January 23,   1897.





Record and Guide





121







mi.





ESTABUSHED-^HABpHSl«>1868.

Dd6ieD to RaL Eetaje , BuiLDiffe ftp,a(iTECTui^£ .pfobsnfoiD DEecaifnoA
Busii/ess AftiTHEHES Of CejJer^I Ij^teresl.

RICE,   PER   YEAR,   IN   ADVANCF,   SIX   DOLLARS.

Pubtislicd every  Saturday.

TBLBPHONE,       ._-...      CORTLANDT 1370

Communications should he addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street
J   T. LIXDSEF, Business Manager.





'Entered al the Post-office al New Tork, A''. T., as second-class mailer."





Vol. LIX.





JANUARY   23, 1897.





No. 1,506





WARNING.

We arc informed thai certain iiidlmduals arc going about repre¬
senting that the Eecokd and Guide intends to issue some sort of
a railwai/ guide or cover to be placed in hotels, steamships and.
elsewhere. Some persons hare been induced through the u.se of the
vaiiie of the Eecord axi» Glmde, not only lo spend nionei/ irith
these parties and pay in adrance for iheir order bat iu settle for
old accounts with thcnt. Wc warn ihc public that the Uecord .\si>
Guide is in no way ichafsocver conneeted with this project, and
that no accounts should be paid, except to our regular collectors.
I'or mutual protection, our friends should immediately telephone
■us, No. 1370 Cortlandt, when approached by the swindlers.

THERE is apparent ;i good deal of suvpiise that ivitli iiioucy
as ehtap as it is, the Stock market is not more active.
This comes from a tendency to mix up cause and effect. Money
is cheai) because the market is inactive and because the coui-
luercial demand is limited. There must be something beside
cheap money to raise values. For iustauce, securities were
bought extensively on tlic fact that our foi'eign trade showeti a
groat balance in our favor, but so soon as the buying iuduced
by this important fact wa.s exhausted, the marlcet bectui^e dull
again, tliough money is cheaper than ever. Prices will drag
now until another .stiiking jjiece of evidence turns up to show
that the condition of tbe country commercially and fiuaucially is
steadily improving, ootwithstautl ing some unfavorable features.
Kaiiroati earniogs in tlie middle and northwestern states aie
bad as they always are in open wintei's, wheu the condition
of the roads makes draughting well-nigh impossible and
the carriers are starved because freight cannot reach them.
Poor business generally brings rale cutting also, and it would
not be surprising if the reports of disagreements among the
railroads iu the west turn out to be true. The coudiliou of the
sol't coal trade is also a matter ot anxiely aud has raised a good
deal of adverse talk and denial in regard to some of the i ail-
roads dependent upon this inUtilry. Our advice to anyone in
doubt as to whether to believe the reports of impending difii-
culties or the oflieial denials, would be to accept the one that is
supported bi'st by the quotations for the securities affected.
These are tbe bad features ot the situatiou. The good ones
we have pointed out before, and have only to add that they are
still potent.

■•^HE reduction iu the Hank of England's discount rate from
-A- 4 to 31-2 per cent, is an indication of a belief iu the minds
of tbe managers ot that institution that money will be plentiful
for some time to come. The demand for funds for the .spring
agricultural operations will soon commence, and with this fact
in view no reduction would have been made unless it was ap¬
parent that this demand could be met without dittieulty and
without trenching upon other requirements. This ease of
money is due, in great part both in London and on the Conti¬
nent, to the dullness iu boiiise operations. So far there is
nolhing to indicate that there will be a revival of activity in
this direction. There are no great operations ou Cie carpet
to create an incentive, such as the issue of new g . I'ernmeut
loans, etc., aud negotiators aud brokers mugt be content to sit
through a period of unavoidable dullness withwhiU patience
they can. A luoveinent in Aniericaus will come at .= rmie period,
but it will apparently ouly date from the time wttn currency
reform iu the United States is assured and a recurrence of l;he
anxieties of last year made reasonably impossible. Meantime
Europe indicates its intention of doing uo more thau to follow
the New York market, buying when it buys and laying down
when it is tired.

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■p3 liOOKLYN has many admirable qualitie.s, but it cannot be
*-^ said that modesty i,s one of them; certainly not frora the
position taken by the press of that city in the matter of consoli¬





dation. The BrooVlyn Eagle figured the other day that union
with New York City meant a saviuii ot 89.7 cents perfplOOin
taxation to Brooklyn pi'operty, and coolly intimated that that
was whatBrooklyn consolidationists are after. The correctness
of the calculation is unipiestiooable, only the extent of the in¬
tended steal is not fully etated. The Evening 3i*ost])o\ni(iA out
last Saturday that, with consolidation aud equalization of valu¬
ation and taxation, Hrooklyn would be relieved ot: responsibil¬
ity for over gi30,000,000 of its present debt, and that that
amount would be added to this city's indebtedness. This is
also quite correct. To these extra burdens there can be addcil
the increased cost of running the consolidated city on the basis
of expendituie, brought up to our standard, through the whole
of (greater New York and the cost of the irai)rovements which
will be demanded in outlying aud remote sections as well as iu
the near aud populous ones. What all these mean it is not pos¬
sible to express in figiires to-day, but it is easy to see that they
mean a large increase to the tax burdens of New York Uity
realty. Ou the basis of the estimates for 1897 for the two great
parties to consolidation alone, it meaus an increase of 30 cents
per $100 on all New York City real property, or a writing down
of values of $000 per $10,000. With increased budgets and
large schemes of improvemenls, the tax obligation will be very
much more and the consequent loss of value increased in pro¬
portion. I'he proposition cmbodii'd in the charter, which is
being now sandpapered for delivery to Ihe Legislature, relating
to equalization of assessments and taxation amounts to nothing
more nor less than taking so much from New York Cily and
giving it to Brooklyn, or dividing it up among Brooklyu, Stateu
Lsland and the portion of Queens County which is within tlie
territorial limitations of the Greater New Yoi'k. This being so,
would not any and eveiy properly owner in the city to be looted
have a right to resist the enfon^ement ol! the Act of Consolida-
dation on well-known constitutional grounds'?





AT the public hearing given by the Conmiittee ou Draft last
week ou (. liaptei XVII, Taxes and Assessiuents, much
stress was hiid, by Brooklyu members of the Commission, ou
the necessity for ecjualization of valuation iu order to ]n'opeily
apportion t!ie State Tax. It was asked whether it would be fair
that the Bi'ooklyn portion of Greater NiwYorkshould pay upon
a valuation of 70 or 80 per cent, and the New York poition on
a valuation of 50 oi' 60 per cent.? Ou the face of it it appears
tlrat this would be a manifest injustice to the Brooklyn i>.H-lion.
But it ought to be staled in the first place, that Biouklyu has
hitherto made its own valuatiuu, and if this is f-ii per cent, of
actual value, it is because previous extravagance iu;ule such a
valuation necessary in order to save the credit of tlu^ city—
which by the way it is now sought to save by (consolidation, he-
cause the city is at the end of its resources and cannot borrow
money for needed improvements. In ihe next place it does not
follow that it a L)sl ract .justice requires that the State Tax should
be paid upou actual \'alues throughout the state, it does not
I'eqiiire that the valuation uf New York Ciiy shall be raised in
order lo contribute to the cost of tbe nniiuteniince ol' iirooklyn
and the other partnei's which ai'e to be forced upon it iu cou-
solidation, or to relieve them from the duty of meeting their
interest when due en their several debts at niatui'ily. The
trouble is that. Brooklyn is drafting Ihe charter and New York
Cily has little or nothing to do with its making. Otherwi.se
such a |.)iece of robbery would not be coutetnplated. If n<ithing
can avert the woes of consolidation with equalized valuations
from the devoted head of this city—this rich but stupid, iuert
tity_it ought at least be possible to make it a condition that
debt should be proportioned as at present standing, and that
cost of maintenance should be distributed iu accordnncc with
re(|uirements. Brooklyn in her aciiuisitions of previous yeais
did not clamor for equlization ot valuations and taxation, as is
shown bv the several tax rates that maintain within her present
boundaries. What was good tor the older Brooklyu would also
be good for tho older New York wheu it is a part of the new-
New York.

_----------a-----------

IT is hardly probable that the gentlemen who are so indus¬
triously framing bills for limiting the heights of buildings
In this city will obtain any reward except that that comes from
an approving conscience. Not only are there mauy ideas for
terminating the high-building craze, which are to be clothed iu
legal phraseology and sent to the Legislature, so that the latter
will hardly know which to accept, but the matter has already
been dealt with in a general way by the Greater New York Com¬
mission, and it is reasonable to suppose that the Legislature
will not now pass any measure that might be likely to conflict
with any portion of tho bill that will be passed on the recom¬
mendation of the Commission, The Commission proposes that
the matter of regulating the heights of buildings be left to the
municipal assembly which their charter creates. The City Club
jl)iU providing that the limit of height shall be twenty times the