May I, 1897





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Vol. ux.





MAY   1, 1897.





No. 1,520





NEITHER in commercial nor financial circles is there any ac¬
tivity, or extraordinary signs of renewed enterprise. The
jog-trot is still the favorite pace, but tbat is one that does not
encourage the use of any high descriptive power;everyonelinows
what it means without any elaborate explanations. One feature
in the situation that cannot be disregarded is the gold export
movement. The amount to go this week, it must be confessed, is
surprisingly large, considering the large trade balance in our
favor, shown by last reports. Not only is this so, but it is esti¬
mated in quarters entitled to credit that before this movement
is ended between $30,000,000 and $40,000,000 will be shipped. It
is explained pai-tly by tbe large purchases made abroad under
the stimulus of anticipated increased tariffs and partly by the
sale of securities by Europe in tbis market. There are no other
reasons why gold should go abroad at this time. The hypothesis
that we are loaning money abroad is not supported by the con¬
dition of the European money markets, where the rates are, if
anything, lower than our own. A sti-ong stock market under
heavy gold shipments is always an anomaly. At this moment
there Is some excuse for it in the facts that there has been so
very little speculation for so long a time that the scare of a
couple of weeks ago shook out the very timid holders, and that
other holders of securities bave sbown such a determination to
cling to their holdings. But a heavy and protracted gold export
■movement will inevitably bring prices down in the long run by
reason of the great and pervading disturbance that a shifting of
the precious metal from one side of the Atlantic to the other al¬
ways causes. This movement ought to have one good result,
however; it ought to recall to people's minds the object of the
great political battle of last year. Although the forces of fraud-
money were defeated, the victors seem to have neglected alto¬
gether to take advantage of the victory. Nothing is being done
to reform our currency, and our friends abroad will not touch
our securities so long as this is the case. Had there been a
hearty attempt to deal Avith this very serious problem, we would
not be shippng gold to-day. The help that can be looked for
from Congress is vei-y little, apparently. Is it any wonder, there¬
fore, that business drags and that capital is timid?





EVEN those who have most severely condemned the recent
Hellenistic movement will be glad to learn that the Powers
have decided to intervene and save the Grecian people from fur¬
ther suffering and humiliation. The lesson they are learning
has gone far enough, not only for their own good, but also to act
as a warning to the most disaffected of the Balkan States. No
one can want to see a condition arise which would make it diffi¬
cult to get the Turk over the Thessalian border again. This
war, which is now occupying so much attention, ought to have
a lesson also for the foolish people who have, for a couple of
years or so, been crj'ing out for tbe suppression of the Turk.
The admirable way in which the Greek attack on Turkey was
repulsed and the would-be invader invaded ought to show tbem
that the discipline of tbe Turk would have to be very carefully
undertaken and could uot be achieved except with great sacri¬
fice of life and treasure. His recent success is not likely to in¬
crease bis humility, while the experience he is gaining at this
moment will be very valuable from a military point of view.
King George's imitation of Dr. Jim's raid will not land him in Hol¬
loway Jail, more's the pity, but he will doubtless have hereafter
plenty of opportunity to regret his folly and to mourn the de¬
parture of tbe day of the regal swashbuckler. The unsettled
condition of affairs in the Baat has caused the postponement
of the issue of two large Government loans, one for Austria and
one for Rassia, and added to this direct effect must be the great





indirect effect of restrained enterprise on all sides. Further evi¬
dences of the unsatisfactory state of affairs in South Africa
come to hand from day to day. The French Bank of South
Africa, formed two years ago, with great flourishing of trumpets,
to assist Parisian mining speculation, has paid no dividend, and
is now being incorporated with the Banque Intemationale and
French Mines d'Or et Exploration Company, with a loss of thirty
per cent of the origiual capital, that Is to say, only seventy per
cent of the stocks of the absorbing companies are given for 100
per ceut of that absorbed. British iron and steel manufacturers
seem to have accepted it as inevitable that they must now count
the United States with Belgium and Germany among their com¬
petitors in tbeir home market, but the amount of competition the
British manufacturer can suffer and still survive does hlra
great credit. Of ten millions of cedulas and ready money voted
by the Argentine Cougress for tbe relief of the distressed agri¬
culturists iu the provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Rios, only
seven millions were applied for, proving that the reports of loss
of crops in those provinces were exaggerated. It is not ex¬
pected that the exports of wheat from the Argentlnas will be
much less this year than they were in 1896.





X CCORDING to the recently announced opinion of Corpora-
-^"^ tion Counsel Scott, the Department of Buildings has noth¬
ing to do witb the administration of the Raines Law, that it need
not go about inquiring whether a hotel bas partitions of a cer¬
tain thickness, or windows of a cei-tain area. In this Mr. Scott
seems to have endorsed the opinion of the attorney to the De¬
partment. But he goes further, and, disagreeing with the attor¬
ney to the department, declares that it Is not necessary for the
department to inquire, or the applicant to state, when application
for a permit to erect or alter a building for hotel purposes is
made, whether liquors are to he sold in the building or not. The
two lawyers agree in tbis, that the Rainesi Law places no duty
upon the Department of Buildings that has not heretofore ex¬
isted. The definition of a hotel is simply a definition for the
purpose of the liquor-tas law; that is to say, a hotel in which
liquor is not sold need not have any of the requirements of the
liquor tax law. This simplifies the matter somewhat for owners
and architects. Further, if Mr. Scott is right in his separate con¬
tention, that the Superintendent has no right to refuse a permit
for a hotel building or conversion of a building into a hotel, if
the plans submitted therefor comply with tbe building law, it
will not be necessary to regard the Raines Law at all, except in
the probabilities that, should it be the intention to apply for a
license to sell liquor in such hotel when built or converted, the
Excise Commissioners may require some evidence of the struc¬
tural requirements of the liquor law having been complied with
before granting it. As to what are known as "Raines Law ho¬
tels," neither the law nor its interpretation by the Corporation
Counsel or attoruey to the Department of Buildings, offers any
comfort to the owners of these except what may be found in the
view that it is not required of the Department of Buildiugs that
it should set on foot an investigation to detect and expose them.
The whole position seem to be this; that there is a difference be¬
tween a hotel in which liquor is sold and one in which it is not.
The Raines Law subjects hotels in which liquor is sold to the
building law requirements aud certain other stnjctural condi¬
tions, with which, however, the Department of Buildings has
nothing to do, and those in which a liquor business is not car¬
ried on need only comply with the building law requirements re¬
lating to hotels.

—        ■----------

THERE is a quiet discussion going on as to the advisability
of forming a United Building Ti-ades, composed of repre¬
sentatives of the different employers' and employees' associa¬
tions, in order to find a more sensible mode of arranging dis¬
putes thau by means of strikes, sympathetic and othenvlse, and
lockouts. The committee, ai^pointed some time since by the
Mason Builders' Association to confer with other organizations,
has been working steadily, and has received some encourage¬
ment. A proposition of this kind involves a good many delicate
questions which bave to be carefully considered, but, so far, it
has been received vei-y favorably, even though not at once
adopted. One of the largest employers' associations in the trade,
the Architectural Ironworkers' Association, last week informally
endorsed the principle iuvolved—that of arbitration by a cen¬
tral representative body of bosses and men—though postponing
formal action until they were fully supplied with details. There
is no doubt, so far as the employers are concerned, they would
be glad to see their way clear to joining in any movement which
would provide a rational way of dealing with disputes between
themselves and tbeir employees. If they do not at once adopt
the suggestion now made it is because they doubt whether the
men can be brought to see its wisdom also, and think it Ib use-





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