Mai;cH 5, 189S.





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Vol. LXI,





MARCH 5, 189S.





No. 1,564





THE dullness tliat has fallen upon Wall Street was to be
expected after t!ie activity that has been seen for a couple
of months, anrl particularly after that caused by Ihe Cuban
scare, though tbe latter rather hastened than caused tbe recent
break. As a matter of f.Tct we have simply seen the end of the
bull movement that began before Christmiis. aud must now look
for dullness accompanied by liquidation by behited bulls and
lower prices, but these only to the extent that the ordinary cir¬
cumstances of the market pi oduce. The fituation is helped by
the keeping up of a good iuvestment demand, though tbis is
very uuicb less than it was a mouth ago, by a good commercial
and industrial situation and by a considerable conseiTatism that
marked the buying on the rise. In the abeeuce of some such
disturbing event as a direct rupture with Spain, the decline
should not be great. Having recovered from the shock eaueed
by the loss of tbe Maine, the public is beginniug to ask, what
the exact situati.)n is, and to tiud that the most serious phase of
our position towards Spain is that the admiuistratiou is as
good as pledged to procure peace iu Cuba aud that Spain on her
part seems determined to re.iec!; and resist aujtbing that looks
like interference. The real extent of the dangtr could only bo
estimated by tnovriug just how far official Spain is sincere in
that determination. There are some who think that while much
noise is made ou the streets on both sides of Ihe Atlantic, the
whole matter is being amicably arranged within the several
foreign offices of the two countries. This is only a surmise, but
it has to sustain it the fact, that the bonds of the two ci'untrieB
are strong. That this should be the case witb Spanish bonds, in
view of the embarrassed circumstances of Spain, points directly
away from the probability of war witb a power of such immense
resources as the United States.





NOTWITHSTANDING that the last half of 1897 gave the
principal English railroads the best gross earnings in
their history, dividend disttibutious were on the whole less,
owing to increases in working expenses and fixed charges. The
present campaign against the Jews in France is accompanied
by some incitements against aliens in general. Oue financial
paper protests against the admission o f foreigners, even when
naturalized, to the coulisse of the bourse. Tbe coal and iron
trades of Germany are active, and as they miuister to most
other trades, this fact is taken as an indication of a revived in¬
dustrial position. Reports from Austria state that that country
is not so much concerned as Germany in putting restrictions
upon the importation of American fruit, because all sitch
reaches Austria via Hamburg and would not be allowed to
cross Germany unless it had heen thoroughly examined at that
port. Experts bave been iut-trueted to study the St. Jose
insect and their report will decide whether imports are to be
forbidden or uot. The commercial and general business con¬
dition of Argentina has improved satisfactorily, the stagnation
in the wool market haviug disappeired. The dispute wilh
Chili appears to he whether the boundary line shall be drawn
on the divide of the Andean water shed or of that of the country.
If oa the latter, a large part of the territory of Patagonia would
be transferred to Chili. The strength of Spanish bonds on the
European bourses in spite of allegeil and known difficulties
with the Uuited States and iu spite of the bad financial pos^ition
of the Spanish treasury is exciting remark. The latest reported
remedy tor the currency troubles of India is an iucrease in the
import duty on silver; that is to relieve a stringency by making
the desired object scarcer. Truly Indian finance is past all
understanding. The nii«ts were closed to the free coinage, of
sOvei nearly fivve years ago; their closing was accomiianied hy
a statement that the act was preliminary to patting the country
on a gold basis, but so far not a rupee of gold money has been
coined and little or nothing seems to be done to remedy tbe
evils that are growing up as a result of this neglect.   The clos¬





ing of the mints was a wiae step in view of the circumstances,
and the expectation that a gold basis could be made, was a
natural and proper one. But, now seeing that thia expectation
is doomed to disappointment, why is not somethine else done
to supp'y the currency wants of the country and to preveiit
scarcity?





BELATED IMPROVEMENTS AND THEIR REMEDY.

■"T^HE question opened last week in these columos, "Shall the
■^ limit of municipal debt be the measure of munici[)al im¬
provement?" ]s one so fuil of interest and importance that we
do not apologize for continuing to discuss it, as we now propose
to do. The condition of practical suspension in which tbe de¬
velopment of this city now is, arises from the fact that insnfli-
cient consideratiou has been given to the whole matter of
municipal improvement and development, and that, conse¬
quently, neither the latter or the means to procure them have
been thought out in a thorough or scientitic way. Very little
thought is required to enable one to see that this is wrong

Let us take the matter of improvementi*. How are Ihey pro¬
cured ? By a system—if system it can be called at all—that is
best described as haphazard. In a city that grows naturally as
fast as this does, to aay nothing of growth forced by legislation,
although that too should be takeu into account, demands for
public works come from all quarters, and are proportionately as
pressing from oue as from another; but, owing to the idea that
only tbe municipality itself can supply them and that its hands
are tied bv tbe limit put upon its borrowing powers, only a
small portion can be granted, and these are as likelv ae not
to be granted through political favoritism rather than because
of tbeir necessity. The consequence is that we are always
behindhand in the matter of local improvements. The last
Commissioner of Public Works was well within the truth when
he said that New York City was ten or fifteen years behind the
time in tbis respect. There has never been, and there is not to¬
day any plan, tentative, or well thoiightout, local or comprehen¬
sive, for the improvement and development of this city. As a con¬
sequence we have some magnificent works to show, Central
Park, the Riverside Drive, the Brooklyn Bridge, and at the same
time forty-seven miles of streets, twelve or fifteen below 59fh
street, including five miles soulh of Grrtud Street, without
sewers; paving that would disgrace a fifth-rate town, and
docks that are out of date, unspeakably inadequate to known
requirements, notwiihstanding that New York is and has
always been the greatest port in this country. This state of
things is the Iresult of the policy of expedience, which seems to
have characterized our whole past, and tbe absence of deliber¬
ate plan and provision.

To-day we are doing no better. Wobave forinstance, a Dock
Depaitment that has laid out a scheme of improvement of the
water fronts of Manhattan Island that has met with approval
from all sides, chiefly because itis comprehensive and has been
piepared by the best tkill with a view to meeting lequirfroenta,
The most painful thought regarding that plan is that, owing to
the way we are going about it, it will take so many years to
carry out. But even thia plan, admirable as it is in many ways,
is defective scientifically, because it has n<it been considered
iu its probable relations to other improvements that may he
demanded or madeiu theinterior of the island, or at its outlets.
The Dock Department and the engineers wno are advising them
are precluded from going beyond tbe port requirements, the
facilities for loading and unloading ships and the storage and
receipt and dispatch of sea-going merchandise. But, if our
improvements were properly planned, the dock scheme would
be considered in connection witb otheis so as lo produce har¬
monious results, which could best be produced concurrently
with its execution. No one has the faintest idea or gives a
thought to what an improved dock system will necessitate
elsewhere. Will it involve the widening of other than mar¬
ginal streets, or call for bridges or tunnel.'? No one seems to
consider this ciuestion. Yet the scheme of dock improvement,
indicates so vast an incieasein the commerce of thecityasmust
produce the greatest ehauges in present conditions in Man¬
hattan.

So things have gone on and are going on, and no one in
authotity seems to think it worlh while asking himself if they
really need go on in tbis way. Any suggestion to the contrary
is met by an allusion to the corstitufional debt limit, \y which
we are also ro infer that a public improvement csm only be exe¬
cuted by the city and paid for out of bonds issued by the city;
or in other words, as we ha\e said before, that the debt limit
shall arbitr.irily in its turn limit the measure of advancement
the city shall make. It undoubtedly has done so hitherto, but,
it is a fair question to ask, whether that need be alwa.is the
case? Is there noway of avoiding the injurious check which
,8uch a system may at any moment give us, such a check for in¬
stance as this city has received from the consolidation which