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May 4, 1901.
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ESTABUSHIDXyi
DbAtED io RfA.L ESTMH.BuiLDIf/O Ajl]CrfrTECTVJRE,Ho^SEHOLDDEai;fini
Busii/Ess AJfoThemes of GEfiER^l lifttRESi.
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Pablished every Saturday.
TELEPHONE, CORTLANDT I370.
'Communications should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street,
J. T. LINDSEY, Business .Mofiager.
"Kntercd at lhe Post-Office of Seia Tork, N. 7., aa aecond-class matter."
Vol. LXVII.
MAY 4, 1901,
No. 1729.
LET the basis of recent buying in the stock market be whas
it will, a speculative movement that has gained such an
impetus as this has is not likely to die out suddenly. The realizers
of tbis week will be the buyers of next if, as is not unlikely,
tbe reaction begun yesterday is sufiicient to encourage them to
take hold again. But it is reasonable to expect the general ten¬
dency now to be downward. The buying in several instances
this week reveals a conflict for railroad control of the great
southwest, and while it is very exhilarating to see prices going
â– skyward, as some have done, it does not seem to occur to anyone
to ask, who will finally have to make these extravagant values
.good? If any such inquiry were made the answer would be
quite easy to flnd. Either tbe holders of the stocks of the com¬
panies that are buying or the shipper will have to make good
any difference tbat exists between intrinsic and quoted values.
Witb control of the carrying business in few hands, the burden
is most likely to fall upon the shipper, and, of course, flnally
on tbe consumer. But in the flrst instance tbe productive
energy of the country wil! be taxed to pay proflts on investments
the wisdom of which is questionable. There seems to exist
among railroad managers a condition of panic, bred of a mutual
jealousy and fear of the success in business of each other;
otherwise the prices that are being paid for systems only lately
â– out of tbe bankruptcy court are quite unaccountable. The exist¬
ing condition of things in the railroad world, covered as it is by
a phenomenal volume of business, resembles the mad passion
for cutting rates that was characteristic of the flghting in the
same industry in 1884-5. The motive is tbe same; its expression
different, that is all. When reason returns the account will be
reckoned up and consequences have to be faced, just as they
were after each and every crisis that unreasoning competition
in the railroad business bas produced.
NOT feeling compelled to buy for strategic reasons, Europe's
interest in the American market is wholly speculative.
Tbis is shown by tbe dealings taking the shape of options,
which, like our puts and calls, are nothing more or less than
bets on the probabilities of prices put into formal contract. The
purchase of a large British steamship line by J. P. Morgan seems
to have thrown the London newspaper offices into a fright, but
the remarks that come from the newspapers ought not to be
taken as tbe sober thought of the community; they are the
mere exclamations of the least well informed; the "ahs" and
"God bless me's" of the old gossip. It is undoubtedly a good
deal for the owners of the Leyland Line. Tbeir common stock
was quoted at 11%—12^^, and Mr. Morgan offers something over
14, on an advance of more than 20 per cent, of par value, which
is only £10. Apparently two issues of preferred stock are not
to be bought. What are the intentions of the buyer, or the
people for whom he is acting, it would be unsafe to guess; but
on this side of the Atlantic they doubtless control a colossal
freight and have a fair chance to retain that now possessed by
the purchased line on the other. Of course the addition of many
thousand tons to the ocean tonnage controlled by American
capital in an event of great signiflcance. in showing tbat our
production for export has reached tbe stage wbere it pays to
carry it ourselves; but the circumstances by which it is made
point more signiflcantly to the increase in the commercial com¬
munion of the two countries. The condition of business abroad
this spring is about what was expected for it. There is a rally
from the extreme depression of tbe fall and winter, but still a
falling off compared with this time last year. In Great Britain
there are a good many people idle, especially in the textile
trades, iron prices are falling and a not unreasonable nervous¬
ness prevails over tbe movements of organized labor. In Ger¬
many the same general conditions prevail, less the threatening
attitude of labor, although there the discharges of superfluous
help appear to be larger than anywhere else. It is reported that
the Krupps have made several reductions in their force, the
lt.st consisting of 5,000 out of a total of 26,000 men. While the
commercial and industrial worlds are thus feeling the relapse
from the 10-year boom that closed last year, the financial world
is busy with the many government loans that are being issued
The Municipal Art Society.
^ HE RECORD AND GUIDE participated in the mild fellcl-
A tations which accompanied the birth ol the Municipal Art
Society, and now that it has got safely over its regretted decision
to commit suicide, we must express our satisfaction that the good
work is to continue. The attitude of New Yorkers toward art
interests is not easy to describe and understand. It forms the
best market for works of art in the country. It is becoming
more and more the Ameri<^n art center. 'Artists are tending
to come here and live and work to an ever increasing extent.
The general standard of taste shows manifest signs of improve¬
ment. In a thousand different ways there are indications, at all
events on the part of individuals, of a more just, delicate and
widespread appreciatioa of beautiful things. And yet a promi¬
nent painter has recently complained that artists obtain a more
general popular support in cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburg or
Chicago; and now the Municipal Art .Society, which was founded
peculiarly for the purpose of helping to beautify the public pl-aces
of the city, almost expired from simple lack of popular interest in
its plans and perfcrmances. It has succeeded during its eight years
of life in decorating the Appellate Court House and in erecting a
very admirable memorial to the late R. M. Hunt; but apart from
that it bas found the plans which it submitted for artistic im¬
provements have fallen flat. They have remained mere "paper"
projects—pious cpinions abcut plans that had no chance of
leaving the boards—and there was undoubtedly reason for dis¬
couragement. Enormous sums' of money are spent by individ¬
ual New Yorkers for purposes, which we will agree to call aes¬
thetic; but the interest in public art—in 'art that will beautify
places of public resort and amusement—isi miserably small; and
prominent New Yorkers are too much preoccupied with business
to yield to the influences which are making for aesthetic amel¬
ioration.
It is a very good thing, however, that the Municipal Art Society
has reconsidered its decision and will continue in existence.
The time is coming when it will obtain a more general popular
support, for the increased interest in the objects for which the
society stands all over the country must some day obtain ibs
echo in New York; and when that time comes it will be well to
have a society in existence which is thoroughly established and
has a certain if meagre foilOA.ing. There is, moreover, a better
reason for its perpetuity than an indefinite hope of future sup¬
port. Within the next few years there will be a chance for it
to assist, if not to superintend, a municipal art improvement
that is both extremely important and highly popular. We refer
to an appropriate scheme of decoration for the exterior aud the
interior of the new Public Library. The Fifth avenue approach
to tue building will be spacious and will give a rare opportunity
fcr sculptural and architectural decoration, subordinate to' the
main effect of the structure, while the interior should' offer wall
spaces' adapted to colored decoration as good as those' in W'ash-
ington and much better than those in Boston. Furthermore,
Bryant Park, in the rear, should be landscape-gardened anew,
'and on more formal lines, sO' as' to adapt it to the general archi¬
tectural effect of the Library. There is every reason' to believe
tbat such a decorative scheme, planned in the most liberal way,
would receive abundant popular support, for there is a
lively interest in the library building and a general wish to
make it worthy of its purpose and' of the future of New York.
It would be only fair to leave the planning of this decorative
scheme to the architects of the building, but the Municipal Art
Sccie'ty could do effective work in assisting the architects to
carry out their plans, jn arousing public opinion to the impor¬
tance of the matter and in helping to obtain the necessary pub¬
lic appropriations and (it may be hoped) private contributions.
Other good â– reasons may be urged upon the officials of the
Municipal Art Society to continue its existence. The work which
it started out to perform is just as necessary 'as ever; and instead
of being discouraged by comparative failure, it should prepare
for future worlt by beginning a campaign of education; it should
take a hint from the' methods of less respectable enterprises and
begin somewhat more energetically to blow its own horn. Un¬
like such technical organizations as the Architectural League or
the Society of Mural Painters, the Municipal Art Society claims
popular support aud is wholly dependent upon such support; and
sccie'ties in this country which claim popular assistance must do
more than deserve it; they must go out upon the streets and ask