NoTeiubcr 17, 1894
XVV-»..-WlVJ, <Xll\X VJU.J.iJ,«-.
711
^ ^ ESTAEUSHrD'^MM^CHSl'-i^iaea.
Dented to R,eM Estate . Bui LOif-'c ApcKiiEeruRE .KousEHoiD DEeffiffTlOh
SasirJESs Alto Themes of Oz]i£T{hl Ir/TtFtEs;.
PRICE, PER YEAR IH ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
Telephone,......Cobtlandt 1370
Conimimloatlons should be nrtd res sert to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J, 1. LINDSET, Business Manaiier.
Brooklyn Office, 27(5-282 W.vshington Strekt,
Opp. Post Office.
" Entered at the Posl-ojfice al New Tork, N. T., as secmtd-ctass matter."
Vol. liv.
N'OVEMKER 17. 1S94.
No. 1,392
For additional Brooklyn mailer, see Brooklyn Department immediately
followina New .lersey records [page 7;i6i.
IVITH SUPFLEMENT.
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND'S sudden unnonnceiiient i.t' the
isKue of .'t:5O,(MIO,O0i) of U. S. 5's. iius initniully hnil an un¬
settling oti'ocl. Tiu- ]ifrt[ile ciiiinot iiiiiigiiie any reasmi for it.
Annoiincfd, liowcvci, it lius to be t.iikeu. DoiibtlenK it is .in in¬
timation tb;it the Tri'iisiuy under Mie pi-eseiit uilniini.'itratiiui
will at any cost keep itwelf in ;i position to meet any and every
demand for ^'old. At the jireseiit rate this cost is .$'2, "(0(1,000 a.
year. Naturally people do not like tliif-; they would prefer that
some other iiieims vrovf. taken to keeii uji the tjolil I'eserve. inilil
legislation can be obtnineil that wil! ajiply iieniianenl sii]i]jiirt.
Secretary Mniming: set a inrefnl precedent in with!i<il(liiifc iiold
in paying the goveinuieul deblri ^0l' a short timi', in order to in¬
crease the reserve, and the sugge-itlon that customs be required
to be paid partly in gold deserves to be con.'^idered. If tbe .\d â–
ministration lliinkn that it,s i>oliey will elunige foreign opinion
of the values ol' Aiiiericaii credit aud si'cnrifies, it haa mistaken
Eiiropeiiu erilii-isiiis that liavi' been made on the natioual
tiuanee.s. Those criticisms were wholly direeled ag.tiiist Ihe.
dangerous and einiiisy curreney in use Iiere; the refereiu'i'H
to the gold reserve w^^re merely incidental and asan illustju-
tiou of tlie evils of tbe system. Not only ai'e tbe bene-
UtU to be obtained from the new issue of bonds in.adetiuate,
but the last issue showed how very tenipiirary tbey are likely to
bein fheir erterts. Hut the Treasni-y De|iartiiiem iin,kT the
present adniinish-nlion has shown sneli remarkable capaeity ftir
blundering that UOI hing it does is siii|insiug. Ils latest effort
is au effective example of its amateur liiianting, If a chaiige iu
the bead nf the Trea.snry Department .•should be eooteinplated
l>efore .March. I S07, Mr. Cleveland might Iiud profit in remeni-
beriug thnt the onlr Seeretary of tbe 'j'ren.«nry he ever had who
showed any eompi-elieiisive ii-eognilion ol' tbe powers aud
duties belonging lo the offiet'was his tii'.st, a praetieal bankiT
of JoDg traiuiug aud exptirienee. Tbe eleetiou having failed al
once to bring to liii.sine.ss all that, it was expeeted to bring thoTe
are on ;in sides now complaints where tbere were briglit jire-
dictions mtly a t>-\\ wc.-ks ago. but the iimifatioiis ualnral fo
t.ra,<ie under the pifseiit c-onditioii of ali'aii's will jierhapa be
better recognised as a consequence. The stock market is dis¬
turbed for tbe reasons given above and also because the posi¬
tiou of some of tbe sc>eiirif ie.'' dealt in is not by auy means sat¬
isfactory. Some reoigaiiizatiims are unduly delayed aud
some wbieb have been made do not ajipear to be satisfactory.
This eon.servative qua liliea tion may be applied lo tbe
renrgaiii/atiiui ot Eiii-, but in ilie ease of (.'ordagi^ the reoigaiii-
zation is niisa'is t'ael or.\- without any ipiali lication whatever.
Beiug l/ased on an increased eapilal and a decreased business if
is easy to see how it fails to he etfeetive. Moreover the capital¬
ization is so out of propoitiou to that of other corpora-
tiouH iu the same business that tlie positiou of lbe two juiiiur
stocks is a bojieless one in any eireiim.'-l.aiiees, Liqtiidalion iu
Manhattan Elevated conti n ues and still threat ens its ]irii'e
seriously, lu the abst-iOM- of iniproveiiieiil in busiuess these
things have a more ihaii usual ett'eet ou the general -list.
Impro-ved business miglit limit their iiyitiious ett'ects to the
securities organically unsound, but, as we liave pointed out
before, tbe opening of winter is not tbe time to expect any pro-
nouDced iniprovenieiits iu trade.
XTNCLE SAM as mediator between China aud .lapau will
^ probabJy liave no more success than other outside powers.
No doubt-"^Ibiua would be glad of hei]) from any quarter that
would stop the beatiug of the Jap's bamboo upon her stupid,
unwieldy aud helpless back, but iu such cases it is the beater
and not the beaten who chooses the right moment to stop.
Japan's ambition is to make itself a power, fi'ee from aU West-eru
tutelage. Tliere is nothing that establishes any nation in sucb
a positiou ao mnch as the rigbt to settle its owu disputes.
Having the game iu its own hands it is hardly probable that
Ja)»au will listeu to any proposals for peace that do not come
directly fi'om China herself. Unle.ss she permits it there is no
more reason why another power should arrange the terms of
Japan's peace with China than there was for au intermediary
between Prussia and Frauce. The Euglish journals are making
comfort for the Americau iron m.iuufacturer, though discomfort
for tbe Euglish one, iu tbeir deductions from the fact
that prices of iron and steel declined more in the
past (bree years iu tbe Uuited States than tbey
did iu Eugland. They fear this evidence of tbe ability of the
United States to turn out those metals cheaply will make it a
Ijowerful compelitor in the export irou trade, and indeed admit
that but for the laud distances wbicb matenals and mannfac-
tiiree bave to travel the Alabama iron masters would now be
Hooding the English markets with their couiiuon forge and
foundry jiig-irou. These fears find support in the placing of the
coutract for Tokio's gas mains iu tbis country. The report of
earuiugs ou the great Preueh railw.iys for the first balf of this
year shows a small gaiu over these of tbe same half of 1893.
Purchases of Rentes for the third quarter of the year were Largely
ill ('xcess <d" those for tbe same quarter of last year and sales
very much less iu a similar comparison, showing the contiuued
tendeucy of uioney to go iul.o investmeut rather tban into trade.
An eminent statisticiau, M. Alfred Neymarck. believes "that the
limit 'if low rate interest has beeu reached in safe investments,
returning ouly from 2^-z to 3 per ceut. Further progress iu that
direction, he fears, would constitute a public d,anger. The idea
is ail original one, aud it is easy to seehow bi.'^ fear arises. Ger¬
man imiiorts for the tirst nine mouths of the year increased 7.5
]ier cent.ill quantity and 0.2 per ceutin value ; exports iucreased
(1.2 pi-r i-eut iu (.quantity, but decreased fi.G per ceut iu value.
Tbe balance of trade shows an excess of 984 million
marks iu imports, as against 566 milliou marks iu the
iirst three-quarters of 189^. In spite of tbe gloomy rumors cir¬
culated for some weeks Vii-nna markets aud trade continue to
be very active, with prices rising. The Bohemian State silver
mines are now beiug worked at a loss and the Government is
easting about to .see how they can otherwise give employment
to the miners if the mines are shut down. It is only rarely that
any uews of value relating to bei' financial condition comes from
Kussia, so that what does come is of especial interest. The last to
hand is a summary of the detiui tive budget for 1893. From this it
appejuks tliat tbe original estimate was : Revenue, $480,610,000;
expeuditures, $47:{..S-J-.'>,ll00; surplus. $6,765,000. Actu.il
results were: Revenue, $.322,84.^,000; expenditures, $473,-
480,000; surplus, $49,36.^,000. The receipts include $76,-
265,000, repayment of Goverument loans for varitms purposes
whieh ought to be charged to capital account, but even this
allowed tlie results cannot be regarded othenvise than as satis¬
factory when the distress that afSicted Russia twt^ winters ago
i.s remembereil. .and even though it isa tact that disrespect to
tbe authorities and failure to pay taxes are tbe two unpardona¬
ble sins in the dominions of tho Czar. The budget also contaiua
a statement of the gold belouging to the Goverument, which
amounts to $508,644,070, of which $219,418,300 are held as
a basis of liote issue.
P> AILROAD earnings for October show tbe sectional Char-
^ acter of the improvement in the trade ofthe couUtry and,
infereutially, how slow tbat progress must necessarily be. -On a
total of 107 roads, distributed over the whole eouutry^ October
earniugs show a decline of 3.1 per ceutleompared with October
J89:{. The Soutliern roads, however, increased gross earnings
7,9 per cent, the Southwestern roads 3.7 per cent and the
Pacitic roads 5,4 per cent. The great losses were made ou the
Grangers aud Trunk lines, being in the case of the first 16 per
i:eiit and that of the seeoud 11.6 per cent. It is surmised that
th^^se losses are due to the lessened passenger income, October
1893 having beeu the last month of tho Chicago Fair, aud wheu
couseqiieiitly tho.se roads had their carrying capacity taxed to
(be utmost. These are not, however, the most sinking pecu-
liai-ities of tbe returns. What is most conspicuous is the
way adversity or improvemeut is spread over all
tbe roads of the Southern and Granger sections. â– -: Of
ten Granger roads ouly one, tbe Great Northern, reports an
iiicreane, aud that a small one, while of iifteeu Southern roads
only one reports a decrease, aud that for a very small amount.
Of twelve Smitbwesteru roads tbree ouly report decreases,
Atchison, in fact, beiug Ihe only great property in tli.it sectiou
tbat has the unenviable distiuctimi of a considerable falling be-
liiud October of last year. Iu tbe central Westeru section reporta
were rci^eived from thirty eight roads, of which twenty-one
showed increases and seventeen decreases, conspicuous among
the latter being the Wabash aud the Louisville, New Albany
& Chicago. Six Eastern roads reporting do not make a good