April  It,,  1902.





IM^C'OUI) AXD   GLIDH





691







g /                                    ----------------^ _.   ,

DtVoTEi) TO R.1HL Estate.Sinior/o A^RfiHTrEcmiRE.Htruaoloii) DEt3(HiA3iDn.

BUSIhJESS MfoTH?Ji.1=;r,QFCEfIZl^  IjflEEVaT.
PRICE PER YEAR IN ADVANCE SIX   DOLLARS

Published every Saturday
Communleatlona should be addreaHSd to

C. W. SWEET, 14-16 Vesey Street, New YorK

J. T. UNUSET, Businsaa ManBKer                                Telephona, Cortlandt 31S7

"Entered al the Post Office at Neu York, N. T., as second-class maUer."
Vol. LXIX.





APRIL 19, 1902.





No. 1779





THERE is considerably better feeling in the Stoclv Market
and public interest in stock speculation lias grown con¬
siderably, though the bull; of the operations continues to be
professional. What threatened a serious menace to values, the
Louisville and Nashville matter, has finally settled down into a
benefit to tbe situation, because the control of the L. & N. prop¬
erty by interests friendly to Southern Railway iusures peace in
another large and distinct area of railroad operations. If
ever the true story of this operation is made public, it wiil
most probably be found that the prime mover in it intended
originally only a speculative turn on the long side of the stock
and suddenly found himself in possession of a good thing, but
one rather troublesome to keep. He would know that the
friends of Southern Railway, as a matter of policy, must hold
a considerable amount of Louisville, aud it w-as easy to place
with them on satisfactory terms a further amount that would
give them control. While control of the two properties is now
in tbe same bands, there is no prospect of a merger so long as
the Northern Securities suit is undecided, and there are reasons
for believing that it would be even more difficult to consolidate
competing roads in the South than elsewhere. A case in point is
Georgia Central which though actually owned by Southern
Railway is technically owned by a trust company, because of
the laws of Georgia which forbid the control or operation of
one competing road by another. Still the final disposition of
this exciting matter is one that makes for harmony in the
Southeast, and practically leaves the Southwest as the only
section of the country where the existing conditions are not
insured by something more practically effective than a men
harmonious understanding, which has hitherto proved to oe
unreliable in times of poor busiuess. A decision confirming the
legality of the security holding company would doubtless be fol¬
lowed by a general movement in the direction of consolidation
through similar agencies. The effort of such a movement would,
undoubtedly, be to put railroad investments on an enduring
stable basis. While Wall Street bas been excited by recent
events, the other .centers of business and speculation have con¬
tinued on an even course of activity and prosperity, and this
BO sustains values in the Stock Market that securities are hard
to buy and dangerous to sell when delivery of the goods cannot
be arranged for in advance.         ,





T X yHEN the British Government determined not to wait
VV for the determination of the Boer conference, but to
issue their new loan this week they cast a doubt upon the pros¬
pect for early peace in South Africa, but they distinctly proved
their credit with the capital of two continents. The new loan
makes $460,000,000 borrowed in one year. It is a great success
both in New York and London, in spite of the fact that the
subscribers to the issue of last April have had but small op¬
portunity for making a dollar by resales. The price of that
Issue was 94^, and since its subscription quotations have
ranged more, and for a much longer period in the aggregate
below than above that figure. The issue at 93i^ ought to give
better results, because money for such investments is much
more plentiful than it was a year ago, and because it is doubtful
if another issue will be needed for a long time to come and
the market therefore knows what it has to digest. The rejected
proposal of Holland being followed by a conference of Boer
leaders on their own initiative indicates the lay of the situation
In South Africa, but the movements of South African securities
In the markets do not indicate that the undercurrents of in¬
formation are favorable to an immediate suspension of oper¬
ations in the field. The official announcement of this fact Is
Bure to be preceeded by an upward movement in Rand shares,
which have on the whole been dull despite the nature of the
dispatches.    Taking them as the  barometer of events,  it may





be said that the situation is a hopeful one only. European busi¬
ness is improving somewhat and more interest is taken in
American securities, though this interest is said to be confined
almost wholly to speculators. Owing to the prospective renewal
of electric railroad construction. Copper comes in for a good
deal of attention and some remarks are made on Amalgamated
which serve to explain this week's and prior reductions in
dividends. These remarks are from "The Economist," London
and are: "Within the past few weeks the Amalgamated Company
has had to fulfil its sale contracts, and as the deliveries both in
the States and in Europe have increased to a substantial extent,
it has found great difficulty in getting standard brands, and has,
in fact, not only had to witness a decline to about 12c. in Lake
and electrolytic copper, but has lately had to exchange elec¬
trolytic for standard at a premium of about 5s. per ton on the
latter, whereas the usual margin has been from £5 to £6 per
ton. . . . If au utter collapse is to be averted it will only be
by the admission of the Heinz group of producers upon, to them,
very much more satisfactory conditions than they would have
been required to accept a few mouths ago."





The Rectification of the Street System of
Manhattan.

■^"■HE cities of New York and Paris are strongly contrasted
■^ in many ways, but in no respect are they more com¬
pletely contrasted than in the comparative activity and efficiency
of the interests which make for public improvements on the one
hand and private improvements on the other. In Paris every
New Yorker must immediately notice how much less private
building there is underway. Not only is this true in the newer
sections of the city, but it is even more true of the older parts
that are already built up. Not a tithe of the reconstruction
which is constantly taking place in New York is to be noticed
on the Paris streets, and were it not for the new streets through
which the municipality is constantly opening up through old
blocks, there would be almost none at all. On the other hand
public improvements of ali kind are consummated with a celerity
and an economy of which New York cannot offer no paralleL
New York because of its expanding population, and its general
unfinished condition, actually needs these public improvements
even more than Paris does, but instead of anticipating the
needs of its population in that respect, or even keeping pace
rwith them, the city of New York lags far behind the most
palyable and urgent necessities of its growing population. The
lively and continuous activity of reconstruction which are car¬
ried on by private interests are not paralleled by any corre¬
sponding and supplementary plans of reconstruction by the
public authorities, so as to adapt the street system to ever chang¬
ing and augmenting demands of the city trafflc.

During the period of the second Empire, Paris underwent a
drastic process of what has since been called Hausmannization.
It consisted of running wide streets and boulevards through the
crowded and congested parts of the old city, and providing foi
a free circulation of traffic and population. The consequence
is that the enormous traffic on the Paris streets moves about
with a freedom which is unknown in New York and London.
The congestion of 'busses and cabs which makes a trip to the
"City" in London, frequently so slow and irritating a busi¬
ness, the congestion of carriages, trucks and cars which makes
such crossways as the corner of Sth ave. and 42d st. in New
York, an almost intolerable impediment to business and
traffic is unknown in Paris, and yet that city is not saUsfied.
It has recently decided to open an important new street running
from Rue de Rennes to the Seine, coming out near the Pont
Neuf. This street, although needed is not needed anything like
as badly as many similar improvements are In New York. Yet
here plans for rectification, in details, such as the prolongation
of Madison ave. to Broadway, or that of cutting a broad avenue
south of 14th St. and west of Broadway, are talked of but
left untouched for years. And when an attempt is made tO'
consummate an important street improvement, it is so badly
managed that it becomes a burdensome expense, botb to the
city and property owners.

It is hard to make people realize into what an intolerable'
condition of things New York is drifting. Her street system,,
which was execrab!;>- planned in the beginning, is distined tc
be put to a strain more severe than that of any other city inr
the world. Buildings from ten to twenty stories in height are
being erected along the whole central ridge of Manhattan Isl¬
and, and upon streets that inadequately provided for the
trafflc needs of a much less dense arrangement of population
and business. These buildings tend both to increase the trafflc
and still more to increase the expense of providing additional