Record and Guide





249









,_J^              \           ESTABUSi1ED^fAftR.CH21M>-ia68,

De/oTED to REA-L EsTOE . BuiLDIffc %cKiTECTUI^E .HoUSEHOlD DEGCSiATlOll^

Biisit^Ess AfiD Themes or GeKeiV"V M^ei^est.

PBICe,   PtH   YEAH,   IN   ADVANCE,   SIX   DOLLARS.

Published  every  Saturday.

TBLfiPHONB,......COaTLANDT 1370

Communications should be addreased to

C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J   T. LINDSEY, Brm7te8a Manager.





lufractiou of Eiirnpcan ponce. The frenernl husinoss sittiaUon
has preseiitetl uo feature c.illius I'or remark; on the whole It is
good with slgus of reactionary tendency from the extreme ac¬
tivity of the past two yeara. An estimate of the amonnt of new
loans issued at Berlin last year gives an itlca of the treml of
financial operations at that centre. The total was ahout $4G4.-
000,000, of which 25 per cent was foreign horrowings, 20 per
cent for industrial enterprise aud 12 per cent increase to bank
capitalization. There is a strong probability that the French
Chamber of Deputies will increase the export bounty ou sugar
to meet the increase in the Gerinaa export-bounty ou the eame
article made iu the last session of the Iteichstag.





"Enured at ttie Fosl-offiee at New Tork. Jf. T.. aa seeond-ctass matter."





Vol. LIX.





FEBRUARY   13,  1897.





No. 1,509





■Hiil T.exow Trust Investigation Committee has   caused   a
scare and some short selling of the industrial stocks, but
th^ decline iiithe price of the stocli of the only industry so far
Investigated must be a sunn-ise to anyone who believes arith¬
metic has a relevancy to values.   So far as the American Sugar
Refining Company is coucerued, all the investigation has so far
l)ri.)ved is that financially it is one of the strongest institutions iu
tlie eountrv.   The facts brought out are briefly these:   The com¬
pany t^aru^ and pays seven per ceut, on its preferred stock and
earns twenty per cent and pays twelve per cent on its common
stock.   It has eiglily per cent of the business of supplying au
article in, it may be .lald, hourly consumption throughout the
country: a few years ago au extra dividend of teu per cent was
paid and in the Interval since a surplus of $13,000,000 has been
accumulated, of which only about $5,000,000 have beeu put into
improvements; that the company has an almost unlimited credit
and keeps ready and in a state of efHeieucy an extensive and
complete reflning plant, which can be put into operation upon
an hour's notice should any of the large refineries now In use be
disabled by fire or other accident.   How anyone has the cour¬
age to sell stock short ou such a showing is a marvel.   Adverse
legislation is darkly hinted at.   But as there are no trusts now,
all having been abandoned and regular incorporations taken their
places, it is hard to see what legislation will hurt the so-called
trusts that will not also hurt every other corporatiou in the
State and whose suggestion would not place before the Legis¬
lature the fear of driving a great deal of busiuess out of the
State.   We know it is hard to say what absurdity a legislature
will not commit, but we may be allowed to hope that our rep¬
resentatives would pause before doing anything calculated to
Injure the business interests of this city aud the state and drive
capital aud population across the Hudsou.   This very modest
hope we may surely bo allowed to indulge in.   Anything short
of eompoUing the industrial companies to do their business else¬
where than here would have very little effect upon the market
value of the securities of the great and strong ones, especially
as these securities always sell subject to pi-obable injury by leg-
islntiou.   This inveHtigation like others, aud like the talk of de¬
cline in prices on war abroad and busiuess complications at
home, is only creating excellent opportuojties for the purchase

of cheap securities.

------------------■     ■ —-

SOME surprise is expressed at the moderation of M. Hano-
liLUx" response to Sir Michael Hicks-Beac-h's outburst on
Framv aud the British oc-cupation of Egypt. The most reason¬
able explanation of thi.s is that the French minister was pre¬
pared for what the English one would say and what .seema to
the outside world strange and dangerous was really the execu¬
tion of a programme tacitly agreeable to the governments ou
liofh sides of the channel. If this was an experiment to test
imbiii- opinion in Frnnee on the question of permanence of oc-
(■upaiion of Egypt iiy Great Britain, with a view to an open
agreement to that effect in due course, it was most successful,
because, apparently, the French people generally do not care a
rap wlielhor the British stay or go aud those of them who hold
Kgyiitian funds undoubtedly prefer the status quo to any
<-hiiiig(.', because none could be made that would ncit. tempor¬
arily at least, imperil the value of their investment. The mod¬
erate influence of reports of troubles in Crete and elsewhere
is natural for the reason that all the world was prepared for a
good crop of warlike rumors when spring was approaching. The
reports that come over the wire from London, Paris, Berlin. Vien¬
na, and elsewliere say the markets arc dull because of the trouble
in the East, but the markets were dull before for other reasons,
so that it is fair to assume that tlie Cretan outbreak is prac¬
tically without influence nn prices aud also, for the same reason,
that uo one in authority apprehends that [t will lead to a serious





AN important decision was rendered this week by Justice
Audrews in the Supreme  Court  relating to   Ihe   much
vexed, but important question of vault rights.   The facts lead¬
iug up to this decision were that the owner of Kos. GO, G2 and G4
Liberty street, desiring to replace the present roof and pavo-
mout over his vaults, which extend beyond the curb line, ap¬
plied to the Commissioner of Public Works for a permit to make
a temporary opening in the surface of the street to enable him
to do so.   The Commisslouer, or his representative, declined to
issue the permit, to uncover the vaults, so far as they wore un¬
der the sidewalk except that the space was paid for at (he pre¬
vailing rate for vault space of $2 per foot; and, so far as they
extended under the carriageway, under any circumstances. The
Court held, on proof that the vaults under the sidewalks had
existed for twenty years, it must he presumed that they were
constructed with the consent of Ihe city authorities and upon
payment of such fees as were required at the time of tlieir con¬
struction and that it was therefore the duty of the Department
to issue a permit to allow of their repair witliout demanding Ihe
payment of fees.   Regarding vaults extending beyond tbe liue
of the curb, the Court held, that as the ordinances of tho Com¬
mon Council had made it illegal since 1840 to construct vaults
under the carriageway, such vaults were illegal and tbe Commis¬
slouer could uot issue a permit for opening the carriageway to
repair such vaults.   In rendering this opinion Justice Andrews
took occasion to point out that he was not passing upou the
question; "Whether the Common Council, or (he Commissioner
of Public Works, acting under an ordiuauco of tho Comraon
Council, cannot, wholly or in part, revoke wliat is at most, a
mere license to the   owners of   property abutting   on   public
streets to construct vaults under sidewalks, nor expressing au
opinion as to the terms or manner in whicli sucli power can be
exercised."   It would, the Court .said, be time enough to deal
with these questions when they were properly before it.   This
decision forms but a moderate victory for the property owner,
and its extent is still furtlier diminished by the fact that Jus¬
tice Andrews referred pointedly to the absence of any evidence
before him of an ordinance requiring the payment of ?2 a foot
or any other sum for the privilege of taking the sidewalk from
over a vault and replacing tbe same.   What tbe Court's opin¬
ion would have been had that evidence been present and had
the omitted questions been submitted to it, we have no rigiit to
infer, but this case, as well as others arising in recent yrars,
accentuates the need of judicial explanation of the several riglits
of the city and the property owners in tbe   matter   of   vault
spaces, the matter now being in a chaotic and consequently very
unsatisfactory state.





APPAP.ENTLY there is au unnecessary divergence of feel¬
ing as well as of opinion between the advocates and op¬
ponents of the bills now nnder discussion at Albany relating to
sti-eet obstructions. This is always the case where custom has
sanctioned a departure from the strict letter of the law which
custom it is found difhcult. if not impossible to remove. An
observance of the happier amenities of public discussion and a
conference of the parties in difference with a view to tbe find¬
ing out clearly by each what the other wants would be likely to
produce satisfactory and pleasant results. Of course the truck
storage bill of Assemblyman Leonard is in every sense ohjec-
tionablo aud indefensible in the interest of property owners, or
from the point of view of proper regulation of the streets. It
is an attempt to reimposc a nuisance which bore heavily on the
city for many years aud was removed with dilEculty. Its only
supporters are probably wealthy iuterests which can well afford
to provide proper housing of their draught wagons, though they
would naturally prefex- to avoid that expense hy encumbering
tliG streets with them. The bill introduced by Assemblyman
Finn, to allow stands on tlie sidewalks for the sale of goods in
certain situations cannot be dismissed so easily as utterly merit-
less. Tt is true that the streets were intended for the free pas¬
sage of the public and the erection of stalls or stands on any
part of them seems a direct violation of this Intention.     But