July 30, 1898.





Record and Guide





153







Dn6iil>TPl^Esi>TC.BuiLoiiJb A^n£<nuRjeM(»saAuDES(it^)^

BtfSDfESS fllD ThEUES or GEflEII^l llflEI^l«
PRICE     FER   YEAR     IN   ADVANCE    SIX   DOLLARS.

PuMts/ted every Saturday/
TrntMraovm,                                             Oostlajidt 1370-

t^ommunlcations should ti« addreBsed to

C. W. SWEET, 14-10 Vesey Street.

J. I. LINDSEY, Business Ma/nager.

"XnUrtd mt Vu F»st OffiM tU New Torh, N. T., as see«nd-elatB matter."





Vol. LXIL





JULY 30,1898.





1,535





ALL the buying tlie recent good news brought into- the Stock
Market was more than offset by realizing, and as a con¬
sequence the end of the week sees the market weaker than it
opened. The mistake bulls are making is in overlooking the fact
that prices are comparatively high and that all the arguments
they use to support iheir position apply only to times when
prices are low. There is not a favorable event that has occurred
recently 'that had not been anticipated and discounted. Besides
this the near future promises to create some momentous issues
the bearing of which, if they really do eventuate, it is not pos¬
sible at this moment to define, and this naturally creates caution
among thinking people. The prospect of another movement of
gold this way is one of those things, previously alluded to, that
have their best effects when prices are low. This movement, if
it attains large proportions, as it may^ easily do, will surely be
accompanied by the^selling of our securities from London as the
last one was.





AMONG the British railroad companies which Increased divi¬
dends for the past half year is the City anci South London,
which operates the pioneer electric railroad in the metropolis.
The dividends have risen steadily from a half of one per cent,
for the first half of 1S92 to 2% for the six loonths ended June
SOth. On the strength of this success a number of other short
electric underground railroads have been projected, one of which,
the Waterloo and City, was recently opened. Is there any lesson
for the City of New York in these circumstances? A bill is now
before the French Parliament to permit the creation of agricul¬
tural warrants, by which tenant farmers may borrow money on
crops, either in the ground or harvested. It has passed the
Chamber of Deputies and is now before the Senate, The object
of the bill, as explained by the Minister of Agriculture, is to re¬
lieve the tenant farmer from the frequent necessity of putting
his crops on the market as soon as gathered to pay the costs of
harvesting or debts incurred during cultivation. The Hungarian
government has prepared a customs' tariff to be put into execu¬
tion in case the States Treaty between Austria and Hungary
should not be renewed, because of insurmountable obstacles put
in the way of its renewal. The Rand gold production for June
was 344,670 ozs., the largest in the history of the field. The pro¬
duction for the half-year was 1,961,663 ozs., compared with the
following for the corresponding periods of the years named:
1897, 1,388,430 ozs.; 1896, 1,054,503 ozs., end 1895, 1,113,247 ozs.
The retrenchment bill in the Argentine Parliament is receiving
more favorable attention than was expected. The boundary dis¬
pute with Chili promises to be capable of a peaceful settlement;
prominent men in both countries having been recently profuse in
I their expressions of a desire to avoid a conflict. The fact that
; both republics are seriously embarrassed financially has. prob-
, ably, a good deal to do with the pronouncement of these pacific
views. Eastern merchants, the world over, are waiting anxiously
for the report of the British Government Committee on the In¬
dian currency, which is expected soon to appear. Since its ap¬
pointment the scope of the Committee's inquiry has been broad-
■ ened very considerably. They have power to consider not only
, the Indian Council proposals for the creation of a gold standard,
but also the advisability of re-opening the Indian mints to the
free coinage of silver. In the event of the latter remedy for
India's currency troubles being suggested it is thought that it
will be accompanied by a recommendation, if not a condition,
' that negotiations be opened with other silver-using countries,
tile United States and France, for instance, for co-operative
action.





Revenue Law, makes it absolutely necessary that a decision
should be obtained from the Treasury Department which will
guide the collectors and serve as a basis for further action by
property-owners, if any should be needed. In order that this de¬
cision should be a just one, steps should be taken to acquaint the
Treasury Department with the circumstances and facts of the
ease. To our mind the difficulty is a comparatively simple one.
Leases are taxed various amounts, to be represented by equiva¬
lent stamps affixed, according to the length of their terms, the
minimum tax being twenty-five cents. It has been the custom,
particularly in the tenement districts, to use a form of receipt
which is at the same time a lease, inasmuch as it sets out the
conditions of living and occupancy. Such receipt-leases, as they
may be called, whenever used must, of course, be stamped. But
this difficulty can be gotten over by a simple change of practice
which will suggest itself to the minds of owners and agents. If U
has not already done so. That is our view. But some collectors
hold that the War Revenue Law is so worded that any receipt for
rent, being a memorandum relating to the hire, etc., of land or
tenement, must be stamped. This, to our mind, is a strained and
unfair reading of the law, and we do not think It will be adopted
by the law advisers of the Treasury Department. If such should
be the ruling it will create for property-owners hardships and In¬
justice never intended to be created by Congress. For instance a
tax of twenty-five cents on every monthly receipt would, in in¬
numerable instances, especially in the poorer sections of the
city, entirely wipe out the property-owners' Income, and he
would either have to suffer the loss, or protect himself by raising
rents and, in the latter case, the still poorer tenant would have to
bear the burden of the unjust and onerous tax. Still harder cases
would arise where rents are accepted in small Installments, ac¬
cording to the ability of the tenant to pay for the time being.
However, we think it is only necessary that the Washington
officials should be informed of the facts to obtain trom them a
fair ruling.





THE conflict of opinion that has arisen among the collectors
of Internal revenue reierred to in another column, as to
yb^tjief' A jr^ceipt for rent requires to be stamped under the War





NEW   BUILDING   LAWS.

SEVERAL of the larger cities In the United States within the
past year or two have so thoroughly amended and changed
their respective building ordinances as in effect to provide tor
themselves new ones. Chicago is one of the latest of the great
cities to issue a new building ordinance, the work of a commis¬
sion of nine members appointed by the Mayor, with the con¬
currence of the City Council, and made up of three aldermen,
one architect, one insurance underwriter, two builders, one real
estate agent and one civil engineer.

A comparison of some of these latest ordinances—say Phila¬
delphia's, St. Louis', and Chicago's—one with the other and
each with the New York law make a very Interesting study and
reveal how varied are the ideas of lawmakers as to how the pub¬
lic safety can best be conserved in providing specifically for the
construction of buildings. The New York law has served as the
main guide in every instance, the exact wording being frequently
taken, but nearly always more or less eased up. The new or¬
dinances contain very few features relating to construction that
■are not included in the New York law, but in detail each new or¬
dinance deserves the closest attention and study by those who
are to draft the Building Code for Greater New York. If the
technical features of the present New York law are found to be
too stringent for other large cities, then the coming commission
of revision should tone down the New York requirements, for
while it is all very well to say, as is so frequently said, that thia
city should set an example in building safely and well, yet when
there is no good reason why buildings of the same class in one
large city should not be as well constructed as in another. N<?w
York is put to a disadvantage In cost by being compelled to do
much that is elsewhere deemed to be unnecessary.

The Greater New York, made up as It is, of densely populated
sections.of sparsely populatedsections,o£ villages and of farming
lands, will call for the most careful consideration in the formula¬
tion of a code of building ordinances, and in performing this task
doubtless many excellent suggestions are to be found In the
latest building codes of other cities. At the same time New
York's new code should not be in any part a copy of the codes
adopted in any other city. New York has always led, and other
cities have followed, and this order of things should continue.
No other building iaw is as full and complete as the New York
law of 1S92, none other so simply expressed nor as well put to¬
gether in the sequence or order In which buildings are erect-d
from the excavation to the constructional finish.

If the new building code for Greater New York, a code which
is to be applicable to more diversified territory than is included
within the boundaries of any other city in the world. Is to hold
its own against all other cities-more, if it is to stand as a model
for other cities great or email to copy-then this Important
work should be entrusted only to the hands of those who have