October 28, 1899.





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Vol. LXIV.





OCTOBER 28, 18!)».





No. 165;i





TXT HEN the Treasury made its offer to pay in auvaoce in
* ^ terest maturing on government bonds during the cut-
rent fiscal year, it was thought that it would alarm more than
relieve. As a matter of fact. the offer dates the heginning of
the présent advance in the stock market and the comparative
ease in the money market. Consequently, it has to be admitted
that the move was a wLse one, and that in this, as în all his other
preceding measures to relieve the immédiate situation, Secretary
Gage has scored a decided success. In parenthesis lt may be re¬
marked that this proves the desirability of having a practical
financier in contro! of the flnancial branch of the administration,
especially in a country whose eurrency arrangements handicap
business at particularly inconvénient moments. Following the
relief afforded by the Treasury to the money market, comes the
«ncouragement to be found in récent reports that reveal the
enormous activity of business throughout the country. This week
alone we hâve statements regarding the steel business, and the
préparations the great railroad companies are making to Increase
their equipments, in order to handie the enormously increased
business their managers foresee, which naturaily excite the most
flattering anticipations in the minds of those people who look for
announcements from these sources to guide them in their own
undertakings, The railroad of all industries is the one most
interested in gauging the business future correctly, not only be¬
cause on it, as the transport service, lies the duty of keeping the
armies of industry supplied and in motion, but also hecause its
own pecuniary success dépends upon the correctness of its views,
There is, then, good reason for acceptîng the views now expressed
by the captains of the railroad industry as the best that can he
obtained for practical guidance. At the same time, it must be
remembered that the managers of raiiroads look at the commerr
eial more than the financial prospect, and while tbere is every
reason to accept their opinion that the country has two or three
years of industrial and commercial activity betore It, this raay
not be effectuai in preventing uncomfortable moments in the
money and share markets. Such activity may, indeed, he again,
as it has been receûtly, combined wîth over-speculation, the
cause of trouble în both. In the past two weeks there has been
sound buying in the stock market, and, while money is easier,
it is still comparatively high, but there is also présent a spécu¬
lative feeling that must hâve play; witness, for instance, the
iidvancing movement in both railroad and industrial canines
and félines, which will be followed by its usual conséquences.
Meantime, of course, this spéculative feeling will put up prices
and the bold will proflt as usual at the expense of the timid
and laggard.





IN spite of the unlaudable endeavors of the yellow presses on
hoth sides of the Atlantic to scare us wîth suggestions of
impending disaster to the British forces in South Afriea, it is
apparent that those forces are keeping the Boers well employed
pending the completion of the British military plans on the
ground, which will now soon be perfected. The movements of
the stock markets further indicate an absence of alarm about the
outcome of the war or îts effects upon the propeny of the gold
mining companies. While we hear so much talk of this belng a
war of greed, and that the Rand gold lands are its real object,
it may not be entirely useless to point out that this gold country
practically belongs to Great Britain already through the invest¬
ments of her people, The présent may not he iu any sensé a
"holy" war, hut it is more one ■kuMÉa^Û^estments atready
made than to seize Boer land. whJB^wrircmis or agricultural
simply, The terms upon which ilSpilU 1iDaïÎ7'be settled dépend,
as all such matters do, upon tbe ccsï'to'tihe-cornbalant that proves
to be the more powerful of the twô '^ii''Mlclf'ael Hicks-Beach, in
the  HousG of Commcns,  stated  di          ''   of  ibe expense   that





Britain wouid be called upon to meet would hâve to be borne by
the Transvaal, and from this it may be taken that the govern¬
ment of which he is a member has no thought at présent of an-
nexation, What they may ultimately hâve to do, there is no man
who can s,ay, not even among themselves, for the reason that
the final outcome must dépend upon circumstances created by
and during the struggle. The activity in the naval yards oE
Europe concurrently with this land war will give a new impetus
to business and put off the reaction that had already begun to
make its appearance. In a country as large as this and which,
even late events and présent happenings considered, is a moder¬
ate spender Eor military purposes, we bave very little idea of the
effect upon trade this sort of thing has rn a country as small as
Great Britain, and that uses money so lavishly in military emer-
gencies. While they appear to be extravagant, these expendi¬
tures are. however, measures of prudence, because they make
other nations very cautious in the support they give to the other
side, While the military justification is their first object, thèse
expenditures at the same time help the business of the country
very materially. for the time being at least. Encouraged hy these
facts the exchanges bave developed considérable activity also,
despite the high points at which the typical discount rates are
maintained and the certain call of heavy proportions from the
government on the money market. On the continent, too, a tem¬
porary ease in money has had a similar effect, though not so ex¬
tensive, but the financial authorities still hold that stringency
will be felt again hefore the year is out. Appearances and précé¬
dents alike support that view. Any attempt of the Bank of Eng¬
land to draw goid from the continent, where it cannot he spared,
will be met hy higher rates.





NOS.   5    AND     7   t AST    66TH    STREET.

IN the huilding activity, in the way of private dwellinga, upon
the east sîde of Central Park, from 59th street, yea, even
until SOth street, there is a certain or uncertain proportion which
is either instructive or entertaîning. The judîcîous and ex¬
perienced observer cannot possibly fail to numher among theae
the large house-front now nearing completion, and practically,
so far as concerns the exterior, now already completed, at Nos. 5
and 7 East 66th street.

Although the front occupies two numbers, it is in fact only a
single house-front, and of course that is a very good thing for
ic in all ways. The stupîd tyranny of the New York deep lot, of
itself a conséquence of the New York street-system, has never
been more markedly exemplified than in the popular préjudice
that the city lot which resulted from the délibérations oE the
Commissioners of 1807, was rather more than the normal unit of
space, and that a house which occupied the whole of such a lot
was, by that fact, a prétentions sort oE abode. The plain fact
is that a décent house, with its excessive depth now assumed as
one of the requirements, cannot be built upon even a whole city
lot, and that a man who îs able and willing to build a really
habitable house for his family ought, as a prellminary, to ac¬
quire more than the "normal" unît of space, made normal by
tboFe wonderful men of whom ît may he truly said that the evil
Ihat Ihey did lives after them,

Ycu must really acquire more than the authorized unît of
space if you désire, and ean afford, to be decently comfortable,
meaning, among other things, if you désire to hâve every room
in your bouse decently lighted and aired. You really cannot
attain this moderate goal unless you can afford to occupy more
than one lot. And so a number of people are finding out, who,
a génération ago, would bave built upon the "normal unit" pro¬
vided for them by the city, and would bave deemed themselveB
guilty of a want of proper municipal feeling if they had doue
anything else,

However this may be, there is no doubt that a comfortable
iu d well-lighted house, not too outrageously deep, can be built,
il! Uie worst and most fashionable quarters of New York, upon a
frcntage of 45 feet. One has a kindness for a man, no matter
how rich he may liave the misfortune to be, who begins his
house building in the right way, by insisting upon having room
*r.ough, no matter how much his neîghbors. by "extensions" or
otherwise, insist upon shutting off his supply of that ligbt and
air without which it is simply not possible to bring up a family
under wholesome conditions.

.à... tbis is net architecture, but when we come to architecture,
Llie case is quite as strong. Every new device to which an ar-
i-bileci lias recourse to give some interest and individualîty to
a twenty foot or twenty-five fcot front testifies anew to the hope-
lesEuess of the attempt, It is true that a clever and unscrupu-
lous designer may make an individual success, at the expense
cf his neîghbors, of a twenty-flve foot front, or even less. But
lo make a neighhorly building in a fashionable quarter, he must
hâve more frontage than that.  On the other hand, if an architect