March 25, 1899^.





Record and Guide





M.





#







EST3lHUSm)V/i

Bdsn^s A)&>lHEKEa or Ccflot^ tKrofsi.

PffflGK    PER   TEAR     IN   ADVANCE    SIX   D0^L.4JR&

Fublitlted every. Saturday,
THUPHOm,                                        COXCUiXDT, 1370.-

CsnuBRDlmUoni aliauld b« addresMd to :

C. W. SWEET. 14-10 Vcsfy Stnet.

/".. 1. LINDSEY, BuaiTiess Manager.

"EntemdatthtPnei-OSteetUlfew York.N. y„ as setutndrctass inatter."





Vol. LXIII.





MAKCH 2o, ISOO,





No. 1.G19.





THERE Is an enthusiastic party in Wall Str&et who apparently
believe a new upward mcvement can be engineered In
stock market values. It is not quite clear what they base their
beliet upon, but an -expectaticn of lower rates for money is part
of it, and confidence in the commercial prosperity cf the country,
probably, the rest. This movement will be very interesting as
affording for future use, a gauge as to how far beyond values
speculative operations can carry prices, by fixing a sort of specu¬
lative high-water mark, so to say. While for a couple of days
the market generally was a little stronger than it had previously
been, the greatest activity was in what might very properly be
called the Mysteries, to distinguish them from other well-known
classes of stccks like the Grangers, Coalers, etc. These are the
issues about whose affairs the public is allowed to know nothing
and which are moved by intiniations of good cr bad conditions,
oracularly delivered from the brokers' offices in which they are
being manipulated. And cn these intimaticns a confiding public,
utterly forgetful of the past history of the Street, so rich in warn¬
ings, will buy. The buyers, however, are not the lambs of con¬
ventional thought, but rather foxes who know the trap is set for
them but cannot reslEl the bait and are sometimes caught, A
satisfactory feature cf the market is the way interest-paying
stock-s and bonds hold their quotations. Railroad securities are
benefited by the bill now before the Legislature at Albany for
enlarging the choice of the savings banks in railroad bond invest¬
ments. This bill, while introduced and promoted by railroad in¬
terests, has, apparently, the approval that silence gives of tbe
savings banks. According to published interviews, as first draft¬
ed, it did not please the latter, but was altered so as tO' secure im¬
munity frcm the cppositicn if i't could not obtain the active sup¬
port of the Institutions affected. Railroad men particularly have
long held that the restrictions in this State on investments by
savings banks in railroad securities were tec severe. The policy
cf the State in this regard is less liberal than that of several
others; but the savings bank presidents do not seem to have
complained and are new undesiroUs of change, and as this policy
has helped to make the New York savings banks the soundest and
safest in the country, the Legislature will, naturally, consider the
matter very carefullly before risking any change. For the bill,
it may be said, that the condition cf the railroad business, and
consequently of the mortgage securities predicated thereon, has
undergone a great change fcr the better since the provisions re¬
lating to savings bank investments in the latter was framed, aud
it may be now possible to show that both railroads and banks
would benefit by a mcderate relaxation of their stringency.





IN supporting the Italian and Belgian demands fcr naval sta¬
tions on the coast of China, Great Britain reveals her policy
toward China, of which the famous "open door" has been only the
screen. By encouraging all the European powers to take up po¬
sitions that will eventually complete a sea-wall—an altogether
new Chinese wall—along the Chinese coast, it is apparent that
Great Britain expects eventually tc see China governed through a
dummy native sovereign, by a beard cf foreign diplomats in
which her own will be chief and iu which tne Russian will be
forced to take part cn pain cf exelusicn. It is a policy cf Euro¬
pean co-operaticn versus Russian exciusiveness, but with Great
Britam dominating the co-cperatcrs. The wish of the United
States as to the future of China has yet to be officially expressed,
bui the adroitness which has recently encouraged this country
into the policy of expansion will probably be suceessfidiy exer¬
cised to secure our assistance in a union against Russian absorp¬
tion Basing our foreign policy as we do on merely mercenary
motives, we shall probably be willing, like ether peoples, to take
what is assigned to us, on failure of an opporunity to act inde¬
pendently and take fcr oitrselves what we need. Our share cf
the white man's burden, unless we can return to the high ethical





principles,of our fathers, will be all the black, browji or yellow
man's money we, cap giet.lnto cur pockets. These things, how-::,
ever, coacern thecommerce of a distant day. At'present.tiie facts
most cperaU-v« are the high,rates for meney and the prospect of
higher cnes in the near future. , In this connection, attention may/
be called to the faot that, although Parliament has been sitting
for neaj-Iy two months, we have heard nothing of the report of the,,
Irudian Currency Commission, but in view,of the circumstances
and the condition cf the money market, this is not tO' be wondered
ait, France and Portugal are opening negotiations for a commer¬
cial treaty. As once between the former country and Italy there-
are now no commercial relations between the two countries based
on the most favorable cnetcms' tariffs, and the trade between
them has co incidentally, if not-consequently, declined." Brttieh
and American trade rights in Madagascar having been obstructed,
in favor of French merchants, complaints a,re being made from,
the Island of inadequate supplies cf cotton' goods. The Prussi-an.
Minister of Public Works has announced that the railways in. the.
manufacturing districts having reached the limit of their capacity.
about 600 miles of new railroads wiil be built. The iron industry
throughout Great Britain and Europe ia more active than ever
and industrial shares in that and collateral lines more in demand.
Negotiations for the fiscal treaty between Austria, and Hungary
are to be begun anew shortly. The capital issues in London,
to date are the highest known in any similar period since 1894,
and perhaps beyond that. Australian bank reports for 1898 in¬
dicate, OB the whcle, an improvement in the affaire of the
country.





THE   WINDSOR    HOTEL   FIRE.

ON Friday afternoon of last week the Windsor Hotel caught
fire from some cause not yet determined, and in a few
hours the building was totally destroyed and many lives were,
leet. The conditions for the rapid spread cf flames in that build¬
ing were quite unusual. At the time the fire started, a St,
Patrick's Day parade was passing the hotel, and nearly every
window of the Fifth Avenue front was open, causing drafts of
air in all directions, and most cf the employees in the hotel had
temporarily abandoned their pests of duty to view the parade.
Where the first first started is uncertain. Some persons think,
that it was in the basement; others that it was in the roof, and
others think it was due to surcharged electrical wires which si¬
multaneously smarted a conflagration in a number of places. Thia
hotel was erected nearly thirty years ago, and, although it pre¬
sented an imposing extericr, the interior construction was of a:
fiimsy character, net even as good as that now required for or¬
dinary tenement-hcuses—in regard to division walls of brick,
strength cf floors and means cf exit. It compned, however, with
the building laws in fcrce at the time of its erection. It must
he remembered that it was not until 18S5 that a comprehensive
law for the better preservaticn of-life and property in buildings
was enacted; and it was not until 1892 that all hotels thereafter
erected were required to be built ureproof.

Quite naturally this fire has directed public attention lo hotels,
and hundreds cf suggestions have been made in the newspapers
to secure safety in hctel structures, some cf these going so far as
to demand that all ncn-flreprocf hotel buildings, shall be torn
down, or their occupancy changed .o some ether use. Several
bills bave been drafted and iutroducea in the ftate I^egislature,
and cne has been drafted by the Corporation Counsel with the
sanction of the building and fire department commissioners to so
amend the Charter as to require the licensing of betels by the
Mayor, to the end that licenses shall be granted only to such
hotels as may be entirely safe fcr inmates, in case of flre. These
proposed laws are all aimed at hotel buildings' in the city of New
York. If such laws are to be placed on the statute books they
should relate to all hctel structures throughout the State; for,
with the exception of as many buildings as can be counted on the
fingers of cne hand, all the hotel buiidings in the State outside of
New York City are of the most combustible character, and class
fcr class are mere dangerous to the inmates than those in this
city. The tact is. that the existing buiidins laws and the laws
relating to the extinction and prevention of hres, the latter under
control cf the fire commissioners, are entirely sufficient to secure
all reascnable safely for the inmates in hotels, if properly and
wisely enforced, without any further legislation. In proof of this
statement we quote some of the requirements contained in tho
laws now in force:

BUILDING L.A.W,

Section 4S4. Fireproof Buildings,—Every building hereafter erected
to be used as a hotel, " " * the height of which exceeds thirty-fivp
feet, EhaU be built fireprcof.

SEction 40S. Fire-Escapes,—* * * Every building already erected,
or tiiat may hereafter be creeled, more than three stories In height,
occupied  and  used  as a hotel,    *    *    •   shall  be provided 'with  swch