Apin 18,1895





Record  and   Guide.





539







first step toward the acquisition "by the State of all the railroadB
in tlie country.





ESTABUSHED'^J .                          _

Devoted TO RfA,L Estate.Buildij/g ApprfrTECTUR^>(ousn{ou)DEoa(fnn((
.Bifsiifcss Aii> Themes ofGEifeRiil IiftEn;EST.^

PRICE,   PER   YEAR   IN   ADVANCE,   SIX   DOLLARS.

Published every Saturday.

Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370

CDmmunloatlons should he addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Veeey Street.

J. 2. LINDSEY. Business Manager.

Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Street,

Opp. Post Officb.

" Entered at the Poai-offlee at New Tork,2f. Y., as second-class Tnatter."





Vol. LV.





APRIL 13, 1895.





No. 1,413





For Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department iminediatela followtna
New Jeraey records {page 610),

CONFIDENCE in better timea aliead is veiy apparent uow.
The best evidence is the stoical way in which bad news is
received. The Supreme Court makes hash oi: the income tax
law, the coal presidents fail to make an agreement on limita¬
tions of mining, etc., the silverites are girding up their loins for
a renewal of currency agitation, finaucial reports of the railroads
in the Northwest are bad, yet no one seems inclined to abaudou
enterprises he has undertaken aud prices ou the stoek market
refuse to budge at the bidding of bears, though urged by con¬
siderable effort frora that quarter to do so, but, ou the contrary,
move with surprising quickness the other way under the slight¬
est induceineuts. On the face of things there is uoi eason why
some securities which have beeu conspicuously active on rfeiug
prices should do as they have done, but people Icnow by long
experience that tbe depreciation has been carried beyond reason,
and that when once a recovery does set iu its iufluence is likely
to be veiy extensive and to move rapidly. They kuow, too, that
trade conditions are the real causes of advauces and
declines, aud that with tho prospect of those con¬
ditions being good in the yeara "now coming the
bogies which have f tightened everybody for some time past may
wave theix arms io tlie wind and look their dolefullest,
but will receive little attention. People have now something
better to do thau watch these things aud while they are so
actively and so rauch better employed all the scares in the world
canuot weaken them a bit. Later tbere may be a diversion
when themeetingof Congress becomes nearer aud the prospect
of along fight over tariff, currency aud federal taxation which
will extend into the Presidential contest o£ nest year, is made
prominent to the point of unpleasantness. Happily, however, a
better sun is shining ju-st now and most people have all their
energies emijloyed in makiug hay.

----------m----------

"VTONEY is iu somewhat better demand at the great European
■^'J- capitals, though not enough to give anything more than
a temporary sfifTening to rates. In spite of the warnings of the
English financial press, France and Germany have been large
buyers of gold mining shares, Australian as well as African.
The best obtainable opinion of these shares is that prices are
entirely imwaiTantable upon auy consideration of intrinsic
merit. This being the case it is easy to imagine what wiU be
the results of these operatious at some future day. Statistical
proof of improvemeut in European trade, it is claimed, is en¬
tirely wanting. Yet it will be found that prices give some en¬
couraging indications. In a return for the ye.ar of the quotatioua
for the most important staples it appears that nearly all are
above tbe lowest aud a uiajoiity higher tban they were at the
commencement of tho year. Taking cotton and wool for
instanceitishardly possible that prices could go up unless an
increased demaud from manufacturers offset the enormous sup¬
plies on the market. The speculation that accompanied the iiu-
position of a duty on wheat imported into Fmnce has resulted
in the passing of the dividend on the shares of the greatest mill¬
ing company in the country. This aiibrds another illustration
of the difficulty of securing what is wanted by legislation. The
farmers clamored for an import duty; speculators clamored
with them andat the same time imported immen.se quantities of
wheat to get the advantage of higher piices which were ex¬
pected wheu the law imposing the duty should come iuto force.
The results have not answered expectations, aud in the long run
neither farmer, miller nor -speculator bave made anytbing. Re¬
ports oa ths German foreign trade for February are unsatis¬
factory, but due i;: part at least to the storms that prevailed
that month. The BohC^'^" ^^S^^ industry is still in a bad
i^ay. Renewed life is given" ^^^'^^^'^^^^^^^''^'s ^^ Vienna by a
aiove on the part ot the Govei'M?''^"* whSch is taken to be tlie





ArcMteDts, OWropodists & Oo.

AMONG- the devices to reslrict competition not tbe least
obvious is the legislative. Indeed, every session of the
Legislature witnesses somo appeal from some quarterfor a trade
protective measure which, of course, is demanded tinder the dis¬
guise of public benefit. It is easy, naturallj', to iinderstand wliy
the members of auy particular trade should desire to form them¬
selves into a species of close corporation by the aid of the law,
and thus check competition lor their own advantage. It is a
notewoi-thy fact about all these appeals for restrictions that they
are never made, and very seldom are in any degree supported by
the public, iu whose especial iuterest they are invariably sought.
Pawnbrokers, vendors, junk-shop keepers, proprietors of intelli¬
gence offices, plumbers, druggists, steam engineers, hack-
men, chiropodists, land a great many others, bave all suc¬
ceeded iu bedging their particular fields of commercial activity
with legal fences more or less difficult for the outsider to get
over. We regret to see th.at the latest applicants for a fence
are tbe architects. They are seeking to obtain for themselves
a little iuclosure such as the chiiopodists have and the junk
shop keepers and the proprietors of intelligence ofiices. If these
worthy tradesmen circumscribe their callings, why, iu the name
of Ictiuus, should not the ancient, dignified profession of archi¬
tecture do likewise? What puts mouey into the chiropodists'
pockets will undoubtedly profit the professors of architecture.
Regarding it strictly as a ti'ade-protective device, we have
uothing to say against the measure now in Albany dubbed
euphemistically a bill "to regulate architectjire." We must con¬
fess, however, to a sense of nausea at the sight of men who
profess to be artists making a public exhibition of their trade
instincts under a hypocritical plea of tbe public good. If arcbi-
tccts envy the happier lot of the chiropodist, let them be frank
enough to say so.

Unquestionably, a great deal of the so-called architecture of
tbe day needs regulation, or to speak to the letter, cries for total
suppression ; but we cannot see how any improvement is to be
brought about by tlie little bit of legal machinery which the
architects' bill, if made law, will set up iu this State. It is pro¬
posed that before a man can anuounee himself as a licensed
.architect, he must pasa au examiuation. This examination in
the nature of the case cauuotbe much more than an elementary
scholastic ordeal iu which the applicant will show that he is
acquainted with "his orders," aud perhaps dimly sees an his-
toi ical outline of his art. How thia is going to better evil con-
ditious—^the root of which is an inartistic public sense—wo
cannot see. But it may be said this examination will also
develop whether the would-be licensed architect is acquainted
with the rules aod principles of good constructiou. If an exam¬
iuatiou on this score really is necessary, the question naturally
suggests itself, what is the use of our Buikling Departments?
If State machinery is inefficient wheu it examines each particular
piece of construction, of what service will it be when it
endeavors merely to ascertain a mau's general knowledge of
safe building. Surely one of two things is unnecessary; either
the Buildiug Departments or the proposed examination.

The weakness of the arcliitects' case at Albany is clearly
revealed by the emphasis which advocates of the bill place upon
the matter of " construction." But the State already pretends
to supervise this afl:air, at least iu Now York, Brooklyn aud
other cities (aud a bill is before the Legislature this year to
extend the State supervision to the smaller towns), and we can¬
not see the common sense of setting up two pieces of niachiueiy,
eaeh for the same pm-pose.

As to thepropositiontobettertheartisticstandard of architect¬
ure by regulation, the plau so far proposed will not stand the
test of analysis. No one will say, for instance, that " regula¬
tion" will give us better designs for dur large office buildiogs,
or for any of our buildings of the finer class. The architects
who do these things presumably kuow "their orders," or at all
cveuts could creditably pass such an examination as it is pro¬
posed to inatitute. The untrained architect seldom gets a
chance to put his "fine hand" upon work of this class. His
field is providentially restricted to the creation of tenement
fronts and showy facades for contract builders. The public will
not pay for art, indeed does not know what art is in these mat¬
ters. It demands a stunning impression of cost on the fi'ont of
the buildings it resides iu. "Examination " of tlie hacks whicb
necessarily do this work will, we submit, scarcely elevate archi¬
tecture. What would architects say of a proposal to make the
poor ink-staiued devils of Grub street pass a State examlnatiotf
in order to improve the coudition of literature?

As a fine art avchiteclure is not lo be elevated by any State-
made test; as a technical craft the public interest caube suffi¬
ciently looked after by wise buildiug laws.   But, if a certain
coterie of architects persists in demanding that the State should
"busy itself to prbcme better'designs than wo 'have for 6nf i^e*