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Keeord and uuide*
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H 71^^ I flea.
ESTABUSHED^ aARpHSl^"^ 1868.
DEVi>TEDpRpi,LEsTAJt.BuiLDlffc ^R,cifrrEeTuiv>(ousEiloii>DEO<Hp»oi(i
Btfsirfess Ati) Themes ofCEifeR^l lirttBfsi.
PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS.
Published every Saturday.
TBLEPHOHE,......CofiTLANDT 1370
(Mmmunloatlona sbould be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J. i. ZINDSET. Bnsiness Manager.
Brooklyn Office, 276-282 Washington Street,
' Off. Post Offiob.
" Filtered al the Post-office at Ifew Tork, JT. T., as second-elctss matter."
Vol. LV.
JUNE 15, 1895.
No. 1,422
For Brooklyn matter, see BrooMyn Department immediateli' follojoing
New Jersey records {page 1020).
THE stock market attovds a very striking illustration of the
change tliat has come over the public niiiid iu the past few
mouths. In the midst of occurences that ought iii ordinary
circumstances to at least compel a bait, a new upward movemeut
has beguu, and manifests so much strength that it Ictoks like
goiug considerably farther. The main incentive to this move¬
ment is the bettered prospect for crops revealed in the official
reports, aud iu stUl more receut uews from the West. Tliis is
good reason for feeling better on the whole situation, because
it means so much for the West if ultimately realized, aud the
West has been a drag ou the upward movement ever siuce it be¬
gan. But there is a daugerof makiug too much of crop prospects
at this season of the year. Owiug to the damage to wiuter wheat
the maiu leliauce of agriculture is uow ou com, aud it cannot be
forgotten that this time last year corn promised its well as it
does uow, only to disappoint the grower later ou. The chances
aie, of course, that the same result will not occur iu two years
running, but it is as well to remiud people giveu to beiug over
sauguiue that a promised crop is uot a harvested crop. How
readily people accept the fair view of everythiug now was shown
this week by the great flourish with which it was aunouuced
that the price of steel rails would be advanced to $24, tbe
lowest tigure at which they sold any time prior to January of
last year, and to which they were suddenly dropiied by the Car¬
negie iuterests at that time. Sentiment is everything at lirst,
hut apt to overdo things; later we get down to practical realities.
CALLS for capital in London iucrease so that it is felt that
they muat sooner or later aftect the market rates for money,
which still rule phenomenally low. The capital called up iu the
tirst five mouths of the year amounted to $18-7,000,000, com¬
pared with $72,000,000 in the same time last year. Reports on
European busiuess are geuerally favorable. The Suea Canal
report for 1894 is a fairly good oue, showing increased traffic
and receipts. Ou the Berlin bourse, bank, mining and mauu-
facturing shares are iu more demand. Crop reports arc on the
whole satisfactory. In G-reat Britain prolonged dry weather
aud sunshine have been favoi*able to wheat crops; in Austria-
Huugary the weather has favored the farmer, wheat especially
beiug greatly improved, though the length of the wiuter injured
lye; reports from the Rhine are better, and from Southeru
Germany quite good ; eold winds have done damage in Prussia,
particularly in the Northern and Easteru provinces. An ettort
to relieve tbe Prussian agriculturist will be made by tho govern¬
meut, it is reported, through the establishment of the Ceutral
Credit Institute for the promotion of the persoual credit of the
middle classes, whose function it may he presumed is to lend
money to needy landowners. Carrying sociali-sm into the ranks
of the burgher and small geutry is a new move wbicb will be
watched with iuterest it actually attempted. In the way of
developments, wool raising iu China is coming to the front, her
exports of tbat article in the period 1884-1894 having risen
from 12,8.^>5,800 lbs. to 88,134,000 lbs. The area north of the
Yangtze Eiver and in Mongolia suited to this industry is said to
be as vast as that in the Australasian colonies of Great Britaiu.
Sweden will probably at no distaut day contribute to the com¬
plexities of the beet-sugar situatiou by becoming au exporter,
Uuder rising import duties aud .special facilities to groweis, her
demand for foreign sugar, whieb was almost geuenilly used two
or three years ago, has fallen ott' to little or nothing. The
importauce given tu tbe questions of finance aud commerce iu
Kiug Humbert's speech at the opening of the newly-elected
Italian Parliament will have a good ettect on Itali.in securities.
Chili aud Argentine seem disposed to let the honudary question
rest for a while, to be taken up vplifiu both jiedples ai'e in a
calmer frame ot mind. â–
---------»
AT a meeting of the Sinking Fund Commissioners, held ou
Weduesday last, a communication was read from Super¬
intendent Constable, stating that the records in tbe Building
Department were not safely protected from loss in case of fire-
and that he would not be answerable for plans and other bleu
paiiers unless safes or fire proof boxes are provided for the
same, or iu other words, asking that mouey be appropriated for
this purpo.se. This request iramediacelv led to a discussion
amongst the members as to why the Building Department was
removed fi'om the Fire Departmeut buildiug to the building on
the southwest corner of 18th street aud 4th avenue, where a
large annual rental has to be paid, the Fire Department huild¬
ing having been erected witb a view to accommodate tho Fire
Departmeut and the Building Bureau. The Comptroller theu
made a motion, which was adopted, calling upon the Fire Com¬
missioners aud tbe Superintendent of Buildiugs to appear
before the Siuking Fuud Commissioners at their meeting next
week for a coufereuce as to tbe advisability of locating the
Building Department in the Fire Department Headquarters
building, ou East G7th street. At the time when the Building
Bureau was created into a separate department, the then Fire
Commissioners claimed that tbere waa not room for the accom¬
modation of the uew departmeut iu the Headquarters building,
aud a uew location was therefore selected for tbe Building
Departmeut. Tbe East 67tli street location was an exceedingly
incouvenieut one for architects aud builders. The 18th street
location has proven very popular to the building iuterests, being
easily reached from all directions and in the uear neighborhood
of the offices of a large number of the leadiug architects. A
saving to the citv iu rental would result iu sending the Building
Department to its old locatiou, but the loss of valuable time to
men who are engaged iu industries tbat increase the tax income
of the city each year something like one million dollars iu reach¬
ing an out-of-the-way location to transact public business would
amouut to a vastly greater sum than the city would save in
removing the Department from where it is now loeated, aud the
city can hotter staud this loss than impose it ou individuals.
VISITORS to New York who diive up what might be as hand¬
some a public thoroughfare as any in tbe couutry—the
Boulevard—must return to their homes marvelling at tbe pecu¬
liarity of New Yorkers which induces them to spend millions of
dollars on a work of improvement and then leave it to go to
ruin as they are now doing with this fine road. Compared with
similar places in other cities our Boulevard is a thiug to make
New Yorkers blush. Take Commonwealth avenue in Boston,
Delaware avenue in Buft'alo and Drexel Boulevard in Cbicago
for comparison. There the grass plots are kept fresh aud green,
the trees trimmed of dead branches, dead trees are cut out aud
replaced, and the roadways are kept free ot litter and defile¬
ment. New York's Boulevard to-day is notbiug more or less
than a disgrace to the city. For the want of a little sprinkling
tbe grass has died out of the ceutre beds, aud wbere the spaces
are not left altogether bare, pig-weed, burdock and other nox¬
ious growing things suggestive of tbe margiu of tbe ashpile
have taken its place. The small parks at the intersections with
other roads are, when uot altogether abandoned, inadequately
tended ; trees are dying out iu cousiderable numbers, parts of
tbe roadway are quagmires in wet weather; some of the alleged
grass plots iu tbe upper part are used as stone piles hy the city;
jiuikmen are allowed to use tbe sidewalk for hideous masses
of old iron, and the Metropolitau Traction Company has
been pemiitted to make the crossing at SOtb street
a transfer-station and watcriug-place fortheir horses, under con¬
ditions most untidy ; the waiting-room and watering-trough, the
latter half of a large whisky cask apparently, aggravate tbe
whole situatiou heing the most commonplace and inappropriate
conceivable. The care of the roadway itself is not of the best.
Eveu at the lower end there is uo moie regard tor the decencies
of street lite thau at the upper. Take the prospect from the
entrance of the Hotel Empire. The eye sees a fountain as inno¬
cent of water as the paved aud neglected parkway around it or
the children wbo use it as a skating rink, aud araoug the shade
trees at least half a dozen that have died out in tbe past few
years. The Boulevard may not have fulfilled Ibe destiuy desired
for it by its original projectors. It has not become the site of
the iialatial homes of the richest and most aristocratic of New
York's citizens, but it is partly built up with a higb class of
apartnient hotels aud .similar building.s whoso value to the city
as contributors to its iucome is greater thau auy private dwell¬
ings could be aud it is necessary that the Boulevard should be
better cared for if this standard of improvement is to he kept up
to say uothiug of the maintenance of the self respect of the citi¬
zen. The growth oi the city has made this thoroughfare a veiy
busy one; besides its Irattic of carriages containiug the residents
of the immediate viciuity it has become the great bicycle track