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Juue 1*3, 1890
Record and Guide.
1013
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ESTABUSHED'^ 4\HRP H 21".^ 1868.
OEI%0 P RP^L EsTATT . BuiLDIf/c A;Fi.CrflTECTdl\E ,KobSE:HOLD DEGQI^ATlOtf.
Busii/ess AifoThemes of GEfto\4l 1Ktei\es7.
PRICE, PER YEAR, IN ADVANC*=', SIX DOLLARS.
Published ererg Sntiirday.
TKLEriioNE, .---.. Cortlandt 1370
Communications sliould be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-lG Vesey Street.
J. T. LINDSET. Business Manager.
"Entered at the Post-offlce at N'ew York, A\ r., as second-class matter."
Vol. LVII.
JUNE 13, 1890.
No. 1,474
The Record and Gvidv will furnish you with daily detailed reports
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for information.
ALL eyes are upon St. Louis. From the way the stock nuir¬
ket has acted this week it may be taken that the outcome
ot the Republican Convention is expectetl to be favorable to
prices by those who have the fate of Ihat iustiiution in their
hands. The refusal of holders of securities to be feared by the
break of last Wednesday aud the rapiil recovery of (luofatioiis
aie good signs. But tlie political sitiuition, as iiuw portrayed to
public view, does not make the success of the souiiil t ui rciicy
men the easy thing that it was thought fo be a moiitli ago, and
the nomination of an acceptable Republican on a gold currency
plank is likely to be discounted for the time being by a inoiler-
ate advauce in the prices of securities anil a small increase in
general business activity. Still such a nomination will be oue
great point gained aud au augury of ultimate success.
THE trouble in Crete is depressing prices upon tlie Vienna
and Berlin bourses. It is claiuied, as, of course, it always
is claimed in sucli cases, that the uprising against Turkish rule
re-opens the Eastern question, which was closed after llie Sultan
had killed off as many Armenians as he wanted to. When the
insurrection broke out the Powers rushed war vessels to
the Island, not to protect the unfortunate Christians from Ihe
barbarities of Moslem soldiery, but each fo prevent its rivals
from gaining any political or trading advantage from the uew
situation. Russia, it is said, has warned the I'orte that a massacre
of Cretan Christians would combine the rest of Eurojie against
it; St. Petersburg is talking very much as London talked
nearly two years ago when the Kurds were officially let loo.se in
Armenia. Constantinople is not likely to be more iutluenced
by this last representation than it v,as by the fiisf. As the
object of the jealousy of all the Powers it is incalculably stronger
than .as the favorite ot any one or tsvo .and will play its own evil
game, encouraged by the eiiually evil selfishness of the great
Powers. Meantime the Cretans seem to be gettiug along very
well; as they are, unlike the Armenians, fighters by heredity
more is to be hoped for them. Another matter, thougli au
entirely different one, which is liaving an adverse effect upon
bourse operations iu Europe, is tho proposal of the French
Government to tax rentes. These securities have until now been
exempt, by implication if not by law, from taxation, and tlieir
selection as a nieans of raisiug revenue is another illustration
of tho straits to which finance ministers arc put to to meet
enormous and growing national expenditures. One of the
drains upon the French exchequer is the cost of colonial ex¬
pansion. Wherever France has extended her doniinions abroad
it has brought a direct charge upon her. Not only is this the
case with such recent additions as 'i'onquiu, Madagascar aud
Cambodia, but Algeria, founded sixty years ago, makes an
auniial demand of $1.^,000,000 upou her. The busiuess out¬
look in Europe is much more cheerful than the piditic.al, though,
for the reasons previously given, the latter creates no alarm ;
the policy which has finally determined the fate of the
Boer's prisoners removes the greatest cause for fearing a break
in the world's peace. Trade in most, if not in all, departments
reports a satisfactory activity and the crop outlook is as good
as can be expected at this tine of the year.
TX7HEN the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company formally
^^ presented its plan to the Rapid Tran.sit Railioad Com¬
mission for increasing its service to the public, it iiroved to be
as iujidequate as it was feared it would be. In effectthe Company
is ready to take all the down-town privileges it can get and avoid
as much as possible its responsibilities toward loug distance
travel. Thisispioof of its bad faith aud issilly besides, if the
plan is presented with the idea that the publiccan be cajoled into
accejitiug it. Will not the Company ever understand that it is
not the down-town but the up town service that is wanted. If
ill order to induce it to build the northern extensions to its
lines, it is 'necessary that its piivileges down-town should be
eularged, no objection will bo offered to the bestowal of such
favors upon it, but the tirst must always be a condition of the
second. It is gratifying to notice, in this connection,
that there is a decided recovery from the disappoint¬
ment cre.ited by the recent decision of the Appellate
Division of the Supreme Court on thia matter. The
Rapid Transit Railioad Commission is being urged to niaini-
taiu its organization until the field can be mjre thoroughly
reviewed to decide whether new plans can be prepared for an
underground railroad which will meet the objections made to
the old ones. It is not genc'ally known, but it is a matter of
fact nevertheless that some of fhe engiueers whose testimony in
opposition to iMr. Par.son's plan may be said to have brought
about its defeat, bt lieve that a plan can be devised for building
an uudergrouud road within the prescribed cost aud to do all that
ean be reqiuied of it uuder existing laws. It should be borne
iu mind that it was not the principle of underground railroad¬
ing that was attacked by these eugiueering experts, but the
methods by which the Rapid Transit Commission and its chief
engineer pioposed to give effect to it.
(^ OVERNOR MORTON'S appointments to the Greater New
^ York Commission have given general satisfaction. The
Commissiou as created has all the elements of respectability and
ability that could be desired for it, so that if we are to take into
the muuicipality some two hundred square miles of arable land
and pasture wifh one huudred square miles of city proper, we
have good reason to suppose that these elements will be blended
as carefully as possible. There having to be a Commission, a
better one could hardly be imagined ; the names of the gentle¬
men composing it will be fouud on auother page. The Commis¬
sion has to prepare its report by February 1, 1897, and will
expire on March 1, 1897, AVe have pointed out before the
extreme impridiability of its being able to do its work withiu
the time named and the consequent necessity that will arise for
extending its life. Another matter that may delay its hudiiig is
the talk of litigation to test the constitutionality ot the Consoli¬
dation Act, though as yet this has not gone beyoud talk. There
is more tliiiu oue group of property-owners who would be will¬
ing to cany the tight begun last spiing into the courts if they
could lind a way f o do so. As the matter .stands to-day it would
be ditHcult for them to get a hearing before the judges. It is
rumored, however, that when the time comes for supplying the
money to cany on the work of the Commission, the matter may
be got iuto such shape that all the questions involved will be
reviewed by the courts. Presumably, if this course is followed,
it will further dela.y actual cousolidation, aud it may be that it
will defeat it altogether until it can be carried out uuder jirovis-
ions of law that will not work injustice to any one of the cities it
is proposed fo unite. We are told, too, that the Joint Legisla¬
tive Coinmittee, of which Mr. Lexow was chairman, is to
resume its meetings in New York as soou as fhe St. Louis con¬
vention is over. What thisis for it is hard to understand, unless
it be to furnish themselves with the information they ought to
have obtained before drafting their bill.
WHEN the new East River Bridge Commissiou flnally
locates the New York appioach to its bridge, it is to
be hoped that they will not overlook the tinancial considera¬
tions, uor be carried away by the technical considerations which
always occupy too much space in the professional mind. Of
the two plans before them th(! oue that is physically and pecii-
ni.aily most attractive to the lay mind, is that which makes the
approach run south of Delancey street to Willett or Pitt street
and by a curve connect with both Division and Grand streets at
their junction with Pitt street. This will secure all convenient
courses of travel from the biidge, across and downtown. The
secoud plau carries the approach along Delancey to Clinton
street where a plaza is to be formed aud whence, presumably,
new arteries are to be cut to reach the Bowery and perhaps
Broadway. The adoption of this latter plan will probably
gratify professional ambition, but it will be vastly more
expensive to the tax-payers. It is out of question that
the bridge .approach should land in a tenement section,
aud uo attempt be afterward made to secure wide out¬
lets to the maiu channels of traffic. Recent events have
demonstrated that the city cannot afford the expense of such
a work and, at the same time, carry ou fhe other and equally
necessary improvements that it has in hand, or in prospect.
The longer apjiroach would give easier grades and avoid the
curve .at the outlet, but fhe grades on the shorter one are not diffi¬
cult by any means—three per cent., we believe, the engineers cal¬
culate them at—and taking this iuto accouut, with all the other