September 15, 1900.





RECORD AND  GUIDE.





317







established"^^ ifywpHStfi^ 1868.

BUsdIess ju(dTheses or Ge}1ei^ ll/TEnpi.

PRICE   PER   YEAR    IN    ADVAkcE   SIX    DOLLARS.

Published    every   Saliirdny.
TUL,iE PHONE,                                             Cortlandt 1370.

Com muni cations should be addressed to

C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street.
/.   T.  LINDSEY, Business Manager.

"Entered at the Poat-Office at New Tork. N. Y., aa second-class matter.-'





Vol. LXVI.





SEPTEMBER 15, 1900.





1696.





IT would "be the worst exaggeration to say that there is any
desire to hasten a revival of business now that the vacations
are about over. On the contrary there is a disposition on all
sides to sit still and await events. Bankers, generally, are ad¬
vising caution, and telling their friends that it is advisable not
to do anything until after the election. A similar attitude of the
Savinga banks will be found portrayed in another column. On
the surface it seems as if, by a mysterious agreement, everyone
had got the same idea, that having gone through a dull summer,
it was just as well now to sit still a little longer and see what
the election will reveal before doing anything; the election is
so near now, six weeks or so. that it is hardly worth while to
take any chances, and so forth. But looking under the surface it
will he found that the election has less to do with this inertia
than some other things. As is pointed out by the president of
one of the great savings banks of this city, if nervousness ex¬
isted over political probabilities it would make itself more clear¬
ly apparent, while the only indication he could see was a with¬
drawal of money from his bank slightly above the normal. Cor¬
roboration of this feature of the situation hy otber savings in¬
stitutions suggests that what little fear of political change exists
is confined apparently to a class of people whose means of in¬
formation are so scanty as to make their emotions either way
an idle exhibition. Probably the most potent cause of the wait¬
ing attitude of the business public is the readjustment of com¬
modity prices that is now going on. Producers try to fo.ce the
impression that the reaction in prices has been all that the con¬
ditions require, but consumers decline to take that view, and
maintain that quotations have still further to go on the down¬
ward course. "While bankers, stockbrokers and manufacturers
are content to put off the day of business revival into November,
it is more than likely that they will be compelled to move earlier
in spite of themselves. So soon as the public begins to feei the
need of things, activity commences, and this need may become
apparent at any moment. The stock market has withstood the
shock of the awful news f.'om G-ilveston, the in;pending strike
in the anthracite coal fields ai?d some sligiit indications of a
hardening tendency in money in a way that si;ggesl:s the exist¬
ence of latent strength, which would not be apparent were the
fundamental conditions other than sound. The break in prices
late yesterday afternoon, with accompanying election bets, had
all the appearance of being the result of an organized raid by
traders who saw that the market was nodding.





WHEN some of the chief states of Eurone are running
around trying to borrow money in foreign markets, it
follows, of course, that local capital is tied up so closely as to
create danger of disturbance if a new demand is made on it.
Russia, which is again in the market for a large loan, has always
borrowed abroad, now in London, then in Paris, afterwards in
Berlin, and is now trying the French financial world again. But
when Great Britain, which has hitherto been a generous leaner
to all the world; and Germany, which, for a good many years,
has managed to supply its own needs, come to the United States
for help it shows the extended condition of commercial affairs
abroad in a rather striking way. Besides our own. Prance seems
the only country that has a surplus of capital beyond domestic
needs. In sound rich states this condition of embarrassment, if
such it can be called, is only temporary, but so long as it lasts
it betrays an unsatisfactory condition in finance and commerre
generally. The sign of recovery is the return of the securities
to the country whose government issued them. This was the
case whei) the United States bonds sold abroad during the em¬
barrassment of the last Administration, began to return hither, and
it is the case now when the British war bonds lately placed here
are iinding their way back to London and making unnecessary





the shipments of gold which we expected to make to meet in¬
stalments upon our portion of the loan. Whether the same re¬
sults will follow the placing of a large part of the German loan
here, it is not easy to guess, but it is probable ultimately, if
not immediately. The reported terms of the proposed loan
would ni^ke the bonds so desirable for trust and other purposes
at home that they will inevitably be attracted there whenever
home capital becomes released from its present engagements.
Four per cent at par, if these are the terms, are more than can
now be obtained from either Prussian or Imperial loans in the
home market, and the chances of the new issue going to a pre¬
mium will be better than those that accompanied the British
offering. But we are as much concerned with the extended con¬
dition of European business that this vagrancy of the foreign
chancellors reveals, as with the proud position this appeal to
New York gives it as a world's financial centre.





—t HE Department of Buildings is getting a little more out-
i side abuse just now;, this time because of the order that
no plumbing plans shall be received unless they state the name
of the plumber who is to do the job. To comply with this re¬
quires that the plumbing contract shall be made before the plans
are filed. This owners and architects, naturally, do not want to
do until the plans are approved; because, in the event of modifi¬
cations being required, it places them at the mercy of the plumb¬
ing contractor as to figures, besides giving him an unfair advan¬
tage over those other plumbers, if any, who may have figured
against him on the job. The form that accompanies the build¬
ing plans contains spaces for the insertion of the names of the
owner, architect, mason and carpenter, but an indorsement of
"not selected," satisfies the Department as to the last two.
"There are good reasons why the Department should he a little
more particular about knowing the names of plumbing con¬
tractors, but these seem to be met by paragraph 9 of the Rules,
and Regulations for Plumbing, etc, which says: "It shall not
he lawful to commence work on said plumbing and drainage, or
any part thereof until the plumber who is to do the work shall
sign the specifications and make affidavit that he is duly author¬
ized to proceed with the work." etc. Doubtless the Department
exercises discretion in the enforcement of any order, and the
one requiring that the name of the plumber in advance among
them. It is, therefore, only necessary to know what concession
they allow to put the plumbing plans through easily. But the
existence of an unnecessary order gives irritation, and is there¬
fore better out of the way.





A DEED was placed upon record in the Register's ofiice this
week which was of historical interest and suggestive of
the changes that the city experiences from time to time. The
deed proved title of the German Ev. Lutheran Church of St. Mat¬
thews to the block front on Canal street, between Forsyth and
Eldridge streets, the dimensions being about 200.x75. Recently
the church sold the block front with a depth of 50 feet, and
doobtlcEs the old deed, which dates from 1785, was recorded at
the request of the buyer. It was made by Isaac Stoutenburgh
and Phillip Van Cortlandt, Commissioners of Forfeitures^ which
circumstance reminds us of the Revolution. Toryism and suffer¬
ing for political faith. The names of all the streets on which
the pioperty faces have been changed since the deed was made.
In it Pump street stands for Canal. Second street for Forsyth,
and Third street for Eldridge. The name of the beneficiary has
been changed from the United Lutheran Church to the longer title
given above, and the consideration in the later document, com¬
pared with that of the former, affords an idea of the growth of
values. In the first it is specifled at £150 for the plot 200x75,
and in the second at $200,000 for 200x50, thus leaving out a lot
ecch on the side streets included in the original purchase. The
pound sterling at the date of the deed was worth about fifteen
shillings, and, that brings the consideration down to the modern
equivalent of $540, It happens that the improvements now
standing on the portion of the land recently deeded are old and
valueless and only await the expiring of some leases to make
way for modern buildings, consequently very little more than
land values are to be considered, which makes the comparison
more interesting and easier.





ON another page will be found a couple of resolutions pissed
by the New York Pire Insurance Exchange which ought
to interest the real estate world. These resolutions oppose the
suggestion, made by members of the Firemen's Benevolent Asso¬
ciation, to limit the hours of duty of the men in the service of
the Fire Department of this city. Chief Croker has pointed out
that the work done by the Pire Department will not lend itself
to the adoption of a routine of service for its members, without