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RECORD AND GUTDË!^
433
ESTABLISHED^/AAHPH ?1U^ 1868,
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Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
J. 1. LJNBSEY, Business Manager.
"E'iler.d %t the Post'Oûioe at l^ew York, N. T., assecond-ela»s matter."
Vol. LXIV.
SEPTEMBER 23, 1S90.
No. 1Q4Ô
TBE DBWEY HOLWAYS.
In conséquence of the Dewey Holidays Friday and Saturday
next weelc, and ike closimg ofthe eity offices, the Record a/nd Guide
will be issued on Thu) silay morning.
NOW tliat the Stock Market has had îts bi-eak and the heaiing
rise has come to prevent panic, the question to be consid¬
ered is what is the outlook for the near future? The break itself
and its peculiarities wil! be found fully treated in another col¬
umn. Generally, a smashîug of prices in any direction is followed
by a rapid reactiouary rise, and it in tui'u by a slow décline which
is sometimes racre severe in its efEect than was the flrst break.
At the moment ihe excellent condition of the country's business
and the probability that it has not yet developed itself to its fuli-
est estent may make the after effects of this break less severe
than that of others has been. Certainly the events of the past
week or two will discourage spéculation for some time to come,
As money will, in all probability, be fairly dear for the balance
of this year that wiil be another obstacle to activity in the Stock
Market. By far the best feature in the situation is found in the
many instances in which securities are now'giving returns to
their holders which a couple of years ago were .among the non-
producing class. This gives the market as a whole an extent of
sustaining power that it has not possessed for a good many years.
Still the great sustainer is money, and unless that is readily
forthcoming values are sure to shrink. In this counecticn it is
pleasing to note that this couutry has renewed its ability to draw
supplies from Europe, and that Europe reeognizes this fact and is
prepared to see it operate. That exchange brokers make light of
the small shipment that has already been arranged for is easily
explained on the theory that no man wants to lay bare his own
business. It is not so much what we are about to immediately re¬
ceive as what we apparently can obtain in an emergency that is
significant.
DREYFUS has been relieved of the conséquences of a crime all
the world, less a small fraction, believes he did not com¬
mit, and General Gallifet has officially "ciosed the incident." This
may do for the French army, but the world at large will give the
injured man the chance to prove his innocence that his country
refused him. For all his Podsnappian vigor, Gen. Gallifet and
the French army will hâve to hear a good deal of Dreyfus yet,
Still, the gnns refuse to go off iu SouLh Afriea, ând latest reports
suggest that Prerident Krug.?r is demonstrating to his people
their complète isolation from outside help in an endeavor to
bring them to see the necessity of a yielding compromise. From
the confusion of statement regarding the Transvaal contention it
has been almost impossible to discover an ethical side to the
British position, but looking through the dust raised by the con-
tentients it appears to be this; That in the Boer attitude there
is an obstacle to the merging and intercommunication of the peo¬
ple of South Afriea that is absolutely necessary to the progress of
the country as a whole, and which if not removed must iuevitably
produee trouble and the shedding of blood. From that point of
view it as much as if Mormonism, leaving out its polygamy,
had been allowed to maintain Utah as territory exclusive to the
.populations pressing around it. Whatever exception may be
Yken to the justice of the British case, as thus stated, it is cer-
w.nly held by the best minds that support the demands on the
Transvaal. Turning to European business, the impression is ob¬
taining t^rency that it is now at high-water mark, and spécula¬
tion is engas^ jj, determining when the turn of the tide wiU
â– come. The retui^ j British government revenue for the year
a generous scale of abatements in several classes, produced near¬
ly a million sterling more than it did in the previous year. A
number of other interesting flgures are available, but for which,
however, we cannot find space in a summary review like this.
Agitations for increase of pay among workpeople are as notice¬
able abroad as they are hère; shipping interests in England and
coa! mining in France are particularly affected by thèse. The
prospects for money in Germany are creating as much anxiety
as they did at this time last year, with the hope of aid from this
side of the Atlantic, which existed for good reasons then, now
absent. To relieve the acuteness of the demand for manufactur¬
ing iron and steel a temporary suspension of the duties thereon
has been suggested by the protectionist "Kolner Volks Zeitung."
It is stated that the tmion of manufacturers of half-finished iron
and steel hâve been able to promise only 38% of the amount
of meta! required by customers for the first half of 1900. In Aus¬
tria a good harvest has brought about a change iu favor of the
textile industries of the country. The Argentine proposa! in
relation to the eurrency is to couvert paper into goid af a rate
équivalent to a premium of 127^^ on the latter. If adopted, the
date of conversion is to be fixed by deeree. Australian affairs
hâve been improved by needed rains in New South Wales and the
Melbourne (Victoria) Exchange reports an increase iu business
on the bull side,
'1898-9 were most satio.
Hory; incoçae tax alone, notwithstanding
WHAT CAUSES THE N0ISE7
-T-HERE are a great many people in this city to whom a bnild-
â– ^ ing iaw is not a new thing, and there are a great many peo¬
ple to whom it is. The former class are rather puzzled to know
why the latter are making such an extraordinary uproar about
the,uew code. They can't quite make out why this particular doc¬
ument has excited the pious, the sentimental, the partisan and
the offieious to walk the streets waving their hands and getting up
a gênerai uproar, The experienced ask one another, "What has
happened? What new and dreadfiU thing has been thrust upon
us?" They then turn to the new code itself and flnd that it is
pretty much the same !aw that has governed building opérations
in New York City for many years past. There is no change in it
tbat is at all radical, no dynamite that will bring all our houses
down on our heads, neither are there any new burdens proposed
by its régulations that wi!! be found onerous by au honest builder
who has to deal with practical and not theoretic conditions. It
does not vary from the law it is intended to replace any more
than that law varied from the Iaw preceding it. Our building
laws hâve all beeu compromise measures, in which a sort of av¬
erage has been struck between conflicting interests that must be
dealt with, and between the theoretic and the practical conditions
under which building is carried on in a big city like New York.
Everyone knows a compromise measure can never be "perfect,"
but it can be even better—it can be workable, and the Experi¬
enced are ready to affirra, without hésitation, that any attempt to
make a building law from the point of view held by nine-tenths
of those who are now criticising the proposed code, will be either
futile or disastrous. The prohability is, we should hâve a law
that wouid be largeiy disregarded in practice.
When people clamor for a buiiding iaw which shall not confer
discretionary power upon officiais, aud shall, at the same time,-
not favor any particular set of material men, they are demandine
the impossible. A building Iaw must either specify materials and
deflne methods, or it must leave thèse matter to the discrétion of
some officiai—having, of course, formulated a standard for him
to adhère to. Both courses hâve their evil. One course produces
an inflexible code which does not admit the use of new diseov¬
eries and improvements, and the other course puts great power
for extortion or tyranny in the hands of dishonest ofBcials. Hith¬
erto our building laws bave steered a middle course between thèse
two rocks.
The noise regarding the présent code springs from obvious
causes, First of all, our building laws hâve hitherto been passed
in Albany, uot in New York, and distance perhaps has deterred
the public and the press from giving much attention to them.
One extraordinary thing about the présent agitation is that it
aims to throw back the making of our building îaws to Albany,
In other words, the first use we make of home rule is to strive
to abolish it, The buildiug Iaw is a very important home meas¬
ure, and the charter very properly considered it a matter that
could be better attended to in New York City than up in Albany;
yet, the opponents of the présent code don't hesîtate to say that
they are now "flghting for time," in order to relegate the subject
to the State législature when it convenes next January, Those
who base their opposition to tbe code on a belief that there are
"politics" in it, must see that this is a very admirable way to
purge the code! In Albany there are no "politics."
Another source of trouble is the tenement houae sentlmental-
ista. We hâve often referred to this impractlcable crowd, mo»t