Jl.-iy no, 1806





Record   and   Guide.





92







ESTABLISHEB'^ WRPHZiy.^ 1868,

Div^Tifi 10 Rea^lEstate.BuiLoif/o %crfiTECTaRE,KousEHou)DEGQi^Tioil,
Busii/ess Aifo Themes of GEffei\Al INtoiest.

PRICe,   P£R   YEAW,   IN   ADVANC,   SIX   DOLLARS.

Pnblishrd  rrerg  Snlnrdny.

TtLlI'lIOXE,         --..-.         COKTLAXDT 1370

ConmiiiulcalioDs tlioukl lie acliliesst-tl tii

C. W, SWEET, 11-lC Vesey Street,
J   T. LINDSEY, Business Manager,

"Entered nt Ihe Post-offlce at A'cw York, .V, 1'., as second-class mnller."





Vol.. I.VII.





M.\Y 30, 1896.





Xo. 1,172





TIIEliE is iib.'-ohitely iMidiiiij; new to record in the coninier¬
cial siliialion. The iiulisjio.silioii toward m w business,
which it has been onr duty to record week after week, un for¬
tunately still continues. The trade that is being done is not
niisatislactor.y, in Ihat prices are fair and the Aolunie of trans¬
actions seenis to have some time ago reached the miniiiium. A
belter illustration of the aimtliy that exists could not be found
this week an.vwheie than in ihe slock market, which was moved
neither by Hie awliil disaster at St. I.onis nor by the ilii-isidii dl'
Ihe Federal Com t, which sustains Ihe ,Ioint Tiallic Association,
the most ini|)<ii-lant and valiialile o|iiiiioii the lailioads have
received trom the courts in many a long day. The tact i.s, ex¬
cept in Hie most ordinary sense, theio is neither business nor
speoiilntion to he atlei-tedby news, wlielher .good or bad, Evciy-
tliing is waitin.u until the pleasure ot our real nileis, the jio-
litical pai ly managers, shall become known, and wc have light
to see what IIh^ coming elections will do lor our uiilortunate
curiency and linances.





El'lii il'E takes many liolidays wjiii-h serves to make busiuess
on Ihe exchanges duller than ever, which was the case this
week duiiiii;-the celeliration of I'eiitecost, While tiiere is uo
cluinge in tlie general character of trade, oiierations h.ave been,
of coiiise, of smaller volume. When I'aris took the new Tiuk-
isli ,'(< 1,5,000,000 .5 per cent, loan at 96, it was with an accom-
paiiyiug " you're welcome to it" from otlier centres and some
doubts whether tho guarantees of the issuing banks were not
needed to cover large deticieiicies of public snbsciiptions. Tho
most interesting event of lei-eiit times to trading and linancial
cii'cles is the publication of a Biilisli Foreign oflice report upon
the, foreign trade of .(apaii coveriu.i; the period of her industrial
activity and expansion, Ihe tigures given being, of coiiise, taken
from the oHicial Japanese reports. They show a marvellous
growth for les.? than a (piarter of a centuiy. In 1S7J the
tot.il import and export tr.idc amounted to Sfir)0,169,;i40
and iu 189."> to $264,074,:?26, or live times as much. The
impoils ill tlio tirsl-named .year were .f!26,174,840 and in the
last named $129,083,297, 'I'he exports were in the two years
named severally, $24,294,532 and $134,991,02,1. These fig¬
ures not only show a pheiionieual growth of trade, but also a
larger proportionate growth in exports than in iir.ports. Itis,
however, in the fact that the .irrowth is abundant in imjiorts, it
not ipiite at I he same ratio as of e_v|iorts,'that balm for the wouiuls
inflicted by the alarmist is found. So long as the volume of
Japan's buyin,g is so nearly the same as that of its selling, how
Cciu it bo siuh a terror to other coniniercial nations as some
would have us believe ? It is pointed out in the report pre¬
viously referied to, that while Japan once bought from this
country, oil, cotton and Hoiironly.it isiiow takin.salso machiiieiy
and metals. Great Britain is the prepondeiatiiig influence iu
the Japanese trade, contiibuting .$45,172,108 of the total im¬
ports against $12,000,000 in 1872. But the country that has
made the lar.s;est proportionate gain is (jterniany, the value of
whose imports were in 1872, .$2,0 10,263 and in 1895, $12,-
233,155. In one case there was a fouifi>l'd and in the other a
sixfold iucreasc. While these strtistics siiow the ability of Japan
to take a prominent place among the Iradiug nations ot the
earth, it is also beyond dispute that wa,aes are rapidl.y adv.aneiug
and the manner of life of the people more luxuiious; two facts
which will in time h.ave their influence in limiting her .ability to
compete with Western peoples.





\ CTING under the powers conferred upon them by ihe
-^■^ Tenement House Act of 1895, the Board of Health bas
condemned a number of tenements, specifled in another part of
this paper, as unfit for occupation. This is the lirst proceeding
of this kind in New York City and is of couisc regarded wilh a
good deal of interest, not oiil.y b.y \h". owners of the ]iiopeity
affected, but by real estate circles generally.   On this side of





the Atlantic we are not used to niea.snrcs that attempt to dis¬
pose of a man's piojierty in opposi'ion lo his wishes and the
provi-ioii of the I'edi'ial and >tate Constitutions, that no one
shall bl'. di-pr'ved of life, libeity or |ii-opcrly without due process
of law, has oft'tl served to niiliifv ihem. Last year, when the
Tenement House Act was discii-i.seil, much of the opposition was
directed ajffiinsi pulling tliis iiower of condeninatioii into the
haiiils of the lleallli lio 11(1, or any other board for Ihat matter,
it being cjiiteiiiled that the health of Ihe cnnmiunity was sufti-
eiently protected by Ihe powers already possessed by the muni¬
cipal authorities to insiiect tcr.eiiicuts and to i-ei|iiiie that they
sliall be kept in a projier stale of siiiiilatioii. But as the jiower
to coiidcmn was directed especially ag.iinst rear teiiemeiils, and
as the late Tenement House t'ommission strenuously declaied
that these hou>es were a menace to public health, in whicli
dcclaialion they weri siijiported by the sanitary authorities,
tliis iinivisioa ivas retained iu the law asjiassed. It is under-
stood that the owners of t'lr condemned lenements will resist
the aeiion of the Uoaid of Ileallh in ihe Courts, lelying upon
tile conslitutioiial priivision already referred to. If the owners
ot the pioperty in (iiieslioi; do carry the matter into the Courts
the Health Board will, probably, look lo the opinion of the
Couit of Appeals dcliicreil last year in the Tiiuity Corporation
case to defeat Ihem. That opinion took a very liberal view of
the powers of the Health IJoard lo eiifoice oiders issued for tbe
protection ol the health of the cnmmiinity. We would advise
the owners of Ihe c.indeiniied tenemciits to carefully study that
opinion before iiii-niriiig any large expense in resisting the
oDcration of this iiait of Ihe Tciiement House law. On a
building bring condemiK d ihe owner can demand a survey in
the nianiier iii-.ivjdi(l for in ihe case of unsafe buildings and
may institute iirocci diii^:s m tiie Supieine Court for condemna¬
tion of Slid building. II shoubl be mentioned that in Ihe event
of a building being (-oinleniiird and torn down the owner ia
entitled lo conipensaliou esliiiiated in either one of three ways:
(a) on the rental of the bnilding, as distinct from the groiimt
rent, when legally and proiierly tenanted; (b) on the value nf
the building put ink) reasonably good repair, lens the eost of
repairs, and (c) on the value of Ihe iniilerials in the building.





The  General Agricultural Dep-efsion.

THE indefatigable writers of letters on behalf of the single-
lax movement have fiivoied us witli suggestions apropos
of reinaiks made iu the articles on California Land Problems.
The siiigle-taxers have taken vows, aiijiaieiitly, to wiite a flood
of " persoual" letters to ever.y person having a semblaiico of
prominence, aud tlnre is no way of stojiping Ihem, or, indeed,
any reason for doiuy-si. Li'l tors whicli uniformly begiu with a
compliinent and end wilh a lecture are not un|'!eas.int reading,
even when one has learned to look u|on them as machine-mude.
Besides, thi'y are often intelli.v'ently executed and bring new
light and new suggestions. In the present instance there is a
leipiest for a consideration of the depressed state of agricul¬
ture, which we are glad to heed.

Not ouly iu Xew York but in many other States and nations,
the depressed condition of agriculture is a sub.iect of earnest
investigation. It is one of the phenomena wilh which the
Salisbury ministry is expected to deal, and in Germany the
chief strength of the movement in favor of bimetallism is found
ill the impies.'ion that " something" must be done for the agri¬
cultural classes. Those who have full faith in the jiowerof
tariffs to make or mar national luosperity can attribute the
agiiciilluial depression iu Germany to protect ion, that in Eng¬
land to free trade, and thatiu the United States to ii vibrator.v
policy worse than anything stable. The papers of Colorado
explain each day how it all conies from the " crime of '73," and
papers of Ihis section of the country demonstrate as per.sistently
how it all comes from the unsettling eftects of free silver agita¬
tion. Each locality explains its troubles by pointing to some
competing sectiou that is underselliiig, and the tran.sportation
agencies come in for a liberal share of abuse.

To this chaos of explanation the single-taxer contributes the
su,ggestion that the farmer is unfortunate because .so much of
the best located land is kept idle iu speculative holdings, and
because the farmeis' improvements aud personal property are
now needlessly taxed. Our view of this explanation is that
there is soniethiiig iu it, but not much. Just how much cannot
be stated uutil statistics have been collected on a dittereut plan
than any yet tried. Tho middle West has done much under the
present tax .system to make speculators let go of their holdings.
There the property of non-residents especially has been pretty
generally over-assessed, as compared with other property. The
general social result of this policy seems on Ihe whole to have
baen good, and suggests that further experiments along the
same line might be made under the present or aniodified system
of taxation. Instead of making them, however, the practice in
the West, aud particularly iu California, is to under-assess
unimproved land,    lu the State named there is no reason in tho