July 7, 1900.
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~Vol. LXVI.
JULY 7. 1000.
IBSU,
Tli-e Index to Vohimp LXVofthe Jfecorrl avd Gvide, coveriiif/the
â– period heiwecn Jammrn Isf mnJ Juvr ^Olh. 1900, iriU he ready
Jor dellvm-y Jnhj ^\sl. Price. $1. This Ind<x in its enlarfjcd
form is now reeorim::rd as iiidispevsable io evei-y one enf/aficd or
â– interested in real estate and hvildinf/ operatiovs. It covers all
transaotlons—deeds mortr/aoes, leases, auciion sales, Imildimi plans
.filed, etc. Ordn-s for the Index h]iovld be sent at o-itce to the
office of piiUii'fitloii. 1-1 and 1(1 I'esri/ Street.
IF, in spite of heavy liquidation and bad news from abroad,
our security market advances, as -was the case this week,
there must be very good reason for the movement. At the out¬
set it appeared as if the financial disturbances in Berlin, follow¬
ing those lately reported from St, Petersburg and Moscow, and
the dreadful doubts and uncertainties that exist regarding
Americans and Europeans in Pekin, as well as the enormous
-military and delicate diplomatic problems that the condition nf
â– China generally has raised, would work damage to prices. But
opposed to these things there comes a clearing of the home busi¬
ness situation, but above everything else in commercial signifi¬
cance a result at the Democratic convention at Kansas City that
the most sanguine Republican could have hardly hoped for. a
re-assemblying under an already discredited leadership in de¬
fense of a dead issue, that practically gives the battle in advance
to the foe. On the appearance of this state of things, the specu¬
lative element have begun to discount the victory of the Repub¬
lican forces, and the conservative element view it with the ut¬
most satisfaction, because it means a long interval in whicli
"business can be carried on without fear of disturbance from
crazy economical notions, or the controlling of the government
by people whom it is hard to characterize in their united form
by means of party appellations, and who appear to be utterly
ignorant of even the fundamentals of the principles upon which
.modern civilized government is based. It is hardly stretching
the point to say that for a parallel of ideas as to means and ob¬
jects that prevail at Kansas City, we would have to go to Pekin,
leaving out, of course, the atrocity of the Chinese, As the latter
.seem to think that all they have to do is to kill off all the for¬
eigners in the land and they will be gone forever, knowing
nothing of the punishment that must as a necessity follow, so
the conventioners of Kansas City seem to think that if they can
â– only impose their absurd notions on the country everything will
go well, although nothing could be better calculated to make
them go ill. It is no wonder then that the speculative are al¬
ready discounting a McKinley victory. It is hardly possible
that between the nominations and the voting the American
people will not find an occasion for scaring themselves about
probable results, and that the effects will be seen in the stock
market, but those who keep their heads level will not be mis¬
led by this national trait that sends us into every conflict, im-
-agining defeat. The result is foregone all the same, and the
logical expectation in the market is eventually higher prices.
There are, too, forces at work endeavoring to put the iron and coal
trades on a basis that will meet present conditions and encour¬
age renewed activity in those and other lines of business; this,
as regards commerce generally, is one of the best signs possible,
,inasmuch as it indicates confidence in sound political conditions.
and, given that, a continuing phase of our industrial trading
,and financial prosperity.
IT does not appear that the offering of the bonds of German
cities in the New York market was followed by any very
great response, and that makes it doubtful whether it is true, as
reported, that arrangements are being made for fioatiug a large
^Imperial loan here. Yet, as time goes on, we ought to be pre¬
pared to see such operations successfully conducted here. They
will follow, natiu-ally frpm the growth of our foreign trade.
When we dispose of our immense surpli of iron, coal, lumber
and manufacturies of all kinds, we must not expect that we
shall get and bring back simply gold for all of them. We will,
as we do now, take our pay largely tn goods that our customers
have to sell, only making settlements in gold from time to time.
When our foreign trade grows still larger, and the balances
grow proportionately in our favor, we will find ourselves ac¬
cepting besides commodities and gold in final settlements, the
securities of our customers also. That is the way our surplus
capita], through the agency of produce and manufactures, will
find profitable investment abroad, and eventually our stock ex¬
change will have a foreign department, as have already the ex¬
changes of the great capital-owning countries like Great Britain
and France. Germany has of late years had its comparatively
limited capital so absorbed by the industrial development of the
Empire and the neighboring countries whose financial needs it
is supposed to supply, that government and municipal loans
have not merely depreciated, but in some instances have gone
abegging when issued, owing to the small return they offered
compared with industrial stocks. It is not surprising that, see¬
ing the ease of our money market, foreigners should en¬
deavor to interest us in their stocks and bonds, though they
mistake the conditions and are a little ahead oC time. At pres¬
ent we have no money to loan for the comparatively low re¬
turns that foreign public securities make. We have capital em¬
bodied in goods to invest that way as soon as our friends abroad
are willing to take the goods. The Russian government bonds
placed here some time ago where only taken in payment for
railroad material, it would have been irapcssible to sell them
for cash. But this operation, as well as the offering of German
issues mentioned above, show bow our communications and
trade will eventually cosmopolize our security market.
"T" HE awful calamity on the Hoboken dock-front has given
the public and the press a reason for demanding the early
improvement of the docks on this side of the Hudson River,
where an occurrence similar to that that happened ou the west
shore would have probably been attended by greater loss of life
and property. Why we are so behind the times in the matter of
facilities for handling our water-borne trade appeared in the
interview with the President of the Dock Board published in
these pages some weeks ago. It was, in effect, the apparent im-
possiblity of getting the city authorities, outside of those direct¬
ly interested, to see the necessity and importance of moderniz¬
ing our docks. With a better perspective the country farmer in
the Legislature can see them, and is willing to sanction liberal
appropriations in order that the work may be done, but the
local official has his vision obscured by the petty interests that
object to Improvements, because they may possibly be disturbed
from their present berths. The retention or improvement of
the dock-front is merely a matter of the small and large view
of the situation, and unfortunately at the present time the
former prevails.
â– p^ LSEWHERE in this issue the official totals of the tax val-
-^-' nations for the several boroughs will be found. It should
be noted that they sustain the accuracy of those we gave last
week, which afforded our readers valuable information in ad¬
vance of those of any other paper. The next point of interest
in this connection is the tax-rate, which will not be officially
named by the Municipal Assembly until the opening of next
month, but which is so entirely a matter of arithmetic that,
given the necessary figures, any one may calculate it. The
figures, however, come along slowly and are not yet complete.
The best estimate of the rate to-day for Manhattan aud the
Bronx is 2.30, with the probabilities on the side of lowering
rather than raising it. As each county pays its own expense.?,
there must be four county rates within the city, and as these are
high or low they will vary the standard for the several bor¬
oughs.. But the main fact stands that for general city purposes
the rate may be from eighteen to twenty cents lower than that
of last year. It has been pointed out that the reduction is not;
due to lessened expenditures. This is true, partly because it is
not the tendency of the expenses of large and thriving cities to
reduce, but on the contrary, to increase. If New York is more
extravagant than other cities, that is a matter that should re¬
ceive attention from property owners, but it will be found that
with expansion of area and growth of trade and population our
expenses will increase. Nor is this to be regretted, if the
means to support them increase in greater ratio. It does not
follow that a tax rate reduced by smaller expenditures must
necessarily be satisfactory; it might on the contrary be quite
otherwise, if it revealed economy achieved at the expense of