April 2?, 1895







Record   and   Guide.





681







mdicial      ary mind had both beep unequal to it, aa had





'jifc.,        'iiniciai       a

u^iir^iftsa.





inonths of thia year, imports





, . ,    ^    P .,     „   ,       ,, ,,                „    .ncreased 12,000,000, with

cal talent of tbe  Coi^io-i/dictionary.      Mr.;, „.   .        „ •            ■      +i,„j,.

■■..V, .„.„„, .    ,,        i-      ,,   .,■'            j(l States all increasing their

■"t be found in the matter of bath-room ari^                                    "





^                                                          ^Bem'^1868,

"itafrjED TO FHi-E^'vTE.SuiLDiTfc ^^iTECTURE.Housnfeu>DEa«fnti(t
.BiTsnfess juto Themes of GeHeR^^ 1Ktebp*1<

PRICE,   PER   YEAR   IN   ADVANCE,   SIX   DOLLARS.

Published eva-y Saturday.

Telephone,......Cortlandt 1370

Oommunloations should he addressed to

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

J. 1, LINDSEY. Business Manager,

Brooklth Office, 276-282 Washington Stebbt,

Off. Post Officb.

"Entered at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter."





2?0





the    second.





Vol. LV.





APRIL 27, 1895.





No. 1,415





For Brooklyn matter, see Brooklyn Department immediatela following
Neio Jersey records {paqe 713).

BUSINESS East keeps up as well as ever, with the signs
pointing to iucrease ol the improvement rather than
abatement; iu the West there is uo improvement yet aud can¬
not ho until there is some assurance of a good crop and better
prices for cereals. If proof of the differing conditions East aud
West were necessary it would be found in the reports of railroad
earnings ; for instauce, iu a comparison of tbe returns of the Penn¬
sylvauia and other representative Easteru roada with those of
the Grangers. In the stock market there is a hesitation tbat
should signify a reaction coming. Much has been made of Lon¬
don buying, but it will not escape the shrewd that this buying
has not affected exchange rates at all, notwithstanding how high
they have been for some time past, and that consequently the
exchange market still needs syndicate manipulation. Part of
the hesitation referred to is due to the failure of the managers
ofthe anthracite coal carriers to come to an agreemeut on out¬
put and price.';. Au outbreak of hostilities among these inter¬
ests would be fatal to further advances in prices on the Stoek
Exchange. The position of the Reading receivers, is, however,
a proper one. The rehabilitation of the property in their charge
depends on the percentage it receives in the anthracite output,
and as everybody not iuimical to it has said, Reading, as the
owner oE the largest amoiinb of coal lands, is entitled to a larger
percentage than it has been receiving, this seems a good time to
get it, especially as the changes iu the coal situation which have
grown up in the last two or three years compel a read^justmeut
of the percentages anyway. But a fight means lower prices for
securities, temporarily, at least.





AST month tbe Rand gold field agaiu
^   output hy produciug 2,800 ounces more





broke its record on
than in the best
previous mouth, 15,650 ounces more thau in February and
19,573 move thauinthe corresponding month of last year. Onthe
basis of last year's proportions these miues bid fair to produce
between ¥-±5.000,000 aud .$46,000,000 this year. The Cityof
Paris loan of 117,000,000 francs is uot after all to be issued en
bloc, but in sums of sixteen and seventeou millions at a time, as
required for public works. The bonds are to be of the same
type as the loan of 1892, 2^2 per cent, which, issued at 85, are
now selling at 97. By the arrangement adopted the city can
obtain about the market price for the new bonds. The Bank of
France proposes to extend its btLsiness by executing bourse
orders for depositors withiu certain limits. Electric light is
winning iu the tight against gaa in Pai-is, the consumption
of the latter in 1894 having fallen off 1 per cent; as a result the
gas compauy is trying various ways to please consumers, so that
raany of the charges once bonio by the latter are now remitted.
Theparliaraentaryiuqiury into the depressed coudition ofthe
sugar trade in Austria bas of course resulted in finding tbat
over-proclnction is at the bottom of it. Restriction is to com¬
mence with the growing of beet aud facilities created for enlarg¬
ing exports of the refined article. Reports from British irou aud
steel trade centres indicate a decided improvement in tone of
business. There is also bettering in raw aud mauufactured
cottons aud firmness In silk and wool, and a movement toward
increased activity among Clyde shipbuilders. It is still a fact,
however, characterizing the whole European outlook, that money
is cheap and iu small demand, aud the moat prominent evidences
of activity are to be foiiuti where speculation is most rife.





THERE are signs that; American wheat is regaining its hold
upon the British market. Last year Russia and the Argen¬
tina so undersold us thi-t notwithstanding that the imports of
wheat into* Great Britain increased 10,000,000 bushels, our
exports of that cereal tbither decreased 14,000,000 bushels.
The Board of Trade returns for March show a ditterent state of





Cu,-outs had se-'i'-itp batb-T»oma or wi"-* l>"sbels;
l,200,U0u blishels ; and the last, ;^,'500,000, and other countries
moderate amounts. The returns for the month of March
emphasize the significance of this statement, inasmuch as they
show that the Russian and Argentine exports to England are
falling off and our wheat taking their place. As a matter of fact,
of the iucrease of 3,800,000 bushels previously mentioned as
coming from the United States this year, 3,:iOO,000 belonged
-wholly to last mouth. It is further observable that of this
increase 3,000,000 bushels were iu wheat shipped from the
Pacific seaboard. The latter fact indicates that prices did not
theu warraut shipment of wheat that would h.aTe to pay for a
long aud costly rail trip to the Atlantic. With the advance in
price, we may expect to see larger shipments thence, too, espe¬
cially as the reports of the condition of the European crops are not
wholly satisfactory. These facts justify tbe advance that has
takeu place iu wheat iu our markets and should they maintain
they will accelerate the upward movemeut.

THE proceedings attending the selection of a jury, to ti'y
Inspector McLaughlin for bribery, make a very instructive
object-lesson of certain social conditions which undoubtedly
contribute, in no slight degree, to produce the evil state of the
police department indicated by the trial of one of its chief
officials. We have not kept count of the number of talesmen
examined so far iu this' case, but the unmber is large and
included meu of all sorts aud conditions ahove the loivest grade—
merchants, clerks, storekeepers aud the like. Yet, what an
exhibition these citizens presented of either a poor education, a
low order of intellect, or, in cases where neither of these defects
existed, positive incivism. A majority of the talesmen examined
were properly rejected because they were clearly incompetent to
pass upou the evidence likely to he stibmitted to them, aud of
the remainder a large number made ifc very plain by their
answers to counsel that they were determined not to render any
service to the city that might cost them either slight personal
inconvenience or pecuniary loss. Yet the former—the ignorant
—make up the bulk of our voters, who are fervently appealed
to as competent guides on matters of national polity, and the
latter—the iudiftereut, but fairly well educated—are, we suppose,
examples of the "better element" which we all appeal to so
vociferously "to come out aud as.sert itself" when our affairs
hecome idiotically tangled up or positively malodorous. Is it
any wonder we have corrupt police departments, as a product of
the ignorance and theindifierence of citizens demoustratediu this
McLaughlin case. The mau who can't safely sit in a jury box
and weigh simple evidence is uot likely to vote very intelligently
on the tariff or bi-metalism, and the man who can but who won't
do his duty iu the jury box is not likely to do it anywhere else.

Investment and Speculatiye Field.

THE MEXICAN RAILROADS AND THE INFLUENCE OF TUE ADVANCE IN
SILVER ON THEIR SECURITIES,

The decline iu the price of silver had nowhere a more marked
ettect tbau outhe securities of Mexican roads, excepting, of course,
those securities that directly represented silver mining itself. To
those who are uot famili.ar withtbe subject this may not appear to
he a matter of very much moment. Compared with tbe loas of in¬
come and values iu other directions and as a whole it may not be .
yet the Mexican railroads bave bail their p.art in bringing about the
geueral result that h-ia shown itself iu our security markets. This
influence will be better understood wbeu the proportions of thoae
properties are better understood, wbere their securities are held and
what has heeu tho direct result of the fall in silver upon their for¬
tunes. The two first can be found by examiug thebooks of reference
relating to railroads and their securities, and the laat is being brought
out from time to time by fhe reporta to stockholders of the proper¬
ties in question. Poor's Manual givea a list of eight railroada in
Mexico having a mileage of over 5.200, made up as follows: Mexican
Central, 1,876.43; Mexican National, 1.232.24; Mexican Inter¬
national, 573.04; Mexican Interoceanic, 519; Mexican Eailway.
321; Mexican Northern, 81,2,T; Mexican Southeru, 228, and Monte¬
rey and Mexican Gulf, 387 miles, Tbeae railroads earn anywhere
from $30,000,000 to $35,000,000 por annum, and pay interest ou a
bonded capital of many millions of dollars. These facts will no
donbt surprise those who are nnacriu.iinted with the development of
the great Central America Repnlillo, Practically all ofithe capital
is held iu Loudon, New York aud Boston, and tbo properties are ad¬
ministered from thoao cities through an able executive on the
ground. It is because the capital is so beld and administered that
these properties have felt severely tbe rlocline iu tbe market price of
silver. Interest is payable in United St.ates currency or in sterling,
and most of the materials, equipment .and other aupplies come from
the United States aud a part from Great Britain, and bave to be paid
for in tbe currencies standard iu those countries. Of course that is
eminently proper considering tbat the capital was originally sub¬
scribed on those bases, and tbat tho supplies sent to the Mexican
railroads are manufactured with labor and of material paid for with
gold or equivalents therefor.





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