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January 18,1896
Record and Guide.
83
#
DEt&iED 10 R^L EsTWi. BiiiLoiKc *;R,cKrrE(rTUKE J-iousEHoiB Drai^m
Bi/sBfess juId Themes of GEftoviL iKnspi
PRICE, PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, SIX DOLLARS
Published every Saturday.
rSLBPaONB,......OOBTLAKOT 1870
Oommnnloatlone should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J, 1. LINDSET. Business Manager.
"Entered at the Post-offlce at New York, N. Y., as second-class matter."
Vol. LVH.
.JANUARY 18, 189G
No. 1,4,53
Thi. Rrcord and Gijidr icill furnish you with daily detailed reports
of all building operations, compiled to suit your business specifically, for
14 cents a day Ton arc thus kept 'informed of the entire market for your
goods. No guess work. Every fact verified. Abundant capital and the
thirty years' I iperience of The Rfcord an'D iiv iDK guarantee the com¬
pleteness and authenticity of this service. Sendto 14 and 16 Vesey street
for information.
THE better feeling that pervades (he business world, now that
they are assured that tlie new Uovernmeiit loan will be a
success and see the war clouds disp. rsiug, enipha,sizr8 the fact
that the elements of iinprovenieDt were very pronounced just
prior to President Cleveland's outburst. Mauiilactur.-rs and
jobliei'8 report an uu(-xpectedly good demand in several import¬
ant lines ; such a demand in the present circumstances can only
mean that the country has got down to a point where bitjiug is
a necessity. As everything is being done not only to make the
popular lo.nu a success, but to reduce the conseqm-nt derange-
mcntof the money market to the .smallest possible jiropoilions,
there is reason to believe that the rext thirty days will be a
period of coutinueil im|ii<ivemetit, both in tiadingand financial
circles. We assume lliat we .shi.ll not be called ujion to con¬
sider he prospect of war again iu that moderate jieriod of time,
and il is hard lo imagine any other ciicumstance fr..m which a
set-back could come. In thinking that the immediate future is
good for bettei' prices, we are guided by the extent of the de¬
cline that has taken plac -, both in the prices of securities and of
commodities since last Seiiteniber, from which a substantial re¬
action under ordin.iry circumstances is in order ; by the demand
from consumers previously mentioned, by the tact that corn is
moving, and should rot only help the corn-carrying roads, but
circulate money where it is most needed—among the agricultur¬
ists ; that judged by the reports of our foreign trade, we are
now selling more than we are buying, and that exchange ought
to be affected in our favor l hereby, and gold exports checked;
and by the presumption that the two things which threatened the
stiibility of business most the un.safe condition of the Treasury
and our unsatisfactory relations with Great Biitain, despite
the latest report, are both laid to rest for the time being at
least. There is not a shadow of doubt that givi n a fair chance
bu.siness will be good in 1896, but owing to tho peculiarities of
a people that believes a cowboy knows more of curtency and
finance than a banker or a political ecimomist, and has a ten¬
dency to lose its head at the .sight of one tl ig, that being, with
peculiar discrimination, the flag of its best customer, it is unsafe
to predict too far ahead. But after the shaking up they hav e had,
it is with relief that busiuess men tiud they can look forward lor
a month with something like complacency in the outcome.
A MID the echoes of the recent bellicose soreechings which
-^^ were heard on all sides only a couple of weeks ago, we
get now and then a little information on trade topics from
abroad. Even this is mixed up with salutes from fleets going into
commission aud damorings for political changes that must have
someinfltien.e on the commercial couditions of the near future.
The South African Company will not lose its charter, nor its
late administrator his head, but both will be taught that the
time has gone by for the methods that were so successful iu
building up the East India Company (o be emfloyed now. And
while Germany would no doubt be glad of an opportunity to
create prestige for it.self among the peoi les of South Africa, it
is hardly possible that the good sense of her p.-ople will allow
her to be mixed up m the quarrels of a state surrounded entirely
by Ihe tu'iitoriesof other nations. After all the forces which
have been tailed into being by the late crises will probably find
no more engaging object than coercing the obstinate Turk in
the interest of his Christian subjects. That is the very best
use to which they can be put. Though it ended in such an erup¬
tion of bad temper, 189.5 was not altogether a bad year for
trade. In Great Britain the year brought about increased for¬
eign pommerce.-betlerraili'oad earnings, and such otter benefits
as are indicated by larger volume of bankers' clearings. Prices
rose materially, and although there was a rapid drc'ineiii De¬
cember, it did not touch the lowest f.ir the year by a long way.
In France, Germany, Austro-Hungary there are also features
that make 1895 a year to be remembered as the one that in
revivals of the iron and steel, textile or other trades show.^.''. the
first really substantial recoveiy of the wurld's commeice from
the depression info which it was flung after the Baring panic in
1890. 'J his is past history, of course, but the nature of the
movements refeii-ed to clearly shows that it only wants that
there shall be no important disturbance of the world's peace, or
any well grounded fe.ir of an outbreak, for the improvement
that was begun last year to continue through this in greater
degree.
THAT experts can bo got to attack the plans and estimates of
the engineer to the Kapid Transit Railroad Commission,
ought not to be a matter of siirpri.se. Experience has proved
that there is no technical problem for which several solutions
cannot be found, or which cannot be attacked from more than
one point of view. The counsel of the Broadway property
owners have apparently made out a very strong case on behalf
of flieir clients, especially by reason of the special experience as
well as eminence of their engineer-witnesses in railroad ard
bridge building and in contract woik iu New York City itself.
But these gentlemen do not exhaust the list of experts in these
particular lines, and presumably the Rapid Transit Railroad
Commission will be allowed to call witnesses iu rebuttal, and
the Commission of Reference will have to decide between dis¬
agreeing dctois. It must have surprised many to learn, even
though prepared for differences, that there should be such a di¬
vergence of view as to cost that could carry the estimate up fo
$90,000,000 or $100,000,000. "While the testimony given
against the plans and estimates is perused with so much interest,
it must not be forgotten that the latter were approved by the
board of experts composed of ex-Mayor Hewitt and other
qualified judges, although not as promising the quickest relief to
the disadvantages the city is laboiing under for want of really
rapid transit communications between the northern and southern
extremities. It is this phase of the matter that will be upper¬
most iu the minds of tbe people as they see the difficulties that
stand ill Ihe w.iy of building an underground railroad. They
may admire the boldness of plans that take the greatest business
thoroughfaie on the continent for the route of the proposed rail¬
road, but at the same time they will regret the delays that this
involves because of the powerful opposition it creates. When
the commission now sitting his disposed of the practical ques¬
tions submitted to them for their consideration, even if their
report sustains the plans and routes, there are legal questions
involved which may mean a prolonged fight in the courts.
Meantime the want which it was sought to relieve by the passage
of the Rapid Transit Act becomes greater than ever. The Man-
h.attau Elevated Railroail Company refuses to come forward to
the relief of the public, although almost wooed to do so by the
Rapid TransitRuilroad Commis-ioners themselves, and although
their traffic aud income are being encroached upon by the sur¬
face lines. It alm.ist seems as if some pressure, legislative or
other, ought to be put up.in this company to awaken them to a
sense of their own interests if thev cannot be brought to see
their duty toward the public. If they are waiting to see the
death of municipal rapid transit, a;.d desire its demise, they will
be most ^peedily gratified by pnividiiig rapid transit.
THE City authoriiies have done nothing to avail themselves
of the legislative permission obtained last year to spend
several millions of dollars in creating parks in the tenement
districts of this city. It will be remembered that, at the in¬
stance of the Tenement House Commission, $3,000,000 of this
money was to be used in providing parks in the congested dis¬
trict east of the Bowery. Another measure authorized the mak¬
ing of a park on the West Side, west of Ninth avenue and
between Twenty-third antl Thirtieth streets. Absolutely
nothing has been done in regard to the East Side territoiy, ex¬
cept that one day last week .Mavor Strong cn ated a committee
to look for sites out of a deputation that had come to jog tbe
official memory because of its neglei-t. This committee consists
of the Re*-. Dr. A. C. Kimber of St. Augusfioe's Church, J. B.
Reynolds. Dr. Jane E. Robbins, Jacob A. Riis, and the Rev.
John B. Deviiis. Mayor Strong is reported to have said that a
site for the West Side park had been selected in the i.eigh-
borhood of Twenty-seventh street. As a matter of
fact, that is not so. Tbe Board of Street Opening
and Improvement have had recommended to their notice two
blocks, one by the B.>ard of Al.lermen, bounded by Ninth and
Tenth avenues and Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth streets,
and one by a lepre.seiitative of the Theological St miliary, be-
twee.i Twentieth and Twenty-first streets, which latter is
barred by the limitations of tbe area of choice in the act. The
Board, howe'ver, has taken no actiQij whatever. It cannot have