December 8, 1900.





HECORD AND   GUIDE.





773







toi)-[fl) p Re^L EsTAJI . BuiLOIfJG ^^RCKUECTUfiE .HoUSEHOlL DEGO^jOMt

Bus[rJESs Alto Themes of GejJeraL iKiEfiEai.

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Published every Saturday.

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Vol. LXVI.





DECEMBER 8, 1900.





No. 1708.





THE st-ock market presents an irregular appearance, but one
perfectly natural under the circumstances of the hour. Mere
speculation has ceased to be safe, but there is much money seek¬
ing use and many securities that have yet to benefit by the good
business that has been done in recent years throughout the coun¬
try. There is. therefore, a good demand for anything that pays
more than can be got from gilt-edged issues, or for securities
unpaying hitherto, with good or even fair prospects of dividends
or interest in the near future. The wisdom of many of these
purchases from the investment point of view is open to question,
but the.undiscerning public will make them, undeterred by the
probable temporality of their stay in the dividend ranks, and
sharper people trade upon this peculiarity of the buying public
until it goes to dangerous lengths. For these reasons the market
is one of specialties, with strength in one spot accompanying
weakness in another. It is a dangerous market for the ignorant,
but a profitable one for the well-informed. There is a good de^l
of talk this week about mcney, the general impression being thai:
it will harden up before the close of the year sufiiciently to offer
a substantial cheek to speculative buying. Precedent suppor's
this opinion. It is now becoming clear to the common view that
Europe was a heavy seller of our securities on the advance, as
. we predicted it would be. The securities sold are now arriving
here in large quantities in satisfaction of the short contracts that
had to be made to fill the interim between the time of sale and
tbat at which delivery could be made from such a distance. This
week seller-20 options were noticeable among the quotations
showing that foreign realizations have not been completed. Ther^
is nothing alarming in these facts; indeed it is a sign of strength
and a source of gratification that we have been able to take back
so much stock and bonds while at the same time advancing
prices. Whether it is quite what is known as "good business"
Is another matter. Quotations for cur securities have been car¬
ried so high that not merely the needs of foreign markets, but
the profits dangled -before them must have induced foreign hold¬
ers to sell. We have yet to see what effect this selling has had,
or will have on the trade balance. London is very desirous -at
drawing gold from this side if possible.





A MOST unprecedented condition of things exists on the
Vienna Bourse; days together pass without a transaction
being made. A writer in the Neue Freie Presse exclaimed re¬
cently: "Does it seem possible that there should be a monarchy of
45,000,000 and a single exchange, and that out of this enormous
total of men and women not a single individual should entertain
the wish to invest capital in securities traded in at the Bourse?'"
Other business goes on as usual. The reason assigned for this
phenomenon is that national conflicts and party strife have de¬
stroyed confidence in home bonds and stocks. The yearly income
of Austria amounts to four milliards of crowns (roughly, ?800,-
000,000), which it is opined cannot be consumed or invested in in¬
dustries, and much of it must, therefore, be seeking investment
abroad. In other parts of Europe the condition of finance and
commerce have undergone no change since last week. The Lon¬
don money market is holding itself in reserve for the demands
of the Government, which, judging from the brief and practical
royal message to Parliament this week, are likely to be consid¬
erable. Elsewhere there is a disposition to await the results of
the annual closing settlements before doing anything. There is
also a feeling of uncertainty everywhere as to what will be done
to meet the American competition in the iron and steel trade.
That this competition is creating anxiety is not only apparent,
but that there is cause for anxiety is just as clear. The annual
report of the Westphalian Wire Industry (a joint-stock com¬
pany) admits that its exports of wire were 42 per cent, greater
two years ago than for the current year.   The decline is due ro





American competition in the world's markets, and the company
says that it will cost the German syndicates for half-finished
materials severe sacriflces to recover the lost ground in those
markets. It has also made a bad impression on the Gerraan
bourses that large amounts of American steel have been taken
by the Scottish markst. German cement interests, although they
cannot,have felt the force of outside competition, seem also to
be on the anxious seat, as it is proposed by some of them to pe¬
tition the government to include in the new tariff a duty of $2.50
a, ton upon cement





X FTER years of postponement the management of the Grand
■^"^ Central terminal is apparently fully alive to the necessity
of doing something effectual both to accommodate more easily
the present traffic, and to provide for the future. If the news¬
paper reports are true, the plan for an underground loop under
the present terminus has been abandoned; and in its place the
plan of a loop on an elevated structure for the use
of local trains is being more seriously considered. Such
a loop would make it much easier to handle the traffic;
but it would do very little to make the -passengers more
comfortable, for the tunnel would remain as uncomfortable
and noisome as it is at present. Moreover the plan would not
mean any increase of capacity in the tunnel itself; and that is
one of the most necessary of all improvements. Such are the
difficulties and the expense of any thoroughgoing solution of the
problem that it is probable no such solution will be undertaken
if the Grand Central management can put into effect any one of
the several make-shifts which have been suggested. It is pro-
pos'ed, for instance, to make some connection with the new un¬
derground road in Harlem, and to take the local trains down the
main tunnel to the City Hall. This plan would have the very
considerable advantage of getting the passengers on these trains
all the way down town without any change of cars; but, on the
other hand, it has at least two serious disadvantages. In the
first place it is very doubtful whether such an arrangement
could be made with the company which operates the under¬
ground road. There will be so many lines of trafiic converging
in the main tunnel that the addition thereto of the Central, Har¬
lem & New Haven commuters would not leave room enough for
the enormous growth of traffic which is destined to take place
in the future. In the second place, even if the tunnel could ac¬
commodate the traffic, any alleviation of present troubles would
be postponed for at least five years. The other plan which has
been suggested for improving the lot of local passengers is to
carry them down town on the Manhattan elevated structure.
This is still less saitisfaetory. Even if it were physically possible
to use the elevated tracks for such a purpose, it would give
the commuters only a slow and tedious way of getting up and
down town. Moreover, what would be done when the Man¬
hattan company introduced the "third rail" system? All such
plans have much the appearance of trifling, and of an endeav-^ir
to shift a responsibility and a problem which must in the end
be squarely faced and fully solved. The residents of Bronx
and Westchester county will, in the course oi time, need every
available route to reach lower New York; and Park avenue, in¬
stead of being abandoned for the purpose, will somehow have
to be used to the uttermost, It is amusing to notice that the
Central railroad people complain that the local traffic does not
pay. Why should it pay? How in the world could it pay with
the service which is at present offered? In time, however, it
ought to pay better than the heavy local traffic on the Penn¬
sylvania and the Jersey Central pays.





T N recommending the abolition of all the war taxes contained
■* in Schedule A of the War Revenue Act of 189S, the Com¬
mittee on Ways and Means have doubtless satisfied the wishes of
the realty world. This schedule includes the taxes on convey¬
ances, mortgages and leases, as well as assignments of the same,
checks and other documentary stamps that increase the cost of
doing business.





X RUMOR was current early in the week that a new depart-
*^ ment store was to be erected on the east side of 6th av
between 25th and 26th sts. It was promptly denied, but it has
made people speculate whether the extension that wili surely
come in the retail trade will stick to 6th av., or will shift to
some other longitudinal thoroughfare. The second alternative
would seem to have the balance of probabilities in its favor.
There is indeed little chance that 6th av. will lose the important
trade which it now possesses; for a large and popular depart¬
ment store is in its way a local institution, and is a suffiicently
powerful attraction to draw people to its own locality. It was
supposed some years ago that the site of a celebrated shop on
Broadway and 10th st. was rather too far down town for present