse in
the event of their doing so; it now remains to be seen bow loug
and to what extent Greece will retard her own lecovery by keep¬
ing the question of the settlement of her debt open.
ONE of the things that must teU in time on the value of rail¬
road securities and on business is the comparatively small
additions that have been made to tbe railroad mileage of the
country iu recent years. This fact is strikingly brougbt out
by the figiues given in Poor's Jl/a»«a?, showing the extent of
our raU ti'ausportation facilities since 1830, when the country
commenced developments in this line with a modest twenty-
three miles until tbe present time, when they have grown to
upwards of one hundred aud seventy-eight thousand miles.
As iu so many other cases, our railroad development has been in
greatest proportion siuce the war. In 1863 there were in the
United States ouly 33,170 miles of road which in 1873
had growu to 70,268 miles; thereafter the gi'owth bas
been by leaps and bounds, the total in 1883 being 121,455
and in 1893, 177,753 miles. The increase of
100,000 miles in tweuty years, it will be noticed,
is aluiost equally divided between tbe two decades.
The yearly contributions to the railroads of the country, how¬
ever, have vailed very cousiderably, accordiug to commercial
and financial conditiou of the times, but it isuot since 1887 that
we have bad a real boom in railroad building, when 12,878
mUes were constructed, beating the nest best record made in
the year 1881 of 11,569 miles. In the other of the past twenty
years tbe new mileage bas varied fi-om about 1,700 miles to
7,000 miles. Large as it actually is, our steel roadage is sma I
relatively to the exteut of the country it has to serve. The fact
that the new mileage of 1893 was less than that of auy year
since 1877, the figures being 2,549 miles and 2,280 miles
ri spectively, is very significant. Indeed, the whole of tbe last
four years have added ouly 16,000 to oar total railroad mileage.
It is probable, judging by the coudition of geueral business in
its early part and tbe improbability of any exteusive railroad
enterprise being doue in the latter pait that the mileage of 1894
will be eveu less tban that of 1893. These facts suggest the
extreme probability of tho next few years seeing increased
activity among railroad builders and the people who make iheir
supplies, such as ties, rails, plates, bolts, bridges, equipment,
etc., with all that implies to the general prosperity of tbe
country. Meantime, the important consideration is what ii -
fluence the disproportion of the growth of the railroads to that
of general business will have on tbe securities of tbe companies
controlling the transportation of passengers and fi-eight by rail.
''pHE returns of wheat imported into Great Britain in July do
^ not give any more satisfaction lo the North American
grower than previous recent reports have doue. This applies
to Canada as well as the United States, bnt, of course, propor¬
tionately more to tbe latter by reason of its more extensive
wheat industry. The United Kingdom last mouth received
from abroad 13,749,878 bushels of wheat at an average price of
63c. per bushel, as compared witb 16,831,928 bushels at 78c. in
July, 1893, a decline of 3,082,450 bushels and 15c. in the aver¬
age price. Tbe imports from the United States were 3,394,836,
agaiust 8,556,664, a falling of 4,961,828 bushels, accompanied
by a decline from 79c. to 65c. or 14c. per bushel in the average
price. At the t^ame tune the importatious fiom Russia increased
by| 1,498,854 bushels, with a fall in the average price
of 14c.—fi'om 75c. to 61c.—aud the Argentina increased
their contributious by 714,300 bushels, accompanied by
a decline in tbe average price per bushel of 15c.—from 76e.
to 61c. The importatious of Indian wheat, which sells in the
British mai-ket at about tbe same price as Uuited States, fell
off 618,444 bushels. The decline iu importatious of our own
and Indian wheat, taken in connection with tbe crop reports for
Great Britain itself, makes it probable that, having a good
expectation of an inci'eased supply of their owu wheat, which
takes precedence io quality, the British millers have less need
of the good wheats that come fi-om Nortb America and India for '
mixing with their own and more use for the poorer growths of
Russia and Argentine, This theory is not upset by the fact that
importations of Australasian wheat, which fetches the highest
price of all foreigu grown wheat in the British market, increased
in July 849,392 bushels, because the decliue in the-price of
North Americau was uot so great as iu the Australasian, which
aold at 84c. and 68c., when our own sold at 79c. aud
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