November 2, 1901.





RECORD AKD   GUIDE.





567







ESTABUSHED"^ fiViR.CH2l*;"^ 1B68.
Dpf'o-r^ TO Real Estaie . BulLDl^b ApcH'iTEcnuRE.HousdIoii) DEQQUftnml.
BU51[JESS AlioTHFJ^ES Of GE[iER^. IjftERfST.

PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX   DOLLARS

published etierff Saturday

CommuiilcB.tloiis should be addressed to
C. W. SWEET. 14-16 Vesey Street. New YopK





great lines, carrying as much on one voyage as an ordinary
"tramp" can carry in four or flve voyages. The tramps dis¬
placed from the North Atlantic have to seek employment else¬
where, and in the African, Eastern and Colonial trades they are
finding the same son of thing developing.





J. T. UNDSEY, Business Manager





Telepbone, Cortlanilt 3157





'Entered al the Post Office at Mew York. if. Y., as second-class mailer."





Vol. LXVIII.





NOVEMBER 2, 1901.





No. 1755,





THE Stock Market has disappointed its friends this week by
taking fright very easily at unfavorable developments
and being too impatient and too readily disappointed by the de¬
lay in the. announcement of a settlement of the Union Pacific-
Northern Pacific imbroglio. There is still some good outside
buying both of stocks and bonds, ibut it. is very discriminating
if not actually suspicious, and in the main the market has re¬
verted to professionalism. As the professional is bearish prices
in these circumstances, naturally, show a tendency to decline.
All that had been expected was a rally—a break in the downward
movement, and we do not appear to be going to have even that,
unless the small advance we saw in the last two or three weeks
was the rally, and was not recognized when it came. This is
possible because things are so different now to what they used
to be, and so regardless of precedent that it is very hard to find
out just what they mean. Of course the great standing menace
that any who undertake to advance prices have to meet is
found in the consideration that comes from a comparison of
present quotations with those of a comparatively recent past.
When this is made, the fact that there has been a decline any¬
where up to 30 or more points in individual cases since the
spring, counts for little, because the range between the lowest
and present quotations is still very great. This week's change
of market-front must be largely attributed to the increased im¬
portance of money as a factor in hoth the investment and specu¬
lative fields. Rates cannot he said to be high for a period of
great industrial and commercial activity, but there is not only
no confidence in their permanence, hut some fears of a short¬
age and stringency. The renewal of offers of reliei by the
Treasury which may be, on the whole, wise and necessary are
not reassuring. Some feel encouraged by them, but the ma¬
jority regard askance a commercial condition that needs official
and extraneous supports.





PART of the agitation of our own money market is due to the
advance of the Bank of England rate of discount to the
war flgure of 4 per cent. An advance had been expected, but
not one of one per cent made at once. This action of the. Bank
shows that its governors appraise the situation at a serious rate
and think the case can only be met by radical action. This
view is supported by the fact that the jump in the rate comes
at a moment when it was thought that London had been re¬
lieved by the transference of the demand of Paris for gold to
the New York market. This must have given some relief, but
evidently it was not enough, hence the action of the Bank had
to be so pronounced as to guard not only its own reserves, but
to reassure its public also. The latest development in the Eu¬
ropean commercial situation is a collapse in ocean freight rates,
one of the chain of events that produces the extreme decline
from an extremity of activity. It looks as if shipping interests
have now come face to face with their pei'iod of trial, of what
duration they cannot say, but it is now clear that there is at
present an over-supply of tonnage in the world; and, second,
that the volume of merchandise requiring sea transport will be
less in the near future than it has been in the recent past. With
regard to the first, there is no remedy in 3ight,while almost
every shipyard is booked full of work for several months to
come, and British, American, German, and even Japanese ship¬
builders are steadily increasing their output. The "tramp"
owner suffers most from the present condition of the shipping
trade. For not only is he caught by the depression in freights
and the elevation in working expenses, but he is being driven
out of the best routes by the big cargo "liner." Between this
country and the chief ports of North Europe all the carrying
trade is, or can be, done by the mammoth cargo boats of the





1





■pROBABLY of greater Importance than the departmental
^^ appropriations made by the budget, just completed by the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, are the appropriations for
new improvements contained in the table of bonds to be here¬
after issued given iu another column. This shows the policy
of the Board toward those great works by which real estate is
benefited and the building business encouraged. It will be no¬
ticed that large provision is made for docks and school buildings
aud the completion and extension of the park system. One item
that is to be especially commended is the generous allotment o£
bonds for work on the New East River Bridge, $3,500,000, as
compared with that, $600,000, for other bridges between Man¬
hattan and Brooklyn. This is as it should be. The Record and
Guide has several times pointed out that, as far as possible, all
the funds available for bridging the Bast River ought to be con¬
centrated, where they will bring the earliest possible relief to
the one over-taxed structure that furnishes the transpontine
connection of the two boroughs. If any criticism could be made
on these anticipatory bond authorizations it might be of the
amount set apart for repaving, as $2,000,000 is a small amount to
apply to the necessities of all the boroughs under this head. The
condition of the pavements of the city as a whole is such that the
eity government ought really to adopt a more genej-ous policy
towards them, in order that they may be brought up somewhere
nearer modern standards.





"p HE protest of the Broadway merchants against the pro-
-*■ posed line of surface cars on Elm street is from every point
of view justifiable. To grant a franchise for a surface road on
Elm street would simply be a violation of good faith on the part
of the city. Elm street was widened, and the property of the
unfortunate property owners takeu over by the city for the
speciflc purpose of affording a truckway for the business of the
dry-goods district. As it is scarcely necessary to point out,
trucking to and from lofts in that section is carried on at pres¬
ent with the greatest difficulty. Broadway is crowded, and
municipal ordinances forbid the backing of trucks on that thor¬
oughfare; the other streets running up and down town are nar¬
row and inconvenient; only Elm street is left for the purpose
of affording the necessary thoroughfare for street traffic; and
it would be the height of folly, as well as a matter of bad faith,
to turn it over to the Metropolitan Traction Company. Were
Elm street really a wide street, the admission of surface cars
would not make very much difference; but its width is such that
two rows of tracks would leave very little space for trucks or
carriages, and it would be necessary there as on Broadway to
enforce a municipal regulation against backing in. The rea¬
sons against the proposed line are so obvious and overwhelm¬
ing that any further action on the part of the municipal author¬
ities in favor of the Metropolitan Traction Co. will be closely
scrutinized, and will be regarded with extreme suspicion. No
reasonable compensation would justify the granting of the
franchise.





PROPERTY-OWNERS will doubtless feel somewhat relieved
that the Budget for the coming year promises to be some¬
what less than the Budget for the current year, and that, ac¬
cording to Comptroller Coler, there is a prospect that the tax
rate will be reduced as much as 10 cents. But it must be re¬
membered that the only reason that there does not promise to
be an increase rather than a diminution is that the city's con¬
tribution to the state taxes will be $2,443,527 less than it is in
1901, and that had not this margin existed they might have
looked forward not to less but to move taxes. A temporary
stop-gap has been provided, but the future is still threatening,
and the necessity for the adoption of some policy, whereby ex¬
penditure will be diminished or revenues increased without ad¬
ditional taxation as urgent and as unavoidable as ever.





THE rtiunicipal campaign now closing has assuredly been one
of the most remarkable in the history of the city. Never
have the issues at stake been more intelligently and thoroughly
discussed. Never has there been so little chatter about merely
irrelevant and unimportant matters. Never has the party war¬
fare been waged on the whole with more dignity and propriety.
Never has there been a better prospect for good government, no