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DEv&TEDpRffLEsTWi.BuiLDifJb Af?.a<rTEcmj!^,HouseholdDEGtB^jreH/
Bi/sh/ess a(Jd Themes or GEjiER^llKT^EST.;

PRICE     PER   YEAR     IN   ADVANCE    SIX   DOLLARS-

Published ceery' Saturday
TKLErHONE,            -             -     -           Cortlandt 1370, .

Commu".Lcations shou'.o be addressed lo

C, W. SWEET, 14-lG Vesey Street,

'/. 7. LIKBSEY, Busmess Manager.

"EiUere.1 at ihe Post-OJj/ice al Ncu' York, A', Y., as second-class matter."' '





Vol.  LXI,





FEBRUARY 12, 1S98.





No. I,5i31





FOR a few clays past signs have lieen accumulatiiig of lho
approaching end of the present bull movement in tho
siock market, "Whether this will he. followed' by a reaction in
prices or simply provitle cne oi; those rests that the market
now takes it would he hard to say. In view o£ the fact of the
very large investment buying that has heen seen for six weeks
ov more no great decline in prices is to be expected. Ex¬
perienced Wall Street people qnestion the wisdom of- much of
this buying, particularly that that has sent the prices of new
issues up so far and so ciuickly, but if it has been misplaced
the fact cannot be proved for some time to come.. As long as
business on the railroads is as good as it is now, to say nothing
of the increase that is anticipated this year, it will be reflected
ill dividends upon stock?, and for so long justify present quota¬
tions. The JesseiiGd value of money must also be taken into
account. This is a new factor in the making of quotations that
does not yet receive the recognition it is entitled to. But for it
the new four per cent, bonds, created in recent reorganizations,
would never sell where they do by ten points, and the issue of
the new S^/^'s would have been impossible. When we see new
stock issues whose returns are limited to four per cent, per
annum and whose ability to permanently earn that return is
doubtful, selling between 60 and 70, when not so long ago 40,
to 50 were good quotations for similar issues, tbe value of
money must be called in to account for thephenomenon. Not¬
withstanding all this, however, the prices of the limited list that
has benefited by recent activity are now at a point that calls
for caution in buying, if they do not altogether prohibit it. -If
the hull movement is to be continued it should be by bestov,'ing
attention on issues that have'been quiescent all this while and
some of whicii are not selling at the figures their prospects war¬
ranted.

__—       a-----------.

THE statement made by Lord Salisbury in the British Parlia-
mentand alsothatmade hyCountVon Bulowin theGerman
ReicJistag, reduce the Chinese question almost to the position
of a commonplace diplomatic incident. . The press of both
countries seem to be stunned by the unexpectedness of this de¬
velopment, they having made such a hullabaloo tha;t nothing
short of impending war would justify; indeed, they are placed,
it must be confessed, in rather a ridiculous position before their
several publics. Still, while apparently all danger of open con¬
flict has passed away, there was uo doubt a time when the posi¬
tion was serious, otherwise tbere would have been ho such min¬
isterial addresses as those made in England and,which electri-
lied the world only a few weeks ago. If there never has been an
acute stage of this question such alarming speeches were repre¬
hensible in the highest degree. However, there was, we may be
sure, a condition of things that required strong words; but, aa
strong words have been sufflcient and strong deeds are not now
necessary, the heads of the several governments concerned deem
it best not to make a fuss about a danger that is past. Lord
Salisbury has gained his point, but does not want to offend his
adversaries, and the latter are putting the best face they can
upon their submission to his wishes. China,'too, avoids a
difticult position, if it is true, as reported, that she has declined
both offers of financial aid, Japan, it is true, in that case, can¬
not be paid and will retain possession of Wei-hai-wei, but it is,
doubtful if she would have given it up even if paid the out¬
standing indemnity for the late war, and it is certain that either
lender would have exacted a good price for any accommodation
afforded. The question that seems to have arisen in the Chinese
Foreign oflice appears to have been, why incur new obligations
simply to change creditors? France at the present moment pre¬
sents the most remarkable condition of affairs that ever was
presented by that nation outside of revolutionary, days, a
small section fighting, for  the.barest justice  and fair play,





against a government whose refusal of these elements of politi¬
cal freedom is supported by an overwhelming majority of the
people. The infusion of anti-Semitism into this difiiculty has a
very serious side. A similar outburst of popular prejudice iti
Viennii, has had the most serious financial effects. That city's
accredited agents recently went from one financial centre to
another unable to procure a paltry loan of twenty millions of
florins, required for the completion of the new gas works. The
loan was finally obtained, but the terms were not as good for the
city as they should have been. Paris is not likely to be brought
to such a pass, but an open persecution of a race so intimately
connected with monetary affairs cannot fail to be prejudicial to
the business interests of the community guilty of it. The French
Forejgn trade reports show that the United States led the list
of foreign countries whose imports into France increased in
1897, its position being due to the large amounts of wheat and
cotton which were required. The Belgian trade reports are
good, and iu Germany considerable improvement has been
noticed since the opening of the year. The effects of the Dingley
Act on the commercial relations of Austria-Hungary and the
United States, so far are shown by recent reports. The new
tariff was put in force on August 1, 1897. In the three months.
August, September and October. Austria sent goods worth 3,175,-
759 florins to the United States, that being 147,535 florins less
than during the same period of 1896, But the imports from
America during that period amounted to nearly ten million
florins, against 8,200,000 florins iu 1896. But these lists only con¬
tain the goods addressed direct to the United States, and a
great part of all exports is sent to Hamburg first, and figures in
the returns of that port. It is for this reason that no sugar is
mentioned in the exports to tlie United States.





SOME attempts are beiug made to set in motion the ma¬
chinery provided, by the charter for securing small im¬
provements through local boards. By reference to our "Notice
to Property Owners" column, it will be seen that several peti¬
tions have been presented to the President of the Borough of
Manhattan for paving, sewers, etc, from different districts, and
d-ates have been set for hearings npon.^them by the several local
boards having jurisdiction. The powers of these boards are but
slight^simply to recommend that proceedings be initiated to
open, close, extend, widen, grade, pave, regrade, repave and
repair streets, avenues and public places and to construct lateral
sewers within their several districts; to flag or reflag, curb or
recurb sidewalks, to-relay crosswalks, to set or reset lamps and
to provide signs designating streets; to hear complaints and
pass resolutions. The Board of Public Improvements must pass
upon the recommendations of the local boards and do the work
recommended if it approves of it. Judging from this it would
almost seem a waste of time to go to the local board at all in¬
stead of applying to the Board of Public Improvements at once.
But as the local board consists of the representatives of the
district in the Municipal Council the taxpayer will doubtless flnd
it easier to interest these in any required improvement and
will also doubtless flnd that such an improvement will have
more chance of adoption by the Board of Public Improvements,
when endorsed by his representatives in the Council.who may
naturally be expected to be good judges of Its propriety and
necessity. Anyway, there is evidently a desire to test the value
of the local board in procuring improvements and abating
nuisances, and this experiment in local self-government, mod¬
erate in' extent as it is, will be watched with much interest.





AMONG the bills now before the Legislature is oue by As¬
semblyman Brennan to exempt buildings in course of
construction or alterations to buildings while incomplete, from
taxation. Attempts have been made before to secure this, small
measure of justice, but they have failed. It may now be hoped
that the present one will be successful. No doubt the measure
will be passed if it is endorsed aud supported by the real estate
and building organizations of this city, and we recommend it to
the attentive consideration of the several legislative committees
of those organizations. It is needless to poiut out the reasons
why the principle of this bill at least should be sustained. If
its terms are in any sense objectionable from the point of view
of the .public interest they should be modifled to bring them in
harmony with the popular rights and wishes. As we have stated
before, by the taxation of a building in course of erection, a
burden is but upon the building industry, the like of which no
other has to bear, and is therefore, an unjust discrimination
against building. There is no more reason why certain iron,
wood, bricks, mortar, or other materials used in building should
be taxed in their incomplete and unproductive state than should
the ingredients used in making soap while in the tanks. The
injustice of this practice of taxing-incomplete building work ig